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"Oh no! They're closing in on us!" Lyria shouted as they tried to escape from the soldiers.
They continued to run, but eventually found themselves trapped as there was only a dead end ahead of them.
"Oh no! There's no way to run anymore!" Vyrn panicked and tried to find a way out.
"There they are! Quick, catch them!" One of the soldiers shouted as they saw them trapped.
The soldiers then surrounded Djeeta and the others, pointing their weapons towards them.
"Oh no, this is really bad, how are we going to get out of here?" Vyrn looked more panicked.
"This might be the end..." Katalina looked resigned as they were surrounded by so many soldiers.
"Hey, come on everyone, we have to fight them at least until we can make a gap to escape," Djeeta tried to raise their spirits.
Rei looked at all the soldiers, starting to think of something to do, but couldn't find the answer.
'It seems like I should try calling the sword that Djeeta mentioned before' Rei remembered Djeeta's story about the golden sword he used to kill the Hydra before.
Rei closed his eyes and concentrated on summoning his Opus sword, suddenly black aura began to emit from his body.
All the soldiers felt the pressure of the aura and took a step back.
Djeeta and the others looked towards Rei in panic, thinking that Rei might lose control again.
"Rei?! What are you doing?! open your eyes, don't lose control again" Djeeta shook Rei.
But before Rei could answer, they suddenly heard something being thrown towards them.
"Eh?" Katalina looked confused at the round object that had fallen in front of them.
*Pshhhhh* suddenly smoke started coming out of the round object.
The smoke began to cover them all, making it difficult to see.
"Hey! Over here!" a voice suddenly appeared from the side.
Vyrn who was still flying, could see who it was. "It's you again!"
"I've got a hideout! And I'll take you there, so follow me," the person offered to them.
"Come on, everyone, let's follow him!" Lyria suggested to them as they had no other choice.
They all ran together with the person, leaving the place.
"Cowards! You won't get away from us!" some soldiers who saw them running away started to chase after them.
But before they could start chasing, suddenly green thorns appeared and surrounded them, binding some of the soldiers and stopping their pursuit.
"Ahhh! What is this?!"
"Where did these thorns come from?!"
"Aaaaahhhhh"
As Djeeta and the others ran, they heard the cries of the soldiers, but didn't think too much about it as they were busy escaping.
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After they arrived at the hideout, they could finally breathe easy after seeing that they had successfully escaped from the pursuing soldiers.
"Whew... Looks like they finally gave up on the search," the person said as he sat on one of the benches available in the hideout.
"We're in your debt. Thank you once again for helping us escape," Katalina expressed her gratitude to the person.
"You can say that again! The name's Rackam. How about you?" Rackam introduced himself.
They all then introduced themselves and explained to him what they were doing there.
"Nope. I'll pass," Rackam answered after hearing their invitation to join them.
"Besides, I've given up on the sky. I'll never pilot an airship again..." Rackam looked sad as he remembered something.
"So that's that. My flying days are over,"
Rei listened to Rackam's words and could only shake his head in confusion.
He couldn't understand why Rackam would stop being a helmsman just because his ship didn't fly successfully, but he chose to remain silent knowing that Rackam would still join them because of the Tiamat issue.
"But… why's that? According to the townsfolk, you've been interested in airships and flying ever since you were a child,"
Djeeta was confused because when she asked other townspeople about Rackam, they said he was the best helmsman here.
"Yeah! I mean, you must've trained like crazy to be a helmsman. Why would you throw all that away?" Vyrn asked his question.
"Good grief! One at a time, guys. One at a time… Listen here. The sky's done with me so I'm done with the sky. That's all there is to it."
"You guys saw it, right? The crashed airship back there. It's been there for ages. A wreck without an owner, I crawled over every inch of that thing when I was a tyke, fixing it up. Swore I'd get it flying again..."
"Wait. You fixed it? But it looked like a wreck!" Lyria was surprised to hear Rackam's words.
"You're not wrong. It lifted me up and threw me back down to the ground just as quickly. I had an expert technician handle repairs and worked like mad to get my piloting skills up to speed. I just knew I was ready... But the Grandcypher came crashing down… along with all my hopes and dreams." Rackam finished his story with a sigh.
"That just sounds like you had bad weather or something… Right, Rei?" Vyrn nudged Rei, who had been silent the whole time.
Rei feeling the nudge from Vyrn, just shrugged his shoulders.
"Anyway, the time for talk is over. We gotta go warn the town the empire's coming.
No way they can get away with what they're trying to pull!"
Rackam stood up and began to leave the hideout towards the city. Everyone watched as Rackam left, and eventually followed him.
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When they were close to the city, they felt a little relieved because they could see that the town had not yet been attacked by the empire's soldiers.
"Whoa! I can see the town!" Vyrn exclaimed happily, glad that they had arrived before the soldiers can attack the town.
"Oh yeah? Good then! You guys can take it from here. I'm heading back to my hideout," Rackam turned around and started walking away.
"Wait just a minute! Aren't you going to help the townspeople fight back against the empire?" Katalina was surprised to see Rackam turning back so easily even though he had said he would warn the other residents about the empire.
Rackam stopped when he heard Katalina's words, but he just turned and replied, "Hey, I'm already helping you find your way back to town to spread the word. But I'm not sticking my neck out for anything but that airship of mine… the Grandcypher."
"There are lives at stake! How can you just ignore them when they're right in front of you?" Katalina raised her voice.
But Rackam ignored her and started walking away, leaving them behind.
"You know right? Attacking the soldiers silently to delay their attack on the city is a bad idea" Rei, who had been silent until now, began speaking towards Rackam.
