Chapter 614: Interlude - Iona - Overthrowing the Tyrants VII
Iona had forgotten how convenient it was to fly around on Fenrir's back. The distance of hundreds of miles was just a short flight away. Now that she was on ground, on foot, it was a far harder journey. Inhuman stats or not, there were trees, mountains, rivers, and a distinct lack of a path.
The Valkyrie had tried to go back to her roots and simply walk from one place to the next. It was the traditional method, allowing the Knight Errant to visit all the small villages that rarely saw justice or outside assistance, the ones that were all too easy to skip over from the air and neglected by the king's men.
That natural assumption had crumbled in the utter lack of roads. There weren’t even rarely-used merchant paths. There wasn’t an ancient trail that nature had mostly reclaimed.
There was nothing. The [Lifebringers] had thoroughly erased the backbone of civilization when they restored the world, turning over the good with the bad as they brought an explosion of life. Animals had carved out game trails through the thick woods, but there was no promise that the paths went anywhere.
Iona tried, but it was like bushwhacking through forests that hadn’t seen intelligent life since the dawn of the world. She was a [Warrior] and a [Paladin]. She had solid woodscraft, but she was no [Ranger].
It took a week of stubbornly grinding forward before the [Paladin] gave into the inevitable, and simply flew over the forest, looking for signs of civilization.
It was the deep woods. Anyone living there would’ve seamlessly blended in, only being found if they wanted to be found. Anyone cutting down trees for farmland would be seen from the sky.
Iona flew around, looking for trouble, and trouble found her. A flock of maaradactylus thought the shiny flying object was food, and descended on the knight. Iona let her handleless blades spread out around her - [Shards of the Moon] - then reinforced them with [Glimmering Stars].
Part of her was briefly tempted to let the sharp-toothed flying dinosaurs gnaw fruitlessly on her armor, but that was brutally crushed and put to the side. She held her blow until most of them were in range, then her blades exploded in motion.