Chapter 109: Chapter 109: Islands

“Rocks. Don't you all just love rocks? Sometimes smooth, sometimes rough, their texture is a delight. I just adore the various shades of gray, light gray, and fucking dark gray!”

The great and mighty [Hero] sneers. With a short exhale, he twists his arm and waist, unleashing a punch that slams into the smooth gray rock wall of the tunnel.

“Ughhhhh, that fucking hurt!” he groans as he flicks his hand out with a bit of blood falling away.

The rest of the group, confused, stare at Quasi, trying to understand exactly why he just punched the tunnel wall.

“What? I’m sick and tired of this goddamn tunnel. We’ve been traveling through it forever.”

Jessica raises an eyebrow. “It’s barely been an hour.”

Quasi perks up and quickly points at her, “The passing of time is but a perspective, Jessica. When you're having fun, time travels too quickly, but when you're goddamn worried and have to make a decision, then time takes a shit in the backseat of a long-ass car ride.”

The [Hero] shakes his head in exasperation. “A really stinky piece of shit. Smelliest you will smell. Utterly horrible.”

Jessica, Alba, and the Gejan look to one another, trying to see if anyone else understands what he said. Nobody seems to, except maybe Darrow who is nodding along like a deep truth of the nature of the world has been uttered.

“Your explanation lacks understandable imagery and incorrectly applies hyperbole.”

“Nope. Shut it, Mule. I don't want to hear your logical poopoo. I am a properly illogical human and I have every right to act illogically.”

Jessica sighs and shakes her head, “What's wrong? You're usually not this… weird. What's bothering you?”

Quasi folds his arms and looks away, trying to look at something other than her questioning glare.

Then his eyes stop on Peter who has only barely started regrowing his lost fur. Apparently, the weaver had not gained enough distance from the flaming explosion that killed the boss and aboleth. As a result, his fur had been completely burned off, along with a great deal of his skin.

Skin can be [Healed], not hair or fur. It must slowly grow back.

Peter glares at Quasi, giving the [Necromancer] a look promising eternal pain and damnation.

“Riiiggghhhhtttt. Well, maybe I am a little salty.”

“You punched a stone with enough force to shatter scale and bone,” Aldonis says with a slight smile.

Quasi quickly points at Aldonis, ready to retort and say You don't understand my problem, but stops when he realizes that the Gejan probably does.

“Right. Well, I'm pissed off,” Quasi begins walking again down the tunnel, heading towards the next floor again. “I’ve just gotten the ability to get a new, upgraded class. And I have been given options. So many various optional classes I can currently obtain.”

With a thought, the class options reveal themselves with a short description of the class benefits.

Why? Why is it so blatantly vague? Give me some goddamn numbers! What do I get? What are the skills? Why is this so stupid?

“I have six vague options for the classes I can obtain, but I feel like they all suck or I can already do practically everything already. I think, if I had leveled my other classes first to at least the second tier, I would have better options.”

Aldonis and Orlan look at each other. Both had gotten their third-tier class and were faced with choices similar to Quasi.

“So, just wait then. You don't have to choose now.” Orlan says.

Quasi opens his mouth to retort but stops as he considers the words. He blinks.

“Are you shitting me? I can actually fucking wait?”

Orlan nods, “Yes. I was in a similar situation. I got my [Grand Lancer] class to level two hundred, but my [Gejan Guard] class was only ninety-five at the time. So I waited and trained a bit. Eventually, I obtained the [Guardian] class and then consolidated both classes into [Dragoon Archlancer] once it was available.”

Quasi’s mouth opens and closes like a fish out of water. The thought that he could just wait had never actually crossed the [Hero’s] mind. He had been summoned over twenty times, had over nine thousand years of experience, and yet the simple idea of being patient eluded him.

He frowns.

“Goddammit,” he says as he looks at his bleeding fist, and then to Jessica as she attempts to hide a smile.

_____________________________________

In the hours after the small kerfuffle, the group made good progress traveling towards the next floor. The whole ordeal was made better thanks to an uplifting song Quasi played on a flute as they marched down the boring stone tunnel.

The music stops as a rush of fresh air passes through the tunnel. It’s strong enough to cause the [Heroes] robe to flutter.

