Chapter 112: I’m tired of fighting things way stronger than me, haha

Eiros opened his eyes. He hadn’t spent much time at all with his consciousness inside the world of the Stigmata. When he looked around, he found himself in midair, his hand already raised, ready to take the next step.

He lowered his hand, canceling the motion, then carefully channeled his Soul Essence into his feet.

Formed—!

An invisible foothold appeared beneath his feet. He pressed down on it, and the empty air below his feet showed the same faint ripple as when he’d gently stepped onto the surface of the lake.

Push—!

Whoosh!

Eiros’s body shot through the air. The foothold behind him shattered, then he lifted his foot again and a new one formed beneath him.

The wind roared past him, and a satisfying feeling filled his chest. His hair whipped wildly as the cities below blurred past, keeping pace with his extraordinary speed.

But that wasn’t all. Right now, the Ability limited him to only one foothold lasting a few seconds at a time — a fatal weakness for his mobility. Except, that itself really wasn’t a problem at all.

Eiros manifested. On his legs, a pair of thin white greaves appeared, wrapping around them. Behind his ankles, several long white feathers floated and danced wildly, yet somehow still looked soft.

The moment the greaves appeared, Eiros leapt into the empty air above the city. He stepped on the air, then stepped again, and again. His feet kept moving upward, the air continuing to ripple beneath each foothold.

With a smile and his heart racing from sheer excitement, Eiros felt an overwhelming sense of freedom in that moment. He found himself at an extraordinary height, right beneath the reflection of the great moon, his silhouette now cutting sharp and dark against the sky.

The wind blew so hard and cold it seemed to stab straight through his skin, reaching his bones. But that wasn’t something that mattered.

’As long as I keep moving, I can stay in the air.’

With this, Eiros wasn’t just capable of fighting in a far better style — he could also chase or flee with ease, whether he needed to pursue someone or make his own escape.

This Stigmata covered so many of his weaknesses.

Waaah—!

Eiros stopped moving. Every foothold shattered at once, and in an instant he found himself plummeting toward the ground at tremendous speed.

But his face showed no fear at all. He simply took another step, using the foothold to slow his fall, until at last he steadied himself in the air, landing smoothly atop the roof of a small building.

He took a deep breath, then let it out. His gaze then drifted toward the beach, already far in the distance. After hesitating for a moment, Eiros was about to leave, but he stopped short when his eyes caught on a patch of empty air.

[WORLD QUEST]

Description: Black Genesis is attempting to retrieve something from a hidden laboratory in the eastern forest.

Objective: Stop them and seize the ’something’ for yourself.

Time Limit: Cannot be calculated, the variables are spreading too fast.

Failure: The consequences of failure cannot be calculated...!

For a moment, Eiros froze. But he quickly forced himself to think coldly, showing no surprise at the system suddenly appearing before him.

"Of course. I’d be an idiot to keep thinking that the bad feeling I always get whenever I come here is just some ordinary hunch."

His instincts hadn’t come from nowhere. Hadn’t Renessa already shown odd signs when she came here before? And what about that sudden summons from Rein and Reina?

This world — even though Eiros still didn’t fully understand it — something behind it kept moving without ever pausing for breath.

That was exactly why Eiros always felt paranoid. It had good reason behind it.

He took a breath, then looked toward the forest to the east.

"Hopefully this one isn’t too hard. I’m tired of fighting things way stronger than me, haha."

He laughed. With the personality of the White Swan, Eiros genuinely felt relaxed. Even when things were about to take a turn for the worse, with this personality, he’d simply laugh it off gently and accept it with quiet resignation.

He didn’t hesitate after that.

’Off to the eastern forest, then.’

His body shot off into the distance.

***

"...He’s still not back?"

Godon asked, tilting his head. It had been almost twenty minutes since Eiros left for the bathroom, but strangely, there was no sign of him anywhere.

Valkas shrugged, smiling with visible irritation after being asked the same question for the umpteenth time, each time by someone different. Oddly enough, Eiros really was quite popular — sometimes students Valkas didn’t even recognize would show up looking for him.

