As soon as Flav arrived, a huge pressure descended upon him. His whole body became alert, all the hair on his body jolted up with sweat descending from his forehead, all the way to his feet. It felt suffocatingly heavy and overwhelming, almost making his knees buckle. He couldn't even raise his head to find the source of such pressure and even if he could, he wouldn't dare to, fearing a quick demise if he felt offended.
'This..can't be happening!' he screamed inwardly with barely opened eyes. A lightning-like bird circled around Flav and company as its deep abyss like eyes stared down at them. With a look, it knew that these ants were beneath him.
"Flav," Iris' terrifyingly calm voice entered Flav's ears which made him turn to look at her. When she had Flav's attention she continued, "Where is the map?" she asked. Flav barely managed to turn his head to look at her and he could see her whole body shaking with sweat. He could clearly see her struggling much more than him against this overwhelming pressure. However, despite her body's clear struggle, her eyes were still completely focused.
Despite being in this situation, Iris's calmness and confidence calmed down Flav. 'How is she so calm about all of this? A huge beast is hovering over us and we could die any second,' he thought as his admiration towards Iris grew.
Flav didn't know much about Iris and that's why he thought that. If he knew her past, what she suffered, and what she went through, her iron will and the lack of fear of death wouldn't be so surprising anymore.
He didn't ask why she requested it and took the map out of his robe's inner pocket slowly.
Iris took the map and started checking it with utmost concentration. 'Where is it?' she thought as she kept searching for something.
Although he tried to ignore the beast's presence, he just couldn't. He knew that the beast could have killed all of them already but it didn't. It just waited, making his heart race faster. "What happened to ghosty, over there?" he pointed at the barely transparent Joanna, trying to distract himself.
"I am not sure but I have a theory," Iris indulged him in idle talk. This way she could force herself to ignore the beast and concentrate even more. "We should ask later! Right now," Iris stopped fiddling with the map and walked towards Joanna's position with Flav next to her, "we should get out of here."
Iris knew the beast won't attack them but she didn't want to count on luck in such situations. The beast's power appeared clear in her black glowy eyes. It's as if she had seen that beast before.
'What are they planning?' the bird thought when it saw Iris and Flav arrive at Joanna's position.
The lightning bird felt something amiss and the temperature suddenly started heating up and wind picked up as the bird flapped its wings. It looked at the amusing creatures below it and stopped sneering.
"Kneel!" A mighty voice followed by a caw almost tore the two's eardrums. The pressure on the group grew significantly. The ground they were standing on began to crack from the pressure. Its beak formed something similar to a smirk when the humans obeyed it while shivering.
However, before it could feel the joy of the ants kneeling before its great strength, the bird felt vibrations in space, widening its eyes. "You dare!" it screamed with veracity but it was too late.
It didn't really care about these worthless humans but for them to ignore it hurt its pride. The bird was, after all, a mighty rank 6 being. For rank 4 and below to ignore its words felt highly insulting.
Before the bird could react, Flav, Iris, and the wavering and unfocused Joanna disappeared.
Quietness reigned supreme after they teleported, but not for long. Not a minute after their disappearance, the bird flapped its wings and screeched. Trees blew up, the ground became scorched with lightning, and the air whipped almost turning into tornadoes.
Animals died. Plants died. Life died. With casual acts of the lightning bird, that part of the forest turned into a wasteland. "I just wanted to have some fun!" the bird complained while it destroyed everything around it. "I didn't even want to eat them. They wouldn't be tasty anyway, and I could have killed them if I so wanted, damn it! I only allowed them to play to entertain me."
After destroying the whole place and burning it with lightning the bird turned around and left. "I should go home, this forest is boring." it said and flew east.
This wasn't their first time teleporting but Iris and Joanna were injured. Travelling through space with such wounds wasn't something that should be done. Iris knew that but she had to take the chance, no matter what.
Time felt limitless when teleporting but not even a second had passed when the three arrived at the other end of the teleportation.
Flav blinked his eyes and looked around him. He found himself in a large room filled with ornaments. They were on top of an altair with a robed man looking at them weirdly, in his hand he held a three-armed candelabra.
As if he suddenly remembered something, the priest looked at the intruders and carefully asked. "Perhaps, are you the people from the Academy?"
"Yes? Ah, that's us," Flav unconsciously answered, before realizing what he said. "Yes, we are from the Ascension Academy," he confirmed with a nod.
"I see," the bearded priest nodded to himself. He put the candelabra down and turned around walking towards the door. "The city lord will be here shortly," he told Flav before closing the gate behind with a bam.
"Ok?... What just happened?"
"Talk later, help her for now," Iris said, her arm covering her wounded hand. She had already sheathed the sword when Flav gave her the map.
Flav finally remembered Joanna and looked at her. She appeared as if she would disappear at any moment and for some reason, Flav didn't feel repulsed when he held her. He knew that only he could hold her and that's why Iris asked him for help, but he didn't know what to do.
Luckily for him, he didn't have to do anything as not long after the priest came, the door opened again. A black haired middle-aged man entered and looked at the three with a neutral face.
"I am the city lord of Gley City," he introduced himself, before seeing Joanna.
"Leave her, we will treat her. You kids are really lucky," he said with a gleam in his eyes. It's as if he understood everything that happened.
'I am really confused,' Flav narrowed his eyes.