“Well, I think we’re close, and I have a feeling of what kind of floor we will be going to.”

Ten minutes later and the group exits the tunnel and is immediately hit by buffeting wind.

“Eir, guide me.” Jessica is the first to speak as they quickly look at the scenery.

From above, a light shines down from what is probably another crystal fixture in the roof of the cavern, illuminating a sea of clouds with countless islands floating above them. Ropes and bridges connect the verdant isles of floating earth.. Birds sporting various bright colors flit between titanic trees.

The group stands on a ledge at the edge of the floor with nothing but a simple rope bridge connecting to the nearest island, below their current elevation.

“Floating islands. That’s… Well, that’s new.” Quasi exclaims as he walks forward to the edge of the ledge. He then looks down and chokes.

Peering down, the hero can see the bottom of the floor between the clouds. Below is a boiling red sea of lava. The [Hero] finds his eyes drawn to look beneath the islands, noticing large, purple, glowing roots covering the bottom of the floating chunks of earth.

[Advanced Analyze]

“Huh. Magic plants can apparently do magic shit.”

The [Hero] then moves to the rope bridge, looking over it with a trained eye. He frowns.

“This is old… but very well made.”

His hand then touches the rope, squeezing, and feeling it. His eyes widened.

“This is dense. Ridiculously dense.”

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He begins grabbing different parts of the bridge meticulously, caressing it with a careful hand. Stroking the rope and feeling its inner working.

Jessica’s face turns red as he continues to assess the rope, turning redder as the [Hero] moves down and licks it.

Once Quasi seems satisfied with his investigation, he stands up and looks at the others. The men look confused while the women are red-faced. Jessica and Thorous are covering their mouths while Alba is drooling.

Quasi taps the bridge. “This rope is not actually rope, but some sort of living vine or root. I think this might be the result of some form of [Druid] magic. The construction is well done and it should be safe to cross. Let's go.”

Quasi steps onto the bridge first and the others follow behind in a line. Mule hovers above them while his disks float around them as a protective measure. Joker slips past everyone and moves to the front. They arrive at the island without facing any issues.

“I think a civilization lives here or lived,” Quasi exclaims as he points at a rock covered in green algae.

“What do yo-oh,”

Jessica stops talking as Quasi wipes the algae off, revealing an image carved into the rock of a humanoid with feathers covering their body and a beaked head. What catches Jessica’s attention is the staff in the creature’s hand.

“Interesting. Looks like a humanoid bird. They might have been able to fly.”

“Look,” Alba points towards the ground. Beneath their feet are square stone tiles that form a path leading deeper into the undergrowth. They’re old and deteriorated from what they had once been, as shown by the many cracks and overgrowth covering them.

“Let’s go then,” Quasi says as he orders Joker back to the front.

The undead extends his two shoulder blades and cuts through the foliage as he walks forward, carving out a path deeper into the jungle of the island.

After a long and arduous journey, they eventually arrive at the island’s center. Upon seeing it, they are stunned by the sight.

Broken and destroyed houses and buildings of stone and wood have long since succumbed to nature. Their ruins litter the surrounding area for a mile around. What they have found is a long-abandoned and destroyed village, once populated by an intelligent species.

________________________________________

Looking through the many structures, I find the architecture of these bird people impressive. It is the bird people, as many more images made in their likeness have been found. The stone of the buildings isn’t a single homogeneous substance but cobblestone. I can see where there may have once been wooden structures, but they’ve long since decayed and crumbled.

With a shift in focus, I check the island for both the living and the dead. My range reaches across the whole island but I don’t find anything humanoid.

“Let's take a look,” I say, walking deeper into the destroyed village. The others follow and spread out. Nothing truly dangerous seems to be near us. Small animals and monsters, mostly birds, which don’t seem a threat, are all that are nearby. I continue farther in, checking the insides of the homes, finding old stone furniture that is similar to something that humans would use.

I trek onwards until I come across an impressive sight. At the center of the town stands a tree surrounded by a small pool of water. Upon the surface of the pond are pads rising up from the bottom. I frown as I smell an odd sweet smell coming from the water. I move towards it, but stop before I cast [Advanced Analyse].