"I don’t know!" he snapped irritably, and Godon, on the receiving end of it, flinched, a stiff smile plastered on his face.

"...I was just asking. Why are you so touchy all of a sudden?"

"Tsk. Godon, you never know that what’s on the surface might run a lot deeper than it looks."

Valkas genuinely felt exhausted. I mean, there were other people around, so why did it always have to be him getting asked?

"Lizard."

Hearing yet another call, Valkas glanced over and found Alen. His face darkened instantly.

"I don’t know! I already said I don’t know where Eiros is, so can we please be done with that damn question!?"

Alen blinked, then an awkward smile crept onto his face. "Are you on your period?"

Valkas’s face twitched at that, an angry sneer forming. But before he could say anything, Alen shuddered, coughed a few times, and said:

"I was just going to say you don’t need to go looking for Eiros."

"Who’s looking for him!?"

"Oh, I figured you were," Alen said, taking a seat across from Valkas, who glared sharply at him. "Besides, Erness has gone missing too, you know?"

Only after hearing that did Valkas realize that Erness, Eiros’s girlfriend, was somehow nowhere to be found either.

"Hmm..."

"You get it, right?"

Valkas nodded.

"So they went off on a date? Seriously... that brat Eiros — how does he even manage to catch the attention of a pretty girl like Erness?"

"Jealous of him?" Alen asked.

"Yeah, obviously. Why wouldn’t I be?"

"....."

Alen looked at him in silence, and that silence caught Valkas off guard for a moment. Because the look on Alen’s face carried a deep, genuine pity.

"Good luck to you, buddy. You’d better stop trying to play with fire."

"....?"

What was he talking about? Valkas didn’t understand. He was about to answer, or at least ask what he meant, but that was when Lovia showed up carrying a cup of juice.

"Heyyyyy! You guys want some?" As always, Lovia looked bright and full of energy. She held out a cup filled with refreshing orange juice.

She grabbed a couple of cups, handing one each to Valkas and Alen, who both accepted them calmly — after all, who wouldn’t enjoy that kind of service?

"Oh, thanks."

"Wow, this looks good."

Lovia chuckled, then wandered off toward Godon.

"Hey, giant! I brought one for you too."

Godon, pulled away from whatever he’d been doing, glanced at Lovia for a moment, took the cup, and said:

"Lovia, you..."

That made Lovia flinch for a second, because Godon was staring at her so intensely it broke her out in a cold sweat.

"Huh? Me, what about me?"

"Why are you working so hard today? No, wait, are you actually Lovia!? I don’t remember you ever—"

Bam!

"Gah!"

Before Godon could finish his sentence, Lovia smacked him on the head with the most sincere-looking smile. It caught Godon completely off guard, since he’d let his guard down and hadn’t seen it coming at all.

He rubbed his head, shooting Lovia a look of pure disbelief, but...

"What!?"

"Ugh... Wasn’t I just asking a question?"

Lovia clicked her tongue. "You’re seriously underestimating me! Who says I’m not the type of girl who’d do something like this?"

"...But you hang out with guys way more often... And, honestly, you’re kind of more suited to being a guy yourself—"

Godon felt a chill run down his entire body, because Lovia was glaring at him with an expression practically radiating murderous intent. He knew better than to keep going, so he clamped his mouth shut tight.

"More suited to what, exactly?"

"Eek! N-no... I didn’t say anything."

Making some strange noise, Godon turned his face completely away and busied himself by staring up at the stars in the sky instead.

Lovia, meanwhile, glared at him sharply, then huffed and turned away with an irritated expression.

"Hmph."

She walked off, and with her gone, Godon — who had been panicking just moments ago — finally felt a wave of relief wash over him.

He glanced at Lovia for a moment, watching her walk further away.

"I almost died just now..."

He filed that moment away carefully in his mind.

Elsewhere, Lovia, now well out of earshot, let out a long sigh of her own. She rubbed her chest, her face still creased with irritation.

"What was that about? Seriously, way to give someone a heart attack."

***