31 Unfamiliar Land

Loud crunching sounds could be heard as Professor Metal formed a large metal spear in front of her. It shot through the air straight towards James! It was moving too fast for him to even react. He saw scenes of his life flash before his eyes. His mother and father. The bullies at school. His acting in the drama club. Many different porn scenes on his computer. His master's hellish training. 'Is this how I die?'

*Boom!* The spear slammed into a golden barrier and exploded. The barrier's color faded until it was almost white. He looked around in confusion and saw a jade talisman in Virgil's hand releasing a bright gold light. "Fuck!" He yelled. "Do you know how much effort my dad put into making that talisman?!"

"Move!" She screamed as another spear formed above her.

"Aunty Metal! James yelled. "How is this my fault? I supported your marriage wholeheartedly, remember?!"

"I don't want to hear your excuses!" She launched another spear and the white barrier shattered apart, but the metal spear exploded as well.

Virgil shook his head and placed his hand on James shoulder. "There's no way to reason with an angry woman. We need to let her calm down first." He pulled another jade talisman from his interspatial ring. It was carved into a small square that could fit in the palm of a hand. This one had a black and silver rune on it that glowed brightly. He smiled towards Professor Metal. "I'd really prefer not to use this. I imagine you know how valuable it is."

"That's! Her eyes widened in shock. "How did you get a teleportation jade? I've never seen one in person before!"

"It was obtained as a present from my father's treasury. They're nearly impossible to find since the master that made them died over a thousand years ago. Are you really going to force me to use it? I think you can imagine how angry you'll make my father."

She hesitated for a moment before gritting her teeth. "You think I'm afraid of the king?!" She formed another spear and it shot forward. Virgil hurriedly crushed the talisman. A black and silver sphere covered him and James. The spear was torn to shreds as it crashed into it. The sphere slowly grew larger until it was several meters wide. Then it shrunk down to nothing in an instant. Neither of the two boys inside could be seen any longer.

…

A short distance away from the fight was a large muscular man sitting atop a bird. The bird was made of only bones, which made it a mystery of how it stayed in the air. The man wore a black pirate captains hat. His hair and beard were black, long, and scruffy. His body was covered by a shabby black cloak. He smiled as he watched the fight. 'The crazy woman actually made a move, huh?' He prepared to fly the bird forward as a black miasma spread from him. Several undead creatures appeared within the miasma.

"Eh?" He smiled. "Looks like the kid next to him has some nice treasures on him." He continued to watch as the barrier broke and the boy held a jade talisman. "Oh, wonder what that one does?" The sphere appeared and teleported the two boys. He watched with his eyes open wide in shock, "Was that a teleport talisman?! What a waste!" The black miasma returned to his body and he turned around to fly away. 'Looks like my junior apprentice brother didn't need my help after all. Well, we'll probably meet in the future anyways.' He flew the bird towards the sea.

…

James looked around in panic at his surroundings. He was surrounded by large trees and boulders. It was rather dark despite being midday. 'Am I in a forest?' He turned around and saw Virgil examining their surroundings as well. "Where are we?" He questioned.

"No clue." Virgil shook his head. "There aren't many records remaining about the teleport talismans. I didn't know where it would take us when I used it." He sat on the ground and sighed, "That thing was worth more than everything I own 100 times over. You really owe me for this one."

"Owe you?" He smiled. "I'll just call it even for the repeated engagements you forced on me."

"No way! I suffered through your master's training! That already makes us even for the engagements!"

"Eh? That wasn't punishment. It was a gift! What rank have you reached as a knight?"

"I've already reached the 2nd rank." Virgil replied. "He told me about the path to become a deity as well…"

"See! It was a gift, not a punishment. Therefore, neither of us owes each other now."

"Tsk. Shameless bastard. Whatever, let's figure out where we are." The two began to walk through the forest. Virgil slashed the underbrush blocking their way with his sword. James tried doing the same with his katar, but it didn't work very well. He ended up just following the path his friend made for them.

"Roar!" A 3-meter-tall tiger appeared in front of them. Its body was covered in orange flames. It glared at the two boys and crouched down to prepare to attack.

"It isn't that strong." Virgil replied calmly. "Probably a 3rd grade dire-beast. We should be able to handle it if we work together." He pulled another sword out from his interspatial ring. He covered one sword in a silver aura and the other in a red aura. Lightning appeared underneath his feet as he flashed forward at an incredible speed! He appeared on the opposite side of the tiger and lunged forward with both swords. The tiger dodged backwards towards James.

James covered himself in his shadow silk armor. He shot a large number of threads to try binding the tiger, but they quickly melted away. He ran forward and slashed with his katar blades. The tiger easily jumped to the side and dodged it. It glared at the two boys as it slowly backed away from them. They felt unease as they watched it back away. "Is it leaving just like that?"

*Swoosh!* A loud sound rang out as a fireball shot through the air towards them. Both their eyes widened in surprise as they dodged to the side. "It's a magic-beast! Not a dire-beast!" The forest caught on fire and the flames began to spread.

