Elementalists
Chapter 44 - U. P
"Well.hah...Lexa....?! Can you walk slower?" chirps Arya is weak.
His breathing had started to falter, this was something unusual for Arya. This effect was not due to the lack of stamina he had, it was just the location where their appearance was in a Desert that had a very high temperature.
Of course this has a big impact on Arya, high air temperatures can cause the power to quickly drain. If at the North and South Poles he is arguably immune to the cold, of course you can already guess the impact for his body if it is in a hot air like this.
"Eh....?! Can't be Aru, if it's slower than this I can lose track of it" Lexa replied excitedly while throwing a glance at Arya.
Their current distance was already nearly 10 meters apart, and Arya had a hunch that Lexa was continuing to move at her current speed. Their distance will widen.
"Can you at least tell me what we're after?!" arya exclaimed with the rest of her energy.
"I told you, didn't I? Hamsters! I go first! Try not to be left behind!" lexa said waving and was instantly nowhere to be seen again.
"Hey! Tu—argh...basic!" Arya immediately accelerated her pace.
Arya did not understand what Lexa was talking about, she did not see a single hamster in that place. To be honest at this time he was a little anxious, it was because he did not know exactly where this location was.
If he could, he did not want to meet and was struck by the fact that it turned out that their current location was in the territory of the other 4 great races. If that were to happen, it would definitely be really troublesome.
Just by thinking about it, Arya's head was dizzy, a few hours later. Finally Arya managed to catch up to Lexa, she was sitting while looking thoughtfully.
"Huh...finally, how?" arya asked as she sat down.
"Aru...hamsternya...disappear" he replied slowly with an awkward smile on his face.
"HUH?! I've spent my energy chasing you and it turns out that the creature disappeared?! Oh...fuck!" arya said she did not believe.
"He just disappeared" Lexa insisted.
"Are you sure you're not hallucinating?"
"of course! Aru, you doubt me?" ask Lexa pout.
"Huh...ya how else? We've already reached this place and can't go back, and I can't see the hamster you mean. Let's discuss this tomorrow, it's getting dark" Arya said as she stood in search of shelter.
Lexa immediately followed him without commenting any more.
-----------------------------<<>>-----------------------------
Arya yawned slowly then rubbed her eyes, she was sitting by the bonfire they had prepared that night. He hummed softly while watching the night sky which always looked the same wherever he was.
Whether it was in Elemental City, Fairy Forest, North Pole or South Pole. The sky will always look like that, Arya then threw a glance at Lexa who was fast asleep nearby with a thin sheet of cloth.
"The "troublesome woman" inwardly.
Fortunately, the temperature in the Desert at night can be said to be quite low, so Arya can recover her power drained by trying to follow Lexa before. If resting in the open like this, he remembered while running the First Examination with Asuna.
At first glance he also recalled a message that Timothy had delivered to him before their departure.
"Captain, be careful when traveling with Lexa" Timothy whispered after dragging Arya away from the others.
"mmm? Why why?" arya was confused.
"Eee. Although he always acted innocent and innocent, but I could never read his head" Timothy explained seriously.
"Isn't it just because you're too stupid" Arya replied flatly.
"Ughs....Captain, I'm being serious here! You must have realized it, right? About those silly calls he made for us"
"Maybe he has a reason behind it" Arya said, glancing at Lexa behind Timothy's back.
"Maybe, but it never hurts to be careful, right?" timothy's sweat patted Arya's shoulder.
"Hachi!!!"
Arya rubbed her nose in annoyance, she did have a nose that was sensitive to dust. And damn it, the place was filled with dust scattered in the air.
-----------------------------<<>>-----------------------------
Arya opened her eyes as dawn began to dawn on the horizon, she immediately packed up their stuff scattered in that place in order to be able to leave again soon. Lexa was still asleep with an innocent face.
Making Arya feel a little upset, she finally woke Lexa. He nudged Lexa's body with his feet.
"Hey Daughter Sleep, when are you going to sleep like that?"
"Mmm...At the same time Prince" said Lexa turned her body.
Without waiting, Arya immediately pulled the cloth Lexa used as a base. His body turned and fell to the ground.
"Air?! Where's the Prince?" lexa asked in a daze with messy hair and cute eyes.
"He just went to look for a hamster" replied Arya.
