Free Web NovelChapter 211: Rescue
Frowning deeply, Lucas stared at the Spatial Tear before him, a fierce debate playing out in his head; however, that debate didn’t last long.
Turning around, Lucas called out, "Tina, Eris, come here!"
The two girls, who had gotten used to following Lucas’ orders over the past few minutes as doing so was what was keeping them safe, didn’t hesitate to rush over. Although they were a bit curious, wondering why he suddenly called for them despite just telling them to stay well back, they figured they would know soon enough.
As the girls were approaching, Lucas explained, "I heard a call for help coming from the other side of the Spatial Tear right in front of us. I also think I know who it is, but the only way to be sure, and to help them, is to go through. But..."
Christina, understanding that Lucas was essentially proposing they risk their lives on a rescue mission none of them knew was even possible, naturally looked a bit hesitant.
While Tina firmly believed in acting righteously, she had also been raised to think rationally, so she couldn’t help worrying about whether the risks here were worth the possible rewards.
Eris, on the other hand, had no such compunctions and immediately declared, "
"If someone is calling for help, of course we have to help!"
It was like someone had slapped Christina across her cheek. Here she was, weighing risks and worrying about the chances of success when someone she knew might very well be dying.
Her father, King Nathanial, had always taught her that the first duty of a royal was to protect the kingdom, and the people of the kingdom, are the kingdom.
Actually slapping her own cheeks, Christina threw away any hesitation she felt and also nodded, "Sister Eris is right. We can’t just ignore a plea for help."
Lucas, having watched this brief episode play out, actually felt that Christina was the more reasonable of the two, and that thinking through the possible consequences of their actions before just... acting, was probably the better approach; however, since he was the one asking them, he didn’t really have the right to voice that opinion.
That said, Lucas had originally been worried that both Eris and Christina would be hesitant to agree to the reckless idea of stepping through the tear; after all, there was a lot of unknowns and danger involved, so both of them agreeing with him made things simpler now.
Unable to stop himself, Lucas let out a wry laugh before grabbing Eris and Christina’s hands and jumping backwards.
Light flashed, space flipped, and in the blink of an eye, the trio found themselves standing in a completely different place.
"Ugh..." Christina and Eris both withdrew their hands and held their heads, feeling a slight sense of vertigo. It wasn’t enough to make them want to throw up, but it was certainly dizzying and uncomfortable.
Lucas, on the other hand, was completely unaffected by the sudden spatial displacement for some reason and hastily surveyed their surroundings.
From what he could gather, they were currently standing at the very far end of a white sandy beach on a small jetty that seemed to stick out into the ocean.
Before him was the setting sun, while behind was a rising night sky.
The stars and constellations up above were the same ones Lucas was used to seeing in Redwood Town, but they appeared quite a bit further north, indicating to him that while they were still in the northern hemisphere, they were currently much closer to the equator.
Turning to his left, Lucas saw that this beach stretched out past where his eyes could see, making it at least a dozen kilometres long.
Backing the beach was a lush jungle, with what looked a lot like palm trees, only much taller. Even further back were a number of tall, rocky mountains that stretched up into the clouds.
To his right, there was nothing but endless ocean, with gentle waves drifting towards the shore over what Lucas suspected was a vast coral reef.
The air was warm, the breeze was light, and the scenery was picturesque; it was the very definition of a tropical paradise, if one ignored all the snaking black and white spatial tears that were randomly drifting through the air.
"Ugh... Lucas, why didn’t you tell us it would be this painful..." Christina asked grumpily as she continued rubbing her aching temples. freewёbnoνel.com
Ever since he shook them awake, Lucas had been warning them that they were in extreme danger.
Later, he had explained that passing through the unstable Spatial Tears might very well result in them being ripped apart. Even if they somehow safely transited through one of these tears, the other side was an unknown land filled with who knows what kind of threat.
In short, their best chance for survival was to dodge the tears while waiting for the storm to subside.
What Lucas never told them was that passing through one of these Spatial Tears would be so discomforting.
Had Lucas also been doubled over, trying to sooth a throbbing headache, Christina might have let this little inconvenience slide, but seeing him standing there, looking just fine, made her feel somewhat aggrieved.
If he had at least warned them, perhaps they could have braced themselves.
Lucas also only now noticed that he wasn’t feeling any side-effects from passing through the Spatial Tear, but before he could figure out why, or even apologize to the disgruntled princess, a new voice drifted over from the nearby forest, "Help! Is anyone out there!? Anybody?"
