Let's wrap this up, shall we?

Five minutes earlier.

I was tearing through the sky like a living rocket, my hair and jacket billowing in the cool night breeze. After some trial and error, I had finally mastered leapfrogging and sky gliding, and I was using the newly acquired skills to get to town as quickly as I could.

“So, what’s the sitrep on the town?” I yelled to Rachel. “How far are we? And what’s the situation like on the ground?”

“Processing…” Rachel replied, taking a few seconds before responding. I had been gliding for nearly twenty seconds, and my acceleration was starting to slow.

I disengaged from the skill and straightened up, allowing my body to rapidly fall back down through the clouds. The moment my feet hit the ground, I took off sprinting in a straight line, and after a short run, I leapt back up into the air, grabbed hold of an invisible spear, then yanked back, re-engaging the gliding skill and pulling myself forward in another burst of speed.

“The town is already under heavy attack!” Rachel yelled, attempting to shout over the roaring winds in my ears, forgetting again there was no need since she was speaking directly inside my head.

“There are over three hundred Widow Makers in total, with more than fifty already swarming within the city gates, and about two hundred being held up by a militia fighting outside. It’s a bloodbath, Hunter. You need to go faster.”

“Working on it.”

I disengaged from the gliding skill prematurely, choosing not to wait for the full twenty seconds. The moment I fell through the clouds and my feet hit the ground, I again ran, jumped, and took flight, shooting forward in a blur of speed.

“How do you do that anyway?” I asked Rachel while I continued soaring through the sky.

“Do what?” Rachel asked.

“The setting of this world is medieval times, right? So how are you able to perform a real-time scan of the environment with no satellites or tech like that?” I asked. “Back on the island, we didn’t know we were going to be deployed with AI chips in our heads. It was a last-minute thing. So I’m not really sure how all of your powers interface with this world. I wasn’t told,” I said.

“Oh! That,” Rachel replied just as I came back down before launching back up. “Actually, there are satellites in this world,” she corrected. “Remember the cabin we found in the forest? The one with the working electricity and the lake?”

“Yeah, I remember,” I said. It was also where we first found the little girl. With the Widow Makers causing havoc in the streets of Templa, I could only hope she was safe in hiding with Lumia.

“Well, according to a particular file on the hard drive, that place belonged to a young fellow named David.” As Rachel spoke, she brought up a brief info screen on the individual she was talking about in a corner of my vision.

_____

Basic Info

Name: David

Age: 24

Class: Monster Slayer, Tech Summoner

Level: 320

Status: MIA

_____

After I’d finished reading his stats, I looked at his profile picture. Short black hair, a serious face with a pointy nose, and the type that seemed like he’d express himself with little to no words.

“Why am I looking at this guy again?” I asked Rachel.

“Well, this guy, he is the owner of the cabin where you slept,” Rachel explained. “He owns the flash drive currently in our possession, as well as the potion you drank back then, the spellbook you took, and the clothes on your back right now.”

“Oh,” I simply responded, realizing we had stolen his things.

“Yeah,” Rachel continued. “He was sent here by Anna Wara a few years before you guys deployed. His mission was to set up satellites for easy AI integration and scouting, as well as safe zones like the cabin in the forest, all so your arrivals would go as smoothly as possible.”

I briefly dropped down and leapt back into the air before speaking again. “Why the MIA on his status though?” I asked, curious.

“Not sure,” Rachel replied. “His last known location was at the Elven Kingdom, where Anna Wara grew up. After that, nothing. It’s almost as if he simply disappeared.”

“Any chance he might have returned back to Earth?” I asked. “You know, using the same method Anna herself used to go there.”

“No dice,” Rachel responded almost immediately. “The spell is a one-way ticket between worlds. Anna is stuck on Earth and can never return, and you guys can never go back either.”

I probably should have felt something in that moment, being told I could never go back home. But my home wasn’t Earth. It was with the only family who ever cared for me, the rest of us from the facility. And one of them, Ema, was in this world with me. I was definitely going to find her when I was done saving the town.

“Speaking of… Templa!” Rachel shouted. “Up ahead!”

Right in front of me, down on the ground, I could see hundreds of Widow Makers swarming the streets. Dead bodies were everywhere. It was a slaughter.

On the outskirts, the militia Rachel had mentioned were engaged in heavy fighting with more of the scorpion-tailed creatures. From this distance, I could hear the screaming, shouting, and babies crying. I needed to touch down as soon as possible.

“No, Hunter wait! Activate time dilation and look!”

At Rachel’s command, I did as she said. I triggered my time dilation skill, slowing down my perception of the world to nearly zero. Everything crawled at a snail’s pace.

“Look. Those buildings.” Rachel highlighted spots in town with white circles in my vision. “I think those are safe points where the people are gathering. An evacuation is on the way, so you need to help them clear out the monsters near there so the people can escape.”

“Also, before you ask, yes, I now have the location of Lumia and the little girl. Here they are.” An orange marker appeared in another point of my vision. “And you need to hurry, because they’re also in danger.”

As soon as I disengaged time dilation, I shot forward in another burst of speed toward Lumia and the little girl. And when I arrived at their location, I deactivated my glider skill, and as I began losing altitude, I summoned a weapon mid-fall.

“Spear.”

From two hundred yards out, I flung it downward with all my might, impaling the Widow Maker that was about to attack them.

“Bull’s-eye!” Rachel cheered. “Right in the jugular. Nice shot, Hunter.”

“Thanks,” I smirked as I continued rapidly falling toward the town.

“The moment you land, you’ll be swarmed by at least five of the creatures,” Rachel warned. “I recommend picking out another weapon and getting ready.”

“Got it,” I replied. “Sword.”

***

The moment I touched down on the ground, I activated time dilation and quickly cut down the Widow Makers trying to ambush me. After that was handled, I walked toward Lumia, gazed at her pretty red hair, large eyes, and small lips for just a second extra, before I deactivated the skill. She was instantly startled.

“Are you both okay?” I asked, hoping neither of them had been injured. From all the constant running, jumping, and gliding while trying to reach town, I was a little winded from suddenly standing still. She carried the little girl on her back, and I was glad to see the child unharmed.

Lumia looked at me as if she was struggling to understand what she was seeing. I guess it was kind of my fault—even though I’d been gone for only three hours, to them, it had been three whole days. She might have thought I had abandoned the girl or something. I would have to explain everything later.

“You both should get to the temple, and fast,” I told her. “I’ll handle the monsters. Now go—and don’t stop running until you get there.”

“E! EEE! E!” The little girl was excitedly trying to get my attention.

“I’ll see you later, Sun Fruit. I promise,” I told her too. Then, activating my time dilation, agility, and brute force, I set off to clear a path for them through the monsters in the streets.

“Let's wrap this up, shall we?”