'Damn!' James ground his teeth. "This is disadvantageous to me. My threads don't do well in fire. I can't even use them for movement. Should we run away? No, that thing is definitely faster than me.' He turned to look at his friend. The flames didn't seem to bother him at all.

"Yale." Virgil looked at him and sighed, "Please forgive me for what I'm about to do."

'Eh? Is he going to abandon me? He could outrun me… No need to outrun the tiger when you can just outrun your friend. Wait, no. He wouldn't do that. He already sacrificed that valuable talisman for me. Why is he apologizing then?'

Lightning appeared under Virgil's feet once more. Two large flames shot out from his shoulders. They looked like flames that jet out from airplanes. The lightning and flames boosted him forward as he ran towards his friend. He grabbed him princess style as he ran away. He easily jumped from tree to tree as he bypassed the undergrowth. The tiger was left in the dust as they traveled several miles away as fast as possible.

"Huff! Huff!" He breathed deeply as the lightning and fire faded away. Sweat covered his body as it trembled from exhaustion. He looked down towards the man in his arms and smiled, "I'm pretty fast right? I've focused entirely on speed."

"Yes. Very fast." He nodded, "Can you let me down now?"

"Sure." He nodded and let go. James fell to the ground with a thud.

"Hey! You could have just set me down gently!" He complained.

"Eh? I don't really want to treat a man gently though. I already carried you like a princess. Are you still not satisfied?"

"That's not what I meant!" James sighed. "So why did you apologize beforehand? I thought you might leave me behind for a second there."

"Eh?" Virgil shook his head. "I wouldn't do that to a friend. I apologized because I carried you like a woman." He began laughing, "You even blushed like a woman as I carried you! I should have set you up with Adam after all!"

"Like hell I did!" He yelled. "The flames made my face turn red! Stop bullshitting!"

"Sure. Sure. Whatever you say princess."

"You!"

"Roar!" They heard another growl and looked around in panic but saw nothing nearby. They watched in silence for nearly an hour as their muscles were tensed and ready to react to anything. Occasionally they could hear some bird chirps, beast growls, and other odd noises.

Virgil frowned, "I think I know where we are."

"Eh? Really? Where are we?"

He replied in a solemn voice. "This should be the Magic-beast Mountain range."

"…Are you sure?" James questioned.

"Yes. And it appears we're quite deep within it to." He sighed, "It's going to be a long time before we make it home. That is, if we even make it back alive."

"Damn… What should we do now?"

"We should start with finding a somewhat safe base. Then we'll begin planning our next moves."

The two started to head towards a large mountain they saw in the distance. The Magic-beast Mountains were a series of mountains, valleys, and rivers that stretched across the entire center of the continent. They were currently located in a valley that consisted of a large forest. They traveled until night fell, but the nearest mountain was still quite far away.

"We can't keep traveling through the night." Virgil turned towards James. "We'll have to setup base in the trees for the night. It won't be very safe. There's a high chance some beasts will find us as they hunt tonight."

James nodded, "All we can do is be as prepared as possible." They chose a group of tall trees that were clustered together. Each tree was over 5 meters thick and 50 meters tall. They climbed near the top of one.

"I'm going to use my shadow threads as a warning system and camouflage." He began to shoot shadow threads towards the nearby branches. They slowly accumulated as he created a giant web connected to his arms. It hid them within the darkness and would warn him if anything happened to the webs.

The two slowly fell asleep. Early in the morning. James felt something tugging at his wrist. He sat up and yelled, "Something's coming!" Virgil hurriedly got up as well and pulled out his two swords. The two moved near each other and took up a combat stance.

The shaking grew greater and greater. He could feel the threads snapping from his arm. His eyes widened as he saw the magic-beast in front of them. "Snekky?!" His pet void snake was happily munching on the shadow threads like they were the most delicious thing in the world. The two stared in shock as the gluttonous snake ate all the shadow threads surrounding them. When it finished, the snake returned to James and wrapped itself around his wrist.

"So… your pet eats shadow threads?" Virgil questioned.

"I guess so…"

"What did you feed it before now?"

"I tried feeding it milk and it refused. I also tried feeding it meat and food I ate, but it still refused. It sometimes left on its own, so I figured it was going to find its own food…"

"I see. Well, let's get started for the day. We should be able to reach the mountain and setup camp in a cave."

"Right." He nodded.

The two began traveling through the forest again. They no longer traveled in the underbrush. They kicked off from tree to tree. Neither one made any mistakes in their steps along the way. 'To think master's training would come in so useful here. This is way easier than jumping from those poles surrounded by bees.' As the trees shifted past them he began to reminisce on his previous life. 'Is this how the ninja on TV felt? It's pretty fun!'

They soon reached the base of the mountain. It towered higher than the clouds that surrounded it. They began to search for the place they would use as their temporary home.