“What’s the situation like?” I asked once I saw that Diane was no longer exchanging messages with Wisteria. She glanced over at me, hesitating for a moment before speaking.

  “So far, there has been no indication of a final war scenario. They’re probably testing out your friend’s defenses and connections before they decide if they want to pose a greater war. Though, Wisteria had another message to give to you.”

  I arched a brow to listen, and she continued. “She said that you should be careful. You’re still wanted in Evergreen, even though they aren’t actively advertising it. And the Burning Sun nation has heavy ties with the elves. There is a good chance that someone like Jana will appear if the war escalates.”

  I pursed my lips, but simply nodded my head in understanding. “Got it. Anything else?”

  “Like we expected, the dragons are using a skill that wraps their bodies in black flames, rendering the attacks of the natives nearly powerless. So far, only three dragons have appeared in the war, but Wisteria says that they have a base camp not too far away where more than a hundred are resting. Of the three, one is confirmed to be a player, a blue dragon specializing in water attacks.”

  “So he pulled other players into his kingdom,” I remarked with a small sigh. “Not surprising. Any dragon player would want to get involved. Is the situation urgent enough that we need to speed up?” Although I was pushing the car to its limits, I could certainly travel faster if I turned into one of my draconic forms, utilizing Glancing Steps-X in active flight.

  However, Diane shook her head. “Right now, the local rift connection just swapped over from Pyrrhos. We’ll need to take an extended trip to reach them. In addition, they’re closer to a different rift altogether. Give me ten minutes to gather the different maps on the forum, and I’ll try to plan our route.”

  After she said that, she immediately logged out, her brand turning dim. Her Chosen let out a deep sigh, turning to look out the window. “This is probably just the first step, you know?” she asked cautiously. “If your old player manages to get your friend’s trait, he probably has you as his next target. Aside from the League, you don’t have many allies to protect you in a war of extermination.”

  I simply grunted in acknowledgement, knowing that her words weren’t wrong. “That’s why we have to stop him here.”

  A few minutes later, Diane’s brand lit up again, her eyes hardening. “Can you get to the rift in the next five minutes?” She asked suddenly, catching me by surprise.

  “If we give up on using the car, why?”

  “If we can get to the rift before it changes again, you’ll need to cross about eight hundred kilometers in an hour and a half to reach the second rift as it switches to Pyrrhos. Otherwise, we have to travel over two thousand kilometers in about the same amount of time to reach the second portal in Chimeris as it switches.”

  When I heard that, I let out a low groan, slowing the car to a halt on the projected road I had created. “Looks like we’re doing this the hard way. Well… hard for me, at least.”

  The girls got out of the car, and I stowed it in my inventory before changing into my draconic form, using Glancing Steps as the medium. “Be careful,” Diane warned. “We’ll be traveling through Thalassia, so you’ll need to keep an eye out on your surroundings. I’ll give Bella water breathing, and use the scrolls we have leftover.”

  My eyes twitched at that, and I silently swapped to the Diver King suit. Thankfully, there was no external difference with the suit equipped, since I was in my draconic form. “Got it. I’ll count on you to guide me.”

  With that, the two climbed onto my back, and I flapped my wings. Immediately, we set off at an intense speed, racing across the horizon with every beat of my wings. The remaining fifteen-minute journey was completed in under thirty seconds, and I immediately dove into the shimmering blue portal.

  Once on the other side, we found ourselves within the giant bubble of air that surrounded Thalassia’s rift, the same one that we had encountered when fleeing the dragons previously. I felt a hand tapping the back of my neck, and saw Diane pointing off to the side. With a firm nod, I flew through the bubble’s membrane, fully submerging us in the dark waters.

  Thankfully, after my sensory skill upgraded to True Sight, the darkness of the ocean depths could no longer cloud my vision. Though, that also meant that I was acutely aware of the horrors swimming around us. Although Diane and Bella couldn’t see them, I had to repeatedly alter course to avoid abyssal creatures, such as fish with mouths a hundred meters long, squids with dozens of bladed tentacles, or jellyfish that blended almost perfectly in with the water around them.

  Whenever I veered too far off course, Diane would pat my neck again, steering me back towards the rift. Eventually, we began to pass more floating bubbles, which contained islands similar to the one that the rift was located on. Some of these bubbles were inhabited, others seeming completely barren.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Since none of those were our target, I did my best to ignore them, focusing on the task at hand. In just over an hour, I saw a giant rift, shimmering with white and yellow glow. I dove into the air bubble around the rift, allowing the girls on my back to breathe freely at last. “How’s our time?” I asked Diane, who nodded after a moment.

