Chapter 10 - Turning Point [5] - The Cardinal Sky

'Mysterious… Enigmatic? I don't know how to describe him.'

Noah pondered as he walked behind Kuro while he was in charge of the rear.

A cloth rope connected their arms to prevent them from lifting off from another platform.

'This is nauseating...' Noah grimaced, perplexed by how unusual the Aleph Dimension was.

Although he wasn't granted any details about this place, Aleph felt dreamlike, with building blocks and places from Earth mixed into square patches; it was a world where everything blended into chaos yet retained order in its formation.

Either a patch of grass, a concrete floor from a city, the ocean, or an unidentified block that belongs in this dimension.

They were all over the place, morphing and shifting in real time.

If they failed to navigate this dreamlike place, they would be forever trapped here.

Yet despite Noah's concerns, Kuro took another step, ensuring that they made it out alive.

'...Who truly are you?' Noah desperately wanted to ask him, even though he had said it too many times in his face.

Kuro knew about Noah's hidden identity since the beginning, the secret existence of Eldias, and even has a pure mana core, something only successors of the Heavenfall family have.

It's as if this person… knew everything about this world.

'And he's strong… can I beat him right here and now?"

Noah has confidence that he's one of the strongest people of his age, even in Arcadia, the prestigious magic school of this nation.

Yet Kuro, someone he barely knew, skillfully assessed the situation and restored the Exitium stone with his abnormal control over magic.

'Can I do that too…?' Noah tried to compare himself to Kuro.

It felt frustrating, knowing he couldn't do anything except follow orders.

In the midst of his thoughts, the two of them didn't know that the embers in his heart were shining brighter than ever, excited at the idea that there will always be someone better than him.

To Noah, who witnessed the miracles he had done, Kuro was someone he wanted to best, no matter what.

Perhaps for the first time ever,

He could finally call someone a friend.

=======

…

"Noah…!"

“…”

…

"Noah…! Hey Noah! Are you deaf? Can you hear me?!"

"Hmm? Oh, sorry. I was… thinking about something."

Obtaining an answer from him, I threw another pebble made from magic to see if there were any anomalies in the gravitational field.

—Fwoop!

Not even a split second later, the pebble that was supposed to fall gravitated upwards, a phenomenon that has happened for the fourth time.

"Again... prepare your wind magic."

"Alright. I can do this all day."

Another hour has passed since we found a portal that could lead to clues.

Just recently, the portal from a distance was small enough that it looked harmless.

But from here, it turned so enormous that everything distanced itself away from the portal like a black hole.

In Aleph, three stratums filled up this dimension: Lower Aleph, Middle Alephs, and Higher Aleph.

Currently, our location is in the Middle Alephs.

The reason why Middle Alephs are in plural form was their infinite number of realms between the number zero, the Lower Aleph, and the number one, the Higher Aleph.

The Lower and Higher are the absolute first and last of the dimension, a train stop to this dimension from the others.

Starting from the least dangerous, the Lower Aleph is the most 'stable' out of the three.

A stratum that holds the remains of an ancient kingdom from a nation long ago, one that fell before Morze and Demiurge existed.

Next are the Middle Alephs, the one Noah and I reside in right now.

It's nearly impossible to convey how it looked when everything, everywhere, shifted endlessly. A simple mistake could ensnare us in endless anguish.

Lastly, the Higher Aleph— the realm where Xelthatl, the Eldritch God, resides.

The dimensional plane is higher in that layer, so the higher stratum must be avoided at all costs.

Humanity may have triumphed over the Eldias in the end, yet the victory came at a cost.

Noah remained imprisoned in the Middle Alephs, stuck there for nearly an eternity.

But not once has he ever stepped to the Higher Aleph, a place where concept itself ceased to exist.

If it weren't for the knowledge I received that didn't belong in this world, I wouldn't have shortened the time it took considerably.

To maximize efficiency, I'm in charge of the navigation, and Noah is in charge of our safety and everything else.

It's the only plan I can come up with to avoid dying a pointless death down here.

—Voom…!!!

Noah quietly prepared to form a magic circle, envisualizing the wind we needed to land safely on the other side.

It was just that he's using way too much.

"Hey, calm down. You'll blow up everything in this place."

"Ah… sorry, I might have put too much in again."

Gently this time, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Mana here was so abundant that it was easier to use more mana than to use less.

"… I'm finished."

"Perfect, are you ready?"

Determined to see things through, we looked at each other and nodded.

“Ready… set…”

Counting down both verbally and with our fingers, we prepared to run to the other side as fast as we could.

"GO!!!"

—Fwooosh…!!!

In a split second after sprinting, we began to fall upwards from a height that could kill a normal person.

—This would've been much easier if not for the gravity fluctuating abnormally.

"W-Woah…!!!"

Noah shrieked, unable to get used to falling from such a height.

'Come on, just a bit more…!'

I waited for the right moment to soften our fall.

At first, we almost died when the gravity was too strong, nearly crushing us if not for Noah's reflexes. I don't want to go through that again.

Slow and steady, we got used to this process four times, each better than the last.

It's safe to say we've already mastered it.

