Chapter 326: Free Fall

"Is this supposed to happen?" The humans quickly understood something was wrong as the massive beast they were riding began to diffuse into a thick mist of pure dark essence, Seth’s frame beginning to deflate at a rapid pace.

But unfortunately Seth remained silent to their panicked cries, not of his own accord but because he simply couldn’t speak, his will force elapsed to total nothing, his frame deflating faster than the transformation had occurred.

Seth’s mind was left in a blurry mess, his mortal mind, stripped of all will, simply couldn’t rein in the instinct of a divine dragon, his very being clouded by the feel of all that power leaving his veins, deflating to the shell of what he once was.

All that power evaporating out of his cells, the feeling of his very being breaking down to a smaller version, a mortal mind bare of will couldn’t handle all that information.

He winced from pain, as his mass erupted into a mass of formless dark essence, leaving the humans riding his back to start free falling through the air, screaming and panicking as they were so high up in the night sky.

All while Seth’s muddled mind struggled to swim through it all, he didn’t even have enough mental capacity to regret the fact that he did not warn them on time, his mind in a constant battle of even holding onto his sanity till the instinct burned into his cells by the dragon transformation elapsed.

Screens flashing in his eyes blurry but still readable...

[Warning! Warning! Warning! Transformation has ended!]

[The host is unable to maintain the divine beast form Dragon of Dread Auro!]

Reduced back to his human form, Seth felt the presence of the glyph dragon retreating to the corner of his mind, weak and wary after doing the mental heavy lifting during the course of the transformation.

If not for the little guy Seth would have spent the entirety of the allocated time of transformation learning how to walk and fly, by now they’d still be stuck in the underground plains as he would be struggling to navigate through the dragon form.

...

"Fuuuuuuuck!" Brandon yelled as his frame flipped and spiralled uncontrollably through the wind, the sudden collapse of Seth’s form coming at them from nowhere, as the entire group was caught unaware.

Hundreds of human frames streaked down, some forced to dismiss their armour due to the raging wind, as they freely fell down towards the sea.

At this pace hitting the sea would be akin to landing on a solid surface made of granite, and even the strongest and boldest of the humans didn’t dare believe for one second they would survive the fall.

Yes they were evolvers but they were still short of immortality, there was no way their defence would be tanking that much damage.

"Blast at the water with all you got!" Uriel screamed at the top of his lungs warning the others.

Realization dawned on those sharp enough to catch it — if they could break the surface tension of the water well enough, though they would still take damage from the impact, it should be diffused enough that they wouldn’t straight up die.

Without hesitation the group started mustering all forms of attacks they could striking at the water surface, not only breaking tension, but using the force recoil of their attacks to reduce their fall speed.

The soldiers slowly took control of their fall, as the water beneath them splashed and scattered into waves. The wind pushing against their frames, they never stopped attacking not for one second.

Until someone realized they were forgetting something, Jack’s eyes scanned through the streaks of free-falling soldiers only to notice. "Shit! Where is Seth?"

Everyone paused, taken by the suddenness of Seth’s form unraveling and the fact that they were practically falling down from several feet up, no one had the liberty to spare a concern for anything other than their own survival.

Eyes scanned their surroundings, with a few more aware, they quickly spotted him, barely conscious he was far below them.

"There!" Doyle pointed, his skin reddening from the sheer friction of wind. And with Seth’s uncontrolled gait, it didn’t take a genius to understand that the guy was probably mentally muddled.

The captain got into a diving form, streaking down faster with less air resistance, their forms raced towards Seth. "YOU LOT FOCUS ALL ATTENTION ON BREAKING SURFACE TENSION OF THE SEA!" Brandon yelled out in command before joining his teammates in an attempt to save Seth’s life.

Lukas and Dorian focused on leading the soldiers down, leaving the rescue attempt to Seth’s teammates, not out of ill will, but simply because they judged the efforts of the four should be enough, adding themselves to the mix surely wouldn’t matter.

Fortunately and eventually they reached lower altitudes and the battle suits and mecha of the human soldiers flickered back to life.

Their thrusters flaring up, their chances of survival ticked up by several points, as though the armour clearly couldn’t initiate long or high-altitude flights, it could help them in slowing their descent more effectively.

Engines hummed and buzzed as the humanoid frames both large and small, flickered bright with light.

Meanwhile below the group, Seth’s friends accelerated their descent with the help of the genetic battle suits, low in energy they couldn’t fuel their descent by much but the group risked it all for their friend.

Staring at Seth’s unconscious frame several feet before them, their thrusters began to cough weakly, as their energy supply was clearly running short, summoning an essence crystal to charge the battle suits wouldn’t be a realistic solution in this scenario.

With how fast they were falling, within a few more seconds they would hit the sea, by the time their suits would be able to digest enough energy, Seth would be dead, and they’d hit the ocean.

They simply didn’t have enough time to waste...

"I have an idea!" Uriel transmitted to the others, gliding to the side, he grabbed Jack by the foot.

Not understanding what was happening, Jack asked, "What are you doing?"

"I’m going to launch you towards Elaine, you launch her towards Brand-" before Uriel could finish explaining, Jack’s eyes lit up, he yelled, "I understand! Do it!"

Nodding promptly, Uriel coiled his frame to gather force and momentum, launching Jack by the foot even faster downwards, supported by a timed, short burst of his thrusters, Jack got to Elaine’s range pretty fast.

He didn’t waste time grabbing her by the foot, transmitting to her the idea of the plan, he didn’t need to wait for a response, he launched her forward towards Brandon.

She soared down faster, getting towards Brandon she grabbed him by the arm dragging him with her, she didn’t bother to explain, the guy had seen it all play out, he could already understand what was happening.

By this point the water surface was getting closer, if they weren’t fast enough Seth really might die, and with a forceful spiral spurted by a rapid burst from her battle suit’s thrusters, her glowing frame gathered enough momentum and force to fling Brandon down faster.

The surroundings blurred out to Brandon, as he deftly navigated his way towards Seth, so close he finally got a clear glimpse of Seth, he reached out his arm and grabbed his friend by the foot after a few failed attempts.

And the moment he caught the guy, Seth’s eyelids broke open, misty and clearly still not conscious but his following actions didn’t seem like that of an unconscious person.

Space warped in Seth’s grasp, as a familiar device, a trigger remote, appeared in Seth’s grasp. Brandon’s expression burst into a scowl.

"Fuck!" Before he could do anything else, Seth’s thumb smothered down on the big red button.