Chapter 245: Chapter 245 - Stranded
Jim and Iris already stood back on Feng, satisfied smiles on both their faces.
’Well, I’ll be damned,’ Theo thought, jumping back.
They’d finished off the other two vultures much sooner than he’d expected.
As he landed back on top of Feng, his Thunder God’s Body spell faded away.
’’Good job, everyone,’’ he said, smiling despite the intense headache setting in.
Iris and Jim nodded lightly, Lyra was still putting her summons back, whilst Owen had already lazily sat back down.
The entire battle had only lasted just over two minutes.
Yet, all ten C-rank Desert Vultures had been wiped out.
’What an improvement,’ Theo thought, rubbing his temples.
A month ago, any of them would’ve had trouble defeating a C-rank creature.
Hell, even he was barely capable of defeating two C-ranks at the same time.
’I wonder,’ he thought, still smiling. ’Could this group defeat a B-rank too?’
Before he could think any further about it, Owen stretched his arms above his head and let out a loud laugh.
’’That was awesome!’’ he shouted, smiling. ’’We should’ve gone on an adventure far sooner!’’
Everyone turned to him simultaneously.
Lyra couldn’t help but shake her head.
’’Is being near death that fun for you?’’ she asked disapprovingly.
Owen shrugged.
’’We all survived, and quite easily at that,’’ he said as simply as possible. ’’I don’t see the problem.’’
Theo stared at his best friend with a large smile.
He could tell Owen wasn’t messing around. It seemed like he truly enjoyed fighting like this.
As his friends kept bickering, Theo let out a faint chuckle before looking ahead.
The desert seemed to endlessly stretch out around them, with not a hint of civilization nearby.
’We should stop wasting time,’ he thought.
Turning towards Feng, he gave the unicorn a light pat on the neck.
’’Let’s head down,’’ he said quietly.
Feng nodded once.
’’As you wish, contractor.’’
The unicorn slowly tilted its wings.
Instead of diving like before, he began steadily descending.
For several minutes, nobody said anything anymore.
They simply enjoyed the moment of peace as they stared at the sky around them in amazement.
Only one person wore a troubled expression.
And that was Iris.
Each passing second, her fingers tightened further around the edge of her sleeve.
Eventually, she let out a slow breath and looked up at the others.
’’Everyone,’’ she called out quietly. ’’I’m sorry.’’
The words immediately drew everyone’s attention.
Owen didn’t hesitate for even a second and opened his mouth.
’’What for?’’ he asked, casually digging a finger into his ear.
Lyra silently scoffed, her jaw clenching in irritation.
’Do you not have a shred of emotional intelligence?’ she shouted internally.
But she knew better than to expect that from Owen.
Instead, she simply mouthed for him to stay quiet, raising a clenched fist for emphasis.
Theo barely spared the two a glance.
He could clearly see how troubled Iris felt by the extremely somber expression on her face.
’’What are you apologizing for?’’ he asked gently. ’’You haven’t done anything wrong at all.’’
Iris lowered her head and shook it lightly.
’’This flight,’’ she said quietly. ’’I was the one who insisted on flying with the jet...’’
She bit down on her lip as her fingers tightened even further around her sleeve.
’’Yet, I put all of your lives at risk.’’
A long silence fell as everyone processed her words.
The exploding plane flashed through their minds once more.
Even so, not a single person was even slightly angered.
Theo couldn’t help but smile lightly.
’’That’s not on you,’’ he said, pulling her closer.
Iris stiffened slightly as Theo wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
’’You didn’t plant that bomb,’’ he continued calmly. ’’In fact, you’ve probably saved a ton of lives with this.’’
Iris glanced up at him, confusion flickering through her eyes.
’’It’s clear they were out for us from the very start,’’ Theo continued. ’’Had we been on a normal plane, who knows how many hundreds of people would’ve been caught up in it.’’
Opposite him, Jim and Lyra immediately nodded.
It was very clear this had been an organized and decently planned attack.
’’It’s probably the Calamity Covenant,’’ Owen said, shrugging lightly. ’’Those fuckers would do something like this.’’
Theo nodded lightly, completely agreeing with him.
In fact, it had even surprised him that they weren’t outright attacked by them on the plane.
’They must’ve valued their lives a little too much since they didn’t suicide attack us.’
Just then, Iris slowly shook her head.
