Chapter 626 Makeshift Thrill Ride
Evan was completely caught off guard.
The softness of her lips and the warmth exchanged in that brief moment created a fusion of emotions between them.
The cold backdrop of the ice beneath them contrasted with the warmth of the unexpected kiss.
But before Evan could begin reciprocating, Eliza pulled away just as abruptly as she had leaned in earlier, with a single strand of saliva clearly asserting its presence as evidence of what just happened.
The girl then took a deep breath, before proceeding to head-butt Evan once more.
Of course, she used her 'Zero Damage' technique.
Something her uncle was very happy to teach her and encouraged her to use on Evan when the boy woke up.
"Don't EVER pull something like that again."
Her hands moved to the sides of his head as she twisted his ears lightly, but this caused as much pain as a mosquito bite to Evan so he wasn't really hurt by this.
His focus was on Eliza's eyes, on the feelings and emotions he could see swirling within them.
Anger, worry, loneliness, relief.
"Are you listening to me, Evan?"
"…yes."
He held his hand out and caressed her cheeks, a very simple action, but it was one that Eliza had missed so much in the past two weeks.
"You have no idea how worried I was."
Eliza's worry, stemmed not from him suddenly passing out after devouring Faldo's heart, but from the fact that he overused BoD to the point where his soul was damaged.
"You can tell how your contracted spirits feel, right? Maybe I should make a contract with you, so you can understand how I feel when you pull stunts like that."
"Leaving this contract talk aside, you know it was unavoidable…there simply was no way to beat the dragon within that time frame."
"…"
The girl went silent as she understood that Evan's words were true. But just because she rationalised it, did not mean she could just NOT be worried.
It was impossible, especially when her feelings for Evan were considered.
'Emotions aren't things that could be so easily kept in check.'
While she was thinking that, Evan pulled her into a tight hug, kicking all thoughts out of her mind for a moment.
"I'm still angry, don't try to placate me with a mere hug."
She playfully poked him in the sides with her fingers, making his body jerk lightly.
Before she could do it again, however, Evan lowered his arms to her waist and lifted her up lightly, making her sit astride him and resting his head on her chest.
Doing this made him remember one of the questions Aidos asked him, the one relating to her three sizes, and his hands began wandering around her waist.
Eliza didn't say anything about this until he suddenly stopped and tightened his hold on her.
"Evan?"
"Have you ever heard of thrill rides?"
"Thrill Rides?"
Seeing the obvious confusion on her face when he asked that, the boy assumed that she didn't know what he was talking about. He then proceeded to unfurl his newly gained pair of wings, prompting Eliza's eyes to turn as wide as saucers.
"Wings?!"
'Just what did eating that dragon heart do?!'
She didn't get an answer to her question as Evan suddenly stood up and then flapped his wings, ascending towards the sky while holding her tightly.
At first, his speed was quite slow, but after ten seconds, Eliza began noticing the acceleration. Another ten seconds later, and Evan had sped up to the point where D rankers would have trouble keeping up with him with their eyes.
He kept accelerating, reducing the intervals at which he bumped up his speed and causing Eliza to grab onto him tightly for fear of falling.
The wind pressure was intense, pushing against them as they climbed higher and higher, and within half a minute, they were breaking the sound barrier.
The shockwave trailed behind them as they soared into the heavens, their altitude surpassing the 20,000 feet Evan was previously at and the boy showed no signs of slowing down.
Despite the incredible speed and the sheer force of wind at play, Evan wore a broad smile on his face, revelling in the exhilaration.
Eliza too, appeared to be thrilled by the experience, her shining eyes reflecting exactly how she felt about this abrupt skyward journey.
Suddenly, Evan halted his ascent and then proceeded to fold his wings.
Naturally, the laws of gravity took hold and caused them to plummet back to the ground with increasing speed.
The descent was a thrilling freefall, exceeding even the velocity of their earlier ascent.
Amidst the rush of wind and the accelerating fall, Eliza couldn't contain her scream as she grabbed onto Evan as if she was trying to squeeze the life out of him.
However, just before they were about to meet the ground, Evan unfolded his wings with precision, transforming them into a makeshift parachute.
The wings caught the air, slowing their descent dramatically. Instead of crashing, they landed with a controlled grace, the wings acting as a buffer against the force of impact.
The abrupt deceleration left Eliza breathless, transitioning from a scream of exhilaration to one of relief as they safely touched down atop the block of green ice they had ascended from.
Evan quickly dropped a chair out of his inventory and sat on it, placing Eliza on his lap as he asked.
"How was that?"
"…Evan."
"?"
"Didn't I just warn you about pulling bullshit like this earlier?!"
Though she said that, Eliza wasn't fooling anyone with the way her eyes were sparkling. No attempt she made now could conceal how much she had enjoyed the little experience.
"Are you even listen—"
"Wanna try again?"
"Yes!!—Wait! I mean, not really…but…"
"Pfft!"
Evan couldn't even hold his amusement back anymore and burst into laughter, while Eliza pouted with a blushing face as she poked his sides to express her indignation.
"Stop Laughing!!"
Her words made Evan do the exact opposite, only stopping when he saw that Eliza had 'overheated' from embarrassment.
"I was serious about my question. Wanna try again?"
Eliza who had covered her red face with her hands, peeked through the gap in her fingers and then nodded twice.
Seeing this, Evan got up, lifting her up along with him. He then spun her body around and wrapped his arms around her for a back hug.
"I'm going top speed from the start."
The previous experience had given Evan a lot more control over his wings, so with a little bit of magic power, he could achieve instant acceleration.
And that he did, leaping off the ground with so much force that the ice block they were on shattered to splinters.
The shockwave from surpassing the sound barrier sliced off the tops of all nearby tall trees, and he zoomed off into the sky once more.
This time, he didn't just fly straight up, but headed in the direction of the Barthmont Palace, using the System map to guide him as he was so high up that everything on the ground looked like ants.
Stopping at this altitude, he looked down and spoke.
"Everything's so small…."
"I can barely see anything through the clouds!"
Eliza was like a child during their first experience with a roller coaster, her excitement very obvious from how she moved around excitedly in Evan's arms.
Just then, there was a gap in the clouds and Eliza pointed in that direction.
"That spot over there, it looks like that's Lace—
WAAOOOHHHH?!"
Evan abruptly folded his wings and their descent began while she was still talking, making her almost bite her tongue.
She didn't have the time to chide Evan about that as they were falling at a speed of over 600m/s, heading straight towards the ground.
Naturally, Eliza screamed all the way down.
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m