Familiar Scenery

'Wait that tombstone looks familiar…'

Near the far corner of the picture Luocha was showing, the image of a torn down tombstone can be seen still standing amidst the long vegetation it had around it.

Despite a few bits of stone shaved off the edge and the faded little inscriptions it had engraved on its surface. The structure had a strong resemblance to the tombstone he saw when he saw the record on Solarian's true origin.

'Let me double check.'

Yuuto recalled the memory and after comparing the two images in his head, he was certain that it was really the 'wishing' tombstone from that time.

"I guess something must have clicked for you."

Luocha noticed the shift in expression Yuuto had and waited patiently to see if his observation was correct.

"I might have a clue but I need to see it in person to be sure."

"I understand. How about you Miss Jingliu? Anything familiar about the inscription surrounding the house?" Luocha turned to Jingliu who was still quietly staring at the picture.

"I may also be incorrect but I'm pretty sure this is an inscription for some sort of barrier."

"A barrier… I guess something like that makes much more sense since walking closer to the house they were hiding in created a repulsion force preventing me from entering." 

"If they placed something like that then they must be on their final legs. Since an item like this is usually made by the Holy Celestine Nest in a very limited manner."

Jingliu briefly spoke about her knowledge about the barrier that the Wingweaver made to prevent Luocha from approaching closer.

The master of the Holy Celestine Nest or Wingperor as named by the Wingweavers, is the leader that rules their species to thrive and nurture all those below them.

They send out a series of trained personnel to plunder other planets to help nurture their own world tree.

Muldrasil

During their plundering expeditions there is bound to be some trouble they may experience. 

So one of the ways they can help lessen the damage this may cause is to provide protective talismans that can aid them whenever an emergency may arise during one of their trips. 

These can range from creating an abundance forest that will hide them, to creating a limited space that can apply horrible symptoms that will be incurable due to it being a blessing from the Aeon Yaoshi. 

But this is only given to trusted leaders who swear to only use them for critical situations.

"Show me the area where this barrier is and I'll see if it's one that I know of."

Jingliu turned her face away from the phone screen and lightly spoke to Luocha who was trying to recall where the area was.

'She's pretty knowledgeable.'

Yuuto looked at Jingliu in a new light seeing her speak so fluently on the item she saw on the screen and really felt like the mara she's been experiencing really made a difference on how she thinks.

"Will you also be coming along?"

"Yeah, I also want to see if my hunch is correct."

Luocha who posed the question nodded and scanned the area behind him before dashing off to his left where Yuuto and Jingliu followed right behind him.

A dense forest continuously passed by Yuuto as he ran at top speed trying to match the two. As he continued to run he felt a familiar feeling rise with each step he took.

'A tree with a large curve… we would probably turn right here and eventually reach a river.'

As if reading his mind Luocha turned right and exited the canopy of trees, Yuuto walked on some rocks before eventually reaching a spot where the rocks connected itself to a long flowing river.

Seeing the scenery he remembered in the memory he unveiled before, felt surreal after recognizing it in actual real life.

"Watch out since the river here has some pretty strong currents."

Luocha created a few green branches and jumped onto them to cross the raging river sweeping right under him.

Jingliu didn't say a word but jumped up gracefully, using her natural leg strength to reach the other side.

Yuuto followed along and used some moonlight to wrap his legs in a faint silver light, increasing his movement and aided him in reaching the other side with no issue.

They once again entered the lush array of trees and walked upwards on a narrow dirt path.

The three reached an area where a broken down house can be seen alongside some other structures.

"They're hiding in that house over there."

Yuuto and Jingliu looked over towards the area Luocha was pointing at and saw a transparent green barrier shrouding the broken down house.

Although faintly, they were able to see some movement through the windows before a face looked right through.

"Oh, they're looking at us righ–"

–VOOOSH

Before Yuuto could finish his words, a large gust of dust spread out from beside him as someone jumped towards the window.

Jingliu didn't spare a single second and swung her large sword at the house to destroy its very structure.

A large accumulation of moonlight was wrapped around her sword and with each strike created a large ripple that ripped through the air around her.

