Chapter 448: Fall

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Hmm, I should have suspected something was off when they seemed to start backing away.

Yeah, it looks like I let my guard down twice over, since even my doppelgänger didn't notice that until Silvia pointed it out.

He was too distracted trying to send that wrecking ball guy back.

Although it was fun to watch him fly through the air and punch a hole in his own ship.

Anyway, we weren't the only ones to go down—Elena did exactly what I asked her to do; if anyone could infiltrate without being noticed, it was her.

Now both ships were starting to fall.

I was coordinating the mages to create a barrier against the enemy's ranged attacks, but now it didn't seem so necessary.

'Maybe I should use it to cushion the impact.'

"Oh! It started off slower."

But it seems it wasn't necessary.

The rate of descent slowed abruptly.

The mages among our seniors didn't just stand by; they used this method to slow our descent.

Since gravity magic wasn't known in these parts, it must have been wind magic—or a more advanced form of non-elemental telekinesis.

After all, that's how ships fly.

On the other hand, the demons' ship continued to fall rapidly. I suppose they chose another method to survive their fall.

"Hmm… looks like we're going to lose."

Now that we were falling, curiously enough, I had a broader view of the entire airspace where the battle had taken place.

This made me realize that there were now only three ships left in the air: two demon ships and one on our side.

The one on our side was especially large, since it was the giants' ship.

Both demonic ships seemed to be focusing on the giants' ship, so I didn't even have to worry about them trying to finish us off – I mean, it was a good opportunity now that we were in a more vulnerable position because of the fall...

The barrier that I'd worked so hard to organise and build now seemed rather pointless.

Although it remains to be seen what will happen once we reach the ground, since the fight might move there.

But in the meantime, I looked at the ships that were still flying, and it seemed that all three had lost their respective barriers.

The curious thing is that, even so, the two demonic ships continued to attack from a distance rather than ramming into and invading it, as happened to us.

Perhaps they realized it wasn't a good idea to get into close combat with the giants.

Yes, it was a good strategy, since, conversely, ranged attacks aren't the giants' strong suit as a group.

But I noticed something odd.

The giants' ship was surrounded by what looked like thorny vines. Perhaps someone on the demonic side cast a plant-type spell, an ability, or a blessing.

Whatever it was, those thorny roots—which had a strange, serrated flower growing from them—seemed to be the main factor contributing to the imminent downfall of the giants' ship.

The vines kept growing even as the giants cut them down and attacked fiercely.

Those vines seemed to have a peculiar ability to spread. I sense that it's a powerful spell supported by some kind of blessing.

And that, in itself, made me think of something, so I looked at Alice, who hadn't strayed from my side throughout the entire battle.

"Alice, can you control that from this distance?"

I asked her. Alice's blessing, rather than being conceptual like Elena's, was one of control, and that plant—though it seemed malevolent and influenced by some strange god—was still a plant, and Alice was blessed by the primary goddess of that element.

The problem was the distance, since, even at that moment, it was still growing. I wondered if she could do it, since I didn't know the range of her blessing.

"Huh? Let me try, big sis."

I really didn't want the demons to get away with it. If we were going down, we were all going down together.

Besides, if the fight moved to the ground, those who kept their flying ships operational would have the advantage.

"If you need it, I'll tell Chris to take you higher up."

Alice seemed to be having trouble doing it; she was even making a cute little face as she struggled.

So I suggested that. My doppelgänger can lift her by creating platforms through the Art of Radiance.

"N-no! This distance is fine. It's just that I feel some resistance. Hmm, I think it's a blessing, but… ahh! I did it!"

But in the end, she managed to do it.

I watched as the thorny vines seemed to come to life more than before; they began to move and spread through the air until they reached the demons' ships, and upon contact, they started to spread very quickly.

Finally, because of the thorny vines and that strange flower that also seemed to be spitting out something corrosive, the giants' ship began to fall.

But now that the vines themselves were also clinging to the other two ships, the demonic vessels were dragged down as well.

"Hahaha, that's it, my lovely Alice. You did great—both earlier, when you shot that guy, and now. You were the MVP of this battle."

That was awesome, and I couldn't help but pick Alice up and kiss her on the cheek.

"I'm glad I could help, big sis! Hehehe~ Big sis."

Seeing her blush so much and her cute smile was food for my soul, so I kept showering her face with more kisses.

