CHAPTER 270: CHAPTER 269 - THE GROUP REACHED THE FOREST.

The Kolombre Dukedom was mostly desert. Endless dunes. Unforgiving sun. Sand in places you didn’t know existed.

However, that didn’t mean it lacked greenery.

The major part of the dukedom was covered with desert, not the entire dukedom.

Even in the sandy area, patches of greenery could be seen, although they were rare.

There was a group of crazies flying right above one of those rare forests, trying to "land."

(The quotation marks were necessary.)

As for why they were flying, well, it was because no one would look up at the sky during the day—or so Raven had told them.

The real reason was stealth.

Because flying things could avoid all checkpoints and gates, which meant no check-in or check-out, hence no record of you being somewhere.

Raven was at the head—if you could call it that.

He wasn’t so much flying as punching gravity in the face with fire blasts from his feet.

Every few seconds, a massive FWOOOM of flame shot down, launching him up in jerky arcs until his trajectory inevitably dipped, and he Hulk-smashed the ground.

THOOOM!

"Oh, look," Omni’s voice drawled from his tattooed form on Raven’s arm. "Another smooth landing. Bro, NASA just called—they’re scared of you."

"Man, stop breaking the fourth wall all the time," Raven muttered, kicking off another blast that scorched a bush into instant cinders. "You can’t know about NASA in this world."

"Hm?" Omni sounded confused. "Why can’t I know about that stuff?"

"Because... I don’t know, that’s just how it works, I guess," Raven shot back, but even he sounded unsure.

"Man, hold up," Omni said, his tone full of offended swagger. "I’m a sword that knows more than you could cram in that mortal brain of yours. I know worlds you ain’t never even heard of—worlds so weird they’d make your nightmares need therapy."

As if shaking his head, he added, "Maybe I know this ’cause one of those worlds somehow happens to match your last world’s theme, you feel me? Why do you gotta turn it into some big cosmic mystery? This ain’t calculus, bro."

Before Raven could continue, a shadow covered the surroundings, making Raven look up.

It was Selena.

She was the picture of elegance—silver hair flowing, eyes calm, posture perfect—riding atop a massive shadow-black beast with batlike wings.

In one claw, the beast carried the corrupt panther, who dangled upside-down like an oversized house cat being airlifted from a tree. The panther seemed perfectly fine with this.

Behind Selena, Siris lounged like this was a pleasure cruise, dagger in hand, occasionally tossing ice shards at birds simply because she wanted to watch them whoosh into frost mid-flight.

Lia, sandwiched between them, clung to the saddle, wide-eyed and muttering plant-based prayers. "I told you I could grow a vine bridge! But nooo, flying is faster—"

"Shh," Siris said dreamily. "If we crash, I want to be surprised."

Clara glided nearby, surrounded by shimmering soundwaves that distorted the air.

She hummed softly, her magic vibration carrying her along in graceful arcs. It looked beautiful... right up until she skimmed too low and startled a family of swamp herons into a chaotic flurry.

"Sorry!" She called, even as the sound waves wobbled from her laughter.

Graye was literally riding her purple-flamed warpath through the sky. No visible mount, no magic circle, just sheer stubbornness and enough firepower to make the clouds nervous. She whooped as she tore past Raven. "Last one to the swamp buys the first round of frog stew!"

"Not a thing!" Raven yelled after her.

"It will be!" She yelled back, blasting forward with another wave of her sword.

Now, she had learned how to do it midair, as that would prevent her from crashing into the ground every once in a while.

Jessy flew by, controlling a disc of swirling metal beneath her feet, hair whipping in the wind.

"This is stable. This is reasonable. This is—" WHAM—Graye zipped past, knocking her off balance. "—not OSHA-approved!"

Jessy swerved to avoid a tree, muttering about personal space.

Rufus rocketed through the air in his sleek black-and-red nano suit, light element thrusters leaving a comet tail behind him.

He was upside-down for no reason.

"Do you have to fly inverted?" Selena called.

"It’s cooler this way!"

"It’s stupid this way!"

"Functionally the same!" Rufus grinned.

Jake floated along silently, scythe resting across his shoulders, a ripple of shadow carrying him like an invisible surfboard.

Even he had learned how to fly, but he could only do that when someone else was flying above him.

He could fly above people’s shadows. It was something called shadow tagging.

While flying, he passed Alex without a word. Alex waved. Jake didn’t wave back. Classic Jake.

Alex was "flying" by clinging to a mass of molten rock formed by his lava magic, the symbiote Blargh occasionally sprouting tendrils to slap birds out of the way.

Even he had learned how to fly, or more like, hurl through the air.

He makes a boulder of lava, then flings it forward like a hammer throw, and since Blargh’s tentacles were connected to it, he could use them to pull himself forward.

Above all, he didn’t even have to land, as he could do it midair like Graye.

Nibbles, on the other hand, perched on his shoulder, used telekinesis to fling small boulders out of sheer spite.

One boulder hit a tree. The tree fell. The tree nearly took out Rufus.

