Chapter 21 - 21: The Journey Part 2

"What alternative?" Lucas asked in a curious tone as he turned to face Scarlett.

"The only alternative I can think of is moving on to the final destination by foot. Although rare, some aristocrats have used that method in past selections isn't that right?" Jin, who had been silent the entire time quickly responded before turning to Scarlett for confirmation.

"Yep that's right. The entire point of "The Journey" is to not only filter out weak students but also to have a clear ranking of students that will determine which classes they are placed in. Points are earned either by defeating your fellow students or killing mana beasts which reside within the designated area leading towards the final destination." Scarlett explained once again before turning to face the other contestants.

"How do you know all this?" Lucas asked curiously and received odd looks from some of the other contestants.

"Do they not broadcast "The Journey" using projection magic in your region? It's pretty common everywhere right?" Oxin turned to Lucas and asked in a confused manner but Lucas only lowered his head and shook it.

"No, our region didn't even have any skilled mages..." Lucas answered in a low tone as if ashamed by that fact.

"Don't let it bother you, "The Journey" wasn't broadcast to minor regions because they never saw the point in doing so. But if a strong contestant were to appear from one such region, they'd have no choice but to broadcast there as well. So don't look down, instead show them your worth". These words made Lucas feel at ease as they reached his ears. The gentle comforting tone made him raise his head and turn to the source of it, Mirai.

"T-thanks, I will!" He replied in an energetic manner as he raised his fist in the air while Mirai simply showed her usual smile.

"Anyway we should-!!" As Scarlett was about to continue speaking, a bright beam shot from the approaching airship and hit on the side causing the entire ship to shake violently.

The violet shaking lasted for only a moment before the airship stabilized again. Lucas and Oxin sighed in relief at this while the other contestants turned to the approaching airship that was roughly 800 meters away.

"Grr, I'll tear those bastards into shreds!" An angry Jagu declared as he showed a displeased face towards the approaching ship.

"Not if they blow us up you won't, if it can fire that accurately from that distance then this ship won't last much longer. We should-!! Damnit in coming!" Scarlett's assessment was brought to halt when she noticed the approaching ship getting ready to fire another beam from the large cannon at its front.

At first the other contestants only saw the silver cannon and nothing more but a second later light began to flicker within it and everyone immediately braced themselves.

It took less than five seconds for the beam to reach the airship causing a loud and large explosion. Smoke filled the skies as the large vessel caught fire and began to break apart.

"M'lady?....Mirai!" Sharla yelled out as the smoke cleared and she saw Mirai hanging on to a part of the ship that looked ready to fall apart. Everyone else was in a similar case but looked to have better grip than Mirai who was practically dangling in the air.

"Worry about yourself, another blast is coming. We have no choice but to jump." Scarlett yelled out in a blunt tone as she turned her head to look at the still approaching airship that was now less than 500 meters away.

"For fucks sake, how long will they keep firing." An annoyed Jin yelled out before purposefully letting go of what he held on to and leaping off the burning airship.

"Mirai!" Sharla followed as she had leaped as soon as Mirai lost grip and began falling.

"Bastards, what a waste of a good airship." Scarlett clicked her tongue while looking at the airship closing in before leaping off as well.

One by one they each began to jump off as just as the last of them leaped off, a final beam completely destroyed the airship. Some of the debris sent flying from it went in the contestants direction and led to even more confusion in the skies.

'Damnit I won't be able to reach Lady Mirai like this' a panicking Sharla thought to herself as she constantly avoided and or destroyed the debris coming her way. Lucas whose path was clearer noticed this and turned to her.

"Let me help! I'll save her!" Lucas yelled out as his eyes gave off a bright yellow glow and his muscles began to tense up.

'I couldn't learn any spells back in the village but I'm still pretty good at augmentation so this just might work, but what if it-'

Lucas was hurriedly processing the situation as each second that passed meant they were getting closer to the ground. But before he could reach a definite solution, a figure flashed pass him and reached Mirai.

