Chapter 181: Not a cloud

Chapter 181: Not a cloud

On our way back from the hole, everyone is surprisingly quiet, deep in their own thoughts. Learning about how deep that hole was, I also start to watch our surroundings more carefully.

The mountains that surround us are all terribly tall. Yet there is something that I do realize: they are a bit weirdly shaped. I can't exactly point it out, but something feels off about them, and now that I look, they start feeling off more and more.

"Maybe we should leave a bit sooner than expected. I or Maya can carry Lily. I know she probably won't like it, but this place starts feeling off," Tess says, echoing my thoughts.

"Yes, let's do it," I agree with her. "I will check where we should go."

I split from the group and generate enough kinetic energy to push myself higher. Unlike before, it's much smoother now, and I lift off quickly yet somewhat stably. It's like I am applying a constant push instead of the short thrusts of energy that I used before. I continue to send more and more energy under me, and it starts getting colder the higher I am, so I turn some of that energy into thermal energy to keep myself warm.

The day is quite clear, so I can see a great distance. When I feel that I am high enough, I stop pushing and instead focus on keeping myself floating at a single spot.

There are mountains as far as I can see. In one direction, there is more snow; most of the mountains are totally covered in snow. On the opposite side, the mountains are getting smaller and smaller.

I spend a bit more time looking and then land back near the others, finding them with my [Perception]. "I think this is the way we should go, but I didn't see far enough. Can you check it?" I gesture the direction to Tess.

"I won't be able to get myself that high; you will have to help me," Tess shakes her head and puts her hand on my shoulder.

I put my arm around her waist and pull her closer. "Ready?"

She nods, and I push us up in the air, this time generating a bit more heat for Tess as well.

When we are high enough, I start keeping us afloat. "I have to say, the view is amazing," Tess says and collects some mana in her eyes. [Farsight] activates, and she carefully looks around. It takes her around one minute, and then she taps my shoulder. "We can go back."

When we land again, I let go of her. "So?"

"I think you were right; there seem to be fewer mountains, and they are smaller that way and there are also some plains far in the distance. So let's grab the others and start moving there. But Nat, we will have to rely on you to keep us from freezing in case it gets worse. I don't think Isabella will be able to keep her skill running so long, and some of us don't have high physical stats to endure that."

"I will be nice enough and do it, so no worries, Tess," I then look at Izzy. "Who is the better fire user now?" I poke at the little girl.

"You are just a radiator! My flames are much better!" Isabella fights back, but it's no use. I know the truth.

Even though I do it in a super janky way and waste more mana than she does, it doesn't matter with my reserves.N0v3lRealm was the platform where this chapter was initially revealed on N0v3l.B1n.

The best fire user in group 4 is me!

Or at least until Biscuit learns that plenty of food tastes better cooked and learns how to use fire skills as well.

To move as quickly as possible, Min-Jae lowers our weight with [Gravity Well]. Afterward, he and Tess try to keep the group from splitting apart as others either know how to lower their defenses and let Min-Jae and Tess use skills on them, or they just hold onto people who can do it.

Meanwhile, I'm the engine, and the blonde woman and young boy hold onto me while I continue to generate enough energy to move us through the air.

Dennis says it's the most ghetto thing he's seen since the start of the tutorial, and I can't help but agree with him.

At first, they stand on their legs and bend their bodies slightly, shooting yellowish mana from their bottoms at us. The attack is seemingly organized; all the ants attack at once.

I move us away from the first attack, and Tess uses her [Psychokinesis] to push away the projectiles that are about to hit us.

Then I notice a few ants turning and starting to attack their own, and I realize that Sophie has already started working, and her attack does surprisingly well.

At first, the ants ignore their own tearing them apart, biting off their legs, or shooting yellowish acid-like substances at them, so multiple ants die. But then, with movements that feel full of anger, they turn against ants controlled by Sophie and attack them, ignoring any attack that lands on them and even ignoring us. They literally tear apart the four ants Sophie took control of, and when they turn back to us, they seem angrier than before.

I continue to focus on avoiding attacks and flying us higher and away from them while others deal with defense or with attacks on them. High in the air, the attacks become much less dangerous, and after a while, I feel others calm down slightly.

Then flying ants come at us, only a dozen of them but each even bigger than the ones from before. The only difference, other than size, is that they seem a lot thinner and have massive wings that flicker at immense speed.

Min-Jae's small projectiles shoot toward the monsters, and I even feel that he is trying to increase their weight with his skill, but they are hard to hit. Even Biscuit helps by creating a single, long purple mana tentacle that attacks the ants' wings, successfully causing some damage. I can also sense him sending telepathic messages to the ants. Hopefully, he's not asking them for food but perhaps calling them assholes.

Tess's javelin, filled with red and white lightning, pierces through the air and one of the ants; then it flies back and kills another one while returning. At the same moment, two of the ants turn around and start attacking their own, while even Isabella's blue flames blaze up and hit the closest ant which is immediately set ablaze and starts falling down while burning and twitching, covered in blue flames.

Another javelin trailed by lightning flies, and one more ant dies. Just a few more seconds and they are dealt with, their dead bodies falling to the ground.

"Nat, can you go faster?" Tess asks.

Huh, who does she think I am? I'm still limiting the speed we are moving at to not make them vomit all over me. Our current speed is nothing.

"Yes, that is not a problem. Why?" I ask her.

To that, Tess points toward a dark cloud far behind from where we came. Hmm, what's with that?

I turn to her and she still solemnly continues to point there, "Not a cloud," she says.

Huh? I look again at the not-a-cloud thing and notice that it's moving weirdly.

Oh, I see.

My heart thumps wildly and I use more energy to move us away from that. From thousands and thousands of flying ants that darken the sky and head right toward where we are.

I ignore screaming; I even ignore Maya's unladylike throwing up as I continue to move us between the mountains and sometimes changing the direction a bit to avoid smaller groups of flying giant ants.

It takes us an hour to get rid of the goddamn ants, and it's good because I already start feeling my mana depleting to dangerous levels. The amount of maneuvering and my lack of experience lead to inefficient use of kinetic energy for flying. Then, I have to spend additional mana to create more energy while also heating the area around us and using mana arms to hold others, which is quite draining.

It's nice training, of course, and it became a bit more fun when others stopped screaming every time we almost crashed against something.

But at last, the ants stop following us and stay in the mountains or anthills or however, I should call them. The ants stopped right after we reached the plains. They just sit there right before the plains and continue looking toward us soundlessly while snapping their mandibles and moving around angrily.

Yeah, screw you too. It's dead certain I will be back