Chapter 343 Our Mayhem [Part 3]: The Reunion
"WHAT?!"
Northern, tensed, exchanged glances between the darkness and Raven.
"All the more reason why we should be on our way, dammit! Let's run while you can still see."
He took her hand and sprinted forward. Naturally, he'd have used his speed abilities but he was worried if Raven would actually be able to handle it.
Both of them ran forward and continued running through the woods.
The darkness in that moment seemed to increase its pace, consuming everything in its path and getting closer to them.
Northern clicked his tongue in annoyance. This was getting too slow for him; if he was the only one, he'd have outrun this damn thing.
Suddenly without thinking twice, he came to a stop, swept Raven off her feet, into his arms and said to her:
"Brace yourself."
Without a breath after speaking, Northern shot forward like a bolt of lightning striking from a clear sky.
His movement was so swift that the eye could barely register it, leaving behind only a fading afterimage and a rush of displaced air.
But the darkness was relentless, gunning for them desperately with all of its might.
As Northern ran further, his eyes suddenly caught something.
Something that brought gladness into his heart.
In that same moment however, the mayhem struck again.
As it lunged forward from the darkness, trees shattered into splinters from its mere force.
The branches this time twisted into each other to form a durable spear, hoping to pierce through the invisible shield that surrounded Northern.
But it was met by the same result.
Although the force was so strong that it affected Northern's speed, causing him and Raven to somersault and tumble forward.
Only coming to stop thanks to a large wooden wall of some sort, that both of them slammed on, intertwined with each other.
It took a moment before they stood up but the moment they did, someone shouted their names from above.
"Flower boy!! Flower girl!! It's nice to see you all are now fucking each other!"
'Ah shit...'
He actually hated the voice but at the same time, it brought a slight relief to his heart.
He touched the cold wood that they had slammed into and raised his head up to see Helena and Terence.
As usual, the feral Sage was loud and Terence was looking down at them with a solemn smile on her face.
The kind of smile a true saintess should have.
"Uhm, I'm sorry to break this beautiful reunion but as you can see, that darkness is closer now. What the hell did you guys do to annoy the boogeymonster?"
Northern raised his head to look at the darkness. Helena, of course, was right. It was closer to them now more than ever and was their cue to leave this Desolation as fast as they could.
"Are you gonna stand around there all day or are you gonna grab that ladder and come up!!"
Northern swung his eyes to the side, he and Raven ran quickly and held onto the ladder, climbing up as fast as they could.
They got to the deck of the ship. Helena, who was already at the higher deck, the control surface.
Terence had gone into the cabin and a couple seconds later the ship was already levitating.
Northern watched in awe.
'It really is a flying ship.'
Raven was not lying, there really was a flying ship. Something that could take him back to the Central Plains safe and sound.
His heart was elated at the same time there was a slight heaviness.
But the ship was real! That was all that mattered right now. He'd think about the rest later.
"Oh... my fucking... days..."
Northern turned to the direction of the darkness where Helena's gaze was glued, her mouth hanging down.
Right there, the monster, the mayhem, the creature of the darkness that Raven wouldn't dare to dream of killing was making its appearance, plunging out of the cloak of darkness.
As it brought out its head, the head alone dwarfed every single thing in the landscape, the trees, the mountain.
It was a grotesque and nightmarish fusion of organic elements and was adorned with a crown of gnarled, lifeless branches that twisted outward like ossified tentacles.
As the creature brought out its head, it opened its maw, revealing row upon row of needle-sharp teeth, each fang a gleaming promise of swift annihilation. They gave way for a wild screech that sent shivers down the spine of everyone present on the ship.
The most arresting feature of its head was the singular eye, a blazing orb of ethereal light encircled by a corona of golden energy.
This ocular anomaly pulsed with an intelligence both ancient and alien.
The beast's hide was a tapestry of scales and protrusions, each segment a testament to eons of unnatural evolution. Bony plates and ridges adorned its form, creating a silhouette that defied conventional biology.
The creature surged forward, with legs like actual branches, burying their roots into the ground with each step it took.
And coming out in front to instantaneously create a tree that buried another root into the irritating body of the monster, supporting its colossal mass. This was its unnatural and weird mechanism of movement.
And by far was the most terrifying thing Northern had ever seen.
He was struck cold by it.
"Northern, Raven, retreat into the inner cabins now!!" Helena commanded.
Northern was still frozen looking at the mayhem with a terrified expression. There was something about it. Something that ticked him off really rashly.
"NORTHERN!!" Helena's shout however, jacked him out of his head.
He ran after Raven, entering into the inner cabins of the ship.
Helena glared fiercely at the mayhem as it moved closer to them and shouted:
"Hey boogeymonster!! It's gonna be just me and you today!!!"
She twisted the wheel with her powerful hands, sending the airship careening sideways to a sharp U-turn.
Then below her were the controls for the propeller. She stomped on the wooden floor of the ship, causing two rods to lunge out.
Quickly, she abandoned the wheel and grabbed both rods, pressing them down.
As she did, the airship burst forward like a startled but magnificent stallion, finding its full stride.