Will the area of range for teleportation affect the preparation process…? Asked Lupy.
Yes… that’s why we’re gonna need to gather around and shrink our space as optimally as possible…
Understood…!
Wait, what about the other carriages outside this dome…?!
Maybe we set this device to bring them in here before we actually retreat back to our home…?
But wouldn’t that take too much time…?
What do you suggest?! Leaving them in this world to death!? There’s no way we’re doing that!
It won’t take too much, don’t worry about it.
Yeah, I think that’s doable…
Alright. We’ll shrink the area a bit, you prepare the teleportation process.
Don’t forget to include the devices…! We don’t want to leave chances for the devices, of all things…!
Noted…
While the rebels who just managed to get in were preparing their device, the others, both rebels and robbers, started to gather around, saving space and leaving enough for others to join in along. Lots of them who were previously wounded started to recover, so they split into those who mended the remaining wounded and those who aided into controlling the devices. With how chaotic and hectic their current situation was, almost none of the factions were wary of each other.
Lupy himself still focused on drilling and sabotaging the dragon’s mind. The rage within its mind seemed to increase, but it was still within Lupy’s ability to ignore the rage, resist the rejection, and rally up the guilt sensation. Whenever he thought that his strength waned a bit, he breathed in the fumes from the small vials. He took a bit more than previously, and even that was enough to give him a boost against the dragon. What would it be like if I actually take a sip — no, just a drop of the concoction…? Lupy thought to himself.
While his mind was busy, his eyes took a look at the small vial. The liquid inside it appeared to be quite viscous, as if it was slime. Its light blue color was the most appealing feature to him, at least while he was in the world of lava and magma in dark red and a bit of brown. It was little, not even enough to drink in a gulp. However, it kept emitting light blue, transparent fumes, and it didn’t seem like the fumes were going to stop, although he couldn’t say that for sure.
The fumes itself felt somewhat addictive to him. Although it was too good for him to be real, he couldn’t deny the excellent appeal of its refreshing sensation, and in such a way that it reached not only his lungs, but also his body and brain, even somehow his mind and energy as well, hence the sharpness and effectivity of his mental attacks. He thought that it was probably the same as smoking, although he had never tasted a cigarette himself. There was a bit of urge for him to actually drink in a gulp, although he could still refrain himself from doing it.
We’re gonna need to have a talk about this concoction… was what Lupy thought himself, because he still wasn’t sure if he should say it to Terion. As much as he had faith in him, at least just enough, he had a feeling that mentioning the concoction would somehow threaten their currently established relationship. Furthermore, he himself was busy handling the wounded personnel. But maybe later…
Teleporting our people and the devices into the dome… commenced!
He didn’t see other people teleported from outside into their dome territory, considering that it was more crowded and narrower within the space, but he knew that they were doing their job well. He reckoned that it would take at least five minutes to teleport all of them, and then more few minutes to teleport everyone back into the world.
It ended up being a failure… Lupy thought to himself. No… more like a mess… but, still… maybe it’s not all entirely for naught…
Could they all finish the jobs back in the world…? How long has it been…? Could it be days, or is it months… it can’t be just a few minutes, can it…? We’ve done measurements of it — it shouldn’t be just a few minutes in that world for a few hours in this world…
Damn, there’s no telling of that… the best to do right now is to retreat and hope for —
At first, it felt like the dragon roaring nonstop next to him, although he could still tolerate it, thanks to the concoction.
In the next second, it disappeared.
Huh…?
As he was drilling and sabotaging the dragon’s mind, he suddenly felt none. It was like digging underground and finding himself suddenly out of a cliff, before falling freely, without any foothold, hook, or support whatsoever. There was no longer resistance from the dragon’s mind against his own; instead, Lupy’s mental attacks came to aim at nothing at all, as if the dragon itself was completely erased from existence.
Wait — what — how…? Where…?
Lupy stood up, walking and looking around, wandering out wildly. He wobbled left-and-right as he walked, as if wandering around with confusion would help him find where the dragon was.
“Sir…?”
“Lupy…? What… what are you doing…?”
“I can’t… I can’t find the dragon at all…” said Lupy.
“What… you can’t…?”
“What the fuck do you mean?!”
“It suddenly disappeared…” as he uttered it, his mind snapped back from being confused. Regardless, there’s no way it suddenly disappeared… it must still be around here… “No, it’s — the right word would be… out of my sight — out of my senses, no, out of my range… it’s — give me some time…”
Because he lost the dragon from his mental grasp, he decided to scan every single mind around him, inside and outside the dome. Confusion and panic were the common emotions in his surroundings, although he did find a bit of sorrow, anger, and annoyance, be it from the rebels or the robbers. None of them, however, felt animal and savage.
The dragon escaped your grasp…? How…?
Could it actually return to our world…?
And with all the disease stuff? Unlikely. Even it would know better than carrying that mud thing into our world, again. We’ve been baiting it to stay in this world with that bloody concoction. What use would it be if the dragon decided to leave it be, anyway?
