Chapter 279: A Place No Human Can Thrive

They all walked back towards Sheeby, Maria and Jacob walking extremely close to each other, not sharing a single word. However, there was a silent connection between them. There was nothing that needed to be said. Sheeby heard Maria’s footsteps and perked her head up as they approached. She let out a yawn before walking over to her and licking her hands. Maria pat her nose and whispered softly.

"I missed you too. Are you ready for one more trip?"

Sheeby exhaled loudly through her nose and turned around, allowing everyone to climb on her back. Jacob helped everyone up on to the dragon using his hands as a makeshift step.

"Well, I’m sorry that neither of you gained anything from that stupid fight. I’m glad you are both okay."

Jacob jumped up next to Maria as Sarah finished taking her spot next to Squabee.

"It’s okay. I knew the risks we were taking when I decided to do something so crazy. I only hope that whatever is waiting for us out there is weaker than we think."

Slimo sighed.

"Based on what we’ve fought so far, it’s doubtful. However, that was very impressive you both managed to take down that spirit."

Jacob shook his head.

"That fight doesn’t count. I forgot to mention it before, but the creature was actually trying to kill itself when we fought it."

Slimo squinted suspiciously at Jacob without saying a word.

"I know it’s crazy to believe, but it’s the truth. Maria was able to land a good jab in it with her spear, but instead of trying to attack or retaliate, it shoved its own hand inside its ribs and tried tearing out its own organs. Based off the warning we read about summoning the Dreadnaught, we originally tried to stop it. However, we knew that if we stopped it, we would gain nothing. We wanted to take the risk at fighting that thing... whatever it would have been that is."

Maria rubbed Sheeby’s head.

"We can take off now whenever you want girl."

Sheeby spread her massive wings and flapped them down as hard as she could. Immediately, they were went soaring in the sky towards the jungle. As they flew, Slimo continued to question Jacob on what he knew about the thing he had killed was.

"What else did you know about the thing you killed? Do you know anything about what the Dreadnaught may be like?"

Jacob shook his head as he yelled back at Slimo through the wind steaking past their ears.

"The creature itself was imitating a human, or it tried its best to, but it looked very wrong. It almost looked like someone I had seen long ago when I was rounding up people for my father. As for its abilities, it was able to remove itself from one of the targets five senses. Spirits tend to prey on those kinds of things is what I know."

"Prey on your senses..."

Slimo squinted his eyes and looked at Jacob’s back.

"So, you’re saying it could be with us right now and we have no idea?"

Jacob’s heart dropped slightly. Slimo wasn’t necessarily wrong, but that was a crazy idea to think, especially since they were riding on the back of an extremely powerful creature.

"No way. One of our eyes would have caught it for sure if that was the case. It may be able to fool most of our senses, but sometimes our eyes are immune to things like that. Besides, would it really follow us on top of Sheeby?"

Slimo didn’t ease up his guard, but he looked off into the distance.

"Maybe it was a mistake letting you risk that fight after all. Let’s keep our guard up until we know it’s safe."

Jacob wanted to argue, but he knew there was no point. Slimo was very stubborn anyway when it came to things like keeping a keen eye out for danger, especially since Lidia was now carrying his child. His mind flashed back to the scarlet devil he saw clinging to Maria’s back before their special moment and how it immediately disappeared after he saw it.

’I think I’m starting to see hallucinations. First the bandaged person, and now whatever that thing is. I hope they don’t get any worse.’

They all flew in silence for another six hours. Sheeby stopped abruptly in front of the gargantuan brush of jungle that was now in front of them. It was much thicker than they had ever expected. There were thousands of giant long vines that fell from the tops of trees so large that they seemingly broke into outer space. Every leaf was an extremely dark shade of green and was thick enough to make a good armor. If there was one thing that was different about the jungle compared to other places they had visited was the sounds. Forests and deserts were mostly quiet, but the jungle was the exact opposite. All they could hear were loud screeches, clicking sounds, and cries from either predators or prey.

Jacob looked back at the group.

"What should we do? How do you want us to proceed?"

