Damn… This stupid moss thing is annoying. A male with an athletic build trudged through the cursed substance, curses tossed at every opportunity. “Agh… This is so stupid… you really think this stuff can slow me down?!” He roared as he thrusted his fist into a skeleton that charged him; simultaneously crushing the skull of an emerging ambusher with his bare feet.

“Motherfuckers! You’re more fucking annoying than a mosquito!” The unknown man hollered out, flinging a bone shard at a magician’s skull, dissembling both pieces of bone and scattering the indistinguishable remains. A skeleton rogue took the opportunity to lash out at the man’s tattered clothes, the rustic dagger somehow creating a cleaner cut than the edges of his rags.

“Agh, you fucker!” The man pummelled the skeleton with his fist; its body flattening into the ground. His bare skin showed through the new slit, a drop of blood nowhere to be found. “And you! You stupid substance!” He cried out while shaking his limbs to free himself from the slimy cursed moss that clung to them desperately.

“You really think you can do anything! I fucked a succubus for 3 years! My vitality is that of a 100 men!” The young man roared out in frustration, bulldozing his way to a decayed stump. He picked up a sword of a recently deceased skeleton and sliced the stumps surface, creating a smooth chair. The sword crumbled into fragments that scattered the ground like broken glass as the unknown man tossed its remains to the side.

...Wouldn’t that make your vitality weaker though? Cain thought as he hovered roughly two stories (5ish meters) above the ground. The moment his Mana Zone extension relayed they were approaching the unknown man, he had disguised the elliptical platform he and the party sat on as much as possible.

Multiple magic circles hummed along the edges of the saucer like fences. Their constant work to replicate their surroundings from every angle allowed observers and bystanders to see through them without noticing their presence; a sort of mirror that showed what lay behind it.

A similar process was performed to disguise Cain, the party’s, and the flying saucer’s mana signatures to mimic and continue the flow of the natural mana around them. The smell and airflow of the saucer’s cabin was locked in, with several small portals venting it out to locations several hundreds of meters away from them.

The oncoming air disappeared through disguised portals, then reappeared behind it on a delay relative to the saucer’s movement speed. Due to the complete concealment of everything within, Dresil had to notify Victoria’s shadow of the changes to prevent a panic.

Cain sat at the helm of the elliptical platform, his left foot occupied the front end of the ellipse with the curve sliding under his right leg allowing it to hang freely. Cain rested his chin on top of his left knee and towed the party around the cursed area leisurely.

He circled around the unknown man, allowing them to catch their breath, relax some of their tense muscles and senses, and testing the extent of his concealment magic circles. The unknown man rested on the decayed stump to their left; his hollering catching the party’s attention.

“Damn… that dude is lucky to be alive.” Jared muttered, craning his head to get a peak of his appearance; his body sprawled across the platform with Victoria close by on his left. The man’s long hair swayed on his back, occasionally revealing his defined muscles. He leaned back, resting his palms on the back edge of the stump and staring at the sky; his abs and chest basking in the sun.

“Wow…” Victoria mumbled when she glimpsed the man’s pale, muscular body. Jared’s eyebrow twitched, his senses picking up on something off with what she said. Each characteristic of the man led everyone to believe he had been locked up in a dark room for those three years, yet not a single facial hair was to be seen.

Damn… Does he have a shaving technique like Cain’s? Cain read Jared’s thoughts, hoping the boi would be jealous since that would indicate he noticed Victoria’s admiration for someone else’s body. Needless to say, both Cain and the tagalong trio were disappointed.

—Group Chat: Cain, Dresil, Bob, Rex— (15ms)

Rex: Damn… I don’t even know if I can be that dense…

Dresil: That statement should be your proof…

Rex: Huh?

Dresil: Pop me some popcorn.

Cain: Me too.

Rex: Fine…

Bob: :sigh: Looks like the connection between knowing and understanding is still lacking.

Cain: Indeed. At least a few millennia could be spent bridging the gap.

Bob: Agreed, although even that may not be enough.

Cain: :wheeze:

Rex: …what are you two even talking about?

Dresil: shhh, less texting more popping.

Rex: Fine fine.

--------------------------

“Want some popcorn?” Cain asked the group behind him while tossing a freshly popped bag at Jacob. The sudden action distracted him from going into another downward spiral as the often forgotten fifth wheel.

Cain grabbed another bag from the portal that had yet to close, opening it while twisting his back to his right so Jacob could see how it was done. Veronica crawled over to Cain, trying to be sneaky so she could nab some; a popcorn kernel bouncing off her head stopped her midway.

“Stay still and rest.” Cain told her, an open bag of popcorn rode the coattails of his mana stream, stopping in front of Veronica’s face. But… I hardly did anything so I’m not even tired… She opened her mouth, about to voice her thoughts, only to unexpectedly catch another kernel of popcorn Cain threw.

Veronica chewed heartily on the unexpected treat, her confusion visible to everyone but Jacob who sat behind her. Victoria crawled on all fours up to Veronica and whispered into her ear, explaining that she needed to be a bit more considerate of Jacob, or at the very least, more subtle with her advances.