–BOOOOM

But despite her ferocious display of attacks the transparent barrier covering the house blocked all her attacks and pushed her backwards.

The repelling force threw JIngliu back into the air and she landed right in front of Yuuto and Luocha who watched quietly after seeing her initiative to rush the house.

"She's pretty amazing to start attacking the barrier without sparing a single second."

"Miss Jingliu certainly is the type of person to follow that type of approach when faced with something like this." 

"Oh, she's attacking again."

The peanut gallery continued to watch Jingliu continue her assault and after seeing that her attacks did nothing to the barrier, she dissolved the sword she had and returned back to them.

"I think I know what type of barrier they're using."

"Huh. You actually discovered something?"

"Of course I did? I wanted to see how my attacks would react to the barrier and it narrowed down the possibility to quite a decent amount."

"So that's what you were doing…"

"Why did you think I was using my sword then?"

"Feeling bloodthirsty for the Wingweavers inside?"

"I'm not someone who would just attack without a thought."

Yuuto had an indescribable expression when he heard her say something like this and couldn't help but remember the state of the other Wingweaver they encountered prior to meeting Luocha.

"What's with that look?"

Jingliu raised her brow when she noticed the stare Yuuto was giving her and wondered if she said anything strange to elicit a reaction like that.

"I guess you can count this as some sort of progress with her mara…"

Yuuto didn't respond and whispered his thoughts before he moved on and left Jingliu oddly dissatisfied with his reaction.

"Do you mind telling us what type of barrier you think it is?"

Luocha pulled the conversation back onto the right track and inquired Jingliu on her discoveries during her 'attacks' to probe out what barrier they used.

"It's an absorption type barrier where all external force is transferred over to another source to store the 'energy' that is inflicted onto the protective membrane."

"So the way to disable this is to…"

"Either overload it with attacks or find the source that's storing all that energy and cut the connection off."

Jingliu voiced the possibilities which made Luocha think deeply.

"I think overloading may not be the best choice right now. Since I find the possibility of them using this barrier to not hide but to…"

"Buy time to escape somewhere."

Jingliu nodded as her prediction matched with the way the Wingweavers reacted similarly to the past. 

As the two were discussing, Yuuto scanned the area and continuously matched possible identifiers that confirmed that this area was indeed where Solar made her wish.

He looked around and noticed that beyond the window Jingliu had attacked were a few faces peeking through which made him curious to what they were doing.

Their anxious eyes calmed down when they saw that the attacks stopped and at the same time one other person smiled victoriously, noticing that they were fine despite the flurry of attacks they experienced. 

'Ah, one of them is looking here.'

Yuuto thought as he didn't spare one last glance at them and turned his eyes back towards the surrounding area he was in.

–SWOOOSH

–CLINK

However as he turned his eyes away for a few seconds he quickly manifested his sword and sliced at the object that felt rapidly approaching him.

"A wooden spear?" 

Yuuto saw the pieces of wood floating in the air and turned his eyes back at the window which he thought was the only possibility that this object would come out of.

His eyes connected with one Wingweaver who looked displeased that his attack failed before showing an arrogant smile when he noticed that Yuuto was looking at him.

He raised his thumb and slit his throat through a gesture as if showing that he would hit his mark next time. 

"This bastard."

Yuuto's lips trembled when he saw this before he gave an equally vicious smile back.

He waited until the Wingweaver looked at him before he mouthed a few words back at him.

The Wingweaver stood completely still before he began to wave his arm around as if to jump out of the window and attack him directly.

"You better try harder next time."

Yuuto let out a small chuckle seeing that his words reached his opponent and felt satisfied seeing his reaction.

"What happened?"

Jingliu and Luocha rushed towards Yuuto after hearing the sound of him slicing an object and saw that a few Wingweavers inside the house were a bit agitated which further increased their confusion.

"It was nothing. Just a few…jokes were exchanged. Anyways, did you find a way to get through this barrier?"

Yuuto chuckled and turned his attention away after seeing the Wingweaver's reaction one last time and questioned the two.

After hearing about the two possibilities they had come up with, Yuuto crossed his arms and tapped this arm before he asked a question of his own. 

