Chapter 312 (Patreon)

Chapter 312

Sophia and the others finally made it past the cloud wall and arrived at the archipelago Kel told them about. It was good for a bit of a surprise, too, as it was far from a normal cluster of islands. Many dozens of them were floating high in the sky while being suspended on pearlescent-glowing clouds. Naturally, they were eager to explore and used the blonde's portal skip to get on top of the biggest floating island.

“Now that I think about it, we probably should've decided on a meeting point with Kel before getting here, huh?" They were walking through the overgrown forest on top of the massive floating island when Sophia remembered how they had split up with the dragon earlier, and he swam up the waterfall to get up to where they were right now.

“He kind of dashed off before we could even think about that, though.” Chloe didn't think that would've worked out. "Will it really be that hard to find a 300-meter-long dragon on a floating island, though?"

“Fair point.” She couldn’t argue with that.

“Well, judging by the massive waterfall we saw before going up, there has to be a source of water on this island somewhere.” Steph tried to look in between the trees around them. “I guess we’ll run into a lake or something like that once we’re out of the forest.”

"Maya, your hearing is way too good, so can you hear any running water nearby?” The blonde looked at her while tilting her head.

“Why is way too good supposed to mean?!” She didn’t like the wording.

“Because you hear me scheming some mischief from way too far away!”

“SO TRUE!” Everyone except Ari agreed with Sophia.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” She lightly rolled her eyes. Afterward, the cat-girl closed her eyes and started concentrating. A few seconds later, her ears suddenly darted to the right of where they were standing. “That way!” She opened her eyes again and pointed in the same direction her ears moved.

“Let’s go!” Steph energetically raised her arm.

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“Seriously…?!” The group had been leisurely walking through the forest for about half an hour when things suddenly cleared up. However, Sophia and the others couldn’t quite believe what they saw right after leaving said forest.

“How is there a ruined city here?!” Steph had the same reaction as her sister. In front of them was yet another remnant of an ancient city that looked just like the ones they saw in the center of the monster country. Now that the view wasn’t obstructed by trees anymore, they also noticed that there was another big pearlescent cloud right above the ruins. It was even shinier than the ones the islands were floating on, too.

“The demons really built their cities in the most random places, huh?” Chloe nodded a few times. “It would be interesting to find out how they got here, though. It must’ve been a monumental task to make a city on a floating island!”

“Maybe the city was built before the island started floating?” Sophia scratched her cheek.

“Oh, that could be true!” The fox-girl liked the idea. “It would make sense that those islands haven’t always been in the sky.” She then paused for a moment. “Probably.”

“I don’t like the possible implication that someone or something made the islands float there.” Ari suddenly got a little nervous.

“I highly doubt these islands are of natural origin.” Fen shook his head. “Or at least the glowing clouds suspending them.”

“Absolutely.” Aura agreed with him. “The cloud maze we had to solve to get here definitely isn’t of natural origin, either.”

“Thanks for making me feel better!” The jaguar did not appreciate it.

“Could it be an old overseer playground?” Sophia felt like this was too much magic for a regular being.

“It definitely wasn’t made by a demon.” The female wolf shook her head. “I’m quite sure, even if I would know how, that I couldn’t do it myself.”

“Ohh, okay, it being the work of an overseer is a little calming.” Ari let out a relieved sigh because, after having gotten to know Mira, overseers aren’t scary to her anymore. “No one dares to mention any other possible options now! I’ll attack you otherwise!” She then glared at Fen for some reason.

“The urge to do so is high, but I’ll refrain for the time being.” He let out a small chuckle.

As there was no way to get an answer to that question, the group put it on hold for the time being and decided to get a closer look at the ruins to see if there was anything standing out in there.

“It doesn’t seem quite as old as the ruins in the monster country, huh?” The group was walking along the main road of the ancient place when Chloe noticed that the houses around them weren’t looking quite as deteriorated.

“Seems like it.” Steph nodded a few times. “Though, it could also be because the place is more protected up here.”

“Oh, that could be true, too!” The fox could follow her logic. “Also, no griffins that use it as a playground.”

“By the way, what are you up to?” Maya wasn’t too interested in the architecture and kept looking at Sophia instead.

“What do you mean?” She looked confused as she returned her gaze.

“Nuh-uh!” The cat-girl stared right at her. “Don't feign ignorance now! I see the small sparkling pearlescent clouds wherever you step below your feet! You're already trying to replicate whatever is going on here, aren't you?"

“Ahh!” The blonde lightly clapped her hands as she finally understood what she meant and looked at her feet. “Fun story there, I have no idea what’s going on there, either. It’s definitely not me who’s causing that.”

“But it’s only happening wherever you step, though.” She didn’t believe her.

