Chapter 310 (Patreon)

Chapter 310

The group decided to travel farther out into the ocean, and Sophia wanted them to pick up the pace so they could get to the demon continent sooner, but they immediately got sidetracked. Kel reminded them of the interesting archipelago, so it was time for a detour. Arriving there, their trip was stopped by a literal wall of clouds so dense that they were impossible to pass through without first solving the mystery surrounding it.

“Mhmm…” Anna, together with the sisters and everyone else, was still staring at the cloud wall and tilted her head. “You know, it doesn’t really look all that solid from a little far away, so I really don’t get why it ejected our boat when we crashed into it.” When the group drove into the cloud, its jelly-like consistency caused the boat to drift roughly 50 meters away when pushed out, due to repulsive forces. “Can we get closer again?”

“Sure thing!” Maya, who was at the helm, turned the boat around, and they slowly, with much less speed than before, got closer to the cloud again before they were right next to it.

“Ehh?” Once the ship was practically touching the wall, Anna hesitatingly touched it, but her hand sank right into it. "There's basically no resistance at all! Looking at it from this angle, it looks like regular, albeit thick, vapor and definitely not something solid.”

"Woah, you're right!" Sophia did the same and was also surprised that her arm met almost no resistance. "Why? Our boat should’ve easily gotten through that.”

“Maybe it gets harder a little further in, and we just feel the outer layer?" The princess tilted her head again.

“Oh, that could be it!” The blonde could follow that logic.

“It does feel a little soup-y if you move your arm really fast, though.” Steph also had her arm in it and was wildly flailing it around when she noticed something else. “The faster I move it, the more resistance I feel, too.”

“Wait, could that be it?!” Anna slightly raised her voice. “Steph, could you do me a favor and punch the cloud really hard?”

“Sure…? I can do that for--- OUCH!” The dog-girl was confused at first, but did as told regardless. This, however, was a mistake. The moment her high-speed fist connected with the cloud, it turned rock-solid. “That hurt!”

“Ohh, so it really is like that!” The tall tiger happily clapped her hands. “I forget the name, but ages ago, I remember learning about some sort of fluid in school that behaves differently under stress or when forces are applied to it. Like, it’s pretty liquid under normal circumstances, but when you whisk it really hard or slap it, it suddenly becomes solid for a moment!”

“Right!” Ari had a similar reaction. “Non-something something-fluid… Yeah, I forgot the name, too, but I still remember you also punching it and bruising your hand.”

“That’s how I remembered!” Anna smiled at her.

“Why did I have to punch it, then?!” Steph glared at her while nursing her red knuckles.

“W-Well, I had to make sure, right…?”

“Grr!”

“Okay, let me see if I can follow.” Sophia scratched her cheek. “Does that mean we got ejected earlier because we came in too hot? Or with too much power? In order to get through it, we have to go slow?”

“That’s what I was thinking!” The princess reacted with a big nod. “It’s worth a try, don’t you think?”

“Maya, you heard the captain!” Sophia looked at the cat-girl again. “Let’s give this another shot, but slowly~.”

“On it!” Doing as told, she lightly adjusted the angle of the boat and slowly steered it into the white wall once more.

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“Woah!” The boat effortlessly passed through the thick cloud this time, and Sophia's eyes grew wide as she saw the insides of the wall. They found themselves in a roughly 300-meter-long tunnel that was about 10 meters wide. Everything around them, except the water below, was a foggy, pure white, but at the very end of the tunnel was a dimly glowing golden veil that seemed to indicate the outside beyond the wall.

“Wait, how does that work?” Anna seemed confused as she looked around. “Were we just lucky and hit a tunnel this time? Are there multiple tunnels? Why tunnels in the first place?”

“Does it really matter?” Steph didn’t see the issue. “We solved the puzzle, so let’s go!”

“I guess so.” The tall tiger could only shrug. “Well, I guess we just keep going… as much as it pains me, straight ahead, huh?" Anna looked incredibly awkward while saying it.

“Booo!” The sisters didn’t like that.

She wasn’t a fan of the course, but Maya, albeit reluctantly, still steered the boat through the tunnel before they eventually passed through the glowing veil of fog on the other side.

“Wohoo~! E-Eh…?” Sophia started cheering on reflex, but abruptly stopped when she saw the exact same unchanged ocean as before passing through the wall.

"Welcome back~." Kel was also still there and greeted the group with a somewhat mocking tone.

“Welcome back?!” Anna looked around and then at the dragon. “Wait, do you mean we returned to the exact same place we entered the cloud before?”

“Pretty much~.” His voice turned even more smug.

“That doesn’t make any sense!” She got loud. “We went perfectly straight!”

“No, you made a perfect 180-degree turn.” Kel lightly shook his head.

“See, that’s what happens when we try to go straight!” Sophia raised her voice. “It just doesn’t work!”

“I knew it!” Steph nodded a few times. “We shouldn’t have tried!”

“HOW, though?!” Anna didn't accept this as the cause.

“Did you really think just going slow was all you had to do to solve the mystery?” He focused his massive eye right at her. “Those clouds are of magical origin to keep outsiders away from the archipelago. Don’t expect them to behave like regular clouds. Only those who proved worthy are allowed in.”

“Urgh.” Anna hated how that was a viable explanation.

“Did you have anything to do with these clouds?” Sophia raised an eyebrow as she stared at the dragon. “You seem quite familiar with it.”

“No, I just really like this place.” Kel light shook his head again.

“Fair enough.”

“Was going in that way the wrong decision then?” Anna wanted to get some more information out of him. “Do we need to search for a specific entrance to go through the direct tunnel?”

“The place of entry does not matter, and entering it was indeed correct."

“Mhmm…” Anna continued to stare at the wall. "Alright, Maya, turn around, we're heading back in!"

“Aye aye, captain!” The cat-girl did a cute salute before slowly steering the boat into the cloud wall once more.

Inside, it was the exact same sight as before. A roughly 300-meter-long and ten-meter-wide white tunnel with a slight golden glow at the end.

“Yeah, the first instinct definitely is to head for the other side, huh?” Sophia took in the familiar sight while tilting her head. “Any ideas?”

“Well, if straight isn’t an option…” The princess tried to think about what to do.

“It never was, is, or will be.” The sisters vigorously shook their heads.

“If the one we think makes sense, going to the other side of the tunnel, doesn't work, maybe we should try the opposite?” Anna pointed at the back of their boat. “Let’s try turning around and going back the way we came from!”

"Aye aye, captain!" Maya gave another salute and steered them out of the tunnel while using a bit of wind magic to propel the boat.

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“Wrong answer.” The group returned to the wrong side of the wall and was greeted by a smug-sounding dragon.

“Grr!” The tall tiger started pouting. “So frustrating!”

“Don’t go for the obvious and take a better look at things.” Kel decided to give her another hint.

“Mrrmm…” Anna let out another grumble. “Alright, back in we go!”

“Aye aye, captain!” Maya was having fun with her role.

Back inside the tunnel once more, they stopped the boat and began looking around in hope of finding something out of the ordinary.

“You know, it kind of reminds me of your domain.” Steph glanced at her sister before focusing on the all-white walls around them again. “Just a bit fuzzier and mistier.”

“True.” Fen agreed with her. “It’s just as hard on the eyes, too.”

“Yes!” Everyone else felt the same.

“Shush!” The blonde didn’t appreciate the sudden shade she was getting. “Anyway, I’m not really sure what Kel means.” She ignored them and looked around some more. “The glowing other end of the tunnel aside, I don’t really notice anything that sticks out.”

“Yeah, everything looks the same to me.” Anna seemed just as confused. “Does anyone else notice anything out of the ordinary?”

“Not really.” Chloe, Steph, Ari, and the wolves all shook their heads.

“Does a slight shimmer count?” Maya pointed at the cloud wall to their right, roughly 100 meters down the tunnel. It was easy to miss, but a small patch of the wall had a very faint pearlescent glow to it. It was still mostly white, but there was also the tiniest hint of a shimmering pink and blue mixed in.

“That’s definitely a start!” Anna clapped her hands after hearing that the cat-girl spotted something.

“Woah, it’s so pretty!” They moved the boat right in front of the roughly ten-meter-wide pearlescent shimmer on the otherwise white wall, and Chloe really liked the look of it.

"Yes, it's amazing!" Sophia agreed with her. "Could this be what Kel was talking about?"

"Only one way to find out!" The princess got excited again. "Maya, would you be so kind as to try to steer us into that shimmering bit of cloud wall?"

“Aye aye, captain!”

Their guess ended up working, and the boat effortlessly slid through the pearlescent wall, but the maze seemed to be far from over. Instead of ending back on the open ocean or finally reaching the other side, the ground found themselves in a square room with even more choices to make before being able to advance.