“Are you absolutely sure this will work?” Curstl asked, she was standing on the metal deck of the large machine created by Icarus in under a week.

The even-confident engineer continued his work on the large airship, his feet stuck out from a large pipe which would eventually serve as an exhaust for the gigantic engine powered exclusively by slime juice.

“Of course! How could it not?” he laughed; his voice was distorted by the metal walls around him.

Curstl breathed a sigh, looking at the many craters covering the empty field, each one contained some scrap metal from a previous crash.

Moments later, Icarus emerged from the pipe, his face was covered in slime after patching all the leaks up.

“Alright, it’s done!” he exclaimed.

Curstl nodded uncertainly.

“If you say so…”

The airship had one large balloon which was heated with hot air, like a hot-air balloon rather than the hydrogen used in zeppelins.

At the sides of the ship were four rotating blades which would help change the direction it moved in.

Near the front of the ship was a large cannon, it only had a single projectile loaded inside.

Curstl tossed Icarus a towel which he used to wipe the orange slime off his face.

“Thanks!”

Curstl shrugged.

“We can’t have you looking homeless when you reach the surface, I can’t remember much, but I’m sure the people would laugh at you,” she remarked.

Icarus nodded.

“It’s almost been a month and you’re still bullying me…” he remarked wearing the same honest albeit unsteady smile Curstl got used to.

The engineer lifted his glasses off his face as he stepped towards the large steering wheel.

“Let’s get this party started!” he cheered as he pulled the first lever, then another.

Slowly, the rattling of the engine could be heard as the four blades sprung to life.

Curstl grabbed a hold of the wooden railing near the steering wheel as Icarus twisted several valves inviting the bright flames to manifest from several tubes below the large balloon.

“It’s moving!” Curstl exclaimed in shock as the huge airship began moving off the ground.

“IT ACTUALLY IS!” he exclaimed, equally shocked.

As the airship slowly moved up into the sky, a crimson light appeared in the distance.

Clinging to the wobbling ship with all her strength, Curstl turned to look at the glowing object in the distance.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!?” she demanded pointing to the even bigger airship, instead of the blades it had eel-like fins which waved the pistachio-shell-shaped vessel into the sky, near its front was a massive, bony maw of spikes and teeth.

Not hearing a reply, Curstl turned back towards Icarus seeing his sights were set on the rocky ceiling of the cave above.

“HOLD ONTO SOMETHING!” he exclaimed.

Slowly, he was twisting a valve which moved the four blades.

They began angled downwards; the balloon shifted such that the airship was now heading up.

Curstl felt the ground below her slip away as the ship was now rocketing up in a way unbecoming of an airship.

The maws of the enemy ship opened slightly revealing rows of cannons.

At one of the cannons stood the familiar face of Bonifacius and Alexander.

“Tis quite unfortunate we must resort to such a thing…” Bonifacius remarked aiming his cannon at the makeshift airship in the distance.

Before Alex could say anything, Thal spoke up.

“Be grateful they agreed to let your city-destroying accident slide!” he hissed.

Alex nodded.

“True,”

Bonifacius breathed a sigh.

“Twas also a misunderstanding…” he lamented.

Several hours ago, in the barely damaged castle…

John sat opposite the serious-looking king and prince of the underground.

The wooden walls of the expensive-looking room complemented the lavish clothes worn by both nobles.

“WHAT DO THEY WANT FROM ME!?” John thought.

“I- I wanted to apologise for destroying the capital… again…” he said sheepishly.

The prince folded his arms.

“Miraculously, nobody perma-died in the event, and no important buildings were damaged,” he continued.

The king nodded reluctantly.

“Yes, if you want to apologise to someone, apologise to the villagers… more importantly, I want to discuss this alliance of yours…” he began.

John raised an eyebrow.

“They still want an alliance!?”

“Y-yeah! Sure! Let’s discuss the alliance!” he exclaimed.

Arachnophobia casually lay on his lap.

The king took a deep breath before folding his arms and looking at JohnWillStab.

“Your group, you must never enter the underground again, and you must help stop anybody else from entering…” he continued.

