Falling Object from High Altitude

"Red?!"

Linsey immediately realized what the bat meant.

As he pursued the Lizard Dragon on the ground, he signaled to Shanks as agreed.

And the subsequent events that this action triggered were...

The bat followed the broken passage underground, then tracked its master's location, finally appearing at this crucial moment in the broken passage above its head.

And Hong, who had made the agreement...

Linsey felt a chill and changed his observation point on the map based on the bat's flight path.

It was densely packed with red.

Each marker corresponds to a Lizard Dragon ready to launch an attack.

However, a very conspicuous green dot was mixed in among them.

She charged wildly from one end of the tunnel, and the Red Marker along her path went out one by one, like traffic lights.

Red, following the bat's trail, fought her way here and was about to jump into the cave.

"Ah?"

Linsey was completely dumbfounded, a jumble of chaotic thoughts popping into her mind.

Will a person die from falling hundreds of meters in the air? Because of air resistance, free fall cannot accelerate indefinitely; there is an upper limit.

Even so, is this kind of impact something a person can withstand with their body alone?

Moreover, can this kind of physical law apply to another world?

"Jumping straight down from such a height... you can fly, can't you?!"

Linsey cursed.

At the same time, he integrated countless thoughts into one idea—to save people.

Linsey rushed over immediately, and fortunately he was fast enough to spot a black dot falling straight down in the air.

Red, as expected, still can't fly.

As they fall in free fall, the distance between them rapidly closes.

Soon, even the pitch-black underground space could not obstruct the view.

Linsey saw the other person first. The girl was holding a [Wood Poison Javelin] and was covered in Lizard Dragon blood. Her fiery red eyes shone brightly in the darkness, and she immediately spotted Linsey as well.

The next second—

"Linsey, you're so tall!"

Hong spreads her arms in the air:

"Your bat was guiding me just fine before, how did it suddenly lead me to jump off a cliff?"

So it's my fault? Linsey's lips curled into a smirk, but the situation was urgent, and he didn't even have time to curse this guy.

He quickly dug a hole in the ground and filled it with clean water.

Immediately afterwards, the [Ancient Tree Crest] was activated, and a tall tree-man appeared in the dark underground.

The water that filled the ground was just an additional measure.

The key to saving a falling target is cushioning the impact.

Otherwise, if the height is high enough, even if it falls on the water, it will be no different from hitting solid ground.

Linsey's chosen buffer was the branches of his tree-man form.

It stretched its lush canopy forward, lying horizontally directly beneath the falling red blossoms.

Snap! — Crack! Crack! — Splash! A series of sounds rang out in front of me.

Linsey felt like she had lost a lot of hair on her head, or rather, it should be called twigs now.

Fortunately, the tree-man has a strong ability to recover and quickly grew back.

Meanwhile, Hong, who had broken a bunch of tree branches and ended up in the water, also crawled out, soaking wet.

She wiped the wet, sticky water off her face.

Then, with a look of utter surprise, he looked at Linsey, who had just transformed back into a human from her treant form:

"Linsey, what exactly is going on?"

"I followed the bats as agreed, but I encountered a lot of lizards along the way!"

Linsey looked at Red up close.

Hong kept her promise to the two of them 100% before they parted ways.

However, the price was that the girl who ventured into the underground alone was covered in injuries. If it weren't for her Awakened Constitution, she would probably have great difficulty even moving her body now.

"Next time you encounter such a dangerous situation, at least try to avoid it."

Linsey shook her head slightly and immediately took out a plaster from her bag and applied it to the other person.

"And the fighting here is incredibly fierce."

"Even if you want to come down, you can't just jump down so recklessly, can you?"

Hong smiled nonchalantly.

"If I had come any slower, and you had encountered danger, wouldn't that have been troublesome?"

Having explained her actions, the girl looked at the still churning earth and rocks, and gently changed the subject. "What exactly is going on with Linsey?"

Linsey grabbed Red's hand and ran north.

"Come with me, we'll talk as we walk."

"..."

The battle between the Lizard Dragon Leader and the Eyeless People elder continues.

On the way away from the battlefield, Linsey also told Red about the news she had gained.

Hong makes no attempt to hide her desire.

Upon hearing the secret of the rapid advancement of Dragon Beast in Crystal Valley, the girl said excitedly:

"Something that can help people quickly advance to the Sixth Stage or even Seventh Stage!"

"Linsey, if we get it..."

"I advise you not to think that way," