Chapter 335: Aeronatutical Endeavors (1/2)

[Note to self: Do not believe it when a god tells you that an interdimensional worm is the best means of travel.] Mike thought while desperately clinging to the slimy hide of the creature in question.

They were currently streaming through the air in a realm that appeared to be entirely composed of ice and snow. To make matters worse, he'd evidently attracted the attention of some of the inhabitants of this world, beings of animate cold air, who seemed bound and determined to drain him of his heat. So far, Fire Magic had been sufficient to keep them at bay, but he was beginning to wonder how much more time they would be spending here.

Something like a shudder passed through the worm and suddenly Mike was being forced to cling tighter to the creature's skin as a wave of unseen energy tried to strip him from his perch. He'd experienced this a few times before, and knew that it meant they were passing through another interdimensional rift.

For a brief moment, the world seemed to vanish and a massive pressure squeezed him against his erstwhile mount. Then they were through and he could breathe once more. Glancing over his shoulder, he ruefully noted that they were still not in his intended destination. Instead, it looked like they were taking a detour through some kind of hell dimension.

The ground in this realm was composed of torn and broken obsidian mingled with free flowing streams of lava. Mike could see twisted and horrendous creatures cavorting amongst the desolation. It was as if he were looking at a caricature of what Hell would look like if all elements of civilization were completely removed from it.

Thankfully, they did not spend long in this disturbing place, and with another intense shudder the worm was once again moving through interdimensional space. Once they were through the momentary rift, Mike saw an orange-red sunset over the ocean and he assumed that he was finally back in Ea.

”Thanks for the ride!” He yelled over the sound of the wind before letting go.

As he was falling towards the distant waters, he distinctly heard a low-toned rumble from the direction of the creature, making him think that it not only heard and understood him, but was capable of reciprocating the sentiment in some fashion. The sound was cut short as it punched another hole in reality and disappeared into it.

Mulling over the unusual nature of the beings that inhabited this realm, Mike tried to orient himself to his surroundings. From the looks of it, he was currently over an ocean, but he didn't know which one it might be. He hoped that the worm had brought him close to his original location, but he could just as easily be on the other side of the planet.

Thankfully, he could at least determine which direction he should be traveling in due to his familiar connection with Selene, who should still be in Gildusi at this moment.

[Now that I think about it, I wonder what sort of aftereffects the collapse of a dungeon might have on the surrounding area. Hopefully, the others didn't get dragged into it.]

After a few seconds of falling, he began flying towards a point on the horizon while the sun was off to his left. This meant that he was probably heading generally north.

He tried to recall what was south of Gildusi, but honestly couldn't remember. Finally, after spending roughly a half hour speeding over the ocean, he decided to check, and pulled a map of the Inland Sea Region from his storage.

”Alright, based on what I can determine we should be somewhere…” He started to explain to Audra, who'd curiously poked her head out of his pocket, ”south of here.”

He was pointing to a location that was called simply The Mire, a large stretch of apparently uninhabited land to the west of Dovistan. Seeing as there wasn't any water visible in that part of the map, he could only assume he was somewhere outside of the Inland Sea Region. Which in turn put him somewhere to the west of the legendary homeland of the giants

For a moment, he considered flying over in that direction, at least until he found land. It would give him a point of reference and a place to rest should this flight take longer than he anticipated. However, he eventually gave up on the idea. There was no telling how far away it was, and there was a very real possibility that he could miss the continent completely and simply sail on to other parts of the world without knowing it.

Besides, something about that direction gave him a weird vibe. It seemed like his instincts were telling him to avoid that area. Which actually made him even more curious about what he would find, but eventually he decided to pursue the course of action with the lowest chance of failure.

Resigning himself to a lengthy flight, he began considering what he should do to pass the time. Practicing Space Magic, something that had moved higher up on his list of priorities since being trapped in a collapsing dimension, would be fairly impossible to do while moving given his current level of skill. He also didn't want to do anything too mana intensive in case he needed to take action suddenly.

Finally, he settled on summoning a small lizard and once again experimenting on possible applications of Life Magic. Up until this point, he'd determined that he could repair and enhance tissues, but he was having some difficulty overcoming some inbuilt limitations.

The solution he'd come up with once discussing the issue with Reber was to try directly augment a creature's anatomical makeup rather than simply relying on higher levels of mana to produce greater results.

To that effect, he was trying to see if he could alter the nature of the lizard's body without causing too much harm. Judging from the pained squeals his attempts caused, he was failing in that regard. However, after a fair amount of effort, he was able to change the pigment of the animal's skin, turning it from a dull green color to a dark black.

It was something of a success, since it proved that the idea was sound, but he still had a lot of trial and error to go through before he was ready to try it on any of his party members.

”I guess I'll call this a proof of concept for now.” Mike muttered to himself while looking down at the lizard cradled in his hands. It was regarded mournfully until he allowed the spell to end. Frankly, he didn't have the heart to put it through any more suffering.

Glancing around at the seemingly unchanging stretch of ocean, he grumbled. ”Alright, that's one task in the bag, but still no land in sight. Just how much longer is this going to go on.”

He was traveling at a good pace, and he estimated that it had been close to an hour since he'd returned to Ea. The fact that he'd not only not made it back to Gildusi, but hadn't even encountered dry land during this time was starting to concern him.

[While I may not be a match for anything with a jet engine, I'm not exactly taking it easy either.]

Using some rough estimations based on the speed of his shadow sliding across the surface of the water, he figured he was going at least 300 km/h. This was nowhere near his top flight speed, but was instead a pace he could maintain for long periods of time without using too much mana.

[I could pick up the pace, I suppose. This ocean can't be never ending.]