The prince gritted his teeth but said nothing.

“So… you’re kicking us out?” he asked.

“At this point… that’s understandable…”

The king shook his head.

“That is not it…” he began.

“Allowing your people to waltz into the underground is cruel.” He explained.

The room went silent.

“What do you mea-” John was cut off by the king who pulled out a small pouch from within his crimson robes.

He placed the object in his hand.

“This, it’s a sunstone,” he explained.

JohnWillStab recalled the item, XPhax mentioned sunstone was a mid-level mining material which emitted some light.

Before John could continue, he noticed the smoke appearing from the king’s hand.

Swiftly, the noble placed the glowing stone back into his pouch revealing a burned scar on his hand.

“The light of the surface, not matter how diluted, will result in the death of those from the underground.” He explained.

The prince breathed a sigh.

“The caves aren’t abundant when it comes to food, our people are always struggling to make ends meet outside of the capital…” he explained.

The king nodded in agreement.

“To tell them that a place we can never venture, where food and freshwater are abundant, would be cruel.” The king explained.

“Only a select few at the castle know the truth…”

John nodded.

“Surely, you’d be better off being open with both the surface and cave people, you’d trade us some gems and sparkly stones, we’d send down some food!” John offered.

The king shook his head.

“Placing the survival of our people in the hands of others is a dangerous and spineless move!” he exclaimed.

The prince turned to face the king.

“But it would solve our problems! Exploiting the upsides of our situation to make up for the downsides isn’t a bad idea!” the prince argued.

The king shook his head.

“Never! That would be like admitting our inferiority!” the king argued.

John could tell this wasn’t the first time they had this argument.

JohnWillStab cleared his throat, gaining the attention of the two royals.

“Anyway…” he began.

“I suppose we could pull out as soon as we find a way out…” John began.

That was when the door to the negotiation room slammed open.

“The prince! We’ve discovered his location!” announced an armoured guard.

JohnWillStab looked to the guard and back to the king and prince.

“He’s right here…” John remarked pointing at the red-haired man before him.

“N-no… the other prince…” the guard said awkwardly.

The king stood up from his seat.

“Good, send a group of soldiers to catch him, and do it right this time!” he commanded.

The first prince sighed as his eyes met John’s.

“Looks like my brother was finally found…” he remarked.

John squinted.

“You guys lost a prince?!” he demanded.

“We didn’t lose him! He ran away!” the prince rebuked.

The first prince shook his head.

“That idiot’s obsessed with the surface!” he sighed.

John petted arachnophobia while listening to the tale of the runaway prince, Icarus.

Back on the airship…

John entered the cannon area with Brom, Foxly, Revenberry, Crown and the Thief.

“Sweet! I can’t believe I got to ride a fucking airship!” Bromy exclaimed excitedly; the sight was reminiscent of the group’s road-trip to John’s house before the isekai incident.

“Why do we have to deal with their family problems?! Can’t they like… hire a therapist?” Crown demanded.

Revenberry clung to the walls and ground of the airship, terrified of it falling apart any moment.

JohnWillStab was carrying a large crate of various projectiles, some explosive, others incendiary, all really cool to watch destroy stuff.

“Alright! We need to take down that big ass ship, so the prince doesn’t become ash!” he explained.

“And that way, we even out the city-razing with the prince saving and we’ll be neutral again!” he continued.

Meanwhile, on Icarus’ ship, Curstl and him were barely staying attached to the speeding vehicle.

Suddenly.

“ALMOST THERE!” Icarus exclaimed, clenching his fists and gritting his teeth as the rock above came close enough to fire the explosive which would create an exit to the surface.

Moments later, he fired the rocket from his cannon, it flew straight into the rock and detonated creating a massive explosion which illuminated the surrounding area with a fiery light.

The massive shockwave which ravaged both airships was but the first of the problems created as a result of the explosion.

Rocks rained down onto Icarus’ airship, along with them came the projectiles coming from the enemy ship.

Worst of all, the explosive wasn’t enough.

Above the heartbroken Icarus stood the red-hot rock.