I chuckle at the impressive plant monster. It creates water for larger animals but also feeds on smaller animals that are too dumb to realize it’s a trap.

“RRREEEEEEAAAAAAAAARRRRRR!”

A high pitched screech sounds in the distance before I feel a large blast of mana. I turn towards the origin of sound and send out a pulse of my dark mana, only for it to be overwhelmed.

“Commander, what is that noise?” Darrow shouts as he and the rest of the group converge on my location.

I smile.

“I have no idea. Let's find out!”

A few minutes pass as we leave the village and enter the jungle, where the volume of the monstrous screams increases, and the sounds of a battle become apparent.

We finally arrive at the top of a cliff. Looking down, I see a battle is ensuing between what look like dragons. One large white dragon bares its teeth at three smaller red dragons as it positions its body between a smaller, bleeding white dragon and two even smaller, clearly infant dragons.

Behind the trio of scarlet dragons is another red(?) dragon that looks as though someone took a sword and attempted to cut every square inch of its entire body.

“[Advanced Analyze]”

I activate my skill several times as I look at the levels of those involved.

Oh. Not dragons. Wyverns, then. I wonder if they’re related? They probably are. Maybe some kind of bastardized spawn or something with dragon genes.

I watch as the three [Blaze Wyverns] open their mouths and release jets of fire at the [Cyclone Wyvern], only to hit a barrier of wind as I sense a potent release of magic. The [Blaze Wyverns] slowly stalk towards the [Cyclone Wyvern] while breathing fire.

Hands grab my arm. I turn to find the source and see a worried Alba. The [Beastmistress] looks at me with distress and points towards the [Cyclone Wyvern].

“Please help her. She’s been weakened from giving birth.”

My gaze swerves back towards what I now realize are newborns. What I first thought to be white scales is just a sheen of wyvern vernix.

Oh, that explains a lot…

“Orlan, Thorous, Aldonis, Darrow. Take those three out”

Thorous and Darrow immediately jump off the cliff, land on the ground below, and rush quickly towards one of the [Blaze wyverns].

Orlan jumps dozens of meters into the air and plummets down on a second target.

Aldonis’ body begins to flicker as he rushes forwards so fast that his body looks like it’s teleporting short distances as he engages the third.

With a thought, I give Joker a command. He accelerates quickly into the battlefield, avoids the three front line [Blaze Wyverns], and rushes the injured one. The injured [Blaze Wyvern] raises its head. Noticing the threat, it opens its mouth, and dies as Joker’s back blade flickers forwards and slices through the wyvern’s eye and into its brain.

Orlan’s aim is true as he uses one of his skills, [Sky Piercer], which accelerates him faster than gravity and gives his lance a glow. The wyvern has only a moment to look up before Orlan strikes the wyvern’s back and blows through its chest. The sheer force of the strike had not only destroyed the spine but had torn apart enough nerves to kill the wyvern outright.

Aldonis quickly reaches his target, but unlike Orlan, he lacks powerful penetrative skills. Instead, the [Flickering Blademaster] dances around the wyvern with his impressive speed while his sword slices through scale and into flesh. The wyvern attempts to counter-attack, but only hits Aldonis’ afterimages. It thrashes in futile attempts at reprise as the elusive Gejan bleeds it from a thousand cuts. Eventually, the wyvern can do naught more than collapse in a pool of its own blood and viscera. Aldonis, once finished, flicks the blood off his sword, and turns towards the last combatant. He pauses.

“Hah! is that all you got? Your flame is pitiful!” Darrow taunts the [Blaze Wyvern] as it shoots fire directly at the level 172 [Guardian Captain]. Darrow takes the attack with ease. His stats, armor, passive defensive skills, and innate fire resistance make the attack nearly useless. While he tanks the attack, Thorous is on the wyvern’s back, her two blades slashing through scales and creating wounds. She had already sliced the wings apart, grounding the wyvern and denying it escape.

Eventually, the last [Blaze Wyvern] falls dead. Then, everyone turns to the [Cyclone Wyvern] who stares at them with a clear intelligence within its eyes. Its gaze moves up, directly towards Quasi. Its eyes glow as it opens its mouth and releases mana.

“Thank you.”

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