Ethereal Ascendance: A Journey of Transformation

"This city is already very big. You don't have to go to the city center where the deep pits may be more dangerous. Just find a place relatively far from the city walls and towers," Alfreed advised us before we went out.

"We will keep an eye on you here at all times," were his last words before the gates closed.

Adrian and I glanced at each other then rushed towards the city center without a word.

"Let's stop here," Adrian said, stopping at a location moderately far from both the city walls and the central pits.

This crossroads was quite spacious and also far from the nearby spires. I thought it was very suitable.

"Shall we begin?" I asked Adrian after tying him up tightly in front just like with Selene.

"Wait..." Though I couldn't see his expression, his voice sounded a bit strange.

"Loosen the ropes a bit."

I thought it was fine, this was how Selene was tied up earlier! But since he specifically asked, I reluctantly loosened the ropes slightly.

"That's the most I can do. Any more and it won't be secure," I said.

"Okay...fine," Adrian still sounded odd.

"Any issues?" I frowned, puzzled that he still sounded strange when I thought the ropes were too tight.

"No issues!" he affirmed.

Seeing his confirmation, I immediately revealed my wings, releasing them from concealment.

"Fly up quickly!" I didn't dare hesitate at his urging and immediately flapped my wings, swiftly rising above the surrounding rooftops.

To avoid the city walls as much as possible, I didn't dare fly out diagonally at first. I could only circle and ascend in a small area.

"I'll keep watch around us. You just focus on flying," he voluntarily took on the observation duty to prevent me from getting distracted. That reduced my stress quite a bit.

As expected, Adrian was slightly heavier than Selene but still just one person and not fat. I could easily ignore the bit of extra weight.

"Is this height okay?" I asked when we were about halfway up the tower height.

From here, almost half the city was visible. As for the guards on the city walls, given how tall the walls were, I felt we probably couldn't escape their eyes if we stayed at this height.

"Go a bit higher," he thought the same as me.

But just as I was about to ascend further, I suddenly heard a "zzzzzzz" vibration sound around us.

"What's that?" I was so startled I became nervous instantly. But looking around, there seemed to be no monsters. So what was that sound?

"The spires!" Adrian responded at once. Realizing on his prompt, I immediately noticed the nearest few spires were vibrating rhythmically. I didn't detect it at first because the amplitude wasn't big.

"What are they trying to do?" This was clearly aimed at us but I didn't understand their intention. Unsure if I should keep ascending or fly sideways to get farther from the spires, I could only hover uncertainly.

"Fly away quickly!" Adrian yelled as a huge white skeletal structure rapidly emerged from the central pits. It was extremely large and clearly shaped like a dragon.

"It's a bone dragon! Go!" Adrian urged me anxiously again. Did I need his reminder? I instantly turned and flew towards the city exterior.

"Faster! Another one coming out! Bone dragons are 6th order monsters, over mid 6th!" Though escaping, he still updated me on the situation behind us, even accurately reporting the enemies' order.

6th mid-order? What joke was this?! I was already flying my fastest!

"Right!" Before I could react to the shock, Adrian's shout rang out again, urging me.

"Huh? Right?" Trusting him fully, I immediately turned right. A foul gale blasted me, almost making me lose balance midair. In the next moment, the jaw of an enormous dragon skull suddenly clamped shut with a loud "thud" to my left.

Dammit! Almost scared to tears by the close shave, my limbs went soft. If not for my wings reacting instinctively, I would've definitely fallen with my deadened hands and legs.

How was it so fast? Mere seconds had passed since the first bone dragon emerged yet it almost caught me! Were it not for Adrian's warning, I would've definitely been bitten.

"Left! The other one..." His voice rang out again before I recovered my senses but he didn't finish his sentence as the other side repeated the earlier scene.

But this time, I didn't actively dodge. Still reacting slowly from the earlier close call, the turbulence from the first dragon head affected me midair before I could restabilize. Hence the jaws of the second dragon that followed narrowly missed me.

"Focus! To save time, I'll only say up, down, left or right from now," Adrian sensed my mental state and reminded me.

"But there's two! And flying way faster than me, how do I dodge?!" I felt almost fully despairing, only surviving between the jaws of the two bone dragons, feeling I could be bitten anytime.

"Precisely because there's two that we have a chance! Right!" His voice didn't sound like he was giving up. Hearing his prompt, I unhesitatingly complied again, narrowly dodging another bite.

But this time, the other bone dragon was directly blocking my path, jaw stretched wide open before me.

Its mouth wasn't empty, flickering with a hazy grey glow. I felt that grey light condensing a nameless, ominous sensation - more than just dark elements.

"Down!" Following his order, I performed a somersault downwards. But Adrian immediately issued another peculiar command.

"Charge straight into its body."

"Huh?" I was puzzled initially but understood instantly upon seeing the situation ahead.

"I see!" Precisely because of their massive size and skeleton structure, there were plenty of gaps in their bodies just nicely sized for Adrian and me to pass through.

And in this situation of one chasing us while we shot through the other dragon's body...

I heard the two gigantic bone dragons crash heavily behind me and then fall from the sky, smashing into the city walls below. What a pity!

Being just bone, their weight had zero effect even slamming onto the walls. Not a crack appeared.

But this Val wall was not only tall but also very thin. Wedged perfectly between the two dragons' frames which also interlocked with each other, they couldn't separate to fly anymore, reduced to flapping their membrane-like wings helplessly, stirring up the earth below.

Adrian still didn't let me stop and urged me to keep flying despite temporarily shaking off the twin pursuers.

"But Selene and the others..." Anxiously eyeing the receding city, what about everyone left behind?

Some bat-like creatures took off from the city towards us but likely seeing the distance, soon turned back after a while more.

"It's not time to relax vigilance yet, fly further!" Still very cautious, Adrian kept asking me to fly ahead until we hid behind a mountain far from the city, confirming no other chasers before finally descending.

Pa!

I stood utterly stupefied as he rounded back and slapped me right after removing the ropes.

Not anticipating that straight after landing safely intact from the twin bone dragon chase, he would actually hit me.

Weren't we supposed to celebrate escaping? Then why hit me instead?

"W-why?" I lightly touched my stinging cheek, suddenly overwhelmed by grievances.

Seeing my question, he sighed with some helplessness. "Still unclear why I hit you?"

I opened my mouth, originally still wanting to ask why but honestly replied in the end. "Don't know..."

"You don't cherish yourself enough!" Adrian looked ready to hammer me into shape.

"I told you to stop caring what others think but you ignore that. Why must you take things to such suicidal extremes?!"

I was totally lost. "When was I being suicidal?"

Seeing I still didn't grasp the problem's severity, Adrian brought up how I approached Alfreed last night while everyone was asleep.

"Why did you take the initiative to find Alfreed and request this test of escaping the city center by flight?"

I was greatly shocked that he knew. Did Alfreed tell him while discussing the details?

"Of course it was to find an escape route for everyone! We have no other paths out now right? So I proactively wanted to find one. And Blanche happened to mention before..." I explained matter-of-factly using the reason I gave Alfreed previously. That should be fine right? Reasonable?

"And the result? Didn't I already warn that such methods were too dangerous and absolutely unacceptable? Everyone tried persuading you too. Did you listen?" Adrian directly highlighted the various flaws and holes in my so-called "escape route".

"If the enemies didn't mess up by sending such high order bone dragons, even two, but other 6th order monsters instead, do you think you would still be alive now?"