After sleeping for the night in the hotel room they booked, Esdeath and Maruti take their appointed carriage and depart for their destination—Solaris.
In a way, it can be described as similar to Colac village of the Anastasia kingdom, just at the edge of borders which leads to the demon realm, having less protection and making it a dangerous place.
The same goes for Solaris as well. The demons here were just regular ones, barely any awakened demons. And not to forget, this village is at the outer settlements without much help from main cities.
Long ago, the Demon King slew countless monsters and beasts to create a habitable place for demons to live, and that was called the Demon Kingdom.
But just like Colac village was considered dangerous because of how close it was to the demon realm, Solaris is also considered dangerous for even demons because, after this, the way forward will lead to the real demon realm, highly dangerous for even demons.
Esdeath and Maruti don't stay there for long. The day they arrive, they immediately have a meal and leave to continue their journey without any interaction with others.
Right now, they were already far away from Solaris, almost a few hundred kilometers away. As unique as the Demon Kingdom's atmosphere already is, somehow the surroundings were turning even more unique.
At times, there are species which Maruti never read or saw even in books, jumping out and running around. Some give them glares as if judging them, while some have intentions of attacking but hesitate to do so.
Whether it's a ten-meter-tall sea lion-like creature with the head of a wolf, with disgusting jelly-like skin with spikes—an ugly, terrifying creature moving slowly.
Or a beautiful bird with feathers like the cosmic sky above, shimmering with different colors and leaving behind a mesmerizing scent in its path.
The place was just too unique.
"Ohh... look, the feather is moving," Maruti says, pointing at a particular single white feather lying on the ground.
It was twitching and jumping around like it was actually alive.
Esdeath looks at it and adds, "It's a feather of an ancient crane. Soon, in a few years, it'll grow into a baby crane," she replies.
"The fuck? It's an egg?" Maruti asks again, completely confused and baffled by it.
"Something like that. Only a few species here actually breed," Esdeath answers with a flat tone.
"Here? Ohh, so we are in Terra Divina already?" Maruti asks, already knowing what Esdeath's answer would be.
Esdeath casually nods. "Yes, so be careful," she warns, looking around and starting to pace again.
"We are going to that sand of river... Uh... River sand... Time sand... Whatever it was," Maruti sighs. The name was just too long. "Why not just fly instead?"
Saying that, she immediately uses magic to float in the air, balancing herself before going high up before Esdeath could even say anything.
"No, you idiot," Esdeath shouts.
But by that time, Maruti was already dozens of meters high in the air. But as she does, she feels something unusual on her, like there is a level of pressure pressing down on her. Her weight has seemed to double at least.
Anyone could feel pressure if they were too high up in the air, but of course not in just a few dozen meters.
Not like it was unbearable for her. Having such unnatural strength, she was barely feeling anything.
Looking down, she presses her palms beside her lips to shout.
"Hey, Esdeath, I—" She is going to say something but then she sees Esdeath's eyes widen drastically at the same time. A huge shadow looms over her.
"Wha—" Before she could turn around to see or dodge, something big comes crashing down, grabbing her in the air entirely.
It was not just 'something' but a giant crane, as huge as a three-story house. Its long beak, almost twice the size of Maruti's whole body, was grabbing onto Maruti, trying to crush her bones and gulp her body.
At the same time, it flew at rapid speed. Every time it flapped its wings, a huge wind blew, causing even trees to tremble.
After all, it was a genuine Rank A monster, an Ancient Crane.
Esdeath slapped her forehead in both disappointment and irritation. She had just warned her to be careful, and here she was in just a few seconds.
But not like she had any choice. She turned around, running rapidly while looking up to keep track of the flying crane.
Meanwhile, Maruti struggled to move herself between the ancient crane's mouth, feeling more and more pressure.
But after a few seconds, she adjusted herself, directly grabbing its upper side with both of her hands and pushing the below side with her legs. Slowly but forcefully, she was opening its mouth with a loud groan.
"Fuckkkkkk..." she groaned, almost fully standing up. But surprisingly, the raw strength of the monster was quite good, but she was also feeling some invisible pressure coming down on her the higher the crane flew.
