359 Chapter 359: The Search for Anastasia II (1/2)
After ten minutes of sitting and closing my eyes, doing my best to recover as much mana as I could, I got up and stretched myself. Downloading a holographic map into my glasses, I plotted out a route that was marked entirely in blue, and began running off. I was about to follow the route when Feng Hai called out to me.
”Richard! Wait!”
”What is it?” I bit back the words ”this time” because I didn't want to sound rude to someone who had been my instructor. Instead, I coughed out a single word. ”Sir?”
Feng Hai was placing a hand on his earphones at the moment, listening intently to reports over the coms. Consulting a few holographic screens, which displayed sporadic fighting from the mercenaries on the ground, he glanced at me and gestured for me to come over.
”We've narrowed the search radius for Anastasia. We found traces of poison that are very recent, and the fresh corpses of monsters as well as…Assassins. The Assassins that your young friends have reported, the Assassin's Creed cosplayers.”
Seriously, that was what we were calling them now? Cosplayers? I mean, he wasn't wrong, and modern Assassins did not wear such anachronistic costumes in the present, not unless they were trying to blend in a cosplay convention.
”Glacia, get ready. We'll be moving in their position. I've a feeling we'll be able to find her in the next fifteen minutes, so we might as well get started.” Feng Hai was sounding pretty excited as he stood up. The silver-haired ice mage nodded and joined him, drawing her coat around her. Her long hair hung loosely on her front in a single thick braid, the luster of the strands standing out against her black and dark blue clothing.
”I'm ready to move out whenever you are. Are we taking the hovercraft?”
”No. too big and too loud, not to mention there won't be a big enough space for a landing zone where we are going. We'll be using an alternative method.” Feng Hai glanced at me with a knowing smile. ”I'll be counting on you, Richard.”
”Yes, sir.”
I immediately understood what he wanted. Nodding, I immediately began casting a summoning spell. It would take a while, but under the safety of the mercenaries' perimeter, there was nothing to threaten or obstruct my attempts.
”You'll tell me how to get there, right?”
”Yeah, so just provide the means of transport. And don't worry about drawing the attention of monsters in the forest. I'll take care of them.” Feng Hai raised his hand, and twenty floating spears, eighteen hovering hammers and a bunch of other levitating weapons appeared behind him. For a moment, I was dumbfounded.
”Where are your swords, Instructor Feng Hai?”
”Huh? Swords? Since when do I use swords?”
”No, no, no. You're the Hurricane Blade, right? So you should be using swords, right? I mean, your Blade Body technique is supposed to allow you to convert your wind magic into swords.”
”Yeah, that's what I did.” Feng Hai gestured toward the floating weapons behind him. ”All of these weapons behind me are converted from my wind spells.
”But where are the swords? The bladed weapons?”
Feng Hai burst out laughing at that. He waved a hand airily and conjured a bunch of wind swords. ”There you go. Happy now? If you feel safer when you see me use swords instead of other weapons, then I'll throw swords instead.”
Honestly, it made no difference to me. It just felt weird that the Hurricane Blade was a wind mage who didn't use bladed weapons. Well, I guess spears count as bladed weapons, but the hammers certainly did not.
In any event, I had succeeded in summoning Pegasus. Two of them, in fact. I was about to try and summon a third Pegasus, but Feng Hai and Glacia boarded the nearest one before I could say anything, with Glacia riding in the rear and wrapping her hands around Feng Hai's waist. Partially relieved that I did not need to spend any more mana than necessary, I climbed aboard Pegasus and looked at the mercenary leader expectantly.
Feng Hai tested the Pegasus that he was riding, pulling the reins on the armored winged horse to see if he responded. Pegasus, instructed telepathically by me, obeyed, and galloped.
”Nice! Thanks, Richard!”
Quickly getting the hang of riding Pegasus, Feng Hai took the reins – both literally and metaphorically – and guided him in a particular direction. As he and Glacia galloped past the other mercenaries atop Pegasus, he shouted several instructions. Probably instructing them to maintain the perimeter and protect the hovercraft.
I wasn't far behind them, spurring my own Pegasus into action. The two winged horses half-soared, half-galloped through the forest, occasionally gliding across the dense terrain in gigantic bounds. I didn't know where we were going, and the blue route marked out by my glasses were blinking in disarray, informing me of multiple errors when I went off course. Stifling an exasperated snort, I tapped my glasses to deactivate the holographic map and focused on following Feng Hai and Glacia into the heart of Aurora Forest.
As we plunged rapidly into the depths of the forest, the trees becoming a green and white blur (from the snow) around us, I could hear the com bead in Feng Hai's ear crackle through Pegasus Number One's ears.
”We've located Anastasia's position, but there is a bit of a problem.”
I recognized that voice – seemed like Redfield had joined up with the rest of the platoon and were converging on Anastasia's position.
”Is Ana on the verge of erupting because of her Woeful Poison Body? Keep a safe distance, and don't get too close. But don't let her out of your sight either.”