Slimo’s face was turning white with fear. It was obvious that this place had defied his expectations.

"Well, there’s only one thing we can do. Go forward as best we can. However, I’m not sure how we’re going to-"

Suddenly, Sheeby started charging something in her mouth. Her throat and jaw turned a bright shade of orange as she aimed it forward. Then, with one large blast, a spiral of flame shot towards the leaves and seared a giant hole into their surface, allowing them a small passage forward.

"...That works. Thank you, Sheeby."

Sheeby started gliding forward through long hold they made as the charred leaves fell from their stems. Entering the brush immediately made Jacob’s neck tingle with danger. They were surrounded. He didn’t know what was around them, but he knew they were there. Thousands, if not millions of creatures were all around them, and they were starving. Maria saw the panicked look on Jacob’s face and rubbed his back.

"It’s going to be okay. Sheeby can protect us if things get too dangerous."

Jacob shook his head furiously.

"No. This was a mistake. We have to go back. I don’t like this place."

Maria sighed and looked around for anything that could attack them.

"We’re already too deep. Besides, where else should we go?"

Jacob began to shake.

"Anywhere that isn’t here. This is hell. This isn’t a jungle. This is hell."

The sounds of the jungle grew around them the further they flew in. Sheeby continued spouting fire and flying deeper by the second. Squabee looked over Jacob’s shoulder.

"What’s go you so freaked out? We’ve hardly even walked through this place."

Jacob’s eye began darting around.

"Their hunger... everything in here is so hungry. I can feel it."

Squabee slapped the top of his head, which was easy for her since she was sitting behind him. Jacob reeled back from the slap. He was going to retaliate and say something to her, but truthfully, the slap helped him calm down a lot. He sighed deeply and grappled Sheeby tighter.

"Sorry. Thank you, Squabee."

Squabee raised an eyebrow.

"Hm? For what?"

Jacob pretended she didn’t say that and continued looking forward, ignoring the feeling racing through his heart. After around an hour of flying, Sheeby rested herself on top of a branch the size of a massive hill, allowing everyone to fall off her back and look around. Even though they were extremely deep in the jungle, there still appeared to be hardly any clearing for them to fly freely. The worst part of the jungle was how dark it was. The treetops acted as a giant, makeshift roof that blocked out any star light that could have illuminated their path.

"It’s so dark here. I can hardly see a thing."

Lidia started to glow using her powers, but Slimo quickly covered her with his body.

"Don’t do that!"

Lidia jumped, not expecting such a strong reaction from Slimo.

"Sorry. If we can see that easily, that means whatever is hiding behind those leaves can too. We shouldn’t try to make any light until we understand what exactly we should do here."

Jacob started pacing around anxiously. Maria held on to him to try and calm him down, but he couldn’t stop shaking.

"Is it really that bad? I’ve never seen you act like this before. Not even in front of Zalo himself!"

Jacob shook his head.

"That was different. Back then, when Zalo appeared, I just... I don’t know. I just had a feeling I wouldn’t get hurt. It didn’t feel like everyone was guaranteed to die back then. It somehow felt like we still had a chance. But here, I can’t feel that at all. We’re outnumbered, outclassed, and severely unprepared. It feels like a single step in the wrong direction will cost us our life. I just can’t shake this feeling."

Slimo took Jacob’s actions into account and raised his hand after everyone anxiously waited for orders.

"Very well. If Jacob truly thinks it’s in our best interest to leave, whoever agrees with him, place your hand on my arm."

In almost no time at all, Sarah, Maria and Squabee placed their hand on Slimo’s arm. After a long sigh, Slimo walked over towards Sheeby.

"Let’s get out of here before something gets brave then."

However, when Slimo turned towards the hole that Sheeby had just created, there was nothing there. The charred leaves and vines were gone. Everything looked the exact same around them. Suddenly, he started to doubt if that was truly the place they had come from. Even Jacob understood what that meant.

"It’s... too late."

He inhaled deeply and slapped himself in the face to stop himself from shaking. The large leaves around them began to shake.

"They know we’re here."