Gacha System: Reborn In The Hardest World
Chapter 35: Calamity of The Sky

Chapter 35: Calamity of The Sky

"Corpse? Yeah, that rings—there’s not a blade of grass left," Gael observed.

"Interesting...It’s like the land has dried out," Matteo noted.

"You’re not far off," Blythe confirmed. "The mana in this region vanished. Without it, the land died off."

Marching through the lifeless valley, he looked up at the hollow trees, listening to the passing whispers of wind.

"So, where’s this dragon?" Gael questioned.

Matteo reached into his pocket, pulling out the compass with a confident smile, "When in doubt—"

"No need," Blythe interrupted the adventurer, pointing right past him.

"Ah?—" Matteo looked.

Where the silver-haired woman pointed was a crater a march ahead, vaguely seen in the distance.

"That’s where Blair rests," she said.

"You know your stuff," Gael remarked in surprise.

"It’s not exactly hidden information. The Beasts of The Sky are infamous," Blythe informed him.

Florentine excitedly marched that way without waiting, "Right! Let’s move on then—!"

As the warrior tried hurrying off, she was cut off as the stone ground erupted right in front of her.

"Watch out!" Gael shouted, calling his scythe into his hand as the capybara hopped from his shoulder.

As stone hail flung in every direction, what rose from beneath the surface slithered into the air.

"What’s that?—" Gael questioned.

"A fascinating specimen!" Matteo gasped with a smile.

It lacked skin, instead made up of flesh like that of pale stone; though it lacked limbs, it remained upright, spanning over ten meters as its rigid body creaked.

[Rock Serpent] [Lv. 12]

Blythe held her hand up, conjuring a shield of mana that blocked the pebbles, "A Rock Serpent. It’s an elemental born in abundances of stone."

"I’m going to smash it!—" Florentine roared, lifting her hammer as she rushed in.

There was no stopping the hot-headed warrior as she leapt up, slamming her hammer towards the gargantuan elemental.

"Hold on—idiot!" Gael shouted.

The rock-flesh serpent slithered right past the wild hammer, countering with a whip of its tail. Florentine was sent flying back down to the ground harshly, bouncing off the stone.

"Gah...!" Florentine winced before rolling onto her feet, huffing. "Didn’t expect it to be so slippery!"

Matteo rummaged through one of his belt pouches, retrieving a handful of scarlet stones, "—Sit back. Let me get a crack at this."

As the runes were cast towards the elemental, they exhibited a red glow before—BOOM.

Gael held his arm up as the explosion of fire engulfed the creature, "You were carrying around something like that?!"

"Gotta be prepared for anything! Don’t worry—they only explode when I want them to!" Matteo explained himself with an excited smile.

The cloud of fire and smoke dissipated as the serpentine figure emerged abruptly. It moved with surprising swiftness, slithering through the air as it bulldozed right towards the adventurer.

Matteo waited until the last possible moment before throwing himself to the side, narrowly avoiding a head-on collision with the elemental of stone.

"--Interesting! Explosive runes didn’t even put a dent in it?" Matteo observed, jumping to his feet.

Between them all, the serpent straightened itself out, looming high as it let out a dry roar through the valley. Each segment of its rock-formed body hovered, separating before slamming back together as it swirled in the air.

It swept back down, going right towards himself and Blythe, though was intercepted–

"Don’t forget about me!" Florentine shouted.

The hard-headed warrior slammed her hammer down right against the solid serpent’s head, managing to stop it in its tracks, though only for it to thrash, throwing her aside again. It unleashed a hollow roar, bearing only a small crack in its form.

"How do we hurt this thing?" Gael asked, finding the scythe in his hand hardly seeming reliable against the elemental. "--It has to have some kind of weakness, right?"

Blythe answered hesitantly, "It should have a core inside of its head–essentially the heart for an elemental. The problem is, its exterior. Naturally, water magic would be effective against stone. However..."

"None of us can use that. Yeah, gotcha," Gael figured out.

While the two familiars wrangled with the sturdy creature, more so leading it on and being forced to dodge, he found Matteo sliding back his way after being thrown by its tail.

"Water is what we need? I can provide it–though someone will need to handle the follow-up!" Matteo claimed, rummaging through his pocket.

"I can do that," Gael said, readying himself.

As he bent his knees, his calves expanded, brimming with supercharged strength.