Rackam suddenly stopped and turned to look at Rei. "Attacking the soldiers? I have no idea what you're talking about," Rackam tried to deny Rei's words.
"Attacking the soldiers? What do you mean, Rei?" Djeeta asked Rei what he meant.
"When he standing up and left his hideout, he took some items that he threw when he saved us before," Rei explained.
"I guess he was planning to use that smoke to attack them stealthily, but it won't work because they have many skilled soldiers in their camp not like the one that chase after us before" Rei shook his head.
Djeeta and the others were surprised because they see Rackam's reaction when he heard Rei's words.
"Rackam..." Lyria looked towards Rackam.
"I don't know what you've been talking about, I'm just going back to my hideout and try to repair the Grandcypher," Rackam walked away, almost running instead of just walking.
They all watched Rackam's behavior and shook their heads.
"Why is he acting like that? If he's really concerned about the people in the city, why doesn't he just come with us?" Vyrn asked them all.
"I don't know, but let's head to the city before it's too late," Rei answered Vyrn, and they all walked back towards the city.
After they were almost at the city, suddenly they heard a voice and two people appeared blocking their way.
"Why, hello there! How are you this lovely day, my dear fugitives?" one of the two person that blocking them spoke.
"They look fine. They're not even hurt..." the other person replied to the first one's question.
Rei saw that the two people were a man and a woman; the man was an Erune with long blue hair and two ears above his head, and the woman was a Draph with short red hair and two horns on her head.
'oh wow Draph... Her chests is so big, how can her chests be so big' Rei focused on the Draph's chest which was completely exposed because of her open clothing.
"Hohoho... look at him Sturm, one of them is staring at you seriously, it seems he is mesmerized by your appearance," the man nudged the woman next to him, who was named Sturm.
"Ow ow ow, stop poking me with your weapon," the man winced as Sturm stabbed him with her weapon, even though she did so without using any strength at all.
"Be quiet, Drang!" Sturm said to Drang with a slightly red face.
"Ow!" suddenly Rei felt two strong nudged hitting his stomach, he then saw that the two people nudging him were Lyria and Djeeta.
"Hey, why are you two doing this?" Rei was confused by their behavior, but they both just remained silent with pouting faces.
They both looked at their own chests and sighed because there was no way they could compete with Draphs.
"*Cough* so who are you two? Imperial lackeys?" Katalina pretended to cough to change the mood.
"Bingo! You, my fine friend, are a genius! How'd you like an apple?" Drang pulled out an apple from his Pouch.
Vyrn, seeing the apple in front of him, suddenly drooled and really wanted to take the apple.
"Nghh... Like I'd even want one of those! No way I'd take a sweet, crispy, juicy..." Vyrn tried to refuse the apple, but he continued to drool while speaking.
"Vyrn, you're drooling! but it's okay, Vyrn drooling like that looks cute too," Katalina observed Vyrn drooling.
"Ha-ha! We have an apple fan on our hands! Luckily I have a whole bucketfu— Ow!" Drang wanted to pull out more apples, but he stopped because Sturm stabbed him again.
"Enough with it, Drang. Waste any more time and I'll slice you up," Sturm turned her gaze to Djeeta and the others and started pulling out her other weapon.
"Look, we're in a hurry. If that's all you came to say, can we be on our way now?" Djeeta said to them as they were still in a rush to get to the city.
"Hmm... You're on your way to warn the town of the empire, aren't you?" Sturm asked Djeeta.
"We'd rather you didn't. It'll be so much easier without their resistance."
"And you think we'll do this favor for you?" Katalina replied this time.
"Are you saying you won't?" Sturm gripped her weapon tighter and prepared to attack them.
"Now those are some scary faces! Don't you scowl like that, little lady, or your face might freeze!" Drang teased Sturm a bit.
"Okay. If you say so..." Suddenly Lyria answered them.
Djeeta and the others looked at Lyria in confusion.
Upon hearing Lyria's words, Sturm immediately put her weapon away and left the scene.
"We're leaving, Drang."
"Wait, Sturm! Don't leave me here!"
After they both left, Djeeta and the others were even more confused as to why they believed them so easily.
"What was that about?" Vyrn, seeing them both leave, spoke.
"A warning from the empire, I guess. Let's hurry, but be extra careful," Katalina answered Vyrn's question.
They all finally continued walking to get to the city to warn the other residents.
But before they arrived at the city gate, suddenly many monsters appeared in front of them.
"Monsters! Why are there so many monsters near the city like this?" Vyrn was shocked to see the number of monsters that appeared.
Djeeta, Katalina, and Rei started to draw their weapons.
"It looks like we have to defeat some monsters first before we can continue our journey," Katalina spoke.
"Yes, but we have to quickly deal with the monsters," Djeeta replied to Katalina.
"Yes, I'm ready," Rei spoke to both of them.
Rei took a deep breath and focused on his sword, trying to use the aura he had to speed up their fight.
"Hyaaahhh!" Djeeta and Katalina attacked the monsters in their area.
Rei felt his aura moving towards his sword, and a black aura appeared around his sword.
Rei then advanced and attacked the monsters around him, effortlessly slashing them like before.
*Slash* *Slash* *Slash*
Rei continued to slash the monsters around him while avoiding their attacks, and soon they managed to kill all the monsters around them.
*Crack* Rei suddenly heard a cracking sound and saw that his sword was slightly cracked.
'Huh, it seems like my weapon is not strong enough to contain the aura of Lucillus, and I'm not sure if any weapon in this world can withstand the aura of Lucillus. It looks like I have to try to summon Lucilius's Opus weapon soon.'