n

n

n

"Just in time,

" John said with relief as he floated above them.

n

"John...

" Muttered Ariel with a happy expression.

n

"You're late...

" Said Serena with an unexpected smile on her face.

nThe gorilla got seemingly more furious as it began to roar and pound its chest rapidly in anger once it noticed that it hadn't landed a hit.

n

"John, its fur is magic resistant, and it gets stronger the angrier it gets, it's a B-ranked Monster. The king of the jungle, Barlgura.

" Said Serena.

n

"It doesn't look that strong.,

" John muttered as he stared at it.

nIt was rampaging around but wasn't really attacking them.

n

"Gravitas.

" John muttered.

nThe 20x gravity over the Barlgura caused its movements to slow down but didn't immobilise it. It looked up at John, who floated above it and jumped straight at him.

nJohn avoided it by moving back, and after it missed, it fell straight down.

n

"Let's go while it's slowed down.

" John said as he grabbed on to Serena and Ariel's hands.

nHe coated them in anti-gravity as they held onto his hands and they flew straight up, leaving the Gorilla child behind.

n

"I'm glad you two were fin-

"

nJust as he was speaking, John was interrupted by Ariel, who suddenly hugged him. Her sudden action caused him to slightly lose his balance and his concentration, and it made them hastily descend.

n

"Eek! Ariel!!

" Said Serena with a frightened expression.

n

"A-Ariel, it's hard to fly around like this,

" John said. while trying to balance them.

nWithout saying anything, Ariel continued to hold on. It was surprisingly cute and felt nice, so John didn't say anything else. Serena also appeared slightly annoyed by it, but held back.

n

"Serena, that 'eek' that I heard,

" John spoke teasingly.

n

"You imagined it

" She replied as she looked away.

nShortly after, Ariel let go of the hug and went back to holding John's hands.

n

"S-Sorry! I just thought I'd never see John again so when you came I was just so happy and- Sorry...

" Said Ariel with a dejected expression.

n

"Hm? I don't mind. You're free to hug me whenever you'd like,

" John replied.

nAriel's expression changed to a happy one, and Serena said.

n

"Is that so...

" She muttered.

nShortly after, she suddenly hugged him too. They hastily descended again, but like before, John managed to concentrate on time.

n

"Eek!

" Said Serena again as they descended.

n

"S-Serena... Are you afraid of heights?

" John asked.

n

"No! Who wouldn't get scared if we suddenly started falling? Even Ariel is shaking,

" Said Serena.

nJohn looked over at Ariel and just as Serena said, she was trembling.

n

"Ah, I see... But you don't have to force yourself to hold on to me. It's safe even if you're just holding on to my hands,

" John said. with concern.

n

"I'm... not just hugging you because I'm scared.

" She whispered.

n

"What was that?

" John asked.

nShe spoke too low for John to hear it, and he wasn't strengthening his hearing with magic.

n

"I Said... I missed you too!

" shouted Serena as she let go of the hug and looked away.

n

"Haha, I missed you both too, I'm glad I had deprehendre, otherwise I wouldn't have found you two. Speaking of finding, how did you know where Ariel was Serena?

" John asked.

n

"I asked the spirits for help, and how did you know I knew where she was?

" Serena asked.

n

"Well, because I saw you rushing towards her with deprehendre, and did you say spirits? You can communicate with spirits?

" John replied.

nAriel looked over at Serena with a curious and interested expression.

n

"Well yeah, it doesn't work in dungeons because they're artificial, but I'm able to freely communicate with forest spirits once I put my mind to it. More importantly, where are we heading?

" Serena asked.

nThey had been flying in one direction for the past few minutes at a moderate speed, but John hadn't told them anything about where they were going.

n

"Well, for starters, we're getting out of this forest and finding the nearest town. Did your forest spirits tell you anything about where we were?

" John asked.

n

"Not really, they only told me I was inside of a dangerous forest.

" She replied.

nThey continued flying above the trees until 20 minutes later, when they finally managed to leave the vicinity of the forest.

n

"Hey, I think I saw something.,

" John said.

nWith enhanced vision and deprehendre, John noticed around 100 meters away from them a carriage being attacked by a pack of dark wolves. They had a strange evil air around them, John could feel it straight from where he was at.

n

"What?

" Asked Serena.

n

"A carriage getting attacked by shadow wolves.

" Said Serena.

n

"Let's go help them,

" John said.

n

"Okay.

" Said Ariel.

n

"Sure

" Said Serena as she let out a sigh.

nJohn wasn't helping them just for kindness. He needed information, and right now, the best way to get it would be by helping whoever is in that carriage.

nAs John got them closer to the site, he could see a male mage fighting back the shadow wolves. He was making sure none of them would get close to whatever that was in that carriage. Seeing that, John increased his speed.

n

"That's weird.

" Said Serena. as she tilted her head.

n

"What?

" Ariel Asked.

n

"Shadow wolves don't live in forests, and it's weird for them to be on plains such as these. They're more common as familiars, meaning...

" Serena spoke.

n

"Someone plotted this... It's most likely an assassination attempt ofn whoever or whatever is in there.

" John muttered.

n'Hm.... Can't we watch a break? We just got out of the dungeon…' John thought with helplessness.

n