Chapter 46

"I just want to get this straight in case there's another Sophia that I don't know about. You are referring to the cyclops that fought Cyzicus to a standstill a hundred years ago, correct?"

The same one you told me would kill people for wandering in her territory and told me to avoid.

"Yes," Nel said, flying back onto the griffin. Before Luke had a chance to change his mind, she patted her familiar twice on the back, and suddenly they were more than a hundred feet in the air, cutting through the wind with unreasonable speed. The earth beneath them contracted rapidly as they blitzed over it.

A sinking feeling in his core came and left in an instant as they climbed to their final altitude.

"It's quiet," Luke said, blinking slowly. Surprise bloomed as he realized that he couldn't feel any wind on his face.

This is so much better than a shield and rug. He grinned softly, leaning over the side slightly and surprised to see they were already above water.

The capital must have been on the river's bank, just like most of the other towns.

"Of course it is." She scratched the griffin's neck. "She's manipulating the wind."

"Oh. How?"

Nel shrugged her shoulders. "Animals cultivate differently than humans. Especially those that can trace their bloodline to divine creatures like Aura. And she's in the Warrior tier." She grinned proudly.

"She's descendant from a god?"

Nel looked at Luke oddly. "Well, an eagle and a lion can't have babies when they're in the Mortal tier. As for her"—she shrugged—"I don't know for sure if she has divine ancestry, but I think it's likely. Whichever creature sired her line wouldn't be weak, though."

"What tier do you have to be to have kids with a different species?" Luke asked curiously, only to blush a moment later when he heard Jax snicker in amusement and Nel cough awkwardly.

I shouldn't have asked that.

"I'm not interested in that—I was just wondering," he tried to clarify.

Jax burst into laughter.

"What did Gramps want us to tell Sophia?" Rex asked, saving him from further embarrassment.

"He wants her help," she answered flatly.

"To fight the Rebel? That seems unlike him," he mused. "He's always so—" He gestured vaguely.

"He is." She nodded. "He wants her to power the teleportation altars while he puts an end to the Rebel once and for all."

"You think he stands a chance? He's … old," Rex said reluctantly.

She tensed. "He does," she answered, but even Luke could tell that she was uncertain. "She's worried that Grandfather may ascend to the next tier soon. If he does, then there is no hope for her victory."

But according to her own words, he needs something to get there—a prize from the Olympics. So at the very least, he's six months away from that happening, assuming the tournament doesn't go on for longer. Even then, it's up to chance. If the people he puts in don't win, then he's likely to stay stuck. Maybe. So the Rebel probably thinks he has a decent chance.

"Will the cyclops care about Cyzicus ascending?" Luke asked. "Aren't they delaying their battle until one of them grows stronger than the other? If that's the case, why would she help?"

"I—I don't know. Grandfather seemed confident that she would agree, but we'll find out once we get there. If not, then … I don't know," she admitted.

It doesn't make sense. Luke frowned. Sure, it would stop the Rebel from taking the throne as easily if there's another hero powering the altars, and it would add an obstacle to her path, but that would only matter if Cyzicus lost. Does he expect to lose?

No. That doesn't make sense. Why go into a battle that you expect to lose?

She did kill her grandson, so it could be a pride thing. The way he provokes Arke, that would even make sense, but Arke can't retaliate for whatever reason. Would he be as gung-ho about it if there was an actual chance that he would lose? Would he really risk the lives of everyone who depends on him, because he was provoked?

He scratched his cheek. I just don't know enough. But that seems unlikely. The fact that he's sending us out already means he has a plan.

"Where is she, anyway?" Jax asked from his spot at the very back of the griffin.

Nel's storage ring flashed, and a scroll appeared in her hand. Then, floating into the air, she turned around so that she was face-to-face with Luke.

"All right." She unfurled it, spreading it over their mount's back. "Here's the plan."

Luke felt some shuffling behind him and, craning his neck, saw that both Jax and Rex had climbed to their feet and were crouching side by side over his shoulder.

Aren't they afraid that they're going to fall to their deaths?

"According to Grandfather, Sophia built her forge here." She tapped her finger on the northeast end of the island. "We're here." She pointed at the western edge of the island, to a spot just south of the river that cut through it. "And Sixra is here." She rested her finger on a dot across the river, a good way inland.

It's a bit of a detour, but not crazy. The negative distance is minimal.

"Jax, we will drop you off at Sixra and then head straight to her domain. After I drop you off, you're on your own. We don't have time to linger, and we don't have the resources to help. I'd suggest that you take your family somewhere out of the way and keep your ear out for any news." She hesitated, her mouth opening before snapping shut. "In case Grandfather does lose, you should take your family and head here." She tapped a spot along the island's coast. "Once the situation with Arke is resolved, you should be able to charter passage to a different island. It will keep you safe from any reprisal."

"Right. Thank you!" He bowed, his bald scalp grazing Luke's back.

"Take this." Her ring flashed again, and the map disappeared. She had replaced it with a talisman. "It's part of a set. If it burns, that means that I tore my half and the Rebel won."

