Antagonist Protection Service-Chapter 276: Antagonist of Earth (21)

All of a sudden, and before she could react, Sophie found herself imitating a bird.

"Hk-!"

Without hesitation, she activated her ability.

Tick. Tock.

The world around her once again slowed, she hurriedly used the time obtained to gather herself and ascertain what had happened.

Below her, the closest island was still far away, and although she wasn’t aware of exactly what happened, it appeared as though the one she had been climbing up had been flicked into the air for some reason, consequently sending her flying.

Ordinarily, that would be reason to panic. After all, she had no way of landing with guaranteed safety, and more critically, it wasn’t looking like she would even be able to make it there before the river of plasma swiftly carried it all away, rising upwards at the speed of a freight train as it was.

’...No.’

On second glance, Sophie rather found that to be incorrect.

The river of plasma was in fact no longer travelling upwards―it seemed to have reached a bend in its path, one that from Sophie’s position appeared to be a squarely unnatural ninety-degree angle, which was what resulted in the forceful flick of the isle’s tail end.

Because of that turn, she had been thrown into the air as if by a whip, solidifying the reality even further that she would no longer be able to return.

Eyeing further down said path of the river, towards the inevitable destination she would have been on course to arrive at if not for this incident, her gaze quickly narrowed.

"..."

’Is that...?’

For a second, she thought she found it, though she couldn’t be certain.

A gigantic whirlpool of raw plasma waiting right at the end of the river just a number of miles away, circling itself endlessly in the otherwise empty void around it.

Was that the islands’ destination?

In that case, the mentioned ’salvation’...

’―There...! It’s close!’

By turning herself to glimpse the two sides of the river’s bend, Sophie’s gaze captured two worlds divided.

Mountainous regions, of lava and of ice.

Like the islands and the river, the pocket worlds’ direction of gravity was skewed, so their peaks pointed in the opposite direction that the continuation of the river was flowing, but just above them, patches of grey sky light and dark filled their borders.

Thinking of her teammates who had been positioned further up the chain, Sophie prayed internally that they had already made it to salvation and were safe.

There was no reason to hesitate; they had already been informed which of the two lands they should take refuge in, and so with the incredible speed bestowed to her by the slowed world, Sophie motioned her body to soar through the air in the direction she desired.

Once her momentum retained from the tethered islands’ tail whip diminished, she naturally began to fall.

Nevertheless, with the astounding amount of air she had already gained, she was confident it would be enough, her arms and legs spread out flat to slow her descent even further.

That was when the world regained its prior stability, time resuming to flow as it should, a matter that also served to reduce the velocity of the falling woman.

Nearing the mountains of cold closer and closer, eventually, she had no choice but to make a landing of some kind.

Although, it didn’t seem like there was much choice other than a ’crash’.

So in the short time remaining, she braced herself.

"Hk-!"

―THUD...!

With a visceral ’poof’, she vanished into the white void of snow.

It was a lucky spot to find, considering the landscape was all still rotated ninety degrees, but perhaps it could rather be said to be thanks to the generosity of the Tower for placing it there.

Regardless, Sophie recovered from the recoil of the fall, heavily diminished from the layers of cushiony snow, and climbed out of the small crater to take a closer examination of the pocket world of ice.

Now, to the left, the present mountains stretched "up" towards their peaks, and to the right, their bases were abruptly truncated by the black void.

Needless to say, the latter permitted no foolish belief of an optimistic outcome, were Sophie to take that path. She similarly figured that Anders wouldn’t have gone that way.

Finally, both behind her and in front, the main body of the mountain she was atop and those that continued thereafter were all, strictly speaking, the safest directions to explore, as travelling towards the peak would in itself be more perilous than necessary.

However, if she were forced to pick a particular direction out of those that remained, there was one clear choice.

The reason was simple.

"There. These footprints..."

Imprinted firmly in the soft snow a short distance away from where she landed, Sophie found a trail of footprints leading forwards.

"..."

For a moment, she rued the fact that she didn’t know what the pattern on the soles of Anders’ boots was, nor of course the difference between his average-sized feet and those of the mystery pursuer, rendering the prints unidentifiable for any practical purpose.

Either way, with certain Floors being known to reset both periodically and otherwise whenever there were no Challengers present, it didn’t need to be stated that these could only belong to one of two individuals.

’...Ah. Assuming that person is working alone...’

Thinking under the optimistic assumption that the masked figure was alone, and then that Anders had already made it to this ’Salvation’, then both of them should be ahead of her, meaning just one trail of footprints wasn’t right.

’No, it could be for any reason. For example, Anders could have used his fog to disguise his tracks... Right. I’m sure that’s what he did, to prevent that person from following him.’