"눈_눈"

At that moment, I noticed a piercing gaze. Well, there were two, but I'm going to ignore Alexander's and focus on the person who, at some point I didn't notice, appeared behind me.

"Oh! Elena, you're back. You did great, too. You've earned a little kiss as well (づ￣ 3￣)づ."

I figured she was looking at me because she also wanted to be praised for her great work, so I congratulated her and was about to give her a kiss on the cheek, too.

"I don't need something like that! (ㆆ_ㆆ)"

But she put her hand on my face and stopped me before I could get close. The only thing I managed to kiss was her palm.

Well, I guess she, as always, doesn't like public displays of affection, so I'll give it to her later.

"Hey, that's not bad."

"What should we do?"

"Can't we get them working again?"

Suddenly, I caught some voices that sounded concerned. When I looked, it was the seniors and instructors standing at the edge of the ship, looking down.

I was curious, so I had my doppelgänger ask Silvia what was going on.

She looked and, after what seemed like a moment of surprise at seeing something strange, projected what she was looking at in front of my doppelgänger.

That's when I saw it.

Only now did I notice that below us there were no longer forests, but a desert ecosystem—but that didn't matter. What mattered was what was happening where the ships had crashed.

I thought the battle would move to ground, but at that moment there was no fighting—just a lot of people fleeing as fast as they could.

The reason is that right where the highest concentration of crashed ships was located, a hole began to form in the sand.

A hole that seemed to be growing larger, swallowing up the sand, ships, and people. It didn't seem to have a bottom; all you could see was a strange, distorted blackness—which is curious, since this is a projection of what Silvia was seeing, and it was odd that she couldn't see certain things clearly.

Frrrruss!.

And as if that weren't enough—perhaps, once again, thanks to Silvia's magnificent eyes—a sort of pulse was seen emanating from that hole, heading straight toward us and the other ships that were still falling.

Swwooosssh.

That seemed, in some way, to disrupt all the magic that was keeping us afloat, and we began to fall even faster.

That pulse had a peculiar quality that I felt my body was rejecting, and if I wasn't mistaken, that could be a legacy or…

[Protection of Lust (S) >>> Protection of Lust (SS)—unfortunately, dear, it's the second option. It looks like we're about to enter some god's playground, or maybe it's a trap.]

'Huh? Qetesh? What the hell?'

[Well, dear! You typed that you wanted a system with notifications, right? Well, I'm fulfilling that role—or do you want me to use a more robotic voice?]

'No, what the hell… What I mean is that—…'

I wanted to argue about Qetesh's sudden appearance and way of speaking, but I couldn't because the ship had already reached ground level—yet, due to the already colossal hole, we kept falling.

Everything around us began to grow dark, little by little, until the light from above disappeared.

Although it should have been completely dark, I could see around me, and, strangely, the sensation of falling also ceased.

And at the same time, I saw those around me begin to pass out. I saw Alice look at me for a brief moment before she fell. Elena and everyone else fell as well.

Something tried to invade me, but I resisted it. The parallel consciousness inside the doppelgänger also returned to prevent itself from being invaded.

La conciencia paralela dentro del doble también regresó para evitar ser invadida.

[Oh, dear, this place seems to be trying to establish a connection between you and your karma, if I'm not mistaken. You're going to be separated and grouped based on your karma.]

'Ugh, why the hell do the gods have a fetish for that kind of thing? What if I don't let it in?'

[You're asking me even though you already know. Well, most likely this place will spit you out, but it would only be you, since the others have already made a connection.]

Yes, just as she said, I began to see people who had fainted start to disappear.

'Ugh, damn it. I guess I'll have to let that thing in.'

[Yeah, Yhough it's not necessarily a bad thing—we might reap some good things from it, ah! By the way, I can make some adjustments to the connections and karma. Do you have any preferences?]

"Of course. If you can do that, make sure the girls and I don't get separated—and, well, the guys too... Ugh. Okay, I'm going in too."

I still don't understand what's going on with Qetesh—she didn't even answer me when I called her earlier—but if what she said is true, her interference was welcome.

Anyway, that feeling of intrusion was getting more aggressive, and who knows if it would have kicked me out if I kept resisting.

So, giving Qetesh the benefit of the doubt again, I just let her in.

[Fufufu, very good, dear. Trust me—oh! I also think it's better if you go back there and...]

I don't know what Qetesh was saying, but that was the last thing I heard before everything went completely dark.

..

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