The portal transported Adam, Zax and Liu back somewhere inside the mystical forest, but as soon as they came out of it, they quickly tried to gain altitude.
[Master, please try to stay calm.]
"I am calm," Adam said, but his face showed his true emotions.
For someone who used to live on Earth, and was familiar with many sci-fi movies, Adam had a pretty wild imagination, but imagining the scene and living the moment and seeing it unfolding in front of one's eyes were two extremely different experiences.
"Locate my mother and my father. Try also to contact Timothy and the others." Adam said with a calm sounding voice but his hair swayed unnaturally and his facial expression was stiffer than usual.
Liu chose silence and didn't show any expression on her face but she was as shocked as Adam, even more, because things were clearly beyond her despite everything she had been through in her life. From the look of it, she was suppressing every out-of-line reaction before they emerged to the surface.
Looking at Adam, Liu could see that he was trying to stay calm and deal with the situation more rationally, even though Liu knew that seeing their home planet in such a state would make anyone lose their mind. 'From the look of it, there was a slim chance that…' However, Liu refrained from making any comments or asking questions.
[Master… There's no response.]
Cristal's words made Adam twitch for a second as if he hoped for Cristal to say something else, but the reality was undeniable.
The planet under the jurisdiction of the Kepalta family was on the verge of destruction.
Adam made a decision, thinking that it was for the best, but now that he look at what had happened, he understood that some decisions came with considerable consequences.
"Let's… Let's…" Adam was way past a simple feeling of confusion, regret, or shock, and the lack of oxygen in the environment made him feel dizzy, to the point. "We can't stay here, let's find a spaceship. Cristal can you… Can you create helmets that could help in this situation?"
[Yes, I am working on it.]
Cristal was equipped with different types of useful features, and her upgrade made her more powerful, but at that moment, Adam and Zax needed helmets that could help them breathe.
Almost the entire forest was on fire and monsters' ominous roars filled the area, along with other unsettling sounds.
However, what made Adam feel like he was about to suffocate was not the burning forest or even the monsters, but something huge, something terrifying that he knew he couldn't beat with his current power.
He wasn't even sure what the hell was this monster was, but the eyes that were as big as mountains, and countless tentacles that made giant trees look like grasses, the disgusting body made of unknown substances, all of these concealed the sun, and there was nothing that could be described as natural about it.
*****
:::[ Adam's POV]:::
I felt my body shaking uncontrollably as I tried to not think about certain things.
'What happened here?'
I had various theories looking at the scene, but all of them seemed unlikely, but I couldn't deny what I was seeing.
We were gone for an hour, at most two, but could all this happen during that time. How such a monster could wrap itself around the whole planet in a matter of two hours?
'Or, don't tell me…'
I didn't want to think about it. "Let's move the city of Mahanoro. The spaceship should be there…" I said.
Since Liu and I could fly, we could get to the city of Mahanoro in 2 hours or so if we moved quickly.
'Mom, Dad… I am sure they are okay. Father should have seen the danger and left the planet…' I thought, however, there was the fact that I was not around so he must have searched for me, and if he did…
'Shit! Damn it!'
I felt that my body was getting weaker, and I believe that it was related to the unknown energy that I had absorbed. As if it was some kind of drug, I felt an insatiable urge to absorb more, to the point that I was all messed up and my emotions were out of place so I needed to lock them away, but it was not that easy.
Unlike before, I felt like I was powerless and I couldn't shake the feeling that all of this happened because someone was messing with me.
"How did all of these monsters appear here?" I mumbled.
As if confirming my theory, the number of monsters was abnormally high, to the point that the whole forest was full of them.
'Also, that dark miasma…'
The scenery was becoming similar to what I saw beyond the portal.
"Rooar!"
Moreover, there were high-level monsters, even though these monsters shouldn't be able to come into this world unless a huge portal opened.
After a while, we finally managed to reach the border of Mahanoro's city, right after passing the huge land covered by the forest. 'The forest is destroyed… What about the city?"
I couldn't stop it and my heart was beating dangerously fast as I looked down at the border of Mahanoro's city.
'Are these human bones?'
Bones were everywhere, and the monsters were snacking on them as if they were sharpening their teeth.
I looked further ahead, and the whole city… The whole city was no more. There was no sign of humans and the monsters roamed around as if they become the inhabitants of this city.
"… It will be hard to find a spaceship without passing through these monsters," I said, but my voice sounded weird as if I was shuddering. It was another phenomenon, showing that my body was at its limit and I needed to rest. However, I couldn't do such a thing.
If Liu and Zax were to die, everything I did would be worse than just not having any meaning. 'I must bring them to a safer place first, then try to contact my parents or Liu's companions, and if that doesn't work, then I don't have the choice but to go around the city and find a spaceship that can still fly… With Cristal's help, I should be able to make it fly… Hopefully, there's one somewhere.'
First of all, I needed to find a safe place where I could hide Zax and Liu while I search for a spaceship. I knew that thinking about unnecessary things would only worsen the situation so I discarded all kinds of regrets, or at least I tried to not think about them for the time being.
"You still can't contact… t.. This is bad… I can't why now…"
*****
:::[Third Person POV]:::
[Master.]
"Adam."
Liu instantly dived and caught Zax who fell from Adam's arms. He passed out for a second, but the black cape kept him floating. Adam was not just physically drained, but his mind also reached its limit.
Adam just spent years' worth of time in his spiritual form and wandered around the silver world inside of his soul. Such a thing required a lot of concentration, and the corruption helped with this by messing with his emotions, to the point that he managed to cast away his fears.
However, such an action was a huge burden on his mortal body and mind even though it was already upgraded to the next level. If it wasn't for Verte's sacrifice, Adam would have died, but without the corruption, he would have died too, and he didn't know it, but without his power who kept Rudeus's mind clear, he would never have had the chance to discover the true nature of his power.
Still, all of that would be meaningless if he died here, and the fact that he passed out showed that it was the time for him to rest.
"Sorry… I felt a little bit dizzy."
However, Adam pushed himself to stay awake even after his body forced him to take a break.
"Are you alright?" Liu asked.
"Yeah…"
Adam massaged his forehead with his fingers and looked at Liu who was holding Zax. "Let's go find a place to hide for now…" He suggested.
"Okay." Liu nodded, but she looked at Adam with an unusual expression on her face. However, Adam couldn't see it because of her helmet.
[Master, I received a response from the ship. The signal was weak but it seemed like the message reached the ship. They instructed us to send them our location every thirty minutes.]
"I see… Let's do that, but for now, let's avoid the city and hide there." Adam said rocky hill that looked great for hiding. Adam was still thinking about searching for a spaceship, just in case, things didn't go well, since, for all he knew, everything always took a bad turn when he was thinking about catching his breath. Nonetheless, he understood that he needed a break because he wouldn't be able to do anything with his current condition, whether he liked it or not.
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