"Is there a way to find where this source is?"

"The source is always hidden in a place where it can siphon energy continuously to help support its structure but…" 

Luocha paused before he closed his eyes and felt the accumulation of energy in the area.

"It seems like it may be a bit harder to find since this place oddly has an abundance of energy floating in the area. If we can find the point where this energy is the most concentrated then we may locate it faster considering the way it absorbed Miss Jingliu's attacks."

"Most concentrated you say…"

Yuuto's eyes wandered to one particular area and felt like it wouldn't hurt to check. 

"There might be one area we can check."

***

"Did they leave?"

"I saw them run outwards so they might be circling around the area."

Inside the house, protected by the barrier were a few humanoid creatures with large wings cautiously looking out the window.

They gave a few relieved sighs seeing that the three left but their eyes wandered towards one corner where a man was mumbling profanities under his breath. 

"What did that person even say to him to make him act like that?"

One of them whispered to his partner and the two of them looked at the man who looked like all the blood in his body rushed towards his head.

"Judging by the way he was yelling earlier, it was something along the lines of 'Your mom and sister were easier to handle compared to that throw…'"

"That piece of shi—!!"

Once he uttered the words he heard, the person in question began to yell remembering the smirk that human had when he uttered those words to him.

He reluctantly stopped himself when he noticed that a taller Wingweaver sent him an empty stare that sent chills down his spine.

His imposing stature overshadowed most of the other people in the room with him but another feature he had made it clear that he was the leader among them.

Two pairs of white feathered wings.

"Enough. Just focus on supplying the branch with the lingering energy around us so we can warp out of here."

Feeling the pressure behind his words, all the Wingweavers inside began to focus, allowing for a deep green hue to spread towards a growing branch in the center of the room.

The leader took in the silence as he thought back to all that happened during the past few days and felt his head throb thinking about the impending consequences he was about to face.

"That damn woman and merchant."

He gritted his teeth and balled up his fist containing his wave of frustration and anger within him.

"It's fine. Once I go back and regain some of my forces I'll issue a bounty onto them."

Organizing his thoughts, he felt like this would be a plausible idea and a vicious smile appeared on his lips eager to return faster than ever.

"How long until the branch grows large enough for us to warp to the other branch we placed on the other planet?"

"Judging by the amount of surrounding energy, it will probably take us five more minutes."

"Great, keep on guiding the energy and we'll be out of here."

The man walked out of the room leaving those words and a collective sigh of relief came out of everyone.

"He must have been on edge considering the damage that red eyed women did to our camps on this planet…"

"Who wouldn't? If that monster ravaged a bunch of areas you took pride in growing, I wouldn't imagine what he's keeping inside to stay that collected."

"He's probably thinking of ways to rip that woman into pieces..."

They all began to chatter seeing that the elephant in the room left and relaxed themselves seeing that the branch was growing bigger and bigger.

"The boss really found a good place to grow the branch…" One of them said seeing the branch glow a deep green with each passing second.

"There must have been a vein here or something since energy like this is only created by large deposits or by other objects that are similar."

"I wonder if there's some materials we could mine if the possibility of a vein really is here…"

They thought about the riches they would receive if the possibility that a vein was under them was true and a hint of greed flashed through their eyes.

"I would rather not. What if we disrupt the energy and cause the barrier protecting us to disappear."

"It will be fine. You already saw how it completely blocked that crazy woman's sword, so unless it completely shuts down we'll be fine~."

One Wingweaver waved his hand as he had complete faith in the barrier and ushered any doubts to be non-existent after seeing its properties in action just prior. 

–CREAK

"Ah! Leader, what's wrong?"

Hearing the door crack open, all the people in the room turned their attention to the person who opened the door and noticed that it was the leader who just left a few minutes ago.

"...."

"Is something wrong?"

One person who was near the door saw that he wasn't saying anything and began to wonder if there was something off with him.

–THUD

To their shock, their leader who they saw leave the room just minutes prior, fell straight to the ground in a growing pool of his own blood.

Beyond the door frame of the room, they saw the figures of a few people that made the hair on their neck rise in dreadful fear.

"Hello~"