“Lilith, is your analysis complete?”

‘Just about, commander. There are still unknowns, and I have failed to trace the source of her energy to anything coherent, but the capabilities we have been shown I have a sufficient understanding of.’

“Good. I believe she is heading for the Switzerland decoy, make sure the facility is fully evacuated.”

‘Are we firing another Goliath, commander?’

“Pointless, she is probably expecting an ambush. The ME3 will be ready by the time she arrives. It’s your turn.”

‘Frontal battle?’

“Ideally you lure her into orbit, but otherwise, yes. I will be handling the satellites and the psychological side, you execute.”

‘At your command.’

It’s really strange, this world.

Houses everywhere. Just everywhere. The desert was probably the only place were there weren’t too many.

They must be so many.

And yet there’s nobody out at all. How organized do they have to be for them to all be already hiding underground no matter where I go?

It all seems a bit too calm now. There isn’t an army on this coast it looks like. And even the light attacks have stopped.

Woah that is one huge city. Reminds me of Exidia.

Planes launching site here… But it’s just as silent as the rest of the place. Not a military one, then. Wait, is that a coliseum over there?! And that’s a damn cathedral out there! Damn big one too! Hah, humans truly are the same no matter the planet.

Right, Jin’s journal mentioned gods, now that I think about it.

With no mana though? Maybe they could be electricity gods like Connection then? Seems fitting.

Funny how the city center is all organized in squares… A few stragglers here actually huh. I wonder if Alith lived near here? It does have the mountains with the sea to the south. Though I suppose lots of place probably fit that description… Hmm no she said some of the nearby mountains were always snowy I think, must not be it then. Not a speck of snow here.

Walking on the air above the city, Sofia pulled out her map.

Well, enough sightseeing, surprising that the missile launchers down there aren’t shooting… I should head east right about now I think? Find these two islands. Don’t see them from here even though I’m pretty high. Hopefully I’m not way off of where I think I am.

A few jumps into the sea later, Sofia could see both the islands she was hoping to find, but also another coast to the north. She stopped for a second to compare with her map.

For a hastily hand-drawn map this is shockingly accurate.

Alright, so I stop a bit before reaching those, and I head straight north until…

Until…

Hopefully I’ll find out… If there’s nothing I’ll switch to the other plan. Sorry that you have to sit all the fun out Pareth, keeping your skills secret is just too crucial.

Hey those are snowy mountains all the way over there. Not that snowy… But a bit. Updates are released by novel_fіre.net

A bit later, Sofia reached the land, starting to jump over the snowy mountains.

They really like their coastal cities on this planet, you can tell they don’t have to deal with sea monsters. Though I guess with everyone at level one even a regular big fish could be deadly if you’re not careful. They certainly have the weaponry to deal with that, at least…

A whole entire planet without monsters…

Crazy.

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Sofia’s voyage was oddly silent and peaceful. She had to admit that the absolute calm of this planet devoid of strange creatures was actually refreshing, when the humans themselves weren’t sending missiles and whatnot at her face. On a whim she quickly stopped by a small village when she spotted a food market. The stalls were all abandoned, hurriedly left behind by the inhabitants that her mana senses could spot in a bunker deep underground below the central plaza.

Sofia summoned Pestle.

“Want to help me sample some leg?” Sofia told the fairy.

“Otherworld leg!!!” Pestle rejoiced, disappearing from view, her form flickering from stall to stall as she ‘sampled’ each and every thing she could get her knuckles on.

“Be quick, we can’t stay in one place too long,” Sofia added, grabbing a round red fruit that vaguely resembled an apra.

Hmm… Woah. That’s like a tougher apra with ten times the sweetness!

Sofia took another bite as she looked around.

Cheese, milk, cured meat… I mean, it’s all a bit different but it’s basically the same.

Oh, bread! Michael complained that ours was bad…

She took a single bite and it almost made her want to cry.

Shit. Ours IS bad…

Where… How do we fuck this up so bad?!

By the time Sofia turned around again, the other stalls were all empty, Pestle lying on the ground her limbs spread in the middle of the market.

Ah. Well I asked her to be fast I can’t complain… “Get back inside, you glutton, enough leg for today.”

“Very thank!” Pestle answered before disappearing back into the halls.

Jumping out of the city, Sofia felt a bit self conscious.

Everyone just watched me take a food-sampling break in the middle of the trial’s finale… Oh well… It’s food from another world. Who can blame me? It’s a reward on its own, in a way.

She continued north for a while.

It should be around here? More snowy mountaintops… Nothing stands out. There are a few cities in the valleys but nothing looks like a place the general of earth’s entire army would be…

After taking some more altitude, Sofia found something, what looked like a heavily protected castle of steel on a mountaintop. The white walls reflecting the snow had made it slightly hard to spot at first glance.

Oh that must be it. Did that guy actually draw me a map leading straight to an important facility? That’s a bit sad… Hmm… I see no movement though.

Do I bolt it?

Takes too long. Maybe if I’d charged it beforehand. I’ll just check it out.

Sofia took another few jumps, standing right above the white castle, and summoned a rain of skeleton rats.

Get to work guys. Map out the place.

I don’t feel like there’s any human in there at least. Hard to sense much detail inside though.

The rats scoured the whole place in just a few minutes, chewing through walls and armored doors, finding no one.

Maybe he was actually there and fled? He would have had ample time. The place’s defenses aren’t even trying to attack the rats. Hmm, so the flyers are called drones? Does that mean there are bigger versions out there? Weird to see them on the roof like that. Like dead birds.

Suddenly, as Sofia was about to retrieve the rats and move on to her other plan, she heard static coming from below, a noise she recognized, as it was just like how Zhang Lu had communicated with her and Alith in Zangdar before their battle.

Oh? Someone is going to speak?

A slightly high-pitched voiced, sounding a bit similar to Pestle’s, repeated short words twice, in a language Sofia did not understand at all. Then, the voice spoke the common language. The sentences were broken, and the pronunciation way off, but they were words Sofia understood.

“I not understand you,” the voice said through the speakers.

Wha… What can I even answer?!

“You hit. I not understand.”

Is she asking why I’m attacking them? I don’t even have a valid reason! It’s just… A trial…

“I’m looking for Jin!” Sofia answered. It could be counterproductive, but it was not like Jin wasn’t aware, so she hoped the situation could help her somehow, though she had little hope.

“NOT!” the voice angrily answered. “JIN YOU HIT NOT!”

Seemingly very upset, the voice continued.

“You sample. For today I sample. I hit… Lilith hit.”

Lilith?

The voice and the static stopped.

The words she used… Did she teach herself some of the common language from the few sentences I told the soldiers back then and my break with Pestle?! They were listening the entire time?!

Well. She knows Jin that’s for sure. Now she hits? They have been hitting a lot more than I did already. But sure, that’s a good opportunity.

“Pareth, I think it’s your time to shine.”

Pareth appeared next to Sofia, held up in the air by her aura.

“We might be in for another big explosion. Just in case be ready to get back in if it’s too bad.”

Pareth nodded, preparing his armor and weapon. Him and Sofia were on high alert, waiting for Lilith to strike, but aside from the growing bolt crackling in Sofia’s hand, the mountains were silent.

Then Sofia noticed the light above, shining high up in the sky, leaving behind a fiery trail.

Meteorite?!