He took a deep breath, sighed, and bowed his head. "Thank you. May it never burn. I will not forget the favor you have shown me today."

"It's not a big deal. I understand wanting to look after your family." She smiled at him before floating an inch or so off her familiar's back and reorienting herself so she was looking ahead.

The next hour of the journey passed in silence.

Luke spent it adding one agonizing point of mana after the other into the ring. If it weren't for the fact that his Arcana stat had ticked up twice in that time, he would have been seriously tempted to throw the manasink into the river beneath them and never look at it again.

The headache the process caused just seemed to build and build, endlessly escalating, making the mere act of existing a painful chore.

It's basically free points and, more importantly, points I can earn safely. But this fucking sucks. What I wouldn't do for a nest of harpies right now. I can't believe how much I wasted that opportunity. And I fucked up with the tomb, too, I should have milked that place for everything it was worth. Progress there was good, but not what it could have been had I been a little greedier. I might have even reached the end of the Mortal tier if I didn't learn the techniques as fast as I did.

He pulled back his mana and took a deep breath, wanting to take the edge off the pain and release his frustration.

With the First Stances and some creativity, I could probably farm two or three hundred points from a single nest of harpies. If not more. I do that a handful of times, and I'll be at the peak of the Mortal tier in no time. The training isn't bad, but it's definitely suboptimal. With my sword, I could be making some serious progress, and without all the pain.

But points are points, and I can't be lazy. Not now, and not ever.

I'll have the chance to farm a massive number of them soon, so until then— He stared at the ring with disgust. I'll keep going. Every tiny scrap of strength will help me survive.

He sighed softly before closing his eyes, concentrating on his mana.

Half an hour later, a gust of wind ruffled his hair.

"OH SHI—" Nel yelled, and the next second, he was plummeting through the air.

Luke's eyes snapped open, and for a brief moment, he wished they had never had.

Holy fucking hell. What the fuck is that?

Hovering in the sky above the griffin was a massive, ugly, serpentlike thing. It had hundreds of bat-like wings arrayed in neat rows along its side, jutting out like the legs of a millipede. Its scales were a dark pink—the color of an open wound. At the tip of each wing were wicked ivory claws.

Nel summoned her spear from her ring, flew off the griffin, and charged the beast. Lightning arced along its silver shaft, ready for battle. Leaving Rex alone on her mount.

"Help!" Jax shouted, falling from the sky, the wind muffling his yell to a mere whisper. One that Luke heard. Angling himself forward, he hurtled through the sky toward him, eager to get away from the creature and more than happy to save a life.

Jax's eyes met his, and he stretched his arms wide in an effort to slow his descent.

Right. He saw me use my boots.

Luke caught up to Jax in seconds and latched on to his robe. Orienting himself so that his feet were perpendicular to the ground, he shot short pulses of mana into his boots to slow their fall. He was careful not to send too much lest his momentum lead to him injuring himself. His body was not yet strong enough to handle the strain from stopping from an extreme velocity to nothing without serious injury.

This is bad, Luke realized as soon as he grabbed Jax, calling up his status as he checked the state of his mana. I don't have enough for a proper landing. If I let us fall normally, until we're close to the ground, I might be able to make it, but the timing will need to be perfect. We're over water, but at this height a fall would kill us regardless, and without a boat, we'd drown once we fell in anyhow.

We're too far away from the shore to swim. Fuck.

He craned his neck and searched through the sky. His eyes locked onto the griffin in the distance. It was panicked and moving haphazardly in wide circles around them.

That's the only way, he realized. Pumping more and more mana into his boots, he slowed their fall to a crawl and yelled, "REXXXXX. OVER HERE!"

His knees aching, he stopped their fall and bounded through the air in giant leaps, racing toward Nel's steed.

Rex turned to face them and, after a brief glance, climbed to the front of the creature. He pointed desperately behind him in an attempt to make it see them. It ignored him.

Shit. Shit. Shit. We're gonna die.

"I got you!" Nel yelled, hurtling through the air toward the pair. Grabbing Luke, she whistled loudly and flung them toward the beast. The griffin turned in the sky and swept toward them, catching the pair gently on its back.

"Where is it?" Jax asked right away, drawing his sword from its sheath as he looked through the sky.

"I don't know. It just vanished," Rex said after a moment.

"What do you mean?" Luke frowned as he knelt on the griffin's back, clutching her fur tightly.

"One moment it was there, then Nel threw her spear at it, and then it vanished."

"That's good, right? Maybe it fell out of the sky!" Jax said.

"If it was gone, Nel would have come back," Rex argued, a worried frown on his face.

Nel suddenly stretched her arm back and launched her spear into a seemingly empty spot in the sky. Red mist exploded outward as her spear sank into something.

The air shimmered, and the serpent revealed itself.

"Did it just …" Jax trailed off.

"Yes," Rex said flatly.

Why can a snake fly and make itself invisible? This is bullshit.