Nodding to herself, Sophie came to the inevitable conclusion that she would only find out who the tracks belonged to if she followed them――That, and, it’s not like she had any other choice.

However, before she could even take two steps forward in the direction those tracks led, she subconsciously paused.

[Objective Cleared]

[New Objective: Locate and Slay the Area Boss]

At last, confirmation that she had indeed escaped the inevitable, destructive end of the tethered islands.

Her eyes lingering on the latter words ’Area Boss’ only briefly, Sophie dismissed the notification to resume her pursuit of the tracks before her.

With the gentle, wintry winds of the mountains blowing around her at a distorted angle of ninety degrees, the countless white specks falling down only from her left side, she trekked through the thick snow, her vigilance raised to full alert.

Although, strangely, she quickly came to realise that no monsters appeared present, at least not anywhere close to where she was, dead or alive...

Likewise, there was no sign either of her teammates or the masked figure from before.

Considering the latter’s all-black appearance, that person should have also been effortless to spot in this blank canvas-like landscape, assuming they weren’t hiding behind any rocks or ridges.

"..."

Unsure whether any previously present monsters had already been dispatched, or if there simply were none to begin with, Sophie continued following the tracks, still leading in a more or less straight line from before.

Of course, that being the case, it was safe to assume that even whoever they belonged to had not encountered any obstacles that would require them to alter their path.

At least, until they did.

"...Hm? There, is... is that something...?"

In the distance, something on the ground gradually came into view, something that didn’t match the rest of the pure landscape surrounding it.

Hurrying her pace, Sophie quickly found it to be a large hole seemingly leading deep underground, with a sizable outcrop sticking up one side.

Perhaps, rather, it should be called a cave, considering the mountain was flipped on its side.

"As expected, the trail..."

’...ends here.’ Subconsciously squeezing her mouth shut before those words ended her sentence, Sophie’s brow also furrowed before she stepped closer to the cave mouth’s periphery, taking a deep breath as she peered down its depths.

There really was just one――no, not even a single option.

After all, this was not a ’choice’.

It was something she had to do. No matter what, for her teammate’s-- Or rather, for her friends’ sake.

Thus, she took just a moment to gather herself, cracking her knuckles and neck before crouching by the edge. Somewhere far down, there was an ever-so-faint flicker of light.

Was it Anders? Was it the masked figure? Was it something else?

’Please...’

She would soon discover the answer.

"Be safe--!"

Without a hint of hesitation, she jumped, proceeding to fall down, down, and down.

...Or well, it wasn’t actually that far.

BOOM-- CRACK...!!

For the second time in an extremely short period, Sophie’s landing formed another explosive crater, this time in the cave’s rock.

The distance from the mouth of the cave was certainly generous, enough to make one think there was absolutely no chance of survival should you trip and fall in on accident, but in reality, for a Challenger of Sophie’s calibre, one’s body would have been reinforced and strengthened many times over by magic energy and even other abilities or lucky finds.

Of course, even if she was physically gifted compared to others on a similar level, she wasn’t by any means an outlier.

"Cough, cough...! Ah, Sophie! You made it, thank goodness..."

Snapping her head up at the familiar voice, the figure waving his arm to rid of the thick dust cloud contaminating the air, she spotted Anders’ patently relieved smile.

"Andy...!"

Flicking momentarily down, her eyes took in the appearance of the still-sleeping Phoenix, having since turned into an egg of flames in her teammate’s arms.

John was safe too...

Her expression beamed, and as if an unseen weight had been lifted from her shoulders, she sank to her knees in a pile, an equally heavy exhale being expelled from her lungs.

"Anders, Sophie. It’s Anders when we’re working, remember?"

"O-oh, right, of course. Sorry, I was just so worried I couldn’t help it for a moment."

Following a gentle reprimanding from the other, Sophie apologised and pushed herself to her feet.

Immediately, her mind returned to its state of concern.

’Anyway, him being here must mean those footprints were his, right...? Then, where did that guy...’

Gulp.

"Listen, Anders, I don’t know if you’ve seen him, but there’s a guy--"

――BOOM...!!

Before Sophie could finish her sentence, a thunderous noise muted her ears, and at the same time, another cloud of dust and debris filled her sight.

For a split-second, she couldn’t fathom what had occurred, but that confusion didn’t last long.

She had only just done it herself, after all, so there was no way she couldn’t figure out what it was.

"A-Anders!"

"On it."

Before the dust had time to clear, Sophie called out; Anders mustered his magic energy, wisps of pale fog beginning to leak from his fingertips.

Snapping her head towards the origin of the chaos, a place just a couple of metres away, her gaze landed squarely upon it.

"...!!"

A masked, all-black figure, rising from its knees in a newly-formed crater of rock.

This content is taken from fr(e)ewebn(o)vel.𝓬𝓸𝓶