133 Obstacle Course - Part 1 (1/2)
Break time is over. We return to the bridge and take over the controls. The golems may do fine with a simple order such as ”follow the Looping Winds,” but they still don't have enough creative thinking to deal with unexpected dangers.
The sky road starts to sway from side-to-side, then sharp turns start to appear. We furl the sail because the wind is too strong, and this allows us to control the ship better. If we also close the wings, we won't be pushed along so strongly by the Looping Winds, but it also makes it easier for us to fly out of it.
The clouds have been blocking our view more, and the number of hidden islets has increased, so flying out of the Looping Winds is getting more dangerous than before. Not only that, but we don't have a working compass, so it'll be extremely easy to get lost in the clouds if we lose sight of the Looping Winds.
Then we see many tight turns ahead, making us become very nervous.
”Focus on flying!” I say with [Godly Language], and a wave of confidence hits us, reducing our anxiety.
We trace a path in our minds and prepare to follow it. We swing the ship to the right and get ready to swing back to the left when the turn starts.
Five seconds.
Four.
Three.
Two.
One.
Now!
We turn to the left, and a second later, the sky road follows.
We quickly realize how slow and heavy this ship is from seeing how our turning speed is much slower than what we expected. Because of this and the Looping Winds hitting the side of the ship, we're being pushed off the sky river.
We slow down the ship to give us more time to turn, but the ship's [Fly] gem isn't powerful enough. We lose all forward momentum and drift harder.
We think about closing the wings fully, but [Piloting] gives me a new idea. I open the wings and unfurl the sail. The ship creaks as we gain a huge boost of speed, and the girls on the deck yelp in surprise.
Sorry!
Fighting the rapids won't work, we have to fly through them head-on!
The next turn is to the right, and it comes after mere seconds, so we bank the ship to the right, half-submerging it in the smoke, and pitch up.
The sky road suddenly turns down, so we roll the ship upside-down and continue pitching up.
We surface below the sky road, which pushes us up to the surface, so we continue rolling clockwise until we're positioned sideways to the left, then we immediately pitch up again, making a banked turn to left.
Before the turn is completed, we roll to the right and sink into the smoke, then make another banked turn, preempting the tight curve coming up.
We finally turn upright, allowing us to cough out the smoke for a few brief seconds, then we see the sky road turn upwards so sharply that it looks like a wall.
We rise out of the sky road, then hit the smoke wall. We open the wings and unfurl the sails again, but we continue sinking into the smoke due to our momentum.
We slip out of the sky road through the bottom, then we hear a crash, followed by scraping. My Holly at the bottom of the hull is crushed as the ship hits an islet.
The sail is still inside the smoke, so we get forcefully pushed forward, and the ship scrapes along for a few seconds before the [Fly] gem manages to push us away from the islet.
The crash was actually a Godssend since it slowed us down, allowing us to make the next three turns without a problem, while also allowing me time to summon another Holly and inspect the damage.
There's now a big hole in the hold where a pillar of rock pierced through it before breaking off. A lot of the planks are cracked and bent, but that type of damage is easily repaired. The best part, though, is that the bottom part of the hull will hold, and we aren't at risk of suddenly losing half of the ship.
Heh, what a sturdy bathtub.
The sky road suddenly turns vertical again, and the smoke pushes us up at a frightening speed. The instability has reached its apex.
Then we see it: at the top of this climb, there's another super tight curve that ends in a vertical drop. Beyond the sky road, we see a dozen cones of rock peeking through from behind the clouds, like the tips of a spike trap, waiting for us to crash onto it.
All around us, there's only islets, making it very dangerous to leave the sky road.
Is this a deliberate trap?!
I switch around the points of the girls while I let Alissa take control of the ship.
She folds the wings and furls the sails again, but the smoke is pushing on us too hard, and we don't slow down significantly. She pitches up the ship until we are facing backward, then she rolls us to align the ship with the surface.
”USE [WIND HAMMER] TO OPEN A HOLE IN THE ROCKS AHEAD!” I order through [Bind], and the girls relay it to the non-bound ones, then they all go to the ship's aft.
Gify pops onto my head and nestles inside my helmet, eager to see what's about to happen.
Oh, you little shit. Just watch me fucking dominate this challenge!
Alissa releases the controls and grabs her elven bow. She lays against the control panel so that she can draw it and concentrate all her mana into a single shot.
Ciel's glaive glows like a star as she charges up her own attack along with the others. Then she floods the deck with Wind mana, taking it from the islets nearby to boost our spells.
I get an idea and extend my soul to the rock trap above us, the furthest I've ever reached with it.
”FIRE AFTER ALISSA!” I order through [Bind].
I use [Redirect Mana] to pull all the Wind mana that I can draw from the islets.
The girls are ready, we only have a few seconds left.
I focus on Alissa's sight so that I can see better.
One islet twitches, then slowly starts to sink.
THERE!
I guide Alissa, and she releases the arrow towards it. The bottom part of the islet gets blown off by the arrow, but that's not enough.