"Now!!!”

"Haaah!"

—Bwoooo!!

The strong wind's pressure stopped our fall almost immediately, lifting us back into the air to break our fall.

"Ugh..."

"We made it...!"

We sighed in relief, happy that we extended our lives by another minute.

If I specialized in mana control, then Noah was the exact opposite of me, someone who has so much mana but doesn't know how to control all of it.

"I don't wanna go through this ever again…" Noah flailed his arms around to get used to the weight, noticing that gravity was heavier than usual.

"Ow… looks like the gravity here is higher than normal." I understood what he meant from the look on his face.

Although he was grumbling, Noah stood up effortlessly, while it took me some time to even sit down.

…The grim reality between a talented and a normal person is depressing.

"Kuro, is everything okay?" Noah worriedly tries to give me a hand.

"… I'm fine. I'll hold it in for a bit longer; the portal is right in front of us anyway." I accepted his help and took his head.

Things were looking great now that we were more than halfway there.

If we keep going at this pace... then everything will be under control.

...

"Ah."

I stopped moving in fear, as if someone was mercilessly wringing my neck.

Every fiber of my being told me to run away from indescribable fear, as if death itself was standing in front of me.

My hands shook in dread, my eyes glued to the creature that stood behind Noah.

I had no choice but to bite my tongue and stay calm as I considered how to escape this situation.

"Kuro…?"

Noah tilted his head, wondering why I stopped responding.

"Noah… Do not. Move."

"..."

I took the magic firearm from my pocket and aimed at the unidentified creature despite shaking too much.

Seeing me so frightened, Noah felt that something was wrong and nodded quietly in response to my instructions.

As he turned his head to see why I was mortified, a vast, ominous silhouette loomed behind him.

A monster beyond human comprehension, something that should NOT exist in this world—

Eldia, a mass of bulging, grotesque clumps of flesh that attempt to mimic life.

—Crick… Clank!

The Eldia's mouth opened only for another mouth to appear inside, slowly looming over Noah's head.

'Even if he can't see it yet, he can feel it… its killing intent.' My hands kept shaking against such a foe.

To calm down, I made steady breaths and infused as much mana as I could into this gun.

'On the count of three…' I gestured to him with my fingers, telling him I'll start a countdown.

The only thing I could hear was my mana being stored in real time in the gun's cartridge and my steady breathing.

Everything else had grown silent from the extreme tension.

But…

'Three…'

If I succumb… then everything I lived for will be in vain.

'Two...'

So I won't give up, no matter who I'm up against.

'One...!'

Not even against the face of death itself.

"GET DOWN!!!"

"■○□●○□○!" The Eldia made an unearthly scream and launched itself at the speed of sound.

'Crap, it's too fast…!'

—Viiing…!!!

In the nick of time, I shot the Eldia milliseconds away from killing me.

—Clank! BOOOM!

"■○□●■○□○■!!!"

That railcannon was enough to obliterate its head, only to miss its vital spot and begin to regenerate, alive despite half of its body blown away.

'These cockroaches are too resilient!'

The Eldia moved away and wobbled in the distance.

There, the Eldia stood still, looking up to introduce a new resident to its friends in their home.

"■○□●■○□●○□○●□!!" The Eldia let out a deafening screech that Noah and I covered our ears.

"Mggaaahhh!!! My ears!!" Noah screamed in pain.

"Kgh… Noah! Quick, hurry and run to the portal now!!!" I began running and prioritized getting Noah out of here.

'Aaah! Why does it keep getting worse...!"

I complained, desperately wanting to ask why we started with the most brutal difficulty possible when we had just started.

"It's calling reinforcements, Noah! Come on, move, move!!" I screamed so loud to grab his attention that my throat hurts.

The Eldias that weren't present until now heard their kin's call.

Tens of thousands, maybe even millions, charged at us. It was a nightmare.

If I tried to look back, I physically and mentally can't, unless I have a death wish.

"U-Ugh..." Noah fell on the ground, heavily affected by the screech because he was too close to it.

"Ah- dammit!"

I took Noah's wrist to drag him with me. He has to live.

As I reloaded another shot, I charged the next bullet with an indescribable amount of wind magic as my trump card.

I didn't care about suffering from mana overload at this moment. With this one last shot, I poured enough mana with the intention to fly like a rocket.

"Hold on tight!" I pulled the trigger of the gun and prepared myself, for I was about to do something I had never done before.

—Clack! NYOOM!

"What- AAAAAAAAAH!" The moment Noah came back to his senses, we were already high up in the air due to the propulsion.

I used so much mana to create a simple compressed gust that we went flying many times faster compared to going by foot.

'Why… did I think… this was… a good ideaaaa!!'

I tried to utter coherent words, but we were going too fast. Everything I said at the moment turned into gibberish.

Great news! We can reach the portal in mere seconds.

The bad news? My aim was off to the right just a taaad bit.

But that 'tad bit' was enough to ruin everything and get us killed!

"Shit shit shit…!" I grabbed Noah using the cloth that bound both of us.

"N-Noah… hurry up and… use wind magic to our right! Full power!!!"

"I'm… going to vomit-"