Death… And Me

Chapter 4438: The Effect!

Rean took out his airplane, inviting Lukay inside. ”Come in, Senior.”

Lukay had his own airplane stored inside his Spatial Ring, though. ”I’ll be using my own.”

Roan looked at him before calmly shaking his head. ”Isn’t your mission to keep us safe? I would also rather you didn’t come, but since we need you to, you’ll have a much easier time staying with us inside the same airplane. Besides, our airplane is definitely much better than yours.”

Lukay didn’t particularly appreciate Roan’s tone, yet he couldn’t find anything wrong with the argument itself. After a brief pause, he floated toward the cabin.

”Fine,” he said. ”Let’s see what it has to offer.”

With everyone inside, Rean smiled and guided the airplane away from the Godly Subjugation Guild. He first climbed to a much higher altitude than ordinary airplanes usually reached before placing both hands on the controls.

”Here we go!”

The controls were pushed forward, and the newly improved Celestial Thrusters immediately roared to life.

*Vruaash!*

Lukay’s core was pressed firmly against the back of his seat by the sudden acceleration. By the time the airplane’s speed stabilized, everything outside had become little more than a blur streaking across his vision.

”This speed...”

Rean looked back with an amused grin. ”I put a lot of love into my baby, you know? This newest version of my Celestial Thrusters should be comparable to the flying speed of an Initial Stage Zone God. The best part isn’t even the speed, though—it’s the efficiency.”

He tapped the control panel proudly before continuing. ”About ninety percent of the energy needed to move the airplane comes directly from the surrounding Celestial Energy. Only the remaining ten percent has to be supplied by Celestial Stones.”

Turning his attention back to the route ahead, he added, ”And since Celestial Stones are many times cheaper than Godly Crystals, I can carry more than enough of them inside my Spatial Ring.”

Lukay completely forgot about the earlier discussion concerning Godly Pressure. Curious, he floated toward the front of the airplane and stared through the transparent window as mountains, forests, and rivers flashed beneath them at an astonishing pace.

”Still...” he muttered. ”With this kind of speed, you’d avoid countless problems with ordinary Godly Spawn and even most Godly Beasts. Is this the incredible secret you claimed would greatly benefit Besgol? The one I’m supposedly forbidden from talking about?”

”Hm? This?” Rean laughed before shaking his head. ”Not at all.”

”My newest Celestial Thruster design has already been uploaded to the Arrays Guild and Blacksmith Guild Networks. Anyone interested can study it. The only reason I’m using it first is because I’m the one who designed it.”

He chuckled to himself. ”It shouldn’t take more than a few months before the airplane companies release new models using these improved thrusters.”

Tiny arcs of lightning quietly danced around Lukay’s core. ”No wonder Clasou values you four so much...”

Rean only smiled before focusing on the journey once again.

—

As the airplane approached the border of the Besgol Region, its speed gradually decreased.

It wasn’t because Rean wanted to slow down. Rather, after leaving the Sacred Relic’s influence, a considerable amount of Celestial Energy had to be redirected toward powering the Light Bending Arrays. Without them, their airplane would immediately become visible to every flying Godly Creature nearby.

Naturally, Rean could simply compensate by feeding additional Celestial Stones into the formation, allowing the airplane to maintain its maximum speed. The problem was the cost.

Although Celestial Stones were vastly cheaper than Godly Crystals, consuming them at that rate for an extended journey would still become expensive, even for the twins’ group.

Because of that, Rean chose efficiency over absolute speed.

Even after slowing slightly, however, the airplane still traveled at a velocity approaching that of a Zone God. More importantly, it remained considerably faster than the overwhelming majority of flying Godly Beasts roaming the skies.

—

With an airplane that was now, without a doubt, the fastest in the entire Besgol Region, the twins’ group encountered almost no trouble during the trip. Nine days later, they were already approaching the limits of the charted territories.

Had the previous Elite Exploration Group that reached this point seen their pace, they would probably have vomited blood. Their own expedition had taken nearly three full weeks to travel the same distance.

Naturally, Lukay found the airplane astonishing... at first.

As the days passed without incident, however, even that novelty gradually wore off. Eventually, there was simply nothing left to do except watch the scenery blur past the windows.

For Elite Exploration Groups venturing this deeply into the Godly Creatures’ Territories, bringing along a Zone God was standard procedure. One of the greatest advantages of having such an expert was their ability to leave the airplane whenever danger appeared, intercept powerful flying Godly Creatures, and then return before the group lost any meaningful time.

That was exactly how these expeditions normally operated. Harksha herself had done the same throughout the twins’ previous exploration.

What about Lukay?

He quickly discovered that there was practically nothing for him to do.

The airplane’s incredible speed, combined with the altitude Rean maintained, meant very few flying Godly Creatures were even capable of approaching them. Most only sensed the cultivators’ presence for a brief instant before the airplane had already disappeared into the distance.

Many of those unintelligent creatures instinctively looked toward the source of the disturbance, only to find empty skies. Their prey was never visible, and they were left puzzled until the airplane left their detection range entirely.

Then there was Rean’s radar.