’It’s not just the muscle...accelerate the blood flow, use your body like a spring and—burst!’ He concentrated.

"Go!" Matteo gave the signal as he crushed the azure rune in his hand.

All at once, Gael unleashed the strength in his legs, setting off with enough force to crack the ground he stood on. As he burst towards the serpent, a high-pressure beam of water launched from Matteo’s position.

"—C’mon...!"

Right on target, the stream of water collided with the cracked forehead of the elemental serpent. It let out a scratchy call as its shell crumbled in the afflicted area.

Gael arrived in front of the stunned creature, locking in on the exposed area hidden beneath its surface:

A beating, transparent crystalline orb sat in its head.

’There,’ he found.

His overcharged calves reverted as he instead bolstered his arms as his muscles coiled with super strength. As he set his sights on the exposed core, he swung the scythe with everything he had—

SHATTER.

The elemental’s heart split and crumbled upon contact, causing the serpent to crash into the ground, sliding past him.

"Phew," Gael breathed out, relinquishing his scythe as his enhanced arms reverted.

[EXP: +800] [910/1000]

Like a machine without its battery, the rock-born fiend laid lifeless before crumbling away into dust.

"Nice work, Master," Matteo complimented him, holding his hand up.

He relayed the gesture, slapping the adventurer’s hand as he smiled, "Yeah, thanks for the assist. Oh, you too, Florentine."

The brawny warrior hardly seemed to accept the compliment as she buffed, brushing pebbles from her armor, "I didn’t do anything—damn thing just threw me around."

"It’s your hammer that cracked it. You don’t have to get the final blow to have helped, y’know," Gael assured.

"That brawn of yours is a powerful weapon in itself. Your brain though...not so much," Matteo added in with a small laugh.

Florentine shouted, "What was that, four-eyes?!"

Before a brawl broke out between the two, he stepped in to defuse the situation, "Alright, alright, no fighting. We’ve got enough ahead of us as it is."

"Right, my bad–just a little joke," Matteo said with his hands up, smiling.

"Just watch it," Florentine huffed.

As they moved along with Florentine leading the way, and Matteo noting just about everything he saw, even oddly-shaped boulders, it felt as though he was chaperoning.

Blythe walked alongside him, watching ahead as the familiars bantered, "They’re your servants, so they listen to you absolutely. It’s a peculiar ability–they know nothing about you, yet have total obedience."

"Yeah, well...It’s a bit hard to get used to. I don’t get my kicks from people kissing my ass, so I’m not too interested in abusing that authority," Gael said with a shrug.

"Oh? I took you for the type of boy who would enjoy that," Blythe remarked with a surprised look.

Gael raised an eyebrow, "Boy? Wait, how old are you, anyway?"

It took a moment for the silver-haired girl to recall as she tapped her index finger against her chin, "This year will be my twenty-fourth, yes. That’s right."

"Then you’re twenty-three right now? Hold on, you’re only a year older than me then!" Gael protested.

"You’re that close to my own age? Hmm...Older than I thought," Blythe said as if taking in a new fact.

He felt like an arrow struck his ego as a man seeing the reaction from the noblewoman, waving his hands as he sought confirmation, "--Hold on, hold on! How old did you think I was?!"

"Ah...Well, I didn’t have an exact age in mind. Perhaps...Fifteen–? No, seventeen," Blythe answered, changing her answer in the same second.

"Fifteen? There’s no way–you seriously were planning on having a kid help you fight Mastorn?" Gael sighed, not understanding much of the girl’s thought process.

There wasn’t any response from Blythe as she simply went back to studying her grimoire amidst the hike. Every dozen or so steps, he felt rumbling beneath the stone plains, having to hope the elementals burrowing under didn’t want to come up for sunlight.

The air felt dry and sparse, though with nothing but the dried corpses of trees left, it wasn’t difficult to understand why.

"So, this "Calamity of The Sky" that I have to slay..." Gael said, looking over at the studious woman as they walked. "What should I expect?"

"It’s incredibly likely we’ll all die within ten seconds of being perceived by that beast," Blythe warned him, closing her book as it vanished into some ethereal space.

"Wait, is that some kind of dry joke, or...not?" He guessed, trying to read the idle expression on her face.

"There is a reason I came with you today. Without my assistance, you would have walked right into your death. But, perhaps with my aid, there might be a chance of victory," Blythe told him, glancing up at him.