Chapter 126: Team (4)

The atmosphere changed when Luke said that the reason was due to the soldiers' glare at Luke. Billy was their current leader, and they respected him, so it was only natural that they would feel pissed. Luke ignored them, though. As far as he was concerned, even if he wasn't a soldier, they were working together and they were on the same rank... if anything, they were below him since they couldn't do something that Luke could.

"All right, my bad," Billy said and then sighed. "I won't refer to your friend as a bird or a monster. Are you happy?"

Luke didn't answer. He just crossed his arms and raised his chin. He could sense the sarcasm in Billy's voice, so he didn't have to play along with it. That made things even awkward, but Billy decided to ignore it once again. His respect for Billy had dropped to zero... he wasn't the same friend of the family.

"Are you two fine with your roles?" Billy asked. "The mission will require you to keep the enemies busy for as long as possible until the subjects escape the monster's territory."

"Yes, but I think it would have been better if we had heard of that beforehand," Amanda said. "To get used to flying on her back and avoid problems that might happen."

"I agree," Celia nodded.

"My apologies, Colonel Frank said that I could only reveal about the plan when we were about to put it into motion," Billy said.

There was no more mistaking. Billy had become a complete lap dog for Frank. He assumed that things would be better for him that way for whatever reason. Maybe it was out of fear of the influence he had or the fact that his relationship with Luke had deteriorated after he failed time and time again in keeping his word. It was hard to imagine, even for Luke, why he would go try to gain favor from someone who tried to screw with the son of his best friend… Weirdly enough, Luke didn't see any difference between Mark and Billy. Maybe he was just tired of Luke and his behavior since he wasn't crazy enough to try to see things from someone else's perspective in a world filled with monsters and zombies. He only wanted to care about his family and his partners that never disappointed him, and those were basically Rina, Shalia, Arcnine, and Artiuno.

"Luke, I think you should use Magic Link on Amanda and let her attack with her crossbow," Amanda said. "Unlike your magic attacks, bolts have a larger range, and adding the effects of her bolts… few enemies will be able to approach us."

"Hmm… I was thinking of waiting for you two when we could use Magic Link among us, but will that take too much time?" Luke frowned.

"It might take a few months… it would be a waste to let that skill go unused for so long," Rina said. "Besides, you don't have to worry about selecting too many people. I doubt that you will trust ten or so people to share your man with."

Shalia didn't say anything, so at least that confirmed that she wasn't against the idea or had a better one. Still… Luke didn't feel like putting that much trust into Amanda. While everyone makes mistakes, she was particularly prone to make them by acting without thinking.

"The skill doesn't say anything about a way to cancel it… oh, well. I guess it is a risk we will have to accept," Luke said. "Hey, Amanda, give me your hand."

"... What for?" Amanda frowned. "And why so suddenly."

"I will grant you the power to use my mana. As long as we can see each other, you should be able to use it without limits," Luke explained. "We will have to rely on your skills to prevent the enemies from getting too close in the air. However, I will also be able to use yours if the need arises."

"That is some weird spell… to be honest, I don't feel comfortable in sharing my mana with you," Amanda said.

"The feeling is mutual, now shut up and let's get this over with," Luke said.

Amanda showed her hand, and Luke touched it. At the same time, the skill was activated. While both of them felt like their mana pool had gotten larger, they didn't feel anything else. Both of them felt relieved about that…

"Don't make me regret this," Luke said and then proceeded to prepare Artiuno.

"Which reminds me, do we know the monsters that we are going to face?" Celia asked.

"Apparently, they are monsters that resemble eagles, but most of their bodies are covered by feathers that are made of crystal," Billy said. "We didn't hear anything else."

That was good. As long as they weren't other Koriri, Luke could make Artiuno eat them… or Maybe he shouldn't since they were a species of bird. Nevertheless, they won't have time for that.

Around the time some noises began to echo inside the airplane, Luke and the others realized that it was time to move. The monsters were attacking the airplane, and while, for the time being, they weren't causing damage, it was only a matter of time… the back door of the airplane opened, and then Luke jumped on Artiuno's back.

"Hold the reins, but try to be gentle," Luke said while passing them to Amanda. "Use one hand to hold it and the other to use the crossbow. You do the same with the magic."

Celia would actually hold Amanda's waist to avoid problems. Usually, Luke had given up on the idea of using reins, but he was forced to think of them when he heard about the plan.

"...What if we fall?" Celia asked with a pale expression on her face.

"As long you aren't that close to the ground, Artiuno can grab you again," Luke replied. "Just focus on attacking the enemies because she will focus on recovering you two."