Victoria crawled back to Jared’s side, with Veronica taking a spot on Victoria’s right, between her and Jacob. The poor lad was still struggling to open the bag of popcorn, everything that transpired with Veronica at its center went completely unnoticed by him. He only managed to open the bag a moment after Veronica sat back down.

Cain glanced over his shoulder, visually checking on the party’s condition and depositing a bag of popcorn for Victoria and Jared. Once he confirmed they were healthy and resting, he checked the mana levels of the young man on the stump then turned all functions of his eyes off.

—Group Chat: Cain, Dresil, Bob, and Rex— (19ms)

Cain: How long did I manage to keep the eyes active?

Bob: 29 minutes and 13 seconds.

Rex: how much mana did that weird dude have left?

Dresil: You could’ve kept it on longer.

Cain: Ye, but that would have put some strain on it. I still don’t completely understand how the mana intertwines with my eye and why each function works the way it does so I don’t want to accidentally damage it.

Cain: @Rex he’s about to run out.

Bob: Good decision.

Dresil: Lazy boi…

Rex: …wait, so which one is it?

Cain: Both.

Rex: :Pain: why me…

--------------------------

Dang… this place has the area of… 13, maybe 14? football fields. Cain queried the Mana Zone extension for the area of the cursed zone out of curiosity while waiting for the unknown man’s mana to drain.

“Hey, Cain. Are we just going to sit up here for the rest of the day?” Jared asked, nearly avoiding a slap to the hand from Victoria as his own escaped with some kernels and deposited them in his mouth. “Not that I’m complaining or anything, I’m just curious about our plan.” Jared continued shortly after once he was able to speak coherently.

“Nah, I’m just curious why this boi is down here. We’ll probably dive down to the center area in a few minutes. There should be an entrance to the lich’s lair around there.” Cain replied while replacing his bag of popcorn with a cup of soda and some meat. Jared’s eyes nearly shone sharper than sun’s rays when he glimpsed the soda.

Cain sighed while distributing a clay cup filled with soda, small amounts of pastries, and fruit to everyone. Dang… this unknowingly became a picnic above a cursed terrain that drains life and holds a powerful lich not too far away…

We’re just missing a dragon, some explosions, and a princes… Heck… I guess the fantasy picnic isn’t too far off. Cain silently chuckled from the absurdity yet reasonability of his thoughts. Thoughts that reminded him of the plausibility that Veronica could be a princess.

Cain contemplated possible situations and countermeasures a future relationship with Veronica would require due to her background. The party chatted in between eating their snacks; refills for their drinks came automatically due to a magic circle Cain put at the bottom of their cups.

“Agh… Damn… Huff… what the fuck?” The unknown man everyone but Cain forgot about panted heavily, attracting the spectator’s attention. Looks like his mana is finally drained. Cain thought while witnessing the man’s skin dry up at a visible pace.

Damn… I overlooked needing to witness this with the functions on… Cain lamented the missed opportunity, not willing to risk damaging his eyes for something he may or may not be able to see. Meh, I’ll just toss some bandits in here later. His conclusion came while a pastry vanished; into the bottomless pit known as Cain’s stomach it goes.

“No… If only I could get that vessel then she’d come back to me…” The man barely managed to croak, his vocal chords shrivelling at a rapid pace. The inhabitants of the flying saucer watched in awe until a dehydrated husk remained in stead of the Greek-aesthetic body.

“Well, that’s that. You guys almost done?” Cain tossed the words over his shoulder as he drove the hovering platform towards the underground entrance. “Almost… How are we going to do this though?” Victoria responded after checking on everyone’s state.

Veronica happily ate the pastries Cain gave her; her eyes occasionally lingered near his side longingly. Jacob snacked in between doing recuperative stretches to relax his limbs that carried twice his weight. The weight being his gear and Jared using him to hop around.

“I’ll probably just leave you guys up here but make it so you could see what I am doing.” Cain started to respond while reinforcing the disguise circles and patching up any holes or bugs in the programming. When his words reached Veronica’s ears, she stopped mid-bite, looking at him with a face that begged to tag along.

Cain felt Veronica’s gaze on his back and swiftly provided a satisfactory reason so she wouldn’t protest and beg to follow him. “Although I could bring you guys with me, I can’t guarantee there’ll be enough space to watch everything so it’d best to stay up here.”

“That means… You can take care of the lich who is assumed to be at the 7th circle while protecting all of us? Wait, how did you even get that information without being discovered?” Victoria picked up the peculiarities in Cain’s speech, piecing it together with information from before.

Cain rested his left elbow on his knee, the same knee that clung to his chest throughout their journey. He observed the view below him, skeletons roaming, zombies forming. A moment later Cain twisted his back, opening his right shoulder to the party. He stared into Victoria’s golden brown eyes, and smirked.

A smirk that told her everything he revealed was on purpose. A smirk that acknowledged Cain roughly knew the power gap needed to fight and protect a group of bystanders. It was a simple smirk that conveyed a conversation.

And then Cain vanished from his spot.