"Control your squirrel!" Rufus barked.

Nibbles squeaked, raising a sign. "You control your face!"

Finally, there was Cluckles, the snow-white chicken in a regal red scarf, who didn’t fly at all.

Cluckles floated. Perfectly level. Perfectly upright. No visible means of propulsion.

The chicken had realized that although it couldn’t fly, it could glide infinitely. Or, well, as long as he could keep his wings straight.

"Cluckles is the wind," the chicken intoned. "Cluckles fears not your mortal turbulence."

A rogue gust spun him sideways.

"Cluckles meant to do that."

They all arrived in the forest in roughly the same time frame... if "arrived" meant collided violently with various objects.

Raven hit first—BOOM—sending a shockwave through the moss.

Clara landed like a ballerina. Graye skidded twenty feet on her knees and laughed the whole way.

Selena’s beast touched down as smoothly as a shadow falling. Siris hopped off mid-air just to stab a tree for fun.

Lia stumbled down and immediately asked if anyone else felt like the ground was swaying.

Rufus crashed into a bush. Jake appeared beside him without explanation.

Jessy’s landing shredded a ten-meter stretch of grass into metallic confetti.

Alex’s lava boulder hit a log and flipped him over; Nibbles was already on the ground looking smug.

Cluckles... descended slowly... touched a single claw to the earth... and nodded as though blessing the land.

The forest here was alive in a way the desert could never be—green canopy stretching high, dappled sunlight filtering through, the air heavy with the smell of wildflowers and damp earth.

Somewhere ahead lay the swamp Raven promised.

Somewhere behind them was the wreckage of several trees, three smoking craters, and one bewildered family of swamp herons.

..........................

How did Raven know which forest they had to go into and which way they needed to walk?

The answer was obvious: through the plot.

In the story, a wandering guy was supposed to have discovered this swamp, only to die inside.

Well, since he died, he couldn’t bring anything out of it, so more people followed, all swallowed, only to never return, until a certain lucky guy somehow survived.

He told the world about this swamp, but even after everyone tried their luck, no one could conquer it.

In the end, it was declared as one of the impossible zones—which it was until the protagonist, running from his pursuers, ’accidentally’ got swallowed by it.

That day, the swamp was conquered.

Now, with Raven in the lead, they moved forward as the forest thickened, humidity clinging to them like an overly affectionate slime monster.

The sound of insects was constant, and the occasional croak of something big and unfriendly echoed through the trees.

They broke through a curtain of vines and found it—the swamp.

A sprawling expanse of murky water and mossy islands, the air buzzing with mosquitoes the size of walnuts. It smelled like wet socks and bad decisions.

"There it is," Raven said, planting his hands on his hips like a proud tour guide. "The Larainon Swamp. We walk a hundred meters straight through that muck, and when you feel the ground disappear—don’t panic."

Jessy stared at the water, then at him. "Don’t panic? That’s usually what people say before something tries to eat me."

"That’s because it will try to eat you," Raven beamed. "But that’s the point. We need to get swallowed."

Lia’s eyes widened. "S-Swallowed?! As in gulp, gone, goodbye?"

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

Lia huffed, crossing her arms. "That’s not how debates work."

"Debates?" Graye said, already knee-deep in water. "This is just walking forward until fun things happen."

Selena’s shadow tendrils lazily swatted at mosquitoes, her calm smile betraying nothing. "If Raven says we need to be eaten by a swamp, then that’s what we do."

Clara nodded, stepping forward.

"See? They get it," Raven said.

Behind them, Rufus was scanning the water with his helmet’s sensors. "I’m detecting something moving under the surface. Several somethings. Possibly toothy somethings."

"Cool," Siris said, idly flipping a dagger in her hand. "Hope they bleed."

Cluckles waded in with serene dignity. "Cluckles does not fear the swamp. The swamp fears Cluckles."

A frog croaked nearby. Cluckles stared at it for a solid three seconds before muttering, "Wise opponent," and moving on.

They trudged in, the muck sucking at their boots. Nibbles, riding on Alex’s head now, casually levitated lily pads into Rufus’s path so he tripped every few steps.

"I will roast that squirrel," Rufus muttered.

"You’ll have to get through me first," Alex said with mock heroism—then tripped over a root and face-planted into the water.

After about fifty meters, the ground began to soften. By seventy, their steps sank deeper with each movement. By ninety, they were wading up to their waists.

Raven raised a hand. "Okay, when the ground disappears, remember—don’t fight it. Just let it take you."

Graye grinned. "Like a bad date. Got it."

The very next step, Selena vanished with a silent glop. Siris followed with a delighted giggle. Clara just sighed, muttered something about trust, and let herself sink.

One by one, they were pulled under—Jessy cursing, Rufus flailing, and Jake silently vanishing like a shadow. Even Cluckles descended gracefully, as if blessing the water on his way down.

Finally, Raven looked at the bubbling spot where his friends had disappeared and smirked. "Showtime."

He stepped forward, the swamp swallowing him whole.

The surface went still. Only ripples remained.