I grab the islet with [Telekinesis], then push it to the side.
MOOO~VE!
”[EXPLOSION]!” Roxanne casts at the side of the islet, pushing it away.
”[WIND HAMMER]!” The rest of the girls cast in unison.
A sonic boom hits us as all the boosted spells are launched at the same time, then Ciel casts her [Beam] immediately after that.
Half of the islet is melted or blown away, and the rest of it gets pushed to the side by my [Telekinesis].
A rock comes straight at my face.
Fuck!
Without my metal enchanted shield, I'm forced to trigger [Enhanced Reflexes] and [Muscle Explosion] at the same time to dodge it.
A second rock comes, but now I have enough time to divert it with [Telekinesis]. The other girls are safe since they have their enchanted shields on hand.
We turn to the controls and make our final adjustments.
The ship reaches the top of the climb and flies off the Looping Winds. We snugly fit through the hole we opened in the islets, then we open the wings again and unfurl the sails, suddenly and heavily increasing our drag and decelerating.
HAH! WE'RE GETTING BETTER AT THIS!
We feel the pressure from the heavy deceleration, then the ship's aft gently touches an islet, and we remain still for a few seconds.
The view is breathtaking. If only we weren't vertical and barely hanging on, we could fully appreciate the chaotic and fantastical sight. Then we start to fall.
This time, we are slow enough that we can turn the ship and safely re-enter the sky road.
”GIIH!” Gify cheers, and I laugh out loud.
The rapids continues, but we start getting used to its unpredictability and learn how to make the ship go through the maneuvers that we want it to.
The rapids slow down to more manageable speeds, then the sky road straightens out. Soon after, we reach another anchor, and we take the opportunity to stop and make repairs.
The beams holding the wings have been stressed too much and started to crack, so we make some repairs on them, too. Lina helps this time with a [Grow] magic tool. The tool is more limited than using the spell yourself, but it's still helpful.
--
I sit on the railing of the deck and take in the sight. The clouds have now turned a muted light blue and are slowly darkening. They've also cleared up a bit, allowing us to see further than before.
The islets grow to a size that they can now be called actual islands. They're also visibly moving, and if we consider how far away they are, it means that they're going really fast.
”Wow, that's... frightening,” Alissa comments as she stares at large islands crashing into one another. Their impact is so strong that it creates a disk of rocks and dust that's launched away at high speeds.
Then, a moment later, the shock wave hits us. The loud bang makes us wince due to its volume, and Alissa suffers the most.
”INCOMING!” Hana yells.
I summon three wind elementals to deal with the approaching debris barrage, then I pull out my shield from my ”Items” and activate [Wind Shield].
Rocks and boulders of varying sizes pelt us, and a few break into the hold.
”Godsdamnit! We just fixed the hull!” Yunia complains.
”Make sure the gem doesn't get damaged!” Lina yells.
Yunia nods and goes down to the hold, and I summon two earth elementals to form themselves into a cocoon around it.
We return to the bridge and take over the controls again with a sigh. We've barely had any time to rest.
More rocks come from above, having been lobbed in our direction by the impact. Nobody gets hurt, but a rock hits the deck and crashes through to the hold, frustrating Yunia again.
Suddenly, far off in the distance, a huge volcano erupts.
Oh, boy.
Another shock wave hits us and hurts our ears, but this time, it's strong enough that it rattles our bones. I immediately cast [Heal] on Alissa to stop the pain in her ears.
”Thank you,” she mutters.
The volcano spews out a column of red hot lava and smoke; long trails of lava make kilometers-long arches in all directions; and lightning courses through the gigantic plume of toxic smoke and debris that continues to increase in size.
Forecast: lava and smoke.
”Next danger: the maelstrom,” Lina says through [Bind].
Two islands collide nearby us again, and another debris barrage hits the ship. This time, though, we're prepared for it, and we manage to protect the ship from getting damaged.
For some reason, the islands in this location keep moving towards one another. The only thing that's different about this area is that the mana is wild and unpredictable.
Ciel frowns and calls for Lina's attention. ”There's something odd here. I feel a 'need' to go to the center of this maelstrom,” she says to Lina.
”The ship will pass close by it. The center is calm, so there's an anchor there,” Lina responds.
Ciel nods anxiously and looks ahead.
Clouds of dust threaten to blind us, so the girls and the elementals work together to clear them off the sky road.
Suddenly, a ginormous island as massive as the entirety of Rabanara bursts out of a purple cloud, it's flying directly towards us at an incredible speed. We are right in the middle of its path, so going forward or backward will have the same result.
”I don't think we can outrun that,” Alissa says, worriedly.
Is someone seriously slinging islands at us?!
”Now's the time to turn on the afterburner fueled by the power of friendship,” I mumble and grin.
”The what?” Alissa questions.
”Afterburner. As if we could use more mana to give us even more speed at the cost of efficiency.”
”Hm... that'd be something useful to have.”