Depthless Hunger

Chapter 103: The Air Above Monskon City

No one on the walls cheered for Kai anymore, but he kept fighting. Given the way some stared at him, he supposed that he should be grateful they weren't actively targeting him. There had only been one ominously powerful attack that had been deflected, otherwise he was left to his battle.

Which, to his surprise, seemed to be ebbing. For a time it had felt like the monsters would keep coming forever, but the horde had begun to trail off. The area where Kai and Zae Zin Nim had fought was piled with monster corpses. If he wasn't still under watch by the city's defenders, he would have tried consuming some of them to see if it strengthened him.

Not that he really needed it. Between Aquagorgon's Health and Gomodo's Stamina, he was surprised just how long he had been able to maintain the same intensity of fighting. Zae Zin Nim had kept up remarkably well, but when she sat down on a rocky monster's corpse to take a break, he moved to guard her.

"Is that the end of it?" she asked between breaths.

"Can't say." Kai killed a nearby boar absentmindedly while he examined the horizon around Monskon City. "I remember the incursions when I was younger, there was a long slow period. The hunters weren't worried about the defense of the city, but no one was allowed to go outside."

"Given what we saw out there..."

"Yes, that's the real danger. There could still be dangerous monsters coming amid these last few. Plus, the ones that got past us have probably formed an army by the southern gate, so as soon as we... wait, what is that?"

Kai jumped on top of one of the larger piles and shielded his eyes with his hand to try to see better. There was a flying ship rising from the wall of the city. For a moment his heart leapt as he realized that Inafay and the other young hunters must have returned. Then he realized that the ship was slowly turning, its bow sweeping away from the city as if it meant to depart.

One of the defenders from the wall leapt to try to get on board. They barely managed to cling to the railing and slowly pulled themselves up, only to be pushed back down by a guard. An outcry rose from the city wall and the ship pulled further away so others couldn't make the same attempt.

"Retreating?" Zae Zin Nim stood up beside him and regarded the ship.

"Just running away." Kai couldn't see anyone on the deck, but he was sure of it. "They think the city is lost so they're abandoning it."

"And I suppose, given your overactive sense of justice, you don't want to let them?"

"This isn't about justice, it's about strategy. With that ship, we could drop projectiles over the main body of the horde. For that matter, we could take fragile Classes close enough to do more damage... but there's not much we can do about it."

"I might be able to get you up there." Zae Zin Nim began walking closer to the wall, peering as if judging the distance. "If you can get high enough, I can impart a dull qi impact."

"Can you really?" He followed, then began to run when she did.

"It would be a bad idea with anyone else, but you're stupidly durable. There aren't many more monsters here, so we might as well try now. They'll be out of reach if they fly too much higher."

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The ship was indeed beginning to rise now that it had gotten away from the city wall. Kai wasn't entirely sure what Zae Zin Nim intended and decided that he would have to trust her. He'd get himself in the right direction, then trust that she could provide the force to get him the rest of the way.

"I must point out," Zae Zin Nim said as they got close, "that this is another problem that would be immediately solved if we had a flying vehicle."

"If you get me up there, we could try to take it."

When he hit the side of the city wall, he began running up it. He only managed a few steps, but with his new strength that propelled him into the air over twice his height. Just when he reached the peak of his jump and worriedly looked down, he saw Zae Zin Nim leaping up at him.

Her palm hit his boot and a circle of blue fire expanded from it. Unlike most of her palm strikes, this one didn't strike his inner body, only propelled him upward. His leg had gone cold, but he was hurtling higher than he'd ever jumped before, directly toward the side of the airship.

He hit hard enough that the wood cracked and barely grabbed the rigging. As he clambered his way up, the guards on the deck stared in shock. As they started getting their weapons ready, Kai managed to vault up the last distance and wrestle them both to the ground.

After seeing them push away a fleeing civilian, Kai wanted to hurl the guards over the edge, but he restrained himself. All his wrath needed to be saved for whoever had ordered the flying ship to retreat instead of helping in the battle. Across the deck he saw only clan officials and chests filled with goods, not even as many people as the ship should have been capable of carrying.

"You!" The enormous Orgoron hunter bearing a hammer thrust it in his direction. "How could you give up your humanity and join monsters?"

"I'm still on your side!" As Kai objected, he spent more time looking around the deck, because he didn't expect this to end with words. A few areas were blocked from his sight by boxes, but he didn't think there was any way to control the ship on the deck. Then he needed to look below.

"Your blood will be the next spilled, you miserable... now!"

The call gave Kai a second of forewarning, but not enough. Vines erupted out of pure mana, not breaking the deck as they lashed around all four of his limbs. Now he spotted her off to the side: the woman who controlled vines had been getting into position for a perfect strike.

He should have known the two of them would be working together. Now he was being stretched in four directions while the man with the hammer rushed in to deal a finishing blow.

Solely with his human strength, Kai would have been sorely pressed to defeat the two. They both had power in the 70s and they worked well as a team, so they might be able to make up the gap in strength.

But they had clearly heard more about his monstrous nature than actually seen it. Kai flexed his full strength and tore free of the vines just before the hammer struck his face. He ducked just underneath it and rammed his shoulder into the larger man's chest, sending him flipping overhead and into his partner. They both crashed to the deck and Kai was on them in an instant.

"If you're so concerned about the monster horde," he said as he dragged them to the edge, "then do something about it!"

As he threw them both over the side of the flying ship, he realized that might have been reckless. He hadn't had time to examine their Physique Levels or to check how high the ship had flown. Fortunately, it looked like they hadn't risen far: the two hunters crashed into the city wall and started to fall before the woman grew more vines to slow their descent.

Ultimately, though, he wasn't going out of his way to help them. If they had been willing to abandon Monskon City despite everything it had given them, they were cowards.

When he turned back, all the guards and officials were staring at him. Kai didn't really know much about sailing ships and considered demanding information from someone, then decided that would be a waste of time. The only way to search was down, so he pulled away some sort of wooden grating and jumped down to the level below.

He landed in a hold that seemed to be mostly filled with supplies. No guards, and only a few passengers behind him. There were none at all toward the front, so he immediately turned his attention there. When he pushed through the door, he discovered a large room at the front of the ship, glowing with many colors of mana. Most emerged from a device that must have controlled the ship, being used by a slim figure.

"Oh Kai..." Inafay Corinin turned to him and her face fell. "I didn't want to believe it was true..."