Meanwhile Mirai, who was completely helpless in the air wore a worried expression on her face. She could only sense the other contestants mana hence she knew none of them were close. However in an instant, a vigorous body of mana shot right next to her.

"Huh..." She muttered in a confused manner for a moment as the vigorous mana began to vanish as if never there in the first place. Once it had vanished, Mirai now recognized the figure next to her.

"Contestant number 10, Aron..." She called out in a low tone and she was indeed right as Aron was currently descending with her in his embrace but gave no response.

As they got closer to the ground, Aron squinted his eyes and focused on the descent. One he was approximately thirty meters away from the ground, he unsheathed his sword and plunged it into a tree.

However instead of stopping lodging itself in place, the sword began to descend along with Aron, cleanly slicing the tree in the process.

'Damnit, just what grade is this damn thing' Aron clicked his tongue in an annoyed manner as this thought crossed his mind.

Left with no other choice, Aron's eyes gave off a momentary glow before his fingernails grew longer and sharper. He then dug his nails into the bark of the tree to slow the speed of the descent. It was only when he was mere inches away from the ground that he came to complete stop.

Aron then heaved out a sigh as his nails began to retract back to normal, making him lose the firm grip he once had so he could land on the ground below.

Not too far from where Aron was a loud noise was heard as Jagu made a vicious landing, never once slowing down the speed of his descent. Once the dust cloud his crash had caused cleared, Jagu could be seen standing without a single scratch.

Aron saw this and almost commented but then his attention turned to the other contestants as they were close to making their descent.

Jin had actually sped up his descent and lodged his sword in the bark of a thick tree just as Aron had intended to do, only Jin's large sword had actually remained lodged into the bark, hence stopping his rapid descent.

Not far behind him was Scarlett who had removed the strange metallic rope like item around her hand and fired it at a thick looking tree branch. The metallic rope fried from her hand at a frightening speed before wrapping itself around the branch. From there Scarlett simply swung to the ground.

"Well that was a bloody fucking rush". Scarlett commented in a displeased manner as she retracted her metallic rope in a quick moment before looking up at the approaching contestants left.

Sharla had quickly stuck out her hands forward and began to chant in an echoey voice as a green light began to emanate from her figure.

Lucas and Oxin who were close to her got caught in the light she was emanating and found their descent had slowed down massively. The light took the shape of a sphere roughly fifty meters in radius. To everyone below,

the sphere was slowly descending like a leaf in the air.

Slightly further up from the sphere, Hinako and Evanora where also making a rapid descent.

"Do you have a way to land safely?" Hinako turned to ask Evanora in a curious manner but Evanora only maintained her sleepy looking expression and pointed upwards.

"The moon." She replied before going silent.

"Tsk. Brace yourself." Hinako muttered before reaching out to hold Evanora by the shoulder.

'Daisan Nome.' Hinako declared mentally and almost instantly her eyes became crimson red with strange symbols appearing where her pupil would be.

The symbols continued to change in both eyes for a few seconds before finally stopping on two. The very instant the symbols stopped changing, a shroud of black smoke engulfed both Evanora and Hinako before vanishing from the skies entirely, only for it to reappear on the ground not too far from Aron and Mirai.

"That damn airship is still approaching, just how badly do they want us dead." Scarlett walked over to the clearing Aron and Mirai stood at and pointed upwards in an irritated tone.

"If they aren't willing to stop till we're dead then what do we do, try to out run them or hide?" Mirai let out a sigh and asked in a concerned manner but Aron shook his head.

"No, we turn the tables on them." Aron replied before looking up at the airship with a smirk.

"I don't like you human, but I do like your way of thinking" Jagu bared an excited smile that showed his many sharp fangs after hearing Aron's statement.

"Beating up aristocrats while their people watch them over magic projection in countless regions? Count me in contestant 10." Jin held his large sword over his shoulder as he slowly approaching Aron with a smile on his face.

"Good you're all excited, because I have a plan" Scarlett spoke up with a sly smile as she looked at Aron, Jagu and Jin.