Chapter 123: Jotun Inheritance?
Whoever said that traveling on a mount was comfortable?!
"I WANT TO PUKE!" Alpha screamed so loudly that Chloe and Silas instinctively shivered in disgust. It wasn’t as if they were any better, but at least they didn’t feel like puking... yet.
The Crimson Reaper Queen flew nothing like the airplanes back on Earth, because, of course, it wasn’t an airplane. That was very obvious from how it moved, darting across the sky.
One moment, it was soaring peacefully through the sky. Next, it folded its wings, plunged nearly three hundred feet straight toward the ground, leveled out barely above the tops of the gigantic trees, and shot upward again like an arrow fired from a bow.
"WHO TAUGHT THIS THING HOW TO FLY?!" Alpha’s voice cracked.
Silas tightened his grip around Gromda’s unconscious body while desperately grabbing one of the thick crystalline ridges running along the mantis’ back.
"I THINK IT TAUGHT ITSELF!"
It made another violent turn, and their entire world spun. Alpha’s soul almost left his body.
"I CAN SEE MY ANCESTORS!!"
"You don’t even know your ancestors!"
"I KNOW THEM NOW!!"
The mantis shrieked happily. It sounded almost... excited, and the system confirmed it.
[Observation...]
[Crimson Reapers enjoy flying, too.]
"No shit!" Silas shouted against the roaring wind.
His clothes flapped violently around him, while his pink hair had long since surrendered to the wind and now resembled an explosion. Beside him, Chloe wasn’t faring much better.
Her long white hair whipped across her face relentlessly. Every few seconds, it smacked her.
"Ow! This is personal."
She had both arms wrapped around Silas’s waist while trying to shield Gromda from bouncing off the mount. Not that Gromda seemed to care. The giant orc woman continued sleeping peacefully.
Silas stared at her in disbelief. "How?"
The echo made another dive, causing the wind to scream past them, while Gromda smiled in her sleep.
"Soft..."
"She’s dreaming," Silas muttered in shock.
Alpha looked over with bloodshot eyes.
"I hate her."
"You hate everyone."
"I especially hate sleeping people."
The mantis banked sharply to avoid one of the colossal floating islands drifting through the sky. Unfortunately, it banked too sharply.
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!"
The four riders nearly slid off its smooth emerald shell. Silas reacted instantly, using his ability. Several glowing pink threads shot from his fingertips, wrapping around everyone’s waists before anchoring themselves securely to the mantis’ body.
They jerked to a stop halfway over the edge, in silence.
"..."
Alpha slowly looked down. Several thousand feet below, he saw a river that glittered like a silver ribbon. He looked back at Silas.
"You waited until now?"
"I wanted to see if we’d manage."
"You... you wanted to WHAT?!"
"I was curious."
"I’M GOING TO STAB YOU!"
"You’ve said that before."
"And one day I’ll mean it!"
Chloe couldn’t hold it anymore, and a small laugh escaped her lips.
"Hehehe..." She covered her mouth. "I’m sorry... but you two are ridiculous."
Silas smiled. "See? Even Chloe agrees."
"I did not."
"You laughed."
"I laughed because Alpha looked like he was saying goodbye to life."
"I WAS!"
As if to mock them further, the mantis suddenly accelerated.
BOOOOM!!
The sonic boom nearly tore Alpha’s soul from his body. His cheeks flapped violently in the wind.
"I CAN’T FEEL MY FACE!!"
"You still have one?" Silas shouted.
"I’LL SHOW YOU MY FACE WHEN WE LAND!"
"You’ll kiss me?"
"I’LL BURY YOU!"
"That’s not very romantic."
"You two..." Chloe sighed.
The system suddenly interrupted their argument.
[Notice!]
[Destination detected.]
Instantly, the mantis slowed, as if it could see the system screen. Silas announced to the others while the echo moved a lot slower than earlier. Everyone collectively released the breath they had been holding.
"Finally..." Alpha whispered with tears in his eyes. "I survived."
"You were overreacting," Silas said.
"I have never reacted more appropriately in my life."
The echo descended through a layer of clouds. As the white mist parted, the joking stopped. Far below them stretched an enormous valley unlike anything they had seen before.
Gigantic stone fortresses had been carved directly into the sides of mountains. Rivers of glowing mana flowed between colossal settlements. Thousands of warriors trained across vast arenas, their battle cries echoing into the heavens.
Smoke rose from forges large enough to melt entire buildings. And standing at the very center of it all was a colossal city surrounded by walls nearly two hundred feet high, built from black stone and reinforced with gigantic beast skeletons.
Banners depicting crossed axes fluttered proudly above countless towers. Even from this distance, they could feel the overwhelming pressure emanating from the city.
Silas’s Thread Sight instinctively expanded, and in no time, his pupils shrank.
"What?" Alpha asked, noticing his expression.
Silas stared toward the city gates. "We’re being watched."
Somewhere inside that enormous city, hundreds of powerful beings had already noticed the strange pink portal, the flying mantis, and the four very unusual visitors heading straight toward the heart of Gorgath.
***
But their destination wasn’t the city. The system announced three minutes later, and this time, it projected an optimal path for Silas and the echo. He didn’t need to control it as that was being managed by the system.
In no time, they crossed the enormous city, crossed a huge forest sprawling with gigantic trees that seemed especially huge as compared to the others in Gorgath. Through it, they came across a clearing where they saw a huge stone tablet.
Even from up high, they could see how huge it was. Behind the stone tablet that was embedded, or rather, literally planted into the earth, was a huge pair of hands that seemed to be holding the tablet.
The echo got closer, and they got a closer view. The first thing they noticed was how small they were compared to the tablet. And this was adding the fifteen-foot-tall echo to the equation.
The tablet was huge. When they landed, they realized its full size, and it blotted out the sky. It was almost like they were standing in front of another world rather than a stone tablet. And it was even planted in the earth.
They could only wonder what or who had planted it. That brought their attention to the pair of hands, which looked less stone and more... living.
"Wha..."
[Congratulations!]
[You Discovered the Jotun Inheritance Grounds.]
’Jotun Inheritance?’
[Gromda’s evolution is bound to succeed... 10000%]
"WHAT?!"