Whenever large concentrations of Godly Pressure appeared ahead, Rean simply adjusted the airplane’s route, avoiding dangerous areas long before they became a problem. Entire flocks of flying Godly Beasts were bypassed without anyone needing to lift a finger.

Even when avoiding them proved impossible, Lukay still wasn’t needed.

The twins’ group could already fly despite only being Aura Gods!

Still, knowing that and witnessing it personally were two completely different things.

Whenever a particularly troublesome Godly Beast managed to intercept their path, one of the twins, or sometimes Celis, calmly left the airplane, destroyed the creature in only a few exchanges, and returned almost immediately as if nothing had happened.

Each time Lukay watched one of them leave the airplane, he paid close attention to the battle.

Each time, the result was the same.

The Godly Beast died.

He found himself wondering whether he had ever seen Peak Stage Aura Gods capable of displaying such overwhelming combat power, let alone cultivators who had only recently reached the Middle Stage.

As for Kentucky...

Lukay didn’t even bother counting him.

That bird had always been able to fly naturally, regardless of cultivation, making him the least surprising member of the group whenever aerial combat was involved.

Because of all that, Lukay’s assigned duty never truly existed.

No flying Godly Creature ever forced him to intervene.

The twins’ group handled every obstacle themselves while he remained inside the airplane, simply observing everything unfold. Nine entire days passed like that, leaving him with little besides endless scenery and an increasingly dull journey.

—

Then, on the morning of the ninth day, Rean’s expression suddenly brightened as he looked at the radar. ”Oh! We finally have one!”

Immediately, Lukay floated toward the front of the cabin. ”What is it?”

Rean’s smile widened as he pointed toward one rapidly approaching signal. ”No doubt about it. That’s a Godly Predator.”

He continued studying the readings while making a few small adjustments to the airplane’s course. ”It can sense cultivators from much farther away than my radar can detect it. It’s already heading directly toward us.”

Rean glanced toward the endless forest stretching beneath the airplane. ”It’s probably running on the ground right now, following our position. Once it gets close enough, it’ll most likely leap straight out of the forest.”

The atmosphere inside the cabin immediately changed.

Rean, Roan, Celis, and Kentucky all prepared themselves to leave the airplane, much to Lukay’s confusion.

”You’re actually planning to fight it?” he asked. ”Are you all crazy?”

However, before anyone could leave the airplane, Roan suddenly stopped them. ”Take these.”

With a flick of his hand, several pills flew toward Rean, Celis, Kentucky, and Lukay. Everyone caught theirs before looking at Roan in confusion.

”What is this pill for?” Rean asked.

Instead of answering immediately, Roan swallowed one himself. Its medicinal energy quickly spread through his body, and for the briefest instant, Rean, Celis, and Kentucky sensed the faint presence of their Great Void Echo. The sensation vanished almost as quickly as it had appeared.

”Take it,” Roan said calmly. ”You’ll understand soon enough.”

Lukay looked at the pill floating in front of his core. ”Why did you give me one? I’m from the Voltari Race, a Spirit. I can’t swallow pills.”

”Yours is different,” Roan explained. ”Simply use your Godly Energy to absorb its medicinal properties directly into your core. You’ll receive exactly the same effect.”

Those words immediately reminded Lukay of something.

During the journey here, Roan had spent several hours using his alchemy equipment inside the airplane. At the time, Lukay hadn’t found it particularly strange. They had plenty of free time while traveling, so everyone simply occupied themselves however they wished.

Looking at the pill now, however, he immediately recognized it. ”You refined this specifically for me?”

”Yes,” Roan answered. ”Now stop wasting time and absorb it. You’ll find it very difficult to kill the Godly Predator without it.”

Tiny arcs of lightning quietly flickered across Lukay’s core as he remained silent for a moment.

He had never intended to kill the Godly Predator in the first place. His mission was simply to protect the twins’ group. Besides, even as a Middle Stage Zone God, he didn’t believe he could actually defeat a Godly Predator outside the Sacred Relic’s influence. Between the environmental Godly Pressure and the creature’s own overwhelming pressure, his strength would be suppressed far too much.

Then again...

Roan had repeatedly claimed before they left Besgol that he possessed another method capable of dealing with that exact problem. Lukay didn’t even know what either of those methods was yet.

”Ten kilometers,” Rean suddenly warned while staring at the radar. ”It’s about to jump out of the forest.”

Lukay still didn’t move, the pill remaining suspended before his core.

Seeing that, Roan merely snorted. ”Hmph! So be it.”

He immediately opened the airplane’s hatch. ”Let’s go.”

Without another word, Roan leaped outside. Rean followed right after him, with Celis and Kentucky close behind. The airplane remained hovering high above the forest, waiting for its passengers to return.

”Wait!” Lukay immediately rushed after them. Whether he trusted Roan or not was irrelevant. Pill or no pill, he still had to fulfill the mission Clasou had forced upon him.

”...Oh, fuck it!”

Finally making up his mind, he released a stream of Godly Energy into the pill. Its medicinal essence dissolved almost instantly, flowing directly into his core before he accelerated after the twins’ group. But then, he felt it... the pill’s effect!