"What?! He also men—"
Arya threw a pretty hard kick towards Lexa, she held the kick with both hands but kept bouncing. Just a few seconds late Arya did that, Lexa's body must have been hollow due to a giant tail that appeared suddenly from the ground.
Slowly but surely, a giant scorpion appeared from the ground and hissed ferociously towards them. Arya immediately reached the handle of Mandalika vigilantly.
"Lexa? You okay?"
"You asked that to a girl you just kicked?!" lexa asked back in disbelief with a mouth full of sand.
"Why didn't you tell me that you'd rather be pierced by a giant scorpion's tail?"
Despite frowning because of what happened just now, Lexa was already wearing a Gnome in her arms in a ready-to-attack manner.
"I'll take care of the tail, can you finish it?" asked Arya who slowly pulled Mandalika from her scabbard.
"You want a bet?" reply Lexa with a careless smile on her face.
"Mmm.of course, what if the loser makes breakfast. The timing?"
"agree! 5 det—"
Arya pointed her palm towards the scorpion's tail, the giant creature immediately thrashed because of its sting that felt stiff and could not be moved. With a single swing, the scorpion's tail had already floated in the air apart from its body.
The scent of the place was immediately filled with the fishy smell of greenish liquid that emerged from the slash marks of Mandalika.
"Done, it's 5 seconds, right? 1...2....3—"
"OH?! Aru you cheated! How can it be like that!" lexa was surprised.
He immediately jumped into the air and hit the top of the giant scorpion to pieces.
-----------------------------<<>>-----------------------------
"When do you want to put on a face like that? We made breakfast together, didn't we?" arya asked while cleaning their breakfast marks.
"HUH! Aru sucks! Now I understand why Una sometimes gets angry for no reason at you" Lexa replied, throwing her face away.
"Hah..kif Asuna mah...indeed like that" murmured Arya tired.
Suddenly Lexa immediately stood up and looked bright in the distance, her face immediately sparkling as usual.
"Aru! Aru! I saw! He's there!" show Lexa the spirit.
"Huh? Whahuh? Wh who? Where's?" tby Arya's.
"Hamster it! Didn't you see it?"
Arya stared at the direction Lexa pointed at, in her eyes she only saw the arid tanned ground as long as her eyes looked.
"See?! Come on!" lexa exclaimed and for the second time disappeared leaving Arya.
-----------------------------<<>>-----------------------------
After struggling with two luggage that he had to tent anywhere, Arya finally managed to pursue Lexa again. And what made him even more upset was, it was exactly what happened yesterday. It was like feeling deja vu.
"Now what else?" charge Arya to Lexa who is staring at the ground around her.
"Aru...hamsternya..get into the ground" said Lexa seriously.
Arya sighed hearing that, she did not know what she was who had gone crazy for allowing Lexa to guide or vice versa.
"Where it might be like that, I didn't even see a single hole or crack on the ground" Arya commented weakly.
"I don't feel anything down here" Lexa added.
"Then how can—"
The ground they were poking on suddenly shifted just like that, thus forming a giant hole that gaped into the ground. Arya and Lexa looked at each other, then slowly gazed into the hole before yelling loudly together.
"Y......!!!"
-----------------------------<<>>-----------------------------
"WHAT'S THIS WEIRD HOLE?!" arya shouted while trying to see the hole where they fell above.
"I don't know either! It's like this hole just popped up" Lexa said.
Currently their position still continues to fall into a hole that seems to be endless, their entrance hole is increasingly visible away above. Arya painstakingly tried to manage her position.
"Lexa! Make a foothold from the walls of these holes" Arya ordered.
Without waiting for Lexa to put her hands together immediately, two rectangular pieces of earth emerged from the two sides of the hole. The two of them joined together and formed a small bridge.
Arya and Lexa landed gently on the bridge.
"Huh...tadi it's almost sa—"
The hole somehow expanded and resulted in their bridge being cut off in the middle. Arya looked at Lexa while asking weakly.
"What did you say?"
"Looks like I'm too fast bica—Aaa....!"
-----------------------------<<>>-----------------------------
After spending some time somehow, Arya finally received her rice and preferred to be quiet. He did not expect his journey to be this painful. Meanwhile, the bored Lexa happily performs acrobatic movements in the air.
It seemed like he had not thought too much about it, the hole above them was already nowhere to be seen anymore. The bottom of this hole is also not visible, Arya already does not know what to do. Half an hour later Lexa interrupted.
