Bab 26: Pentafive's return
While Renir swam at a rapid pace to race against time, he was following the presence of the next rune that was far away.
At that time, five people arrived at Gantlet.
Yes, they are the Pentafive.
With fierce expression with the will to challenge what awaited them, they screamed when their feet did not feel any ground but their whole body getting dragged by the great flood
As one, the Pentafive shouted in terror, "AHHH~!!"
"Ye! Come to me!"
"Why?! You are the one who can't swim!"
"Exactly! I'm going to drown!"
"Useless grandfather!"
They were surprised by the hellish environment which was the great flood. The great flood that even doused the smaller mountains and made valleys into trenches.
The roaring clouded sky that flashed hundreds of lightning dragons lighted the scenario of the ravaging rainstorm stretched to the far horizons.
"Hey! The midget is drowning!"
"Then help him!"
"I am not that good at swimming to bring another with me! And you're the leader, why don't you help him!"
"He's weightless, how hard can it be?!"
"If he's weightless, why is he crying and drowning?!"
"Bubulubbulu! I hate --blubub the flood!!"
"You can't swim because of that large jacket of yours, right?!"
Veronia dragged Hanzee with him while Sceke was finding something in the mountains.
The five already knew the drill. Since they already been through that situation before and they are alive today, they surely knew how to survive there.
"Ah! Found it!", Sceke smiled when he saw a hole in the side of the mountain hidden by rocks and grass. He climbed up and waited for others to come.
With a strength more than just a little girl, Ye could barely drag her heavy grandfather to follow Sceke.
When the two pairs arrived at the hole, Sceke pulled Old Ze who was so heavy because of his toughened body and Hanzee who was scared of any body of water taller than him because of a trauma.
This was to say that actually none of them didn't know how to swim.
Cough! Ugh! Veronia coughed before beating up Sceke.
"Ahh! I did nothing wrong!"
"Shut up!"
The five of them rested in the hole that was an abode in the side near the peak of the mountain.
It was dark there and only when Hanzee woke up from his terror did he pulled a mysterious torch out of nowhere to reveal that there were stairs leading up behind them.
These stairs are rough and just rocks and soil placed on top of another.
This was the place they used to escape the second part of Gantlet - the great flood.
After a moment, Hanzee realized his white jacket was missing, "Huh?! Where's my jacket?! My jacket?!"
"The white jacket that was too big for you?", Sceke smirked.
"I was supposed to grow into it!"
"No, you can't!", Sceke shouted, "What's wrong with your little shirt!?"
"Err...!"
Veronia ignored them since she was the one who took Hanzee's jacket off and looked up when she finally saw the stairs and commented, "It's been so long..."
The other four nodded, but now that they are in a safe place, they paused to process what had happened.
"So... there really are people that we left here...", Sceke spoke.
"But to our surprise, they are still alive.", Old Ze said in glee.
He was sure since if he was wrong, Gantlet would have already reset by now.
While they climb the stairs, they discussed about the "people"
"Where could they be? They must be hiding somewhere.", Veronia pursed her lips in curiosity.
That was the first thought that arrived in everyone's heads.
With just a short time, they arrived on a plane ground - another cave - in there were few types of furniture that were made out of course stone with flattened soil on top.
But the five were happy to see this stiff place just because there was enough space and these usable furnishings.
That modified cave was placed just below the peak of the mountain. They knew from past experiences the flood couldn't reach there.
And a hole that acted as a window was there to let them view the outside. Old Ze looked and saw the fierce scene once again.
"There are mountains from afar that was as big, if not bigger, like the one we are on."
"You mean, they traveled?", Hanzee asked.
They can't imagine a person challenging the nature itself, let alone the challenges beneath it so they didn't even give it a thought.
"Perhaps, and if they are then far away, we are lucky.", Sceke's words brightened the mood.
"Yeah...", Veronia gave a relieving smile, "Unlike the Giganslik, the water Sentinel will only spawn once and in the middle of all the people alive."
Ye was still too young to join the conversation since she was just 13 years old so she sat on the bed and warming herself using the fire near her.
Hanzee in front of her was depressed about his white jacket.
"If that's what's happening, then we could let the Water Sentinel roam and we fish on the eleventh night!", Sceke excitedly suggested.
"How?", Veronia asked.
They were not expecting this opportunistic situation happening to them in Gantlet and came unprepared.
"We'll find a way, hehehe,", Sceke greedily laughed, "Water creatures sell more than chylefruits or any slime."
"A way? But just one drainer is enough for our damnation.", Hanzee commented.
Sceke shook his head and sighed, "Why are you people being so negative?", he sat on a chair-like soil.
"Then would you please tell us how, leader?", Veronia tilted her chin up with her arms crossed under her well-developed chest.
"Noticed that not one drainer spotted us even though we all took our time in the flood?"
"Oh?", Old Ze replied, "Of course, we noticed. Why did you think I swam slow and calm?"
"Because you didn't.", the four of them rebuked.
Dejected that even his granddaughter rebuked him, he sadly looked out the scenery.... which did not brighten his spirit because of the violent flood.
"But it's impossible that there was none of that scary drainer, right?", Sceke continued.
Then everyone nodded.
Yeah, it was impossible for not even a single water creature to chase them.
"The reason must be, the majority was lured in by the other people that are in here other than us, so that means,"
"That means?", the others tilted their heads.
"That means we are going to have Veronia bait them here.", Sceke smirked, "She just reached Rank 4 and got a new transcendent skill, why test them now?"
"What?!", Veronia shouted in anger, "How can my Shadow Step be useful here?!"
"Well, you can grab their attention and once they jumped at you, you will use your Shadow Step to dodge then Hanzee, Ye , and I will deal damage to it. If that is not enough, it's Old Ze's job to block their attack."
"That's!...", Veronia was left to think. What Sceke said was possible but it was scary to think of letting one of the drainers near her.
Ever since they went back to the abominable City of Misfortune, they learned that they were on the verge of climbing to Rank 4.
However, Veronia seemed to hit it off when she had the required experience to rank up, and there, she did her upgrade.
As soon as they were finished, they traveled back for two days to be transported again into the Gantlet Woodlands.
There were many reasons why they came back but the main was to see the "people" they left there and to gain little more experience to push themselves to Rank 4 altogether.
While they plan how to get rich, from far away, Renir was greatly sensing the nearing rune.
Even with his stamina and fortitude, he got so tired that he dived into the abys to find some sword-like water creatures to refill.
Now that he was on travel, he thought a lot of things.
Actually, when was the last time he had actually slept?
Renir couldn't remember.
For some amount of time, under the massively electric sky and between two mountains, Renir looked below the water and knew that the next rune was in the valley.
From the view of the mountain where the Pentafive were at, Renir's location was on the horizon. He reached so far without stopping and at his maximum speed over the course of time.
Renir reached a new location where everything was new. Behind those mountains was a vast land that was also flooded and stormed.
Bolts of lightning flashed to let him see far the distance.
"This is ridiculous.", Renir frowned when thinking how big the storm reaches.
But he thought no more and when he was about to dive, suddenly...
In a blink of an eye, It was dark and quiet... it was too dark to see anything and too silent to hear anything.
The clouds above abruptly stopped producing both rain and thunders. It was too terrifying to behold.
Renir's chest elevated as he sipped in a cold breath. Facing nature's unnatural phenomenon and changes were something that was impossible for him not to fear.
After a few seconds, he noticed a current of the flood slightly pulling him.
Renir turned around to see a massive water pillar rising from afar, in the middle between him and the mountain he came from.
On top of that water pillar was a bright object, giving energy to the water it pulled. It was so bright that from that distance, Renir could see it.
Renir didn't cease to be amazed and frightened to see the scale of his next challenge.
"That's the Water Sentinel?"
Hadiah
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