Return to Jorgaldur Volume V: Reunion (2)

Dangerous journey (II)

Maldoa wasn't sure if that was fun or scary. They were traveling through the tunnel faster than she had imagined, much faster than if it had been pulled by spotted velociraptors.

Every bump or unevenness made the carriage tremble or jump. Its structure creaked as if it were going to break at any moment.

Luckily, there were no sharp curves, and the losts got up too late to attack the living. Although, of course, there was always the possibility of finding one in the middle of the road, like an enormous blackish snake several meters long.

"Goldmi, ramp!" the vampiress requested, excitedly.

There was no doubt that she was having fun, despite the danger they seemed to be in. Although, in reality, the danger was rather low. They had multiple defense techniques, and a Mattress from the elf or Weightlessness from the high human would soften an eventual fall.

The archer reacted quickly. Her vision was limited in the darkness of the tunnel, so it wasn't possible to rely on Goshawkeye. However, she was alert to a possible eventuality, especially one of that kind, which was now illuminated by the mana headlights.

Making an unorthodox use of Wind Staircase, she placed several rotated steps, which formed a ramp up which the vehicle climbed. It flew over the snake, helped by Weightlessness to stay in the air longer, and to land softly.

"Ha, ha, ha. It's incredible!" Menxilya was amazed. She was undoubtedly enjoying it.

"Who told me to come with these crazy people?" Maldoa complained, as she held on tightly to the handholds.

The truth is that she was complaining for the sake of complaining. For someone of her level, an accident at that speed wasn't a threat. Not to mention that she found it astonishing, and had had to suppress a laugh like the girl's.

"The problem is the driver. She's too noob," Eldi joked.

"If you had seen the first tests, you wouldn't have even gotten on. I have a recording of her crashing into a tree and flying off. I'll show it to you when we get back," the elf also mocked.

"It was an accident! Gjaki Lines is the safest line of cars in all of Jorgaldur!" the vampiress assured.

"And the only one," Eldi laughed.

They continued like this for a long journey, while Eldi was making plans to create some kind of shock absorber. Despite the soft seats and the inscriptions, the bumps and roughness of the terrain were annoying.

"Emergency stop!" the vampiress suddenly exclaimed.

It took them barely a second to react. Maldoa took charge of grabbing the girl, jumped out of her seat and opened her Parachute to brake.

The lynx Jumped in opposite direction, thus managing to reduce the speed. She turned around in the air to land, and had to run at high speed to avoid tripping. She needed a few meters to finally stop.

Her winged sister simply took off and controlled her trajectory with ease. That speed was nothing for her.

Goldmi relied on Hover and Wind Push to control her fly. Some wind steps also came in handy.

Eldi was tempted to activate Impregnable and roll on the ground. In the end, Weightlessness and an axe acting as an anchor were enough to stop himself.

As for Gjaki, Gliding prevented her from falling to the ground, but it didn't reduce her speed. However, she had prepared Telekinesis to control it, which was enough to make the impact against the wall barely the equivalent of a fall of about ten meters. Not a problem for her.

As for the car, it had been stored in the inventory. That way, it had been saved from crashing into the rock wall that marked the end of the road. It was a procedure they had learned to control, since rebuilding it was quite cumbersome.

"Ha, ha, ha! It was exciting! Right Menxi?" the vampiress approached the girl and rose her palm.

"Yes! Can we do it again?" she asked, while slapping her small hand against Gjaki's.

"Sure! If we convince Eldi, he could make you one," the blood warrior proposed.

"Really!?" she was quite excited. She looked at the high human with glassy eyes.

"We'll see. For now, we have a lot of things to do," he tried to escape.

"Don't worry. He has to make some for my daughters. We'll invite you," the elf assured, to Menxilya's gratitude.

The truth is that none of them knew what was going to happen on that mission or with the purple girl. However, it was better to think that they could return to their lives than to worry about the opposite.

"Okay!" the girl exclaimed.

"I have to admit that we've gained time, even if it's been a bit hectic. How do we get out of here now?" the dryad asked.

The tunnel ended abruptly there. It wasn't a landslide, but simply the rock hadn't been excavated.

"This was a commercial tunnel. There must be something big, some kind of ramp. Gjaki, have you seen anything?" the elf asked, as she had explored something similar in the past. Her friend had Night Vision.

"I think so, a little earlier. Let's go, take the car out," she asked.

"Walking. You've had enough fun," Eldi refused.

"Walking," Maldoa confirmed.

"Walking," Goldmi joined in.

"Party Pooper," the vampiress protested reluctantly.

"Party Pooper," Menxilya imitated her.

Therefore, they retraced on foot the last part of the path they had traveled on the vehicle. This time, there were lamps illuminating their surroundings. That attracted some losts, but the lynx was enough to take care of them.

"I want to stretch a little," she had said to her sister, before going ahead.

Since she had night vision and was far superior in level, it was barely an appetizer.

After a few minutes, they reached a slightly larger area of the tunnel, which looked like a huge hollow cylinder crossed from below by the tunnel itself. It was too dark to see what was above, but it was obvious that they were under a huge hole.

A wide ramp began at their feet. It was dug into the rock, and ran along the cylinder, spiraling up through it.

"This'd be perfect for..." Gjaki wanted to propose, before being interrupted.

"""No!""" her companions refused.

"Party Pooper," she complained again.

"Party Pooper," Menxilya imitated her again.

The car-wagon would have to wait. For now, they waited for the goshawk to ascend and inspect the terrain.

"It's blocked above," she informed her sister, who transmitted this information to her companions.

"No problem. I've borrowed one of the dwarfs' toys," Eldi assured. He wanted to try it out.

"I can't drive the car, but you can play with the corkscrew," Gjaki complained, while pretending to be sulking.

Everyone laughed. She was partly right, as the high human wanted to use the dwarven artifact as much as the vampiress the car. However, the corkscrew was now necessary, and she had already enjoyed her toy.