章節 46: Ambush (Pt. I)

"Nope~ It's only the rampaging Telarocks~"

"THE WHAT NOW???"

"Fufufu~ Hold on tight, children~"

"Wait, wha--!!! IIIIIEEE!!!" Vinnetra held onto Sena as the others were as well. Sena took off his cloak, revealing an article of formal clothing and he's using it as a carpet to hold the children. The kids stared at it in amazement, flying forward.

"Issei-san-- look! Look!" the platinum-blonde-haired girl happily tugged on the light-blue-haired sleeves as they both looked down.

|| The sight was completely mesmerizing for them ||

Thousands and thousands of bull-like creatures came out of the forest and ran through the vast fields they were in before. They have wide wings made out of mere branches and leaves. Some of them flew above the others, causing some strong winds to build up.

Orion and Vinnetra also looked down from the other side, awing at the sight of the Telarocks dashing and hovering. The children smiled brightly for the first time since they arrived here. Sena also smiled gently at them and led them closer to the creatures.

The children grinned as they slightly touched one of them. Vinnetra was crazy enough to jump on one of them, especially one the flying ones. They didn't react to him being above them, so Orion jumped in as well.

"Is it safe?" Isseiris asked as the girl beside him looked at Sena with hopeful eyes.

"Fufufu~ It is quite safe for you to ride on them as they are tame animals~ But be careful and don't step onto the ground or they'll keep running on you non-stop until you're flat as a mat~"

"Somehow that's scarier than actually riding them..." Shizuka sweatdropped and she looked at Vinnetra and Orion.

Watching at them bantering and hanging out together reminded her of her brothers as her eyes turned bright gold for a slight second there. The fear was in her crystal-blue orbs as she eyed their every move.

"...uka... Shi... Shizuka... Shizuka!"

"E-Eh...?" Isseiris waved his hands in front of the girl as his shout woke the girl out of her daze.

"Are you going to ride them?" the boy questioned kindly as he gestured at a nearby Telarock as fumes came out of its nose. Shizuka chuckled at it and looked back at the light-blue-haired male, "I think I'm gonna sit this one out~"

"Are you sure? There's no second chance."

"The young boy is right, Shizuka. You should ride them~ It's a once in a lifetime chance that you meet Telarocks, or even ride them at that~!" Sena and Isseiris tried to convince the girl as she shook her head at them.

"No, I think I'm goo--"

"Fufufu~ Are you scared~?"

"Am I what now?" the girl was caught off guard by the ghost's question, causing her to blink a few times before registering what he meant by his question, "Scared? Why would I be scared?"

"And why would you not ride them~?"

"Haa... You are not making any sense, Sena-san. I simply do not want to ride them not because I'm not scared," Shizuka reasoned simply, closing her eyes and lifting her head slightly to the two.

Sena raised an eyebrow and gave Isseiris a knowing smile as he understood what he meant, "Right, roger that."

"Eh? Issei-san? What are you-- DOING?!" her last word came out as a scream because Isseiris carried her bridal-style as they both jumped down on a flying Telarock. They successfully landed on one of them and Isseiris put the girl slowly in front of him.

Sena separated himself from the girl's shadow as he allowed both of them to be alone while smiling devilishly at the sight of the two.

"Uhhhh... Issei-san??" she didn't have any time to look at the male as she was frozen in place. Isseiris chuckled as he stated to her, "So you are scared."

"Am not!"

"Are too."

"Am not!"

"Are too."

"Fine, I am! Just get me down!!!" Shizuka exclaimed as the Telarock flew faster, clinging onto it for her precious life, "I'm too young to die!!!"

"Fufufu~ It's not too young to die, little Shizuka~" Sena chuckled merrily as he flew beside the two.

"And what do you mean by that, Sena-san?!" She said, not opening her closed eyes one bit.

"I died at the young age of 25, you know~? Fufufu~ Ahh... Youth~" Isseiris sweatdropped at the older male while the girl in front of him was too busy hugging the Telarock they were riding.

"By the way, you were just fine when you rode the Antheros earlier. Why are you scared now?" Isseiris inquired calmly as he watched over the girl, making sure she's comfortable.

After relaxing for a while, she answered the male behind her and he listened to her patiently, "We already know almost everything about the Antheroses, like their natures, and such."

"Hoo~ So you're afraid of them since you just knew about them~?" Sena guessed casually as he petted the Telarocks.

"That's right..." Shizuka replied quietly while trying to keep her cool and not shouting hysterically all over the place. She really can't keep her cool when it came to bugs though...

"Well, now you know about them," Isseiris reasoned to her simply whilst she stayed quiet. Probably deadpanning inside, but was also too scared to even look back as they Telarock was flying faster.

"Fufufu~ You need to take risks on trying new things, Shizuka~ Or else you'll never grow~" Sena suggested and eyed at the scared girl comfortingly.

"What he said," Vinnetra chimed in from beside them. He and Orion came closer to the three-- buuuuuttttt. their ride seemed to state otherwise.

They flew further away from the three as Vinnetra yelled, "Welp! Looks like my ride doesn't want to be near you!"

"Mine too-- Whoa!!" Orion jumped as his Telarock suddenly went faster.

"But how come you're not scared about riding my cloak, Shizuka~?"

"Hmm? Since it's yours? I don't know! I don't decide the things I'm scared at!!" Shizuka exclaimed in panic, still holding on tight. Isseiris smiled a bit as Sena laughed at the girl in amusement.

"Fufufu~ What a complicated mind of yours, Shizuka~"

The Telarocks kept running and flying. Some of them getting faster than others.

|| Too fast, they'd say ||

The other Telarocks were also flying too fast for the children to handle. Vinnetra and Orion held on tightly to their Telarocks, trying hard to not fall. You can hear Vinnetra's hysteric scream among all the winds and sounds. Sena didn't have any time to catch up as he disappeared too suddenly.

'WHAT IS WITH PEOPLE DISAPPEARING ALL THE TIME?!' the children thought together while they struggled to control the creature.

"HUAAAAAAAA!!! SLOW DOWN!!! SLOW!!! DOWN!!!!!!!!!"

"Vin-san!" From the corner of their eyes, they could see poor Vin almost falling off the Telarock as he dangled on one of its leafy wings.

"Gah!!" Orion and his Telarock almost bumped into another one as it backed up in confusion, making a chain of confused flying Telarock bumping into each other.

"I knew I shouldn't have ridden one!!!" The three children deadpanned at Vinnetra's yell, probably thinking about the same thing, 'You're the one who jumped in first!!!'

Meanwhile, the children were struggling to hold on, clashes of swords were heard from afar.

"Heehhh~ You're quite good for an old ghost~"

A young man with olive-black hair said as his large sword clashed with the ghost's steel-made sword. Unknowing to the ghost, another group of men attacked the children as they were brought to Space again.

The Magic Space around them turned into a simple white world. The Telarocks panicked and kept running in random directions.

"Whoa...! Whoa...! HeLpPpP!!!" Vinnetra yelled out when he was practically dangling on the creature's wing.

"Vin-san!! Wai-- Urgh!!!" The Telarock Shizuka and Isseiris were riding kept acting like a mad bull, as the girl lost her balance, "I knew I shouldn't have agreed to this...!"

|| To be continued… ||