“Well, what can I say? I know as much as you do about it.” Sophia awkwardly scratched her cheek. “I noticed it a minute or two ago that my steps are feeling a little floaty, but I have no idea how, why, or where the clouds are coming from."

“Mhmm…” Maya wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

“If this place really is made by an overseer, maybe it’s reacting to the presence of another one?” Aura looked around for a moment before focusing on the short tiger.

“I am not an overseer, though.” Sophia rolled her eyes in return.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah…” She let out a sigh. “You don’t have enough authority and no title or whatever, but you still feel, act, and smell like one.”

“Exactly!” Everyone agreed with the wolf.

“…” She had little to say there. “WAIT! What do you mean by that I SMELL like one?!”

“You smell powerful.”

“I guess that’s not the worst smell to have.” Sophia was relieved that it wasn’t something weird. “Anyway, why would an overseer create something that would react to other people with a selection of overseer powers?”

“You tell me.” Aura just stared at her. “Judging from my experiences with overseers and pseudo-overseers so far, you all are whimsical enough to do stuff like that just because.”

“…” The blonde went silent again. “I dislike the part where I can’t say anything here."

“Heh.” She reacted with a triumphant chuckle.

“What is the purpose, though?” Chloe also looked at the small clouds under Sophia’s feet.

“Beats me.” She shrugged again. “As I said, it makes walking feel a little floaty. It's actually kind of nice. It adds some spring to my steps. I used to have a pair of running shoes that made me feel similar.” The short tiger scratched her cheek. “I should get a new pair of those the next time I’m on Earth again. I forgot how nice it feels.”

“What kind of sense does it make for an overseer to make walking for a fellow colleague more enjoyable, though?” The fox felt like she was missing something. “This seems quite random, doesn’t it?”

“Since when do overseers make sense to you?” Fen just stared at her. “Also, being random is their specialty.” He then took a quick glance at Sophia.

"Yeah, I think I spoke too soon.”

“It’s one of those days again, huh?” The blonde felt being teased more than usual.

“Yep, it’s a day that ends with y.” Aura nodded a few times.

The group continued exploring the ruins, and Sophia spent most of the time pouting, but her mood instantly changed once they arrived at the city’s place. To confusion, that is.

“Okay, now I’m curious.” Everything around Sophia had stopped moving because she had stopped time. Right when she was in the very center of the plaza, the small clouds under her feet had turned into a one-by-one-meter platform that tried to catapult her directly into the massive pearlescent cloud in the sky above them. There was even something that looked like a tube of clouds directly above her that seemingly should guide her up. However, she instinctively knew that something was up once she felt the rapid acceleration below her and stopped time as a response.

Naturally, she was definitely going to find out what was going on up there, but she also learned from previous incidents and decided against simply disappearing to satisfy her curiosity. Instead, Sophia walked over to Maya and unfroze time for her, as well.

“Why did you stop time…?” The cat-girl looked around and quickly noticed that the two were alone. “Wait! Did you get horny?! Let’s go!” She immediately started unbuttoning her skirt. "It's been a while since we last did it like that!"

“Shush.” The blonde lightly karate-chopped her head before pointing at the small platform and the cloud cylinder above them. “Not right now. Also, it's only been a week at best.”

“What is that?” Extremely disappointed, she tilted her head.

“An excellent question.” Sophia didn’t have a good answer for it yet. “The platform suddenly appeared below my feet and tried to catapult me upwards into the cloud when I stopped time. The tunnel thingy above is probably to guide me?”

“Why though?!”

“An even better question.” She could only shrug. “Something or someone probably wants to meet me.”

“That sounds super scary!” Maya didn’t like any of that.

“Well, it’s not an overseer because they or their magic wouldn’t be affected by my time stop.”

“That doesn’t make it better!”

“You’re probably also not going to like that I’ll go up there to look, huh?”

“I very much do not like that!” The cat-girl vigorously shook her head. “What if it’s dangerous?!”

“More dangerous than myself?” She paused for a second. “Someone who stopped time before they could even get close to me?”

“…” She stared at her for a little while. “You are kind of overpowered.

“Just a little~.” The blonde gave her a cheeky thumbs-up. “Also, I’d like to get some praise for telling you beforehand instead of simply disappearing.”

“Yeah, that was pretty nice. Thank you very much for that.”

“So, can I go?”

“Fine…” Maya hung her head in defeat. “Be careful, though!”

“Of course~.”

“Also, I demand some time-stop sex once you’re back!” She then raised her voice. “You got my hopes up earlier, and now I'm turned on!"

“When are you not turned on?”

“That is unrelated to the matter at hand~.”

“Sure.” Sophia lightly rolled her eyes, but she did not deny her demand. “Fine, anyway, tell the others, okay?”

Afterward, the tiger stepped back on the platform and resumed time. In that very moment, the solid cloud under her feet regained all its momentum and catapulted her high into the air in a near instant.