Death… And Me

Chapter 4452: It Might Work

*Rumble!*

*Bang!*

The airplane hadn’t climbed very high above the city yet. The moment Rean understood what had happened, the ground a few dozen meters below them exploded apart.

A gigantic flaming maw burst from beneath the ground, lunging straight at the airplane at a speed far beyond any Godly Predator they had encountered until now.

"Fuck!"

Rean cursed as he shoved the controls forward. The Celestial Thrusters roared to life while the Godly Pressure Disguise was immediately turned OFF, allowing the thrusters to draw much more energy.

*Tufffff!*

The flaming maw missed the airplane by a hair, shooting past it like a blazing bullet. The airplane didn’t escape unscathed, though. The intense heat radiating from the Godly Creature instantly melted several sections at the rear of the aircraft. Fortunately, the thrusters themselves remained intact, although the damage made the airplane much harder to steer. Several warning lights immediately lit up across the control panel.

Only now could everyone clearly see the creature that had attacked them.

"Magma Drake!" Lukay exclaimed, terror evident on his face. "Quick! Get out of here!"

Rean didn’t need to be told twice. The airplane never slowed down, continuing to race away from the city center as fast as it could. Unfortunately, the Magma Drake had no intention of letting them escape. Godly Energy surged through its enormous body as a pair of fiery crimson wings spread from its back. With a single powerful flap, it shot after the airplane, rapidly closing the distance between them.

"So fast!" Kentucky cried out in surprise. "Could this one be..."

Rean checked the radar once more before confirming their fears. "It’s a Godly Horror, no doubt! The concentration of Godly Pressure inside its body is even higher than the other Godly Horrors I’ve seen before."

"Shit!" Lukay immediately recognized the danger. "Be ready to dodge!"

His warning came at exactly the right moment. Rean’s eyes focused on the Drake’s enormous mouth, where Godly Energy rapidly condensed. An instant later, several massive balls of molten magma, each packed with terrifying amounts of Godly Energy, shot toward the airplane.

The exploration airplane had never been built for agile maneuvers. It excelled at flying in a straight line, but making sharp turns had always been one of its weaknesses. To make matters worse, the melted sections near the rear included part of the steering system, making every movement even more sluggish.

"Can’t dodge!"

Roan swallowed one of the anti-Godly Pressure Pills without hesitation before opening the hatch and leaping onto the airplane’s roof. His Crystal Void Scythes appeared in his hands as he locked onto the incoming attacks.

’Red Death, Crimson Moon!’

Several crimson lightning blades shot toward the incoming magma projectiles.

*Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!*

Roan’s attacks weren’t nearly powerful enough to destroy the Godly Horror’s attacks outright. The Crimson Moon blades exploded one after another against the magma spheres, barely managing to damage them.

However, that had never been his objective. Roan wasn’t trying to destroy the magma projectiles. He only needed to alter their trajectories by the slightest margin, and that tiny deviation was enough for the enormous magma spheres to narrowly miss the airplane instead.

"I’ll help!" Lukay immediately joined Roan, using one of Roan’s pills so he could withstand the overwhelming Godly Pressure emitted by the Horror. Kentucky and Celis quickly followed, unleashing every ranged attack they could while the Magma Drake relentlessly pursued them, continuously spitting more magma projectiles their way.

Even so, the situation only grew worse. The distance between both sides continued shrinking, forcing everyone to attack more frequently just to keep the airplane from being hit.

"This isn’t working!"

"Rean!" Kentucky shouted after another one of his feathers exploded against a magma sphere. "Wasn’t the Godly Pressure Disguise supposed to make this thing leave us alone?"

Rean nodded while keeping both hands firmly on the controls. "It did exactly what it was supposed to do. This Magma Drake or whatever most likely recognized us as another Godly Creature initially. The problem is that it simply didn’t care. Godly Creatures fight each other all the time. The disguise only makes them less likely to target us, not completely ignore us. We simply got too close to its territory."

He glanced at the furious Magma Drake behind them before continuing, "And now that I turned the disguise OFF, activating it again right in front of it won’t make any difference."

Lukay never took his eyes off the pursuing Horror. "You’d better think of something fast. Otherwise, I’m using my escape technique and getting the hell out of here. Nothing personal."

He had indeed been assigned to protect the twins’ group, but that responsibility had never included fighting Godly Horrors. The only reason he hadn’t abandoned the airplane yet was because they still had enough distance to intercept the incoming attacks. That, however, wouldn’t last much longer.

"Rean!" Roan shouted from above. "Stop wasting time and fuel this thing!"

"I know!"

Rean gritted his teeth before immediately inserting a Godly Predator Crystal into the airplane’s energy slot. The circuitry greedily absorbed the Godly Energy.