But then where does it go…?
Hang on… I’m still searching… said Lupy, still looking around like a confused person.
He breathed in more of the fumes — amazingly, it didn’t seem to run out at all — thinking that it would help him scan faster, but apparently it just made his search more thorough rather than being fast. It didn’t help him either that he was currently panicking and confused. Some of the rebels still asked him what happened and where the dragon went, but Lupy could only ignore them for the moment and proceeded scanning around.
He accidentally hit someone else as he wandered around. “Dude, what the hell…?” said the person, before ignoring him.
But it was the very thing that made him actually think about what he was doing.
Wait… why did I scan around here…? Why would the dragon, in the first place…?
He stopped wandering around, although his mind was still working and he was still looking around wildly.
Wait… I need to think this calmly…
What would the dragon do in this situation…?
At this stage, if… if I were the dragon, I would… I would… I would separate myself from my affected mind… the dragon would, no, should be able to do that… it would have to rip itself off of its mind…
Lupy repeated what he was just thinking. Rip itself off of its mind… however it means…
And then…? What would it do, then…?
“Dude!”
Someone pulled him by his shoulder, quite roughly. Lupy didn’t recognize him, so he assumed that the man was a robber. “You look frantic and pale… what the fuck is going on…?!”
“The dragon… it probably ripped itself off of its mind… no, that must be the reason, that’s why it could escape my attack…”
He paused for a second, before replying, “Okay, I don’t know that the fuck you have talked about, but you need to think of what you should do, instead wandering around aimlessly…”
“I’m trying to guess what it would most likely do… after separating — after escaping my attack, what would it most likely do…?”
“What would — if I were the dragon, I would…”
Now it was the male robber who turned pale and looked around, although it didn’t actually freeze him out of shock.
“I would… disguise myself amongst everyone here… I’ll have to hide somewhere…” said the robber, before bursting out emotionally, “Hey, is that even fucking possible?!”
“That’s what I’m trying to find out…” started Lupy.
“Then you should let everyone know about this!” the man then switched to the telepathy network, PEOPLE, LUPY THINKS THAT THE DRAGON MOST LIKELY RIPPED OFF ITS OWN MIND OF, AND WENT INTO DISGUISE AMONG US, SOMEHOW! SEE IF THERE’S A SUSPICIOUS PERSON AROUND YOU!
How the fuck…?!
SAVE THAT FUCKING QUESTION! CHECK IF IT’S HIDING AMONG US! IF IT’S TRUE, THEN WE’RE ALL REALLY GOING TO —
The next thing he knew, he had his consciousness slowly coming back.
He found out that he was lying on the ground, facing downward. He lifted his head, and saw everything in blur, dominated by the color of dark red, with a bit of dark brown. At first, he was hearing a low, ringing sound. It took him a second to realize that he was, somehow, knocked down, and were suffering the repercussions of it, but only for a while.
Because he then realized that he heard nothing but the flow of magma itself.
There were lots of bodies around him, all lying on the ground. Some of them were being burnt, because they got in contact with the magma, while others had their bodies smashed by dirt and rocks. But with a single glance, he noticed, and realized, that they were all not breathing at all.
What happened…? Lupy thought to himself, and to anyone else who was conscious.
It was… an attack… from inside… said someone.
“Oh, fuck…” cursed Lupy as out loud as he could. Slowly, he rose from the ground, looking around. “Don’t tell me…”
They were definitely no longer free-falling from the sky. Looking from the rocky, somewhat fresh ground, he somehow had a hunch that they were on a recently exposed, deeper layer of the world’s ground. Surprisingly, the place wasn’t surrounded with magma as he thought; there were only a few spots where it spit out lava, and they were at a relatively safe distance, although he couldn’t say the same for the burning bodies. As far as he could see, somehow, the mud thing wasn’t around.
The last thing he remembered was the robber shouting a warning to everyone else, about what he thought the dragon would do. After that…
After that…
Yeah, after that, there was a blast — an impact blast… and-and…
And we’re all unconscious… and now, here we are… but, how…?
“Are you okay…?” said someone behind him. It turned out to be the same robber who talked to him before he lost his consciousness.
“Yeah, I’m okay…” said Lupy.
“Of course, you don’t. I’m the one who landed us safely, and even that’s just a damn few.” said the robber.
“Oh, Rugan’s spear…”
“Save that. We need to flee, right now, before — ”
“Going somewhere?”
It was the voice of a woman, if not a young girl. It sounded calm, kind, and normal, but, somehow, at the same time, it screamed danger just by listening to her sound. Both Lupy and the robber, knowing it, didn’t reply to her simple question; they didn’t even dare move a single muscle.
Fuck… that’s not Essy…
Did… did it possess her, then…?!
Must be?! What else would it be, if it’s not that?! Hey, is the device ready?!
“In all of my time, I have never encountered such a difficult challenge from indomitable weaklings like you.” Said “Essy,” no longer pretending. “You and your devices you somehow have obtained… it’s fucking sickening…”
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