Chapter 256: Chapter 256- Sky Seekers (Part 3)
"Stay behind me and don't show your face, ok? Cover your head using the hoodie on my jacket."
The boy took a moment to understand what he said before he nodded and quickly covered his face.
"Be careful, Talon. These people… They aren't weak." Acrypha said with a grave tone.
"Yeah, I already felt it. They're quite strong." He murmured. Killing the worms that quickly was a very impressive feat by the standards of earth since each one of them was at least level 40.
Which meant that the people he was dealing with were potentially stronger than him. Though, he can't say for sure without fighting them.
'Did they pass their first gate, I wonder…' He thought to himself.
At the same time, the individuals finally landed a few dozen meters away from Talon and Arryn and for the first time, they could take a closer look at them. There were exactly 2 women and 3 men. Talon noticed another three moving away rather than landing which meant that there were a total of eight people.
They were all wearing some kind of artificial wings stuck to their back over a square metallic compartment that was expelling steam out of a small exhaust. The wings stopped moving as the group finally stopped.
"What do we have here?" One of them, particularly a man, came forward with a curious look on his face. He was strikingly handsome with a thick beard and brown hair that he pushed to the back of his scalp. He had two rather soft eyes and a friendly look. The term 'Gentle Giant' fit his appearance very well.
"Be careful, Emino. They might be hostile." A beautiful blonde woman said as she tapped his shoulder. She had a strikingly athletic body with a tanned skin color, perhaps due to the hot weather.
"Hahaha, look at him, he is barely standing on his feet. Though…" Looking around him, he raised an eyebrow. "Hey, you! Did you kill all these on your own?" He asked.
"..." Talon didn't reply as he stared at them, assessing each individual. 'Should I talk with them? From what I can see… They look very human to me… Are these the humans of this world?'
Even though they had way more beautiful appearances than what he was accustomed to, Talon was certain that these were humans. Which meant that these are the people that Arryn told him about.
Looking over his shoulder secretly, the boy was shaking fearfully as he grabbed into the hem of his shirt. That made Talon purse his lips before he turned around.
"Yes, I killed them. And who are you?" He asked coldly as he clenched his fists, ready for anything to happen.
"Goddamn, man! You killed 7 Sand Eaters with no gear or even a weapon? When was the last time someone did this?" Emino smiled.
The others had astonished looks on their faces. "There is no way he did that, Emino! Even you can't do that." Another man, younger than Emino clearly, said as he facepalmed.
"Then how do you explain all these dead bodies, Michi?" A second one, very similar in appearance to the first one, spoke.
"He seems to be very injured too. So, we are sure he at least fought them."
Emino heard his group talking amongst each other and could only sigh. "Come on, guys. We are disrespecting the man. He clearly fought hard to earn this. Don't take his achievement down."
Then, he turned to Talon. "My apologies for how my team is acting. They get very wary of anyone they find wandering the desert. Especially if it's only two people." his tone changed subtly at the end of he was hinting at something which was caught by Talon.
Spitting a mouthful of blood, Talon shrugged. "I like to travel light. By the way, does anyone of you have a healing potion or anything to help? I really need some help."
"..."
No one immediately stepped forward to help which made Talon's tone go softer. "I am really here for no harm. I have been traveling with my younger brother for days now to reach the nearest city and we ended up getting ambushed by a bunch of Sand Eaters. If you can help us, we will be eternally grateful."
He made sure to make himself sound weak and subtly desperate to make them feel bad for him. The fact that they didn't attack him immediately made Talon believe they weren't there to kill him. They were simply being careful.
'I hope this works out. I really can't keep standing for a long time.'
The last thing Talon wanted was to lose consciousness here and leave Arryn alone. If that happened, they would realize that he isn't human and that might lead to consequences he would rather not even think about. No matter what, he had to keep himself awake and even ready to engage in a fight.
"What should we do, Emino?" The tanned blonde woman asked secretly. "He seems to be on the verge of death."
"Of course, we are going to help him. We, squad six, don't leave a desperate person behind." He declared with a smile.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I am sure. He doesn't seem like a bad person and even if he is, we can deal with him." Tapping the woman on the shoulder softly, he finally stepped forward.
"Of course, friend. Here, take one of my potions." Then, he started walking toward Talon, only for the latter to take a step back.
That made Emino stop in his place. "Oh, my apologies! You are probably wary of us too! Don't worry, man. We are simply a group of soldiers working through our shift. Here, I'm going to throw it to you."
Then, he tossed the potion to Talon. The latter grabbed it and looked at it. The color of the potion was extremely bright, far brighter than any other potion he had ever held in his hand.
Without even looking to his side, he lifted the potion a little for Acrypha to see. The latter then nodded her head. "It's safe to drink."
So, Talon popped it open and chugged the liquid down as fast as he could. The moment it touched his tongue, a very sweet taste assaulted his taste buds. His eyes opened for a little as a pleasant sensation engulfed his entire body.
The painful injuries riddling his body started closing at an alarmingly fast rate and his depleted energy was recharging quickly.
'This is insane… How strong is this potion?' He asked himself.
All the potions he consumed so far were good enough to heal most minimal injuries. But, what they lacked was the ability to heal deeper, more dangerous injuries and lacerations. But, this one easily restored 80% of Talon's normal condition almost instantly.
"Thank you so much!" After finishing the bottle, he smiled at Emino. "I really appreciate it, thank you!"
"No problem, my brother. So, where did you come from?"
"We're from down south, a small village. But… We were attacked by Sand Eaters a few weeks ago and we had to run away, me and my brother." He said as he patted Arryn on the head.
'Is this a good enough of a lie? I don't know much about this world so I can't say if they're going to buy this excuse.'
For a second, Talon felt rather nervous as he waited for Emino to reply. Everything relies on what kind of reaction he will have. Even with most of his power back, he still wasn't sure if he can really fight all these strong people on his own.
'It's such a weird feeling… To meet this many people that can actually fight me and have a chance to win. I am really in a different dimension.'
So far, the people Talon met were all weaker than him with no exception. In his world, he was the strongest and no human could rival him in that department. Yet, now that he entered his first gate, he had to start understanding that he wasn't the strongest individual in that world anymore.
He was far from that and these six people are proof of that. From appearance alone, Talon could see that they weren't that special.
Even their demeanor was that of normal people by this world's standards.
'Sigh, I still have a long way to go before I can even be considered very strong.' Shaking his head inwardly, he focused on Emino again.
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. It's not that uncommon for small, unprotected settlements to get destroyed. I assume yours ran out of Blue Elixir." The man replied with a serious expression.
'What the hell is blue elixir?' Talon frowned inwardly as he nodded his head. "Yeah, it's fine. We were intending to leave sooner or later. This only made us rush it, haha. Me and my brother's lives are better off in a city rather than a small village."
"To be honest, that's the correct decision. Most people live behind walls in fear of Sand Eaters that infest these deserts. Oh, right, I didn't introduce myself yet. You can call me Emino."
"... I'm Talon, and this boy over here is Arryn." He replied.
'Ok, this is going as seamlessly as I wanted.' Talon smiled as he nodded his head. 'We might've found our fast ticket to the city.'
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