Chapter 172: Escape

Serena was hanging on by a thread. At this point, her pinky was the only thing that was holding her from the wing devoured by the monsters that were beneath her.

Then, more monsters held on to her. She had reached her peak, and she could no longer hold onto the ledge. She fell to the horde of monsters below.

Serena was feeling regret as she felt the weightless feeling of falling. She did not want to die yet, not like this.

Just as she was about to lose hope, she suddenly saw a hand reaching out to her. It was Hugh.

Hugh held on to Serena's hand at the very last second. Serena was surprised to see him, especially since it looked like he would also fall at this rate.

Hugh was only hanging on to the ledge by his toes. He dived down towards Serena just to save her, but that led him to this precarious situation.

"Hold on," Hugh said as he exerted as much strength to try and bring both of them up.

Serena could see the strain that Hugh was feeling right now. She could see the bulging veins in his neck as it almost burst from over-exertion.

However, Hugh still had a hard time holding on. With little to no handle, he could not exert his full strength to bring Serena upwards.

His obesity did not help the situation. Right now, Hugh was only holding on by his pure strength. He was not using his armor to exert any strength.

He had used up his seconds of armor before. He was now only hanging on without any help while the armor was still at cooldown.

Serena was appreciative of the fact that Hugh saved her at the last second. However, at this rate, it seemed like both of them would fall to their dooms.

As Hugh was hanging on, he could tell that he was only moments away from regaining his armor. If he could hold out for a few more seconds, then he would be able to bring Serena and himself up.

However, by the things were going, it did not seem like Hugh would last long. His feet were losing traction in the ledge, and he was slipping at a very alarming rate.

Hugh used every bit of his concentration and strength to last on, but the cooldown was still not over.

Seeing how Hugh was having so much trouble, Serena decided that it was not worth it.

"Let me go," Serena said with a bitter smile on her face.

Hugh pretended to not hear what Serena said as he concentrated on his task of surviving.

"You don't have to die with me," Serena insisted. If she were to die today, then she would not be at peace knowing that she killed Hugh with her.

"SHUT UP!" Hugh could no longer hold his anger as he shouted at Serena.

It was infuriating to know that Serena had given up on her life. He was doing everything in his power to save both of them, but Serena just gave up like that.

However, that outburst was the last straw that broke the camel's back. Hugh's feet no longer had the traction to hold on to the ledge.

Hugh fell and took Serena with her.

As Serena and Hugh fell, Serena could only look at Hugh's idiotic actions. Hugh could have saved himself, but he strangely fell together with her.

He could have survived, but his stubbornness got the best of him.

However, Serena did not hate it. She appreciated Hugh's gesture as she saw him in another light. Maybe dying with him would not be so bad of an outcome.

Just as Serena and Hugh were falling to the ground, Serena suddenly felt hands on her waists.

When she looked down, she saw Hugh holding on to her tightly.

"Are you crazy?!" Serena shouted, but Hugh continued to hold on to her.

"Hold on to me!" Hugh shouted.

Before Serena could even answer, Hugh only looked at her deep in the eyes and showed him his sincerity. His eyes looked like he wanted her to trust him just this once.

Serena saw the perseverance and the sacrifice Hugh was willing to make. This gave her enough confidence to trust Hugh at this time of dire need.

Serena held on to Hugh for dear life. Then, she felt Hugh release his hands from her waist.

"When I say go, you jump as hard as you can, alright?" Hugh whispered in Serena's ears.

Serena did not know what Hugh was planning, but she nodded to agree with him.

Then, they both plummeted as Serena held on to Hugh's large body.

As they reached the ground, Serena waited for Hugh's word to jump. She already had the pink smoke on her legs ready to execute the strongest jump she could.

Then, they finally reached the sea of monsters below them. As Serena and Hugh were about to be devoured by the monsters, Serena heard Hugh shout.

"Go!"

At Hugh's command, Serena jumped as hard as she could. She used the heads of the monsters as a platform as she and Hugh got launched upwards.

Serena did not know what Hugh intended, but she knew that this jump would not be enough to reach the ledge.

They reached halfway towards the ledge as Serena expected. It was at this point that she calculated that they would soon come down. This was the law of gravity.

Serena closed her eyes. This was their last chance, but it was not enough.

*flap* *flap*

However, she did not feel the deceleration that she expected. Both of them continued to soar up towards the ledge.

Surprised by this unexpected breaking of the law of gravity, she looked up. Then she saw a feather fall towards her face.

When she saw where this feather came from, she was more than surprised. Her jaw almost fell to the floor.

Hugh's hands were currently gone and replaced by these mighty wings. It was brown and as wide as twice the height of a normal person.

Hugh continued to flap his eagle wings upwards as they finally reached the ledge.

Just as Hugh was about to lose leverage, they safely reached the ledge. If the ledge was anymore higher, or Serena's jump was any less high, then Hugh would not have reached the ledge.

Hugh and Serena tumbled on the ledge as they reached safety. They both took deep breaths as they had just brushed aside death and survived for another day.

Hugh especially was panting hard. He exerted a lot of his muscles and power just to survive, and now he just wanted to take a little nap.

However, Serena would not let him do that.

"Hugh! You have wings!" she shouted as she suddenly regained energy.

She crawled over towards Hugh and poked his wings. "Are these real?"

She seemed to be very fascinated with Hugh's wings. This was the first time she had ever seen this kind of thing, not to mention that this wing had also saved then from certain death.

Hugh did not answer and just transformed his wings back to his normal arms.

"Wow!" Serena uttered as she watched Hugh's wings transform back to normal arms.

"That's cool!"

Hugh and not answer and just sat upon the ground.

"If you could fly, why didn't you just do that before?" Serena asked.

"I can only fly by myself. If I have a passenger, it would be very hard to fly," Hugh answered.

"Then, how could you fly this time. I was hanging by your side, right?"

"That's why I asked you to jump. With that extra upward power, I was able to force you and me to fly towards the ledge."

"Wahhhh! I thought we would die…"

"Me too. I did not think my plan would work."

Serena smiled. She moved closer to him and patted his back.

"Is that what my savior should say? You were very cool today!" she said as she flashed a genuine smile on him.

Hugh was surprised. This was the first time he ever saw Serena smile like that. This was not like the smiles she had displayed in public or to any of her friends.

Her smile seemed out of this world. Her eyes turned into upside-down half-moons that seemed to convey her happiness better than her mouth.

It was at this moment that Hugh realized that Serena moved her face too close.

Hugh turned his head away to hide a slight blush on his cheeks.

"Whatever…"

————————

In the wide plains near the outskirts of the Cheroque kingdom, a wide span of soldiers looked on.

They continued to march on to the orders of the flag behind them. No matter the weather, they moved on as nothing hindered them.

Behind them was a carriage that was led on by black steeds who had fine hair.

"Finally, back home," the commander uttered as he watched the fine beauty of his kingdom.

"Wait a little bit more, and you will finally be mine. Hahaha….HAHAHA….HAHAHAHAHAHA!"