NOVPUBGwen pressed the radio button on her collar. "General, we can see Mur from up here."
The continent was in front of them, below, to be precise. Its massive landmass was partially obscured by clouds. The plane kept its altitude outside the atmosphere, where no thaid could reach them, but that didn’t make the group feel safer.
Becker’s voice came through the radio. "Remember your goal. Find Erik and provide help. If he needs extraction, set up the signal repeater in a suitable location and send the signal. Erik and his Chimaeric Demons can fly—you’ll board the plane mid-flight, but you will have a short amount of time before the flying thaids spot you, and I wish that won’t happen."
"Understood, sir." Gwen turned to her companions and the 100 Chimaeric Demons that volunteered to join the mission. They all sat strapped in their seats, equipment checked and double-checked.
"Is everyone ready?"
The interior of the plane hummed with the sound of the engine pumping and burning fuel. Their gear lay secured around them—parachutes, oxygen tanks, and their weapons of choosing, plus some other things Becker’s team prepared. The pod with their supplies waited in the cargo hold, programmed to follow their descent path.
"Ready as we’ll ever be," Floyd said, adjusting his oxygen mask. His usual grin peeked through the mask.
Martha nodded, her eyes set on the continent below. Ben, Mikey, and the Chimaeric Demons checked one last time their parachutes, while Allan checked their communication devices. Aron remained silent. It was clear he wasn’t sure this was a good idea. However, despite him feeling scared, he still wanted to help his friends.
But it wasn’t just that. Saying that it wasn’t because Erik might give everyone new brain crystal powers would be a lie.
Everyone wanted to get stronger, and in their war against the blackguards and their minions, they saw how having multiple brain crystal powers helped them survive in a battle.
Sure, they were heading to the most dangerous place on the planet to do that, but since there were many goals to achieve, among which was to help Erik, it was worth it.
"Remember," Gwen said, "We deploy the chutes only when close to the ground. Opening them too early makes us targets for flying thaids, and it’s not like we are like the ancient humans. Our bodies can take some punishment. Keep your oxygen flowing until we hit breathable atmosphere. The pods will track our position and land near us. Questions?"
The team remained silent, having practiced this procedure countless times in simulations. The plane’s red light flashed. Time to jump.
Gwen stood first, moving to the rear hatch. The others followed, forming a line. The hatch opened, revealing the curve of the planet below.
At this height, the air was as thin as it was brutally cold. Ice crystals floated around them, refracting the sunlight into dozens of rainbow halos that surrounded the team as they fell.
One by one, they jumped, embracing the void. Their suits protected them from the extreme cold, but there was nothing they could do against flying thaids, so they needed to get their asses below the trees as fast as possible.
The Mur grew larger as they got down, its land becoming clearer—vast forests, mountain ranges, and bodies of water were there in all their magnificent and harrowing grandeur.
The group kept close to each other as they fell through the sky. Behind them, the supply pod followed their path down.
As they pierced through the upper atmosphere, the air grew thicker. Their suits automatically adjusted to the changing pressure. The ground rushed up to meet them, details sharpening with each passing second.
"Look at that," Floyd’s voice came through their radios, pointing at something below.
A massive tree rose from in the middle of the forest, not too far from the shores, a couple of kilometers at best. Its trunk was wider than any building in New Alexandria and much larger than any tree in this cursed land, which weren’t small to begin with.
That thing looked like a giant umbrella.
"Erik’s work," Gwen said. "Amber mentioned his knack for creating giant trees. She said he used them as landmarks and shelters."
That was a pretty clear hint about Erik and his situation. "If he even made a shelter," Aaron said, "he shouldn’t be in a difficult situation."
"Depends on how you define a difficult situation. He might be alive, but with no clones, he might have trouble hunting the monster and might be trapped inside the tree… We need to check."
"Let’s hope things are not like we think…"
As they got closer to the land, they couldn’t stop thinking. It was hard to believe they were the first humans to reach this place after centuries.
"Well, besides the blackguards, of course," a clone said.
"They don’t count," Floyd said. "Those scum are about as human as my grandmother’s pet rock—and trust me, that rock had more personality."
"Focus," Gwen said. "We are approaching the ground. Prepare for chute deployment."
The forest got closer and closer. At Gwen’s signal, everyone deployed their parachutes. The sudden deceleration jerked them upward; their descent got slowed down a lot, and that was in itself dangerous.
Since they knew nothing about the thaids in the area, how strong they were, what powers they had, and their anxiety spiked.
In the end, they landed in a small clearing near the massive tree, a couple of hundred meters from it. The pods landed some moments later. The group quickly gathered their equipment, scanning the surroundings for threats.
Just by landing, they could already say the air here was different from Mannard. It had something wild and fresh in it, much more than in any forest on the human-controlled continent.
They could hear noises coming from deep in the forest, and no one wanted to stay long enough to find out what made them.
However, at least the tree covered them from Flying thaids, at least partially.
"We need to move," Gwen said. "We need to find somewhere less exposed and investigate the tree."
The team picked up their supplies from the pod and started moving, walking along the huge tree roots, which made natural paths through the forest.
The surrounding forest was like nothing they’d ever seen before. Strange metal-like plants made soft ringing sounds in the wind, and some flowers gave off glowing lights.
"This place has massive amounts of mana." Allan would have never thought to reach this place of legends during his life.
"Don’t chitchat," Gwen said. "Do I need to remind you even Solomon Judd died here?"
That made them shut up and focus on their tasks.
They found a safe spot between several big tree roots where they could hide. It was a good place—they could see danger coming and had several ways to escape if needed.
