The rhythmic sound of hoofbeats pierced through the hazy red mist.
The carriage galloped wildly along the open road, drawing glances from the few pedestrians on the side.
High in the sky behind them, six heteromorphs, looking like stitched together monstrosities, soared past while carrying their pursuers. Yet, the pedestrians acted as if they saw nothing, their gazes following only the speeding carriage.
On the carriage, the husband whipped the horses mercilessly, while the wife held her daughter tightly, her eyes closed as she let out intermittent screams. Little Nara, huddled in her mother's arms, also kept her eyes shut, though she left a tiny slit open, curiously observing the strange uncle beside them.
Lynch stood on the moving carriage, facing the pursuers behind. He had already returned his pistol to its holster and was clutching an old piece of parchment.
It was the one the noble lady had shoved into his hands when it was decided that Lynch would attempt to decipher the mystery document while Miss Valente provided security, her reasoning being that it didn't matter who carried it.
However, this was not the No. 4 parchment he had used twice already, but a No. 3 he had never seen before. Mostly because the No. 4 had just been used on the beach yesterday and hadn't had time to be re-infused with power, so he had to switch to No. 3.
Lynch was curious about how many of these the girl had stockpiled in her home, and if she intended to crush her enemies to death with various rank six abilities. But facing that familiar folding fan, Lynch put his curiosity away.
He hadn't expected it to actually come in handy.
Although he didn't want to forge a blood feud, the other party was pressing in step by step, so Lynch stopped retreating. Let them come; did they really think he was afraid of them?
Following Miss Valente's instructions, Lynch cut his finger and smeared his blood onto the parchment. The parchment immediately acted like a greedy beast, sucking at the blood on his fingertip with desperate intensity.
The next moment, countless complex pieces of information flowed directly back into Lynch's consciousness through the blood. His fingers moved naturally, writing symbols on the parchment that even he could barely understand.
The pursuing monster girl had already brought her black clad subordinates back to the air above the carriage, a malicious grin on her pretty face. After a series of shrill screeches in the air, her mount suddenly gained altitude, preparing for its third dive.
Just then, Lynch's hand, which had been drawing in the void, paused. His wrist flicked, and he turned his palm upward toward the sky.
Then, he clenched his fist sharply, making a gesture as if pulling something down from above.
【Authority, Earth, Ability, Embrace of the Earth.】
A rank six ability, Embrace of the Earth, also known as: Gravity Spell.
The pursuers in the sky had not yet realized what was happening. They only had time to let out a single scream before they, along with their subordinates and mounts, were smashed toward the ground at an abnormally high speed.
With a series of thunderous booms, several massive bodies slammed heavily into the ground, creating large pits in the solid stone road and sending up clouds of dust. In the craters, the pursuers and their mounts struggled desperately as if glued to the pits, but they were unable to break free from the earth's hold.
The carriage continued to speed away, quickly leaving the craters on the road behind. Lynch tipped his hat, bowed slightly toward the retreating pursuers, and waved his hat in farewell.
So, acting cocky gets you struck by lightning. Why did you insist on flying? Don't you know the truth that the higher you fly, the harder you fall?
"Don't stop, keep going. I don't know how long I can keep them controlled."
Lynch let out a long breath and sat back down on the chair, only to find the little girl hiding in her mother's arms, her two curious eyes blinking as she stared at the parchment in his hand.
Let me tell you, I've seen plenty of brats, I've even got one at home. Don't think for a second you'll make me lower my guard.
Ignoring Nara's look of disappointment, Lynch tucked the parchment back into his pocket and rode off with the carriage, leaving the scene of the incident behind.
To avoid having their carriage recognized, the four of them committed another crime, forcing a train to stop and hijacking it to speed toward the outskirts of the city.
The city was not large, and they soon escaped the densely built city center.
Only then did Lynch realize that this city was quite eerie. Beyond the city center were the outskirts, and there was no such thing as a suburb, let alone professions like farmers.
Because there was no need for them.
There were no crops, no wild animals; the world was lonely and monotonous.
Everyone knew that a normal environment should have these things, and they also knew their city lacked them, but they always considered this to be absolutely normal. Even though Luke had been babbling to many people about how eerie these things were for the past few days, these people still couldn't understand what was wrong, even with Luke's hints, just like Luke's family before they woke up.