*ZuuuuuuUUUUUU!!!!*

The airplane surged forward with explosive acceleration, its speed instantly increasing by an enormous margin. Still, it barely managed to match the Magma Drake pursuing them. Had the Horror not needed a brief moment to recover after missing its surprise attack, it would have already caught them.

Kentucky intercepted another incoming magma sphere before hurriedly asking, "What about the Godly Predators from before? Aren’t you flying straight toward one of them?"

"I am," Rean admitted. "But I don’t have much choice. If I try to turn now with the airplane damaged and the thrusters running at this output, the entire frame might come apart."

"If that Godly Predator blocks our path, we’re screwed!" Lukay warned, still watching the Horror behind them.

The Magma Drake grew increasingly furious as the chase continued. It could now clearly sense the cultivators inside the airplane, and despite being vastly stronger, it still couldn’t catch them.

*ROOOOAR!!*

Its furious roar echoed across the ruined city as its wings beat even harder. It had no intention of giving up the pursuit until it either caught them... or they somehow escaped.

Rean ignored the deafening roar behind him, keeping his attention fixed on the Godly Predator approaching from the opposite direction. It didn’t take long before the creature entered his field of view. Surprisingly—or perhaps not—it was another Magma Drake, only noticeably smaller and much weaker.

*ROAR!!*

Rean narrowed his eyes, patiently waiting as the distance rapidly closed.

Two hundred meters...

One hundred and fifty...

One hundred...

"Now!"

[Yin Yang Sanctuary!]

The Sanctuary expanded instantly, completely erasing the Godly Pressure throughout the surrounding area. That included the Godly Pressure inside the Magma Drake itself.

For the first time in its life, the beast felt the impossible sensation of its own Godly Pressure disappearing. It didn’t make it weaker, but it was still distracting.

That single instant of confusion became its downfall.

The airplane rushed past as Roan was already waiting in front of it, his gaze as cold as ice.

’Red Death... Death Cross!’

The two Crystal Void Scythes crossed in a brilliant flash.

The Magma Drake’s neck split apart cleanly, and the airplane shot past before the light in the creature’s eyes had even begun to fade.

[Predators analyzed inside the Sanctuary: 98]

It had taken nearly fifteen minutes to fly from the city wall to the center of the ruins. Now, empowered by a Godly Predator Crystal, the airplane crossed the entire city and left it behind in barely two minutes.

Rean had reinforced the airplane’s thrusters during their time in Besgol, allowing them to withstand this level of output for a longer limited time. Even so, they would eventually fail if pushed for too long. The warning lights on the control panel remained lit, and he could already feel the airplane becoming less responsive as the thrusters continued operating far beyond their intended limits.

"What now?" Rean asked while keeping both hands firmly on the controls. For the moment, they were barely maintaining the distance between themselves and the pursuing Horror. Unlike the airplane’s thrusters, however, the Magma Drake wouldn’t gradually break down from maintaining such incredible speed. If anything, it looked as energetic as when the chase had begun.

Roan narrowed his eyes as he glanced back at the enormous beast. None of them had expected a Godly Horror to simply ignore the Godly Pressure Disguise. It hadn’t failed—in fact, it had most likely fooled the Magma Drake into believing they were another Godly Creature.

The problem was that the Horror simply didn’t care. They had entered its territory, and Godly Creatures had never been known for peacefully coexisting with one another. Now that the disguise had been turned off to maximize the airplane’s performance, the beast was even more determined to hunt them down.

Behind them, the Magma Drake let out another earth-shaking roar before launching yet another barrage of molten spheres. It saw one of its companions dying, and that definitely didn’t sit well with the Drake.

*ROOOOAR!!!*

"There they come again!" Kentucky warned.

Without waiting for instructions, Roan, Kentucky, Celis, and Lukay attacked together once more. Waves of sword energy, feathers, and ranged techniques collided with the incoming magma spheres one after another. None of their attacks could destroy the projectiles outright, but each impact altered their trajectories just enough for the blazing masses to streak harmlessly past the airplane before exploding in the distance.

Even so, the situation continued to worsen. Every new volley came from a slightly shorter distance than the previous one. The Magma Drake wasn’t gaining ground quickly, but little by little, it was closing the gap as the thrusters began to lose some of their potential.

"Lukay," Roan suddenly called while keeping his gaze fixed on the pursuing Horror. "How strong is that Godly Horror compared to a Law God?"

The unexpected question caught Lukay off guard. Even so, he could tell Roan wasn’t asking out of simple curiosity.

"I’d say... around an Initial Stage Law God, more or less," he answered after giving it some thought. "Why?"

Roan didn’t reply immediately. Instead, he continued observing the Magma Drake for several more seconds, seemingly calculating something in his mind while another barrage of magma projectiles flew toward them. Only after everyone intercepted the attacks again did he finally nod to himself.

"It might work."