Chapter 1948: Chapter 1948: Meet Nelly Again

After Zen helped the cloaked men kill the two golden rocs, they got a good feel for him.

Zen needed to get to know this world better and these cloaked men were his way in.

Without another moment's hesitation, Zen gave a leap and landed himself on the eagle.

The cloaked men moved the eagle with a broken wing to the back of another.

Then, one of the cloaked men pulled out a flute, playing a sweet melody as all the eagles spread their wings into the air and continued to fly through the deep darkness.

These eagles were indeed powerful. They only needed to rest every four hours. Wherever they landed, there were simple camps.

The cloaked men seemed familiar with these camps. It seemed that they had built them.

“It seems they do have the way out of the desert,” Zen muttered to himself.

They stayed in the camp for an hour before setting out again.

Along the way, Zen tried to strike up a conversation with the cloaked men. Though the language barrier was great between their two races, Zen began to pick up quite a bit of what they said.

After spending just one night with them, Zen had mastered a few simple phrases and was able to hold a conversation with them, albeit simple.

About fourteen hours later, a yellow crack struck across the dark sky. It looked like one infinitely long sword, stretching across the whole darkness. It quickly expanded, and the entire world was bathed in the bright day light in the blink of an eye.

It was the first time that Zen had ever seen night turn into day in such a way. He was shocked.

But these cloaked men were used to it.

Zen saw the scenery change around him. In the darkness of night, he had not realized they had flown out of the desert.

Zen sat on the back of the eagle and looked down, his face lit up with the changing scenery below.

Below, the desert opened up into incredible canyons, spread out across the ground like cracks. Within each canyon, strange, black bugs stretched their heads to the skies and wandering through the cracks - their bodies were 200, 000 to 300, 000 feet in length and thousands of feet in width.

These strange bugs were very similar to the ones in the desert in appearance, but their size was thousands of times larger. The power within them, no doubt, was stronger.

If Zen had attempted this journey alone, he probably wouldn't have made it across these canyons.

'What is this world?' Zen proclaimed internally. He was scared at the thought of the dead consummate True God of the Sword Clan.

Watching Zen inspect the huge bugs below, one cloaked man tried to speak to him but Zen did not understand. He continued, undeterred, pointing at the bugs below as though it would help Zen understand more.

Zen nodded slightly.

The cloaked man was in fact, trying to tell him that the golden rocs were very dangerous.

He had then tried to explain that the giant black bugs were even more deadly.

Another cloaked man shouted. He was trying to warn everyone.

Then, seven or eight giant bugs stopped in their tracks and lifted their bodies. Their glowered over the desert as they stood up, and opening their huge mouths, they looked ready to swallow a whole mountain. Suddenly, they rushed towards Zen and his companions. 𝖗𝓪ŊÒᛒΕ𝐒

The eagles spread their wings and sped higher into the sky. Under the violent shaking, a cloaked man rolled down off his eagle.

Before he could scream, Zen's hand instinctively reached out like lightning to grab him, and with a burst of strength in the air, he pulled the man onto the back of his eagle. His quick skills only made the eagle sink a little, and then it continued to soar higher and higher.

The giant bugs kept approaching at an incredible speed and in the blink of an eye, they had gained on Zen and his group. The air around them started to stir, forming a gale around them.

Though they were tall - their bodies capable of stretching out hundreds of thousands of feet, the bugs could not fly, so the eagles continued to flap their wings, taking them out of reach.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The eagles were now flying perpendicular to the ground, soaring past the height of the bugs.

The giant bugs gaped at Zen and his group but were unable to catch them, falling from all directions to the ground. Their huge bodies crashed into the canyons, sending shockwaves across the land.

“Wow!”

The cloaked men cheered at the bugs' failure from the back of their eagles. They had escaped disaster. The cloaked man sat behind Zen thanked him for saving his life. If it wasn't for Zen, who knew what awaited him in the mouth of the bug?

Zen nodded nonchalantly. Indeed, it might have been quite an adventure for the cloaked men but Zen was used to such adversity.

His eyes were still focused on the ground below. The canyons, which looked like the scars of the earth, were starting to widen, and the giant bugs spilled out one by one, piling on top of each other. Zen's face hardened with gravity. He knew that with such a large size, they'd need a lot of energy to survive, and thus, need to devour a massive amount of food.

With no other living creatures around on the godforsaken desert and canyons, how on earth had so many bugs survived this long?

What he saw next turned his world completely upside down. He didn't understand this world.

The canyons continued to spread, widening even further before converging into a huge ocean below.

But the ocean wasn't made of any water. There was not a single drop of water to be seen. Instead, it was filled with these bugs, bunched up together so densely that it was as though they were one ocean. Black, purple and grey bugs squeezed together, wriggling and writhing like the waves of a restless sea.

The sea of bugs, restless and ominous, was terrifying to see.

But the eagles continued to flap their wings, carrying the cloaked men and Zen far above the bugs' reach.

Zen couldn't keep silent. He needed to understand where these strange bugs came from. And though the cloaked man tried to explain, complete with demonstrative gestures, Zen still did not have the slightest idea what he was talking about.

“It seems I have to take my time.”

A trace of helplessness appeared on Zen's face. Over the next few days, Zen would begin to master the language of this race. But today, he was resigned to a few guesses.

As they finally passed the vast sea of bugs, the world opened up before them. Emerald green mountains and lakes that glistened in the light cascaded across the landscape.

In the distance, a lofty fortress appeared. It took on the shape of a huge eagle's head, tens of thousands of more eagles adorning the city wall around it.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The eagles swerved downwards, carrying Zen and the cloaked men into the fortress.

Zen jumped down from the back of the eagle and was greeted by a loud shout. Dozens of cloaked men came towards him, large, black forks drawn against him.

Unintelligible sounds kept coming out of their mouths. Zen could not make out a single word

but he could tell he was not welcomed.

“Enemy?” Zen asked calmly, as he scanned his eyes across all the cloaked men.

They were no match for him. If he wanted, he knew he'd be able to kill them all in the blink of an eye.

“Yo!”

An eagle shot over Zen's head like a sharp sword zooming through the air. It perched by the roof in front of him, a cold stare affixed on Zen.

Even the eagle's feathers were reminiscent of sharp swords, holding fierce gravitas around it. Zen gulped, a faint sense of fear washing over him.

“Feathers?” Zen's eyes looked towards the circle of white feathers that seemed to adorn the neck of this eagle. It was the same arrangement as seen on the eagle with the broken wing. It must mean something significant.

The cloaked men continued to surround Zen. Those who had brought him to the fortress tried to explain and calm the tensions. From time to time, they pointed at the eagle with the broken wing.

From what he could tell, they were trying to tell them that he was an ally and had saved the eagle.

It seemed to be working as the hostility subsided and the men put down their forks.

The cloaked man who seemed to be the leader bowed slightly to Zen, gesturing at the eagle with the broken wing as though he was saying thanks. Indeed, there was something important about these eagles with the white feathers around their necks.

The leader gestured towards Zen, inviting him into the fortress.

Zen followed him but suddenly, stopped in his tracks.

Over his shoulder, he'd caught sight of a red figure, sitting in a cage not far away, her face buried between her knees.

“Nelly?” Zen was shocked.

What was Nelly doing here? And imprisoned, no less?