Waking up was the greatest torture. When Luke talked about these things, Lynch could hear the remorse filled in his tone. This man seemed to have finally realized that his momentary pursuit of excitement had led him and his family onto a journey with no way back.
But did regret and apologies even have any meaning now?
Clara just lowered her head and held her daughter, making the atmosphere in the carriage feel increasingly stifling. Soon, the vehicle drove into the edge of the city amidst the oppressive silence.
The sound of a horse's whinny broke the silence, and the nag suddenly reared up, jumping forward a few steps before coming to a halt.
For a moment, the breathing of all four of them quickened, and they stared blankly at the scene before them.
The red mist outside the city was growing thicker. The rolling fog was like a physical wall, blocking the carriage's path. Eerie whispers drifted out from the red mist, faint and indistinct, yet impossible to ignore.
There was no moon or stars, nor were there gas streetlights. In the thick fog, it was impossible to see anything at all. The couple seemed terrified of the permeating red mist, and even though they were still a distance away, their breathing was shallow and their expressions tense, their bodies leaning back instinctively.
"Even during the day, the fog is much thicker than in the city, but we can barely see the road, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to go on our picnic."
Luke's voice was trembling.
"So it was always like this before?" Lynch stared at the mist, frowning in thought.
"Yes, that's how it was when we came last time."
As he spoke, Luke looked at Clara for confirmation, and she nodded while holding her daughter tightly. Instead, little Nara answered in a crisp voice:
"Papa is right."
"Then what about before that? Has anything changed?"
"Before?" Luke was suddenly stunned, blinking blankly. "I, I..."
"You couldn't have never come to the city outskirts before, could you? Madam Clara, you haven't either?"
"It seems so." Luke's wife answered timidly. "I don't think I've ever heard of anyone going outside the city for no reason."
Lynch suddenly realized there was a major problem: "If you've never left the city, then when you dreamed of that scenery, why did you think it was so exceptionally beautiful? And most importantly, why were you able to know the location? You shouldn't have ever seen it before, right?"
Luke was left speechless, staring at his wife without being able to say a word. Their daughter looked even more confused; clearly, the family of three had never considered this question.
"Sigh, so what you saw in your dreams, you at least know that, right?"
"It was just a lush green field, with no end in sight."
"And flowers, so many flowers, more than I saw when Mom and Dad took me to the park. It was so pretty."
With such thick blood red mist, there was a place full of flowers inside? The more he thought about it, the more eerie it felt, but the key was that they actually dared to go.
Forget it, they probably weren't in their right minds at the time, so he couldn't be too critical.
"Oh, right, there was a statue in the middle of that lawn." Little Nara suddenly remembered and said enthusiastically, "A very, very beautiful big sister. It felt warm to touch, very comfortable."
You actually reached out and touched it! Are all the brats in the world this terrifying?
Lynch sighed and pressed further: "Then can you still find that place?"
At this, all three of them nodded affirmatively, and Luke even pointed in a direction.
This was even more abnormal, but Lynch gritted his teeth, took out several Torches of Light, activated them, and stuffed one into each of their hands. The beams of light emitted by the crystals were quite strong, and they managed to barely pierce through the fog, allowing them to see a little of the surroundings.
On the ground was bare gravel; there wasn't a shadow of a plant to be seen, only a small path extending into the distance, disappearing deep into the thick fog.
In such an eerie environment, if he dared to go in, he would truly have wasted years of watching horror movies. But thinking of the pursuers behind him, as well as his own worsening contamination, Lynch didn't dare to delay. He only wanted to figure out the truth of this place as soon as possible. He certainly couldn't count on the monster girl; figuring out the true environment might be his only way to escape.
Lynch looked at the red mist all around, then looked up at the red moon in the sky, and suddenly his heart stirred.
"You guys, can you see the moon in the sky?"
"Moon? What's that?"
"No, nothing."
Lynch understood why he couldn't see the red moon when he first entered. It seemed that the red moon of this world only rose within his own heart.
That made things easier.
'Neighbor, you've always been there. Even in the fog, I can see you. You'll point the way for me, right?'
【Hmm.】
'Can I go in?'
【...】
'Then let's change the question. You don't object to me going in, do you?'
【...Pfft, hmm.】
Then what was there to be afraid of? Let's go, neighbor.
"Lead the way, Luke."
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