Squeek! Squeek! Squeek!

Above the thick mist, flying creatures with wide wingspans circled the air. They were like Dead World's air force.

In that moment, flying over them, an invisible flying ship—the Great Flying Turtle—flew over them unnoticed.

"Huff…"

Julian touched the ship with his hands, cloaking the entire ship with his invisibility, and it was quite exhausting to do so.

"…They don't see us."

Jock whispered as he looked over the railing at the dangerous flying creatures, and a smile crept on his face.

Renette stood at the bow of the ship, her arms crossed, and her eyes scanned the horizon for any sign of trouble.

It took another hour until the flying ship left the mist's airspace, and it turned peaceful, but that only lasted a while.

Below them, the vast expanse of land stretched in front of them—it was Dead World—covered in a thick forest.

In that moment, Renette flicked a switch and fake clouds sprouted out from under the ship, and the clouds blocked the view to the ship from anyone below.

"Huff!"

Julian stopped using his invisibility, and sat down to catch his breath.

He had to cloak the ship in invisibility for over an hour, and he almost passed out doing so.

"…With these fake clouds, it will just look like we are ordinary clouds, drifting across the sky, but be ready to use invisibility at a moment's notice."

Renette said.

"Yeah!"

Julian said.

In that moment, they entered Dead World's airspace and caught sight of the tall cliff that marked the edge of the land.

"Do you sense anything yet?"

Julian asked Jock.

"…Nothing."

Jock said with a troubled look.

"…"

Renette and Julian stayed silent, but they didn't plan on leaving yet, as they had barely begun their search.

"…The air is really fresh here. Very rich. I already feel like myself inching closer to the Demi Immortal stage."

Renette said with a serious look.

"…Is that good news?"

Jock asked with a wry smile.

"It means that the air is definitely not toxic, but it brings out another troubling possibility: that there is another civilization here, and they are STRONG!"

Julian said, emphasizing the word, "Strong," because even he felt the air, and he could feel the doors to the Immortal stage slightly creaking open.

It was actually frightening.

This air was richer than any Tier 1 country's air, and even greater than that of rare Tier 0 country's.

So, based on that Tier ranking system, Dead World should be Tier -1, maybe Tier -2.

It was vastly greater than any Martial World country.

"Black Knights…"

Jock whispered.

"What did you say?"

Renette's ears perked up, and she looked at him with a look of, "Did I hear that right?" on her face.

"…In those dreams, I kept hearing the name Black Knights. They were the ones torturing Kiernan."

Jock said.

"I think I also happened to hear that during my one dream."

Renette said.

"…The former Queen of Paradise World's special bodyguard army was called the Black Knights. It pretty much confirms that the current ruler of Dead World is still her.

"And I've also found out that she is responsible for the destruction of Paradise World."

Julian said with a serious look.

It silenced Jock and Renette because it would mean she caused the deaths of billions, maybe trillions, of people.

She would be the biggest mass murderer in the history of the universe.

"…Dead World is a large place, so unless Jock somehow manages to sense Kiernan, it would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack."

Renette said.

"I'll try to sense him!"

Jock sat down on the deck and started meditating, trying to push his senses out as far as they could go.

"Screech!"

In that moment, their eardrums almost exploded as they heard the loud sound coming from behind them.

They ran to the other side of the deck, and there they saw it—there were many griffins flying under the fake clouds generated by the ship.

"…Griffins!"

Renette smiled.

"Magical Beasts…"

Julian followed them where they were going, and saw that they landed at fields outside… a village?

"A village!"

Julian shouted excitedly.

"Do you sense anything?"

Renette asked.

"…No, give me a minute!"

Jock struggled while meditating, and his veins popped in his forehead, but he shook his head, and said.

"I don't sense him anywhere close!"

"It only means that Kiernan is not inside that village, which is not really a surprise, so let's keep searching."

Renette said.

Julian looked down to the village and, at that moment, noticed strange people roaming about in the village.

They had red skin!

"…A foreign civilization. It's real."

Julian said with a serious look.

"…Should we go talk to them?"

Jock asked.

"Absolutely not. We know nothing of them. This is a secret mission to locate and save Kiernan. It is clear that he was captured, so we can assume that everyone here is our enemy."

Renette said sternly.

"I agree with Renette. We cannot trust these people."

Julian said.

With that, the flying ship kept flying into the distance, and without knowing it, they went further than Martial Order ever did.

While flying, they saw many other villages, and the people of Dead World were living alongside the Magical Beasts.

It was crazy to see for those who came from the Martial World, where the Magical Beasts were pretty much mythological creatures.

"…What the hell is that?"

In that moment, Julian saw something in the distance.

There was a volcano—bigger than any mountain they had ever seen—and it was releasing some kind of purple smoke into the sky.

It caused some kind of purple clouds to gather above the volcano and, honestly, looked like a nuclear mushroom cloud.

"…Let's avoid that."

Renette said.

With a nod, Julian turned the flying ship to avoid the volcano, and they circled past it, and they saw that the land around the volcano was very active.

There were rivers of purple water flowing down the mountain sides, and had animals of all shapes and sizes living in peace.

"…I sense something!"

Jock's eyes opened wide, and he pointed towards the direction that went past the volcano.

"I-I think there… Go that direction!"

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