Chapter 13-360: Words of Destruction (2/2)

That was their job.

-This one will remember your name and return with the desired information, Burning Elder. This one has little more to offer you of any substance.-

Dragons being the egotistical things they were, just leaving would naturally be seen as rude without being dismissed. However, they were absolutely certain he found them very interesting, and despite his pride, the wyrm was also wary of their incredible speed.

Abyssal Maws, like many of the evil dragons, were also perfectly willing to shapechange around and spread their Bloodline among lesser creatures. The fact it had a son ruling an empire here doubtless meant something that was going to have to be put to the sword in the future, sooner rather than later.

-We shall see how efficient you are,- the dragon /permitted her aloofly, with a dismissive glance away and movement of his great jaw.

Legion just laughed, and accelerated instantly, hundreds of feet ahead of the dragon in less than a second, and only picking up speed as they shot away, leaving a burning trail of multiple types of fires behind them as black and white wings corkscrewed casually through the skies.

They could feel the wyrm watching them for a great distance indeed, doubtless desiring to have the power of such speed and control himself. This didn’t surprise them at all, but it also wasn’t going to stop them from doing what they needed to do.

They also had the proper direction to travel in now, which would save them a small amount of time, although in reality just Mapping the whole damn place for a later effort was the most important thing.

Mapping, and seeing what else they might encounter.

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In the end, they did rise up to the 35th tier of clouds, just to see if they could endure it. They found that they could, although constantly being flailed by cutting winds and healing back was anything but pleasant. The amount of damage increased as they ascended to the 36th, and then once again at the 37th, exceeding the limits of their automatic healing. They would actually have to devote bursts of Wrath to the effect if they wished to stay there.

That would slow them down, and they considered their course, finally choosing to plummet all the way back down to the First Tier, and alternate observing above and below the illusion that divided earth and sky, painting a clearer picture into The Map.

They had naturally missed about a thousand miles of detail in the lands below as they swept around the world, but also realized speed wasn’t so important that they couldn’t spare taking a couple extra hours. In any event, they were high enough to observe, but not to experience things in detail, so this would be more about tracking and plotting forces at work for future explorers to investigate more deeply.

There was also no doubt there was going to be some red war and conversions going on, because the influence of Good was basically nowhere to be felt down here, which meant a great deal of work to do in the future. Indeed, it was highly likely that most of the Aruan Pantheon wasn’t known down here at all, and the worship of Old Gods prevailed among the natives, given the number of such entities they could feel in passing as they soared by.

Those Old Gods were not going to be happy when faced with a true Pantheon coming in. Their worshippers and their Free Will was the currency the Pantheon was after, and the Old Gods would spend both like water just to spite the interlopers.

There were empires in the sky, and humans and humanoids numbered only a fraction of them. Likewise, there were civilizations on the ground below, centered around the rivers, lakes, and seas, naturally enough, and humanoids represented only a tithe of those creatures, too.

Alternating altitudes every minute or so, and staying below Mach so as to remain unseen as they flew, they surveyed the lands below in more detail than the painted show from far above, matching up the distant view of the ever-approaching rising horizon with the current landscape below.

The mummy’s Shroudzone seemed to be located in an area corresponding to the western edges of the Indian Ocean above, while the wraith king’s area was out in the middle of nowhere in the Pacific Ocean. They weren’t even sure if there were any islands in the area.

Well, it wasn’t a concern. Getting a proper estimate of the size of the Shroudzones and the forces surrounding them was more important.

It looked like one of the major seas of this Hollow World was ahead, and the mummy’s realm was in a desert area on a higher plateau on the far side of it. Most development of intelligent races took place on port cities, so this would be a good way to determine how far technology had advanced below.

A major city might also have... whoa, what was that?

They braked to a halt in the air just to watch, as one of the enormous, mile-high jungle trees below suddenly ripped and tore free of the ground with a crack like thunder, and began floating up into the air.

The first thing they noticed was that it had a very aborted root system, far too small for something so large, and that it had lost many of its leaves. Now it seemed to have broken free of the grip of the earth, and was rising into the sky.

With a hunch, they ascended the quarter-mile to pass through the illusion, and looked down.

The rising tree was still visible. Legion turned to survey the area, which had a dozen cloud islands floating within five miles.

It only took a minute for the boats and the flocks of flying sapients to appear from the nearer islands and start urgently making their way towards where the massive tree was going to breach the illusion barrier. Given the range the massive tree could be seen at...

They shot a further mile into the air, and rapidly confirmed that there were literally scores of different locations sending creatures and beings off to lay hold of the levitating tree. Furthermore, horns were singing out and lights were flashing to convey messages across the clouds. Distant airships of considerable size in the distance began to turn towards this area, and make sail at full speed.

Airships bigger than aircraft carriers, made from the hulls of forest giants risen into the sky...