Death… And Me

Thery saw that Arcis and the others were heading toward a different airplane from the ones they had arrived in. He obviously remembered how excited Flugel had looked when Rean mentioned his airplane earlier, so he couldn’t help but ask, "So you are all using that airplane? I’ll be using my own with my companions and will follow you right behind."

Rean stopped for a moment, his eyes landing on the airplane Thery had used to arrive. "The JG-Ultra Light V4, huh? I’ve seen this model in the network before. I recommend that Friend Thery put it away and come inside my own airplane instead."

Thery glanced at Rean’s aircraft before shaking his head. "That’s not necessary. I’ll keep up with you. Besides, I would feel more comfortable using my own airplane, and it also gives my companions and me a little more privacy. If you are worried about our ability to react to danger, there is no need. I’ll stay close enough to provide support whenever necessary."

Rean scratched the back of his head. He wanted to insist a little more, but seeing Thery’s expression, he already knew that it would be useless.

"I see..." Rean sighed. "Then please make sure not to fall behind, friend."

Soon afterward, he entered his own airplane, where everyone else was already waiting.

Lukay looked at him and asked, "Shouldn’t you have tried to convince them a little more?"

Rean immediately shook his head. "There is nothing like experience. Rather than waste time trying to explain everything, it is much easier to let them see things for themselves."

Kentucky laughed. "Hahaha! I give them three days."

Celis snorted. "Three? You are being generous."

"Hahaha!" Rean could only laugh in response. "Let’s wait and see."

Not long afterward, the airplanes took off and headed northwest once again. At first, Rean maintained a comfortable cruising speed, and Thery’s airplane followed closely behind without any trouble. However, that situation didn’t last very long.

—

-Friend Thery, we are about to leave the Sacred Relic’s area of influence. I’m going to accelerate and activate the concealing arrays.-

Thery heard the message through the communication system of his airplane and immediately answered, "Very well. Please go ahead. I have your signal locked on our radar, and we also possess our own concealment methods. They might not be especially useful against the natural perception of the Godly Creatures, but they are still better than nothing."

-Very well.-

Rean then activated the Light Bending Array, causing his entire airplane to disappear from sight.

Surprisingly, Thery’s airplane vanished as well.

Rean wasn’t surprised by that development, though. That was the Thousand Script Race, and he made sure to learn more about them. His Light Bending Arrays used a different method of concealing the airplane, but that didn’t mean there weren’t other methods. The Natak Region’s airplanes also had their own methods developed by themselves.

Even so, Thery quickly noticed that there was a problem.

"Hm?" Thery watched as Rean’s airplane accelerated farther and farther ahead, eventually surpassing the maximum speed his own airplane could maintain under ordinary conditions.

Haniala folded her arms. "He must think we’re poor. Does he really believe we don’t have enough Godly Crystals to fuel our engines?"

Thery narrowed his eyes as he observed the distant airplane. Judging by the speed, Rean was undoubtedly using Godly Crystals to sustain the thrusters. Otherwise, such performance would simply be impossible.

"Forget it," Thery said after a moment of thought. "Once they realize that we also have sufficient reserves, they’ll return to a more reasonable speed. Let’s simply keep following them."

Soon afterward, he activated the higher output mode of his airplane and inserted several Godly Beast Crystals into the system. Although Godly Predator Crystals would have provided even more power, the thrusters were not designed to endure such a burden. Beast Crystals were already close to the safe limit.

Thus, the pursuit continued.

One day passed.

Then another.

Soon, a third day went by as well.

By the fourth day, dark expressions could be seen on the faces of Thery, Haniala, and Sison. Maintaining such incredible speeds for so long had consumed hundreds of Godly Beast Crystals. Natak had indeed provided them with considerable reserves, but no one had expected such ridiculous consumption rates.

Haniala looked increasingly annoyed. "How much longer is he planning to continue this?"

Sison could only shake his head. "At this rate, we might exhaust our reserves before we even reach the fortress."

Thery remained silent for a long moment before finally sighing. "Let’s wait one more day."

Unfortunately for him, things didn’t improve at all.

By the fifth day, he could no longer endure it and immediately contacted Rean.

"Friend Rean," Thery began, trying to sound as calm as possible, "is there really a need to consume so many Godly Beast Crystals? We aren’t in such a hurry. We should save our resources in case we need them later."

On the other side of the call, Rean looked genuinely confused.

-Godly Beast Crystals? What is Friend Thery talking about? My airplane is operating solely with the surrounding Celestial Energy. I haven’t used a single crystal.-

The three members of the Thousand-Script Race froze.

"What?!" Haniala exclaimed.

"Impossible!" Sison blurted out.

Thery himself was even more shocked. "How can you possibly fly at the speed of a Peak Stage Aura God using only the surrounding Celestial Energy?"

Rean scratched the back of his head.

-Actually... I’m already going pretty slowly. My airplane can maintain a speed comparable to that of an Initial Stage Zone God without consuming any crystals at all.-

Thery felt as if he had just heard the greatest nonsense in his entire life.

"You must be joking."

Rean shook his head.

-Friend Thery, your race is famous for its achievements in arrays and runes, isn’t it? Surely you have seen the new Celestial Thruster designs shared by Besgol during the weekly transmissions. Is this really so difficult to believe?-

The expressions of the three Thousand-Script cultivators immediately became rather awkward.

The Thousand-Script Race possessed many admirable qualities.

Humility was not one of them.

Ever since ancient times, their race had been regarded as one of the greatest authorities on arrays, inscriptions, runes, and formations. Most of the airplane designs used throughout the surrounding regions had originally come from Natak. Even those that hadn’t been designed there had usually been created by regions that possessed Thousand-Script Race Array Masters.

Under those circumstances, how could they possibly believe that a region without a single member of their race had managed to surpass them?

As a result, they had completely ignored the reports sent from Besgol.

-Friend Thery, are you alright?-

Thery finally returned to his senses.

"Ah! Yes! Of course!" he hurriedly answered. "The designs... yes, I remember hearing about them. I simply haven’t had the opportunity to examine them yet. I’ve been rather busy."

Rean smiled.

-Then it can’t be helped. Anyway, please make sure to keep up. Once we complete an entire week of travel, I’ll increase our speed even further. It becomes more dangerous the deeper we go into the Godly Creatures’ Territories, so remaining exposed for too long isn’t a good idea. Well then, I’ll end the call now.-

"Wait!" Thery quickly interrupted him.

-Yes?-

Thery coughed awkwardly.

"Ahem... after hearing all of this, I must admit that I have become quite interested in these new designs. Would Friend Rean mind allowing us to board your airplane instead? I would very much like to study the modifications personally."

Naturally, Thery did his best to conceal the true reason behind his request. Their airplane simply couldn’t continue like this forever. Even if the thrusters survived, their stockpile of crystals certainly wouldn’t.

Rean, however, merely smiled.

-Oh! Absolutely! Cooperation between regions is extremely important for everyone’s survival. Please come aboard, Friend Thery, Haniala, and Sison. I would also be delighted to explain the concepts behind these new designs. In fact, I recently completed several improvements specifically for this expedition, so I would appreciate hearing your thoughts about them.-

"G-Good!" Thery sighed in relief. "Then let’s stop for a moment."

-Before that,- Rean suddenly interrupted, his expression turning serious, -I believe we’d better deal with the Godly Predator that has been following us for the past several minutes.-

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