’’Maybe,’’ she said, hesitating for a second. ’’But... maybe not.’’
Everyone’s attention immediately shifted back to her.
’’The private jet belongs to my family,’’ Iris explained quietly. ’’Everyone who boards it is screened beforehand. Security around it is incredibly strict.’’
She lowered her gaze.
’’It should’ve been impossible for someone to sneak explosives aboard unless someone on the inside allowed it.’’
Theo raised an eyebrow.
A flicker of anger flashed through his eyes.
It was very clear what she was getting at... someone from her own family was out for her life.
And she thought they’d all gotten caught up in that conflict.
After a moment, he quickly shook his head.
’’Don’t worry too much,’’ he said, patting her shoulder. ’’I don’t think this incident was targeted just at you.’’
The person involved with the screening could’ve easily been both a part of the Calamity Covenant and her family.
And if the Covenant was involved, they were most definitely out for him too.
After explaining his reasoning, Iris’ expression gradually became lighter.
Even so, Theo had made a mental note for himself.
’I’ll need to keep a close track of her family situation.’
Meanwhile, Feng had continued descending in complete silence.
The endless desert beneath them had come significantly closer, revealing a few small scorpion-like creatures.
’’Contractor,’’ his voice rang out. ’’We’ll be on the ground in twenty seconds.’’
Theo nodded once and turned away from the group.
Standing up, he held a hand above his squinted eyes and began looking around.
’’Now where the hell are we?’’ he muttered.
In every direction, massive golden sand dunes stretched as far as he could see.
His expression gradually became stranger.
’’Fuck,’’ he cursed, shaking his head. ’’Are we even in the right country?’’
Before anyone could say a word, Feng spread his wings completely.
A gentle green wind surged out beneath him, slicing through several large scorpions.
Finally, he landed lightly on the warm sand.
One by one, everyone hopped off his back.
The moment Theo’s boots touched the ground, they sank a few inches into the loose sand.
A scorching wave of heat immediately washed over the group.
Even the faint breeze blowing across the desert felt hot compared to when they were on Feng.
"...It’s hotter than I expected," Jim muttered, wiping a thin layer of sweat from his forehead.
Beside them, emerald light slowly enveloped Feng’s body, which rapidly shrank.
Within moments, the large unicorn had returned to his familiar smaller form, quietly floating atop his emerald cloud.
"I have expended a considerable amount of mana," Feng said, noticeably tired. "Maintaining my larger form any longer would be wasteful."
Theo nodded once with a smile.
’’You’ve done enough,’’ he said.
Feng inclined his head slightly, slowly drifting over to him.
"It was my duty, contractor."
Turning his attention away from Feng, Theo couldn’t help but let out a long breath.
His gaze swept over the horizon, uncertainty filling his eyes.
"...Well," Owen said after a long silence, scratching the back of his head. "Now what?"
Theo turned around with a smile.
’’Good question,’’ he said. ’’You got any ideas?’’
Five seconds of silence answered him.
Hearing no one answer, Owen just shrugged.
’’I’ve got nothing,’’ he said.
Jim shook his head lightly too.
’’I was going to buy a map once we landed there,’’ he said helplessly. ’’But yeah... we didn’t get to that yet.’’
Even Lyra raised her shoulders with a clueless expression.
’’Nine hours had passed before the explosion, right?’’ Iris suddenly asked.
Theo nodded right away.
’’Judging from that,’’ she continued slowly, ’’we’re probably in Libya, Tunisia, or maybe even Egypt right now.’’
She paused for a moment.
’’As for which direction we need to go now... I have no idea.’’
A few seconds of silence followed.
Owen threw himself onto the sand, staring at the sky.
’’Should we just wait for rescue?’’ he asked. ’’They’d notice us missing, right?’’
’’Don’t count on it,’’ Jim answered, shaking his head. ’’I wouldn’t be surprised if they kept our accident secret for a long time.’’
Gritting his teeth, Owen jumped up in frustration.
’’Then we’ll just say fuck it,’’ he said, pointing in a direction. ’’We’re winging it that way!’’
Theo stared in the direction Owen was pointing before letting out a helpless sigh.
’’Well,’’ he said, nodding slowly. ’’It’s not like standing here is going to help.’’
The others exchanged glances before slowly nodding.
Without another word, the five of them began moving through the scorching desert.
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