"Rebecca! Over here!" Lucas shouted, confirming that the voice he heard just now through the Spatial Tear really belonged to one of his trusty employees.
Drawing his sword, Lucas ran off in the direction he had heard Rebecca, extending his Soul Sense as far as he could to try to scout ahead and assess what kind of danger she was facing.
While he wouldn’t consider himself a saint, Lucas wasn’t about to abandon someone he was close with just because it might be dangerous to try to save her.
Hearing this voice, and seeing Lucas’ actions, Christina and Eris both quickly forced down their dizziness and chased after him with weapons drawn.
Fortunately, it seemed Rebecca was quite close by and not in any immediate danger.
A minute or so later, on the edge of the forest, Lucas, Christina, and Eris met up with Rebecca and a few others from Redwood Town who happened to be with her.
"Boss! Thank the Heavens!" Rebecca ran over and nearly tackled Lucas to the ground, hugging him tightly as if she had just found her saviour.
It was a slightly odd sight to see the 18-year-old young woman who was usually so soft-spoken sobbing as she embraced the 10-year-old boy, trying to find a sense of security in his small arms, but no one present blamed Rebecca.
Tina and Eris both knew that of everyone here, the only one they could rely on to escape this mess was Lucas while the other young adults accompanying Rebecca all greatly respected the young son of the towns’ best blacksmith.
They had appreciated Lucas before all this madness began for his intelligence, maturity, and all the inventions and benefits he had brought to Redwood Town, and that respect only grew stronger after the explosion 8 days ago.
In many of the townsfolks’ minds, Lucas’ status had risen to the same level as Charles and Sasha as, more often than not, he was the one managing and coordinating the overall situation in Redwood Town, ensuring everyone had a roof over their heads, food in the bellies, and tasks to keep them busy during the crisis.
As much as Lucas wanted to comfort Rebecca and let her know that everything was alright now, he knew there was no time for that.
The number of Spatial Tears had been steadily decreasing since a couple minutes ago. At this rate, Lucas estimated it wouldn’t be more than 10 minutes before the Spatial Storm ended entirely.
If they hadn’t made it back through one of them to Redwood Town by then, they would be trapped here.
In theory, that might not actually be so bad seeing how this was a tropical paradise, but something about this place was causing Lucas to feel extremely on edge, like mortal danger was lurking somewhere nearby.
He couldn’t explain what that danger was, or why he felt this way, but for now, Lucas chose to follow his instincts.
Prying Rebecca’s arms off of him, Lucas glanced back the way they came just in time to see the Spatial Tear they had come through close.
Cursing to himself about this terrible timing, Lucas hurriedly composed himself and asked, "Have you seen anyone else?"
Wiping the tears from her eyes, Rebecca did her best to steady her nerves as she shook her head, "No, one moment we were wheeling a cart of supplies to the southern barricade, the next, we suddenly found ourselves in the middle of this forest."
Lucas would be lying if he said he wasn’t disappointed to hear this; after all, both his mother and father, as well his Uncle Charles and several others he was close to were probably somewhere nearby, but given the circumstances, he also wasn’t too surprised.
Because it had been the middle of the night, it had been difficult back in Redwood Town for Lucas to estimate just how widespread the Spatial Storm was, but arriving here, with the light of the setting sun extending how far he could see greatly, he realized he had vastly underestimated the scale of this disaster.
As far as he could tell, there were Spatial Tears at least 10 km away from where he was standing in all directions, meaning the storm was at minimum 20 km in diameter; probably more.
With no way to know just who was transported from Redwood Town to this place, or where they were deposited in that range, trying to find them in the few minutes he had left was basically hopeless.
Coming to grips with this harsh reality, Lucas let out a sigh before declaring, "I know you all have a lot of questions right now, but time is short. If we don’t return to Redwood Town within the next few minutes, we’ll never be able to get back, so don’t ask anything and follow me for now, please."
Rebecca and her group, a total of 5 young adults, really did have a lot of things they wanted to ask, but hearing that they might never be able to get back home if they didn’t hurry, they quickly decided to hold their tongues.
Seeing everyone nod, Lucas silently breathed a sight of relief before expanding his Soul Sense in all directions, searching for a nearby Spatial Tear.
A few seconds later, Lucas glanced to his right and took off running through the jungle, "This way!"