  “We made it. The next shift for this one should lead to Pyrrhos. According to the forums, Ella’s nation is due north of the rift. Make sure you change back before we get close, or people might mistake you for one of the dragons attacking them.”

  That would be… unfortunate. I had kept my stealth active this entire time, but there were bound to be scouts able to see through it. “Should we go ahead and drive the car from here?”

  Diane hesitated briefly, before agreeing. “That might be best. There could be people watching the rifts.” As she said that, she glanced down at the rift below, where several figures could be seen maintaining a camp. Most of them were watching the rift, though there were a few observing the surroundings. Unsurprisingly, the majority of the population seemed to be elven.

  With a sigh, I created a platform to stand on, allowing the two to disembark before pulling the car out of my inventory again. Not long after we got settled in and started the car, the rift changed once more. This time, it showed a fiery red, and I drove straight in.

  The scene on the other side was… chaotic, to say the least. The rift’s defense camp was being overrun by monsters. Elves fought alongside flaming humanoids to fight back burning beasts and reptilian monsters. In the distance, I saw six dragons observing the scene, no doubt the instigators behind this attack.

  “Looks like they want to cut off Ella’s reinforcements,” Bella remarked as we began to drive to the north.

  “Unfortunately, we can’t afford to help them,” Diane shook her head, crossing her arms in the passenger seat. “They’re still looking for the chance to capture Drake, so getting involved at the rift would just be delivering him into their lap. If the problem gets too bad, they’ll get one of their top experts to clear the area.”

  I agreed, driving the car while maintaining its stealth. After about an hour, I spotted a clearing in the distance. The ground was covered with flowers that released glowing embers, and at the center of the clearing was an obsidian castle, its spires burning like beacons. There was clear damage from recent battles, but the castle still stood tall.

  With one hand, I typed a message to Ella, informing her that we were about to arrive. Just then, I felt a presence lock onto us from the castle walls. Looking in that direction, I saw an elven man with a comically oversized bow, pulling back an arrow that seemed more like a javelin.

  When the arrow was released, it tore through the sky. In a panic, I swerved the car and created six shields of projected energy. Each one had a simple directive; to knock the arrow off course.

  The first shield flew to the arrow, and shattered on impact. The second struck it from the side, but made no visible difference. Then, all together, the remaining four shields positioned themselves at an angle to catch the arrow, managing to successfully disrupt its path enough to avoid us. Even so, I felt the car shake from the force of the air pressure.

  “That’s not a very nice greeting,” I muttered, seeing the archer drawing another arrow. However, just then, a redheaded figure ran out onto the castle walls, forcing him to stop. Recognizing Ella, I began to descend towards the wall just as the archer was sent away.

  “I’m sorry!” Ella apologized, wearing a long black dress with flaming patterns along the trim. “Everyone’s been on edge all morning, so when Jafar sensed an enemy approaching from the sky, he thought it was a scouting dragon.”

  I somehow doubted that excuse, having distinctly sensed the elven man locking onto me through my Sensitivity skill, the evolved form of Awareness. My car was known among the elves, so he must have tried to take advantage of the chance to attack me before I revealed myself.

  “It’s fine,” I shrugged it off, making a mental note to watch out for him. “I rushed over once you sent the message. Has anything new happened?”

  However, Ella shook her head. “I had to log out for a while to take care of stuff outside. But, my Chosen didn’t report anything. For now, I’ve taken a few days off from work to figure this situation out.”

  Bella blinked, surprised by that. “Won’t your boss get mad at you for skipping work to play a game?”

  Ella looked over at Bella, giving her a small grin. “Once they found out I was a king in CFO, they started letting me have more time to play. I work at a fashion design company, and they want to use this as a chance to advertise our products through the game.”

  Diane’s eye twitched, but she nodded her head knowingly. “I see. Anyways, onto the main topic. Has there been any movement from the dragons? Our intel is somewhat outdated. Right now, there is a band of dragons attacking the rift, but that’s all we know.”

  Ella sighed at that. “Their last attack was right after I sent you the message. Other than that, it’s like you said, they’re trying to cut off our reinforcements. If they can control the rift, the number of people that can come assist us will be severely limited. Killik assumes that will be when they initiate the war of extermination.”

  “Killik?” I asked, hearing the unfamiliar name.

  “Ah! Sorry, he’s my general, a player who really loves strategy games. Anyways, since we don’t have any other major connections with the primary world, he believes they’ll initiate the final war after cutting off our reinforcements with the rift,” Ella explained, looking at the three of us. “Any help that you can give would be greatly appreciated.”

  “Got it,” I said, already thinking up an idea. “Since we have time, I’m going to go around and make some preparations. If there is any movement from the other side, let me know.”