Axel thought he failed with his plan, and that the penguin realized it was being taunted, but...

[Hold the staff tight, I'll use your mana for you, since you're an idiot, and because I'm smarter than you!]

Even before Navi's words finished, Axel already felt a change in his body.

A warm feeling started to move from somewhere in the middle of his chest toward his right arm. He could feel the powerful flow of energy pouring right into the Rain Caller staff. It felt like there was a rampaging python inside his arm, becoming hotter as time passed!

"W–Wait... Stop!"

But not long after, Axel realized Navi was overdoing it.

"That's enough, Navi! Too much! You poured way too much mana!" he roared.

However, his voice reached no one's ears. The penguin was set on proving that it was no "birdbrain," even at the cost of something more precious!

What was worse, even if Axel wanted to stop it, he couldn't.

His fingers couldn't unfurl or let go of the staff, as if they were glued to it!

The next moment, thunder growled, and lightning struck, coloring the entire background with pure white. Just like that, a powerful phenomenon began to form.

All the clouds in the sky started to thicken, becoming darker and darker with every passing second. In just a few breaths, the sunny, cloudy sky turned into an ominous black—almost as if it were nighttime despite being early morning.

Axel felt that the clouds were nothing but a harbinger of bad things!

[See?! I'm no birdbrain! I'm smart!]

Navi growled, still not realizing what he had just done.

Even then, he was still using Axel's mana to fill up the staff with power... rapidly. Instead of doing it like opening a small tap to transfer mana, it felt like Navi overturned the entire jug, draining the contents as fast as he could!

"Ugh…"

Axel started to feel dizzy.

And at the same time, his suffering stopped.

The power flow was cut abruptly as the staff fell to the ground. Axel's knees buckled too, feeling like his body weighed a ton. He felt so weak!

If he could see his status, he would've realized that almost all the mana he had in reserve was gone—mana that, even with Teruria as a reference, was at least a hundred times more.

In short, the Rain Caller staff was powered with mana equivalent to an entire kingdom's mage department working together as one.

The result?

"FUCK!"

Axel crawled the best he could. He couldn't stand straight with his vision spinning, after all.

Behind him, the rumbling rain was already echoing, approaching fast. Just the sound of the raindrops that fell was enough to tell him how heavy the rain was.

"S–Sir Axel!"

Thankfully, Eve realized what was going on and helped Axel up. She ran to his aid, grabbing the staff and lending him her shoulder.

With her help propping him up, they both successfully boarded the Humvee before the rain reached them.

And with a boom of thunder and a flash of lightning, the rain started to batter the vehicle's roof. It was loud—almost as if some deranged figures were smashing the roof with rocks. Eve felt scared, seeing that the visibility around them dropped to zero instantly.

The ground, long starved of moisture, started to release the heat it had kept in for long, creating a thick fog that covered everywhere they looked. Without even needing to imagine it, the thick smell of earth obviously filled the space, coming along with it.

"This... is bad..."

Axel, even with his spinning vision, realized the severity of the situation.

"With zero visibility, it'd be difficult for us to return..."

The Humvee didn't come with an auto-drive function or GPS, so with zero visibility, they literally couldn't move at all.

'Technically, I can use the map as an alternative for GPS, but...'

He slowly shook his head.

'The map isn't too detailed, and the road is filled with perils like large rocks and trees. I can't risk it...'

After considering all the pros and cons, he turned to Eve and smiled wryly. "Sorry, Princess. It seems like we're stuck here until the rain is over."

"I–I'm fine, Sir Axel. Rather, it is you whom I'm worried about."

Eve pulled out a handkerchief from somewhere on her dress and wiped Axel's forehead.

"You've been sweating bullets since earlier... You must've pushed yourself too much. Please rest properly for now!" she said, almost as if reprimanding him.

Axel glanced to the right, where Navi was—still babbling on and on like a broken radio.

Even though Navi had almost used up all of Axel's mana at once, it didn't look remorseful at all. Instead, it was still going on about him not being a "birdbrain" and calling Axel an idiot, and other variations of the word.

"..."

Knowing that the rain wouldn't end anytime soon, Axel decided to close his eyes for a moment. Following the woes of his body, and took a brief nap.

…

"...el...ke up..."

A faint voice reached Axel's ears, slowly waking him from his nap.

"Sir Axel! Please wake up!"

And when his mind focused, Eve's loud, scared voice shook him awake.

"What?! Is it an enemy?!"

Axel jolted upright, looking through the windshield and mirrors around him. However, the scenery remained almost the same as before—still filled with water and fog in the midst of darkness.

There were no enemies in sight.

Looking at the time on the menu, he could tell that his sleep was only about an hour at most—not too short, but not too long either.

"S–Sir Axel! Finally, you woke up!" Eve said, wiping the tears from her eyes. "Please, Sir Axel, you need to do something!" she quickly explained.

Following her trembling finger pointing forward, Axel squinted his eyes.

Through the windshield, through the heavy raindrops, and through the thick fog... something was moving.

"That is...?"

As he observed it, and thinking of their current location, he soon realized what it was.

A raging river.

One that was nearly overflowing!

"Fucking hell..."

At that moment, Axel realized what was wrong—the reason why Eve was panicking.

If the river continued to overflow at this rate, their Humvee would soon get dragged by it!

Time was of the essence, so Axel delayed not a single second.

He quickly turned on the engine, letting the vehicle roar into the silent storm.

"Hang on tight!"

He warned.

However, for better or worse, luck wasn't on their side...

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