Chapter 51

Jacky swallowed a pill-shaped stimulant to keep herself focused. Watching the anomaly for hours on end was boring beyond belief, yet she didn’t dare slack off, especially not as of late. A slight distraction might be all it took for things to spiral out of control.

Jacky could sense her companions patrolling below her watchtower, envious that they could at least stretch their legs. That was one downside of the stimulant. It gave both her mind and body a surge of energy. But boy did she need it.

Two weeks had passed since the higher-ups stationed her here to observe the anomaly – a woman sealed within a spatial bubble hovering off the ground. The sleeping woman was a middle-aged version of Yara, and even though she was older, she still retained her unblemished beauty.

As the night stretched on, Jacky repeatedly fought off all distracting thoughts her mind sent her way. Finally, when the first ray of sunlight broke over the horizon, the person taking over her shift made their way up the ladder leading to the top of the watchtower.

Knowing that it was Olo, Jacky prepared to leave, only to hear the faint sound of shattering glass. Jacky thought someone had dropped something, only to freeze in horror when she looked through the binoculars one more time.

The middle-aged Yara stared right at her as the spatial bubble collapsed into pieces.

At first, Jacky found it strange. She was currently several miles out from the anomaly and needed binoculars combined with an ocular skill to catch a glimpse of Elaine, so how could Elaine lock onto her the moment she awakened?

“Did you hear something just now?” Olo asked as he entered the room, completely oblivious.

Olo’s question snapped Jacky out of her daze. Fearing further delays, Jacky slammed her hand onto a glass compartment next to her. The glass shattered, revealing a yellow button underneath. Jacky quickly pressed the button and grabbed Olo as she jumped from the top of the watchtower in one breath.

“Wha-?” Olo’s eyes widened in realization.

As Jacky fell through the air, she yelled to her companions, “Code Yellow! Code Yellow!”

At the same time, Elaine landed on her feet and stood in a daze. Where was she? Who was she? None of the surroundings looked familiar. While her brain drew a blank, tears suddenly fell from her eyes as her heart clenched in pain. She collapsed to her knees and struggled to breathe, all while one memory after another flashed through her mind.

Her husband, daughters, and sect.

All of it was gone. Slaughtered by Sloth and his horde.

Despair and rage coursed through her veins as thoughts of death were all she could think about. Distracted by her emotions, she didn’t notice three identical contraptions rise from the ground around her. Each contraption held a glass cylinder where a dark blue concentration of Mana floated. Space contorted and pulsed around the cores as they continuously drew in Mana from the atmosphere.

Suddenly, the glass containing the three Mana cores shattered, releasing them into the world. Attracted by each other, the three cores shot towards one another, merging into one. Its natural ability to draw in Mana quickly skyrocketed as the core grew bigger and bigger. Eventually, it collapsed, unable to sustain itself.

At that moment, Elaine felt unprecedented danger. Fuelled by instinct, she covered herself in Dragon Regalia before everything turned white.

****

Yara woke up with a racing heart. Something was wrong. Terribly wrong. Before going to bed, she made some calculations and found everything in order, so why did she feel such dread? A sudden change in her inventory explained everything. With a swipe of her wrist, a broken trinket appeared in her hand. Her expression collapsed. “She’s awoken so early?”

Yara had considered that Elaine might wake up sooner than her calculations foretold, yet now that it had happened for real, anxiety left her frozen in place. All her preparations fell to the wayside as the possibility of failure consumed her every thought. Too much was riding on this momen-

“Mom!” Markus suddenly crashed through the bedroom wall with a solemn expression. When he saw her lying upright in her bed without any sense of urgency, he approached and shook her roughly.

“Markus?” Yara looked at her son in a daze.

Markus considered many things to say, and in the end, he said what he thought would help the most, “Do you want to lose everything you’ve built to a ghost from your past? You’ve already overcome it once, don’t let her drag you back.”

Yara saw the worry in her son’s gaze and chuckled, “Silly boy, that isn’t the problem.”

For the first time, Yara understood Zeidrick’s condition. Who would have thought the great and mighty Yara would fall victim to anxiety? But one thing Markus said was right. She wouldn’t let Elaine destroy what she’d built. Her nation wouldn’t become a tool to satisfy her main body’s quest for destruction.

Yara locked her jaw and jumped out of bed. As she changed her cosmetic clothes, Markus summoned a teleportation gate, after which they both walked through, putting on a facade of confidence.

On the other side of the portal was a flurry of activity. The local teleportation arrays were operating at full capacity as soldiers appeared in groups. Officers shouted commands for their squads to gather before boarding their designated Skyship. In less than one minute, everyone participating in the operation had arrived.

In the next moment, twenty-five First-Class Skyships shot into the sky, their Mana engines operating at full speed. A First-Class Skyship appeared like a multi-deck sailing ship, except it didn’t have any sails. Instead, a complex set of arrays ran through its hull, giving it the ability to fly, incredible defense, and making it nearly weightless. It also possessed several devastating weapons, like the V9 Mana Bolt Gattling Gun and the L2 Sunfire Laser. Both weapons dealt damage equivalent to a level 400 skill, and every First-Class Skyship had twenty of each.

Yara stood on the bow of the leading First-Class Skyship, her hair fluttering in the wind. Behind her stood Markus, Frod, and another leader of the four families: Catara. Catara had a shaved head and many tribal tattoos running across her body. Like Frod and Wes, she was born during the warring tribe's era.

The first rays of daylight washed over the convoy of Skyships, almost as if it was embracing them. They crossed half of the Innate Dimension in less than fifteen minutes and arrived before a terrifying abyss – a hole bigger than anyone thought possible.

Yara’s gaze hardened upon witnessing the result of using three Mana Reactors as makeshift bombs. Countless gasps came from behind while Markus sighed, “So many resources… gone….”

“Yo, could she have really survived this?” Frod questioned with a raised brow.

All twenty-five First-Class Skyships stopped mid-air as the sun slowly revealed the abyss below. Thousands of feet under, near the center of the gaping maw, a silhouette slowly rose to their feet, answering Frod’s question.

She was alive.