"Is this the crane's doing?" she thought to herself. There was a possibility for it, but what mattered was to get out of its clenches first.
"Scrieekkkkk..." the giant ancient crane let out a painful groan.
Maruti was forcefully opening its beak way more than it could naturally open.
It wasn't fully giving up either. Its speed reduced drastically to put more pressure on Maruti. At the same time, its tongue moved at rapid speed, landing blows on Maruti's body.
It wasn't very powerful, but it surely hurt her, leaving some red marks behind.
But it was too late. Maruti had already adjusted enough and was ready to use her essence stones to burn this bad bird alive and roast its meat.
But before she could—BANG!...
A mana bullet shot through the air, cutting air cleanly as it directly shot inside the crane's neck.
With a loud groan, it let go of Maruti and directly fell to the ground.
BAM!...
Trees and dirt flew in the air as its massive body directly crashed into the ground, rubbing against the ground.
While Maruti adjusted her body and gracefully landed on the ground beside Esdeath.
"Focus on the enemy," Esdeath said, not giving Maruti any time to speak.
Of course, the ancient crane wasn't dead. How could a genuine Rank A monster die that easily?
Maruti nodded. "You stay behind, I would deal with it," she said with full confidence.
Esdeath turned her ZK-20, which was currently in the shape of a sniper, into a bracelet and wore it on her hand again.
"As you wish," she said, staying behind.
It wasn't the first time Maruti had fought with a Rank A monster after all.
Soon enough, it got up again. A huge wound was on its neck, and greyish concrete blood was flowing out of it.
Swishhhh!...
It flapped its wings with all its might, creating multiple hurricanes in one go.
Meanwhile, its last resolve only increased Maruti's excitement. A huge grin appeared on her face.
She immediately used her Phantom Killer moves, punching and smashing the giant creature without mercy.
Esdeath casually sat on a certain boulder, watching their fight with a serene expression. The boulder trembled every time Maruti delivered her punch.
Soon enough, all the life was wiped out from the giant ancient crane.
"Phew... Its feathers were quite tough, but whatever, I'm gonna cook its meat," Maruti sighed.
Esdeath stood up and shook her head. "We don't have unnecessary time. Those cranes are usually in groups. Maybe it was here to spread its feathers. If we stay here and cook it, its group might attack us, wasting our time even more," Esdeath explained as if scolding her.
"Okay," Maruti exhaled in defeat, her shoulders slumping down.
"Forget it, what I was saying..." Maruti thought about the topic which she was going to say before the crane's attack. "Yes... I felt some pressure when I was in the air. Was it because of this crane?" she asked.
Esdeath deliberated her words, thinking how to explain, and then pointed behind her at the corpse of the giant crane. "Before that, how about you try lifting its body now?"
"Umm... okay?" Maruti said, scratching her head lightly and then went to the corpse.
She grabbed its abdomen from below, using her full strength in one go to lift it up.
And then—Pulpl!...
Maruti's balance shifted a little because she had just put too much strength while lifting, but compared to that, the weight of the crane was just too... too light.
Barely even half of her own weight, despite its massive size.
She let go of one hand and lifted the whole corpse with one hand like it was nothing.
"How?" she asks, looking at Esdeath.
"Crushing," Esdeath says. "Here, the more you fly up, the more an invisible weight will call upon you. Usually it's called 'Crushing'," she explains.
"That's why almost all flying creatures are like this ancient crane. The feathers are hard as steel but also very light. Bones are hollow and muscles are thin, to fly higher and for more time," she says.
Maruti put the ancient crane's corpse down and ask, "What if someone has a very big height? Will they always feel heavily weighted despite being on ground? Wouldn't that be too disadvantageous?"
Esdeath shook her head. "No, it's actually more of an advantage for them. It only depends upon how far you are from the ground. If someone's height can pierce through the sky, but their legs are still on the ground, that person won't feel any crushing at all," she explained.
Maruti's lips couldn't help but twitch at such a ridiculous phenomenon.
"What a bizarre place," she sighs.