"Aru...it....light isn't it?"
Arya opened her eyes and looked down, she could see a hole coming out that was getting bigger as they approached. Arya pulled Lexa close to her while whispering.
"Don't get separated, we don't know where to mun—"
Arya's words simply disappeared after passing through the exit hole. They both fell from a height of 50 meters with the surface below, and what makes Arya amazed is that it turns out that under the hole there is a very large place.
In the distance they could see the flickering light of the city and the towering buildings. Confused, Arya finally looked up. The hole they came out of was gone, replaced by a tanned ceiling.
That way Arya was getting more convinced, the two of them were indeed underground. And without them noticing there were some figures also falling from different holes towards that place.
While Arya was still stunned due to the condition they were in, Lexa asked in a slightly anxious tone of voice.
"Aru.....? I don't know how about you..but..not if we fall from this height can-can—"
Arya finally realized the land below them was getting closer, in a hurry she tried to prepare herself, but it was too late. Their distance was already too close, as he was already preparing to receive the impending pain. Their pace stopped.
A device that looked like a giant fan emerged from the ground and held their pace, both of them finally crashed into the ground around the tool. The people passing by looked at them with strange gazes.
"Ugh....What is that thing?" lexa asked while rubbing her head.
Arya immediately put Lexa's cloak hood to cover her head. He did the same.
"Mmm...What is Aru?"
"Lexa..It is better that we cover our faces, it seems.it is not a place for Humans"
-----------------------------<<>>-----------------------------
The people who came with them immediately walked towards the city, Arya and Lexa had no choice but to follow them. One thing Arya knows for sure, only they are the Humans in that place.
The men eventually form an elongated row in front of the city's giant wall, Arya does not know what it is made of. But it certainly looks very sturdy, Arya and Lexa marching along like the others.
Arya's feelings are not good, she can see the tail, scales, horns, and many other things from the people around them. It also feels, albeit briefly. There was an Elf aura in that place.
What is clear is that the people around him are not humans, and they both did not know what these people would do when they learned of the existence of two Human children who turned out to be Elementalists appearing in their midst.
Arya and Lexa were getting closer to the giant wall, the people who were lining up seemed like they were going into a room that became the Guard Post. But there are two things that Arya and Lexa can conclude.
There were people who entered the place and were not seen anymore, and there were also people who were herded out by figures in armor. Including the people who were lined up in front of them. As his robe unfolded, a large creature with a pig's nose was seen.
"NO....!!! PLEASE LET ME IN! I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO GO! DON'T SEND ME UPSTAIRS WITH THE THROWER AGAIN!!!" he shouted with a voice that sounded like an animal was being slaughtered.
"Throwers?" re-excavate Lexa confused.
"Orc.." said Arya with narrowed eyes.
The guards took the Orc to one of the giant fan-shaped devices they had seen before, and threw the Orc's body there. In an instant his body immediately disappeared somewhere.
Arya and Lexa finally find out what they call the Thrower, Lexa's eyes widen after seeing the incident. He starts to step out of line, but is soon stopped by Arya by holding the collar part of her robe.
"It looks exciting, Aru come on.." he asked.
"Don't fuck around! Did you see the poor creature's response earlier because it was sent using that device?!"
"But I want to feel the sensation" Lexa exclaimed excitedly.
"Well...have you forgotten our purpose here? What if the hamster you're after is in there" explains Arya.
After hearing that Lexa stopped rebelling, it was finally their turn to enter the Guard Post. Inside, they were greeted by a single room with a set of tables and chairs.
Arya and Lexa immediately sat on the chair that had been provided, across the table sat a small creature with greenish skin. After realizing the presence of Arya and Lexa, the creature looked at them while smilingly showing off its yellow teeth.
"Goblin" muttered Arya cynically but quietly, so that only Lexa could hear her.
"Is there anything I can help you with?" ask the creature.
Arya took a deep breath, she tried to calm herself down. It can't get out of control in a place like this.
"B..bi...can you explain to us what this place is?" arya asked with a choked voice.
"Ahh...you must be new people, welcome to UP" exclaimed the goblin enthusiastically.
Arya and Lexa looked at each other for a while, then spoke together while pointing up in surprise.
"UP? We're not at UP(top)"
"Sorry, I mean welcome to Underground Paradise. Heaven for the outcast, or what we call. Trash"