Chapter 248: Unfathomable Scale

Chapter 248: Unfathomable Scale

Late Morning - Early Winter : Northeastern Bahamut

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"Uwahh..." I let out a groggy yawn as I slowly turned to stretch my incredibly stiff body. "Ugh..." It hadn't even been 24 hours, but my body made me think I had overslept by a couple weeks.

As I looked down though, I understood why. -I grew again?- It was only by about half a meter, but there was a noticeable difference in the shape of my scales, which were much more jagged compared to the rounded scales I had grown used to, and my horns, which grew slightly longer and had a bit more texture than before. -I wonder if Father and Krystallo will even recognize me at this point...-

But as I laid my head back down and idly thought about it, Ilios finally woke up and shifted over to lick my face. *lick-lick-lick* "Haha... Good morning, buddy..."

He was in an unusually good mood that morning, but while I wasn't sure why, I wasn't complaining. -Maybe its a sign that today will be a good day...-

A smile slowly crept onto my face as my self-doubt faded before I finally decided to get up with another stretch. "Mmmm... Alright..." -Let's see if I can find that so-called ancient wreckage in a timely manner...-

Finally turning off the rune and making my way outside, I was immediately met with the odd looks of several maids, but paid them no mind and made my way down the hallway with Ilios on my back.

Thankfully, after sleeping on the accumulation rune, my reserve was around 10% full, so I had some aura to work with and had no issue finding Grandmother.

But as I approached her room, I noticed just how calm and smooth her aura was. -Ah.. she's asleep... Uh... That might be a problem...-

My original plan was to wake up and explain a manipulated version of last night's events to her, explaining that I got into a fight with Erpo and that I wasn't injured and such, but now I couldn't do that. -I don't have time to wait for her to wake up either...-

Quickly finding a passing maid, I motioned her over.

"What is it, my Lord?"

-'My lord'?- I was slightly taken aback for a moment before assuming I just misheard her. "Could you bring me a piece of paper and something to write with?"

"Right away." She gave me a deep bow before running over and handing her things to the supervising butler walking down the hall.

He wore a confused look for a moment, but as he noticed me looking at him, he simply smiled and continued on as if nothing had happened. -What is up with them today...-

I slowly sank into thought as I floated toward the rune before eventually having Ilios snap me out of my thoughts. *tap* -Hm?- Finally looking around and noticing I was passing the temple rune, I reoriented myself with the other runes and started making my way toward where I assumed the Holy Kingdom to be.

Thankfully, it wasn't hard to find once I got closer, as the mountains were very easily visible from my approach. -Those things are massive...- With a conservative estimate, the mountains were at least 40-50 kilometers tall and spread over an absolutely colossal area.

I silently gulped down a bit of anxiety as I started to worry about whether I could find the wreckage before finally approaching the glowing peaks.

"Hooh..." -Alright...- Quickly taking a moment to inspect the mountain range, I found where I believed the edge of the glow was and moved a decent bit away from it. -I should be around 10 kilometers to the side of the peak...-

Ten kilometers gave me a ton of headroom. *vwoop* But for whatever reason, when I created the gate, the anxiety I felt in my stomach worsened.

As I released the gate, I assumed it was simply because I was worried about finding the wreckage in time, but I quickly found that not to be the case.

*crraaCCCKKLLEE-BANG* An insane amount of pressure slammed into my body before instantly being released with a bang.

-WHAT THE?!- *WHAM* Instantly spreading my wings to try and catch myself, I felt them get driven into stone before the gate dissipated to reveal the large, dimly lit hole I caught myself in.

Before doing anything, I checked to make sure Ilios was alright, but I barely had time for it before the entire area below my wings broke off. *CRACKLE-FWWOOOOOOSH*

The next thing I knew, I was in free fall, riding a hunk of stone down the side of a horrifically steep cliff that was completely shrouded in fog, but thankfully I managed to calm down quite quickly. -Holy sh*t that could have been bad...-

Finally spreading my wings again, the huge section of the cliff that broke off disappeared in the fog beneath me, and I glided out into the cloudy space away from the snowy cliff face.

But it was only a few seconds later, after I started questioning what I did wrong, that I realized I still hadn't heard the massive stone slab hit the ground yet. -Wait a minute.. no part of the mountain near where I wanted to come out was this steep...-

The possibility that I embedded myself in the edge of the mountain peak ceased instantly. -The glow.. must have only shown the core of the mountain then...-

As I looked down, I tried to listen for the sound of the stone slab hitting the ground, and sure enough, after several more seconds, I heard it. *crackle*

But the noise sounded so distant that it made my eyes go wide. -How.. big is this mountain?-