Chapter 309: Kurai's Journey to the West (3)
Volume 2.5 — Omake 3
—
"Even at this speed," Kurai smiled widely while her eyes fluttered back and forth. "You say it'll take us days? No way!"
At the moment, Kurai was sitting on top of the Monkey King's 'nimbus cloud' and her head moved back and forth to observe the world move behind her due to how fast she was flying forward.
"What? No. Why would I lie?" the Monkey King—Enma—scoffed as he sat beside her with his arms crossed. "It's true that it will take us a while, even at this speed."
If that was really the case, then Kurai had to admit that this planet truly was huge.
It's been half an hour since Kurai left for the west, with the Monkey King accompanying her. Kurai herself could fly, but the speed wasn't this fast—also it was an active thing with her mana, but this was where she could sit relaxed and just enjoy the wind.
"Say, who are we going to consult there, anyway?" Kurai asked after tilting her head to look at Enma. "Or are we going there blind? Do you have friends in the west?"
"Hmmm," Enma hummed as he seemed to look back into the distant past. "I recall, I befriended this lesser dragon, a 'Drake', who came flying from the west. I helped him treat a grievous wound and even taught him how to call nature's energy into him. He was very grateful to me because of all the help he received from me, and even invited me to visit him if I ever went to the West… But, alas, it's been a long time since then, so I am not sure if he's even alive or not."
"Hm…." Kurai contemplated for a moment. "If he wasn't killed, he should be still alive because he knows how to absorb nature energy into himself. I don't think he is dead yet."
"I hope. But the humans in the West are, as he said, technologically far more advanced than the ones in our eastern continent." Enma said. "So even with the power boosts, it shouldn't be impossible to kill him."
"Huh. I see your point, then—because where I came from, technology is also very advanced, enough to eradicate the entire world." Kurai told him. "I won't tell you the details, though, don't ask me."
"Hnm," Enma eyed her for a moment, before looking forward again.
No further important words were exchanged between the Monkey Sage and the Cat God, who traveled to their destination at speed surprising.
* * *
The Monkey King, Enma, was pleased with the time it took his Nimbus Cloud to cross the great sea and reach the western continent. Finally, after two days of flight, he could see the edge of the country.
Beside him, the Divine Cat whom he was accompanying also looked excited.
Enma knew it wasn't a bluff when this little creature said she was a God, as he was a being so close to nature that he was titled as a 'Sage'—classifying him the same as the Sage of Six Path—which proved his sensory abilities to be beyond most others. He could 'sense' the depth of her existence, it was in an entirely separate class from mortals, and to some degree—even his own.
The reason he decided to accompany her, though, was not at all connected to her status. Enma may not be the strongest in this world, but as a person who had lived nearly a millennium, he had pride beyond any other. He wouldn't bow down to any random God in the street, not when he knew their power difference wasn't so great either.
Rather, he decided to travel with her because… well, because he felt pity for her. Though there was another reason.
In some way, this little cat who had so much power at such a young age… reminded Enma of his younger self. Back when he thought that he owned the world, that he was invincible. Back when he realized the reality of this world after his lover died, his once joyous face became stone stoic. He had to accept the truth, that sure he was somewhat strong, but he was far from being invincible—perhaps, some may call him a loser who didn't have the power to save his own lover, to make her return to life.
Enma didn't want a similar fate to befall this energetic cat, who was in search of her mother and aunties. It'd leave a gap in his heart if he had let this cat leave on her own, so he accompanied her—to help her find whom she was looking for, and even if she never found them, at least he would be right there to be able to share some advice to her.
"Looks like we are here," when the nimbus cloud entered the sky above the western land, Enma grunted softly. "Let's drop here, ask the people around, and see what's up."
Obviously, humans would not see a talking monkey nicely and may even try to capture him, but even that'd give a small idea of what the current situation in this continent was.
"Alright, let's go, let's go!' Kuria was hyped as she jumped forward, stepping on thin air, and running downwards.
Enma held back a sigh and followed behind her with his cloud.
* * *
The Republic of Steam—was the name of the continent where Kurai and Enma found themselves. This continent was huge, with its endmost area being this port city that was closest to the sea, the exact place where Kurai dropped onto.
Even before landing on the ground, Kurai was already allured by the scene in the sky, where aircraft were occupying the sky, with thick smoke coming out of their engines.
Kurai paused in the air to stare at the crafts with wide, glittering eyes, as Enma reached her spot and paused beside her.
"This is…"
"It's a steampunk fantasy!"
"Huh? What?"
Kurai was thrilled by this site, so regretful that Kimi wasn't beside her to share the sight, while Enma looked confused. Noticing the confusion, Kurai tried to explain to him without dragging it too long.
"Steampunk is the term used to describe a world setting like this in the manga my mommy used to read. You wouldn't know." Kurai focused back on the scene. "Mhmm, the thick smell of smoke~ So exhilarating!"
On the other hand, didn't seem to be a big fan of the smoke—he could feel how thin the nature energy was here due to this pollution.
Around half a minute later, Enma suggested going downwards, to which Kurai agreed reluctantly. Flying down and landing on an open spot beside the street, the two intelligent animals couldn't help but pause as they had a flashback of their lives.
This… was real. As the road was filled to the brim with a sort of metallic vehicle that Enma didn't recognize, humans were traveling on foot as well, while tall armor of metal—robots—stood nearby, spraying wind currents to dissipate the fog that littered the area.
"W-whoa…"
"This is unbelievable."
Some people gave them a weird stare, but nobody seemed to care that a monkey and a cat had dropped from the sky and were conversing—and both Kurai and Enma understood their reason, as it would be weird to be surprised at such a trivial thing when they were living a lifestyle such as this.
"…Hehehe!' Kurai suddenly laughed aloud. "C'mon, let's look around and ask around! I wanna eat the food here, too."
Enma failed to hold back a smile at that. She really was energetic, while his old fossil self was cautious of any sudden attack.
"Alright, let's get moving. Stay close to me, though, we can never be too sure." Enma said, and just as he did while taking a step forward with Kurai, the four tall robots standing on the four corners of the street turned their heads at them.
There was a spike of alert that made Enma's hair stand, as the robots had their eyes turn bright red, shining dangerously while the cannon barrels on their shoulder that were spewing out air all turned to lock on his and Kurai's forms.
[Unidentified life detected. Preparing an eradication process.]
The crowd noticed the robots moving their junky forms, ready to take action, as they yelled in frenzy before running all over the place. Enma watched the people run for their lives, while Kurai also went on high alert, just as the robots prepared for attack.
"Fuuh," Enma sighed softly. "Tech here indeed is annoying, as you told me before, old friend."
Annoying, but not dangerous. Enma was far from scared, and he looked down at Kurai while yelling fast. "Don't act on your own, fight as we planned."
The four robots, their canons all charged up, fired all at once—just as Enma finished using the Jutsu, Transformation: Adamantine Staff, turning himself onto an indestructible staff that fell onto Kurai's mouth.
Kurai clenched her jaws on the staff, expanding it tall with just a thought, as she spun smoothly in a 360° motion, cutting the fog in a breathtaking fashion.
– Bang!
– Bang!
– Bang!
– Bang!
The two ends of the staff hit two robots each, and with loud thuds, the metal robots crashed on the concrete walls behind them—just as explosions littered the area with fire and splinters.
The danger here may be different from what they were used to, but even so—this duo of Sage and God was far beyond anything that these metal bots can handle.
**
**
**