Chapter 467: Burnt Mountain
Chapter 467: Burnt Mountain
Godfrey looked at his surroundings. He was no longer in Shibuya, no longer hemmed in by towering buildings on both sides of the street, but on a hill. There was a path made due to several people walking through the same place, and that path led down to a half-burnt and completely abandoned town several dozen feet below.
The water wheel still spun, the wooden bridges made of hand-carved planks were still there. Godfrey couldn’t really speculate, but he knew he had stepped into ancient Japan, a pocket world made by the mana tree.
He heard a soft growl and the sound of neighing, forcing him to turn back. His eyes settled on Ken and Ema.
Ken sat atop his summon’s horse. A three-headed thin black horse with a silvery-white mane and tail. It looked like the messenger of death given form.
Beside him was Ema, who was also scanning the horse with intrigue. She leaned on her bear, one hand supporting her chin as her bear walked slowly.
"Tracker," Godfrey said.
Ema glanced at him. "I remember I told you my name is Ema." She clicked her tongue and gently tapped her bear.
It began to sniff and walk around.
Godfrey tilted his head. He didn’t understand how this worked. Seeing his puzzled and expectant face and Ken’s eyes always following her, Ema decided to speak up.
"Yoru’s innate skill allows him to see what he smells, and he can track anything for over a hundred miles. However, that wouldn’t have made me the best tracker in Japan, so we pushed ourselves and learnt an Adaptive skill that allows him to smell mana, and mana has signatures."
Yoru, the black bear, began to walk down the hill. Ema smirked. "I’ve trained him to always focus on the strongest and most powerful one. He also knows how to handle complex mana signatures and can link them to the main one. One sniff, and my boy here can track anything to the ends of the depths of hell."
Yoru suddenly growled.
"You found it. Good boy." She caressed the bear’s head and pecked it before facing the others. "Alright, boys. We’re good to go. I’ll lead you straight to this boss."
"How fast can your bear run?" Godfrey inquired.
"Yoru is a good runner, and he has quite the stamina. There’s a reason we force our summons to adapt," Ema responded, then crossed her arms.
"I heard you said no trucks, so where’s your own ride?"
A portal flared up beside Godfrey, and Solstice walked out. He knew Solstice would not be pleased to carry others on his back, but as long as they could keep up, then they should be able to get to the boss faster than the first team.
"Is he going to ride the back of his knight?" Ema lifted an eyebrow. She wouldn’t judge. As a freelancing summoner, she had seen a lot of stuff, most of it absurd, but if the knight could run, then it was fine.
But before her very eyes, a massive fog billowed out of Solstice, engulfing the entire place. A deep growl made her eardrums tremble, and the fog dissipated rather quickly, revealing a regal golden dragon whose two spiral horns aimed for the sky.
Billows of golden waves started from behind his horns all the way down his long scaly neck to his shoulders.
Solstice’s size as a dragon made their summons look really small. Ema blinked several times, then turned to Ken like she expected an explanation from him.
Godfrey climbed and sat on the sun dragon’s back. "Can your bear lead us in his claws?"
His question made Ema’s eyes widen.
Her facial reaction was all Godfrey needed to know the answer would be a no, so he held onto Solstice as the massive dragon took a few steps and spread out his vast wings, blocking Ken and Ema from the sun.
As they rode, Ema would look at the dragon that cast a shadow over them. Then she turned to Ken.
"I thought he was some humble king!" Ema shouted. The wind was quite fierce because of their speed, and a softly spoken word would never reach Ken’s ears.
Ken tilted his head toward her. "We ride under his shade. Isn’t that better than facing the heat for several hours straight?"
"Tch!" Ema clicked her tongue as she closed her eyes and scratched her head with one hand. ’I can’t be with this boy.’
Yoru bared his fangs at Ken while they ran side by side. Seeing this, Ema spoke up quickly. "No, Yoru. It’s not his fault."
Then she smiled. "He can be overprotective." she explained.
Ken snorted, forcing Ema’s eyes to widen.
’Don’t be petty. He’s just a kid. Don’t be petty, he’s just a kid. He’s a kid, Ema, get it together.’ She recited in her head, only for Ken to glance at her from the corner of his right eye.
"Focus."
That one word threw Ema off. "I’ve had it with a little brat acting like what he’s not!" She steered her bear right toward Ken to collide with him, but his steed leaped over her.
Ema stared in disbelief as Ken flew above her and pulled the reins, forcing his horse to stop.
"You don’t want the wrath of a Samurai because of his horse."
Ema exhaled in rage. Ken spoke like he was all high and mighty. His words were few, solemn, and incredibly annoying for someone like her.
She partied with freelancers. She had worked with guilds and the authorities several times. She had grown to be wild, but this boy wasn’t just flowing at all.
He made her look childish and unserious, and he was just seventeen!
Ema nodded and continued the journey. This time around, both of them were silent until they got to a region where it had been snowing.
They had been in constant movement for over eight hours. They had gone through different landscapes, villages, and camps, and all they had seen were corpses.
On Solstice’s back, Godfrey looked to his left. A massive mountain region covered with trees was burnt down. Burnt tree trunks stood for kilometres. It made a vast amount of land stand out in this part of the world, painted white with snow.
Ken couldn’t take his eyes off it, and even Ema’s face became solemn. This plague was eating up the place. It was the most horrible thing they’d ever witnessed because resting at the feet of a great number of those trees were scorched bones.