"Alright," Eris almost imdiately nodded.
This wasn’t the first ti Lucas had done sothing she didn’t understand, he was much smarter than her, after all, and she had always trusted him, so it wasn’t difficult for her to do so now.
Christina, on the other hand, was having a much harder ti.
She freely admitted that Lucas was both smart and capable, more so than anyone else of her generation she had ever t, but in the end, he was still just a 10-year-old Second Step Body Tempering Realm boy. Putting absolute faith in the hands of a kid she had t just a few days ago wasn’t sothing Christina could just nod and go along with.
Still, looking over at the forest which had replaced the manor she had just been sleeping in, and with no one else responding to her calls for help, even Sir Green, the Royal Guardian assigned to protect her with his very life if necessary, Christina quickly realized she didn’t have any choice but to trust Lucas.
At the very least, he seed to know more about what was going on than she did.
Schooling her expression, the princess tried her hardest to suppress her doubts and fears as she nodded, "Very well. What do we do next?"
"Grab your ergency bags, arm yourselves, then follow ," Lucas replied solemnly, tying his own sword and Space Bag to his belt.
Opening her own Space Bag, Tina dug through it for a mont before pulling out her sword, as well as a pair of leather gloves and shin guards. Coupled with a type of slip-on armour made from layers of tough Mortal Grade Tier 4 cloth that had a partial tal breastplate attached to it, the princess quickly prepared herself for any kind of threat which might erge from the shadows.
Eris also hung her sword on her belt, but given how recently she had lost the use of her right arm, it was questionable just how effective she would be if they got into a fight.
Considering this, Lucas scooped up Yuki and handed her to his big sister, wrapping the white fox around Eris’ neck, "Take care of her, please."
A look of frustration flickered across Eris’ face as she realized just what her little brother was implying by asking her to carry Yuki, but she swiftly composed herself and nodded. From the little bit of training she had done over the past few days, she knew just how much her combat strength had dropped, so she didn’t try to make a fuss.
Once the two girls had finished preparing themselves, Lucas turned to Tina and asked, "How far can you extend your Soul Sense?"
Pursing her lips, Christina thought about it for a mont before replying, "If it’s just about sensing auras, about 20 tres around myself."
"That’ll have to do," Lucas muttered, his mind rapidly turning to co up with a plan, "Alright, here’s what we’ll do. I’ll monitor our surroundings for the Spatial Tears, you keep your senses peeled for threats from any Wild Beasts which might have slipped through those tears."
""Spatial Tears?"" Both Christina and Eris tilted their heads, wondering what Lucas was talking about.
"The black gashes floating through the air around us," Lucas replied, as if it was obvious. However, upon seeing the confused looks on Eris and Tina’s faces, he frowned and inquired, "You can’t see them?"
The two girls both shook their heads, having no idea what Lucas was talking about. The trees, grass, and dirt which had suddenly appeared were impossible for them to miss, but neither of them had seen any floating black gashes.
Am I the only one who can see them? Lucas wondered, What about Yuki? Wasn’t it because she sensed the Spatial Tears that she woke up? No... it could have just been her instincts telling her sothing was wrong, like part of manor suddenly disappearing...
Unable to find any answers, Lucas decided to set this matter aside for the mont.
Grabbing a nearby Spirit Lamp, Lucas turned it on to illuminate their way through the dark night then motioned to the girls, "Just follow my lead. If I tell you to run, run. If I tell you to duck, duck."
Christina and Eris were both curious and confused, but they had just agreed to trust Lucas, so for now, they simply nodded.
"Good," Lucas was relieved his big sisters were cooperating, "This way."
Saying so, Lucas fully released his Soul Sense, stretching it so 50 tres out from himself, the maximum range he could scan while maintaining decent sensitivity, and dashed off.
Making their way down the short stretch of hallway that remained, the trio soon stepped into the newly appeared forest with Lucas in the lead, Eris in the middle, and Christina bringing up the rear.
Fortunately, this forest wasn’t very dense, and the underbrush was relatively sparse, making it easy to traverse.
As they were pushing past so tropical looking plants, Eris couldn’t help asking, "What about everyone else who was in the Manor? Shouldn’t we at least try to look for them?"
Although she knew both Lucas and Tina were constantly scanning their surroundings, Eris understood that the area they could cover was limited, so she couldn’t help worrying about everyone else who had been staying in her ho.
Frowning deeply, Lucas used his sword to cut through so vines as he shook his head, "It’s not just the Manor. I think the entire town is caught up in this... Spatial Storm. We need to focus on getting sowhere safe first before we can start worrying about others."
"But... where is safe?" Eris asked hesitantly.
"We need to find an open space, sowhere where our vision isn’t obstructed so I can better track the tears," Lucas replied as confidently as possible.
As he said so, Lucas noticed that the trees were beginning to thin out, with the ground becoming less like soil and more like sand. Wrinkling his brow, he sped up, racing ahead into what he originally thought was so kind of clearing, but the sight that greeted him when he broke through the trees was sothing very different from his expectations.
Short grass, sand, and salty ocean water stretched out for at least a couple hundred tres, looking just like a tropical beach. It was a scenery that was completely out of place on the small hill the Town Lord’s Manor was built.
The young boy figured Redwood Town had been connected through the Spatial Storm to so other place on the planet, but seeing the familiar landscapes of his ho being replaced with a tropical beach still montarily overwheld him.
As Lucas stood there, gawking, he heard a faint rustling coming from behind him but didn’t pay any attention to it as he just assud it was Eris and Christina. However, when a low hissing reached his ears, he hurriedly spun around and held up his sword.
Barely blocking the attack, Lucas fell backwards, dropping the Spirit Lamp while frantically rolling across the sand before leaping to his feat.
Adjusting his stance, Lucas eyed his foe.
8 legs, 2 large pincers, a spikey red shell, it was a giant crab nearly a tre tall.
Scuttling across the sand, the beasts two beady eyes seemingly glared at Lucas, its claws snapping aggressively.
Scanning his opponent, Lucas quickly determined it was a Peak First Order Wild Beast, making it significantly stronger than he was.
If he had encountered such a beast on his own, Lucas might have been afraid; but fortunately, he wasn’t alone.
Before either Lucas or his enemy could make another move, a flash of silver shot over and slashed into the crab, sending it flying with a splash of tallic sparks.
Seeing Christina standing before him, Lucas breathed a sigh of relief.
Although the crab had a thick and hard shell, it was still no match for a real Sea Establishnt Realm Practitioner wielding a sword forged from the highest quality Mid-Rank Mortal Grade Tier 4 teor Steel.
While Tina remained on guard, Eris ran over and asked worriedly, "Lucas, are you alright?"
Spitting out so sand, Lucas nodded, "I’m fine."
Turning to Christina, he then continued, "Thanks for saving ."
In return, Tina nodded but remained vigilant. The blow she landed just now was solid, but while the crab had clearly been injured, it wasn’t dead yet.
Several tres away, the red crustacean lay on its back, its legs flailing about randomly as a green-ish blue liquid leaked from a deep cut on its shell.
Cautiously moving forward, Christina made sure to avoid the snapping pincers as she delivered a heavy, downward slash, finishing the beast off.
Only after she was certain that the crab was really dead did she relax her stance and mutter, "This thing’s body is so tough... No wonder my instructors always warned never to underestimate an enemy, even if they’re supposedly much weaker..."
Unlike Lucas, who had mories from another world, Princess Christina had never seen a crab before, nor had she ever fought a beast with a hard outer shell. It was a new experience for her, one that left her hands aching slightly.
Shaking her head, Christina walked back over and lowered her head slightly, "Sorry, I was supposed to be on the lookout for enemies, but I got... distracted..."
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