I Reawakened as an Inferno Hero-Chapter 66: Into the Outskirts

They all stood outside now, ready and prepared for the journey.

Chrysa had explained to them that another reason for splitting was to investigate. All they had to do was act like some sort of spy, make friends with some Monseryan monsters, then ask and gather information.

She had also told them that Monseryan Realm monsters had some weird traditions they normally partook in, so they had to prepare and expect the unexpected.

They split the food into halves—Voidbreaker, Spinal Edge, Mirrormeld, and Henry taking the larger portion as they were many, and Axel and Chrysa only just two people.

It was kind of sad for Henry, bidding his son goodbye, as he had hoped they would continue bonding as father and son, but as it seemed, that would have to wait.

But the one thing Henry promised Axel was that after the mission, they would have time to be together again.

Axel smiled at that, and then his father tousled his hair, smiling back.

"Till we see again, son," he said, a smile on his face.

Axel embraced him and he took a droplet of tears sliding out the side of his eyes. Chrysa could only watch, not saying anything.

And so, Axel and Chrysa went north, and Henry, Voidbreaker, Spinal Edge, and Mirrormeld went south.

Henry, Axel, and Chrysa knew the reason he and his father couldn’t go together. It was because if he went with him and Chrysa, then the others would probably die as they were naive and always scared.

But with Henry, who quite knew the Monseryan Realm like Chrysa, he was the perfect person to be with the others. And he was also strong, so that would also play a big part.

Now covering some distance, Axel looked back and could only see his father and the others as stick figures. He sighed. It was well time to be a man.

He glanced at Chrysa for just a split second, still wondering why she had selected the two of them specially. She could have chosen Spinal Edge or Mirrormeld for all he knew, but instead, she chose him.

It sounded fishy.

He then shrugged it away, deciding that he was the only one that went along so well with her (at least there seemed to be no trouble when they were together). If it was Voidbreaker, he would have been strangled because he had such an annoying character that didn’t quite go well with Axel.

The land up ahead was barren and lifeless. The sky was getting darker with every step they took. They even heard something rumble, and when they looked upwards, they saw not even a sign of a cloud.

That sunk Axel’s expectations because that was the opposite of what he had been expecting. He had been hoping to see a cloud, but he saw nothing.

His hand suddenly went to the chip by the side of his ear and he found it to be cool—extremely cool, that is.

Well, he had always been fascinated by Chrysa’s gadgets. To him, they were unreal and very dope.

Now, this chip by the side of his ear—what does it do exactly?

Well, it scans for signs of monsters and then silhouettes the carrier of the chip in the appearance of the monster. When a monster is far off, like a few centimeters away, it picks its signal and envelopes the carrier of the chip in the monster’s appearance even though the person might not have even known that there was a monster up ahead.

Chrysa had given it to everyone, even the others.

Now, they passed what looked like the remains of a large tree.

The tree stood gaunt, its bark-shredded limbs like skeletal fingers, a haunting contour against the dark and gloomy sky.

It seemed to be looking at them, its towering height looking very little to Axel. He bet that with a kick, it would probably fall down.

Chrysa looked at it but said nothing. She only examined it and all, fascinated that it was even standing. To him, it ought to be on the ground, dead.

But that it wasn’t, and that instead made it fascinating. Like something you would find in a museum, something that screamed:

Dead! but still standing tall!

She smiled at the thought and Axel, who was thinking another thing entirely, but after staring at her, had to smile too.

Silence again ate through as they walked forward, nothing in their way, just dilapidated places, nothing much to show at all.

At a time, it felt boring and Axel yawned occasionally, stretching his hands in the air.

Chrysa had warned before they embarked that it was going to be a boring journey. Thinking about it now, Axel could only sigh, wishing he was playing video games—at least that would help him pass time.

"How many hours left till we arrive?" Axel asked.

Chrysa shrugged and tilted her head sideways a bit, as if thinking.

"Um, I think in about a day or so," she said.

Axel felt like crying.

’Damn.’

It’d literally take ages before they reached.

"Can’t I just fly there?" Axel asked. "I’m super fast and I’m telling you, we’ll be there in no time."

Chrysa made a grimace (as a result of thinking) and said:

"Well, I too can fly. I’ve got a robot horse with jet wings which will match your speed—"

Axel had to interrupt.

"Where? How?"

Chrysa smiled and soon it turned into a mischievous grin (nothing too evil, just a playful expression).

"You doubt my tech abilities?" she said. "I mean, I’m not bragging or anything but that’s literally my powers—tech. Even my dad once said that I was too overpowered."

That hit Axel hard.

’Too overpowered?’ he thought.

’Well, damn!’

Chrysa continued. "I honestly don’t know why I’m telling this but I’ll go on nonetheless. All my gadgets are shrunk and kept in special places. They are very small—they could pass as invisible—but when I wish to use them, I just unshrink them and then they’ll become big."

Axel was stunned by her words.

"So you had something that could make you fly and you left us to trek? Damn!"

Chrysa smiled and said:

"Well, it’s not that safe to fly in the territory we were before, as the Skyrenders could have spotted us from afar."

"What about now?"

Chrysa shrugged. "I don’t know, but let me check though."

Let me check though.

The words twirled and swirled in Axel’s brain. He knew that she was going to bring out some dope high-tech gadget now.

And she did, though.

From the box she was holding that contained the food items and some equipment (which I apologize for forgetting to explain earlier), she brought out a thumb-sized, obsidian-black device with thin, translucent wings folded tight against its sides. It had a single glowing blue lens at its center which pulsed softly now, with the similitude of a heartbeat.

She threw it up and—

Throoskhh!

It was in the sky, flying high.

Axel stared at it, amazed.

"What does it do?" he asked.

Chrysa replied with a smile:

"It goes ahead to scout for any signs of danger."

Axel’s eyes went to Chrysa’s face.

"Then how would you receive signals?" he asked.

Chrysa replied with action. She snapped her fingers and a ghost-like hologram (because one couldn’t feel or touch it) appeared just floating over her gloves. It was a screen, though—but a hologram.

"Oh," Axel said, impressed.

And then, after they took about six slow steps forward, a warning showed on the hologram screen. It was a warning!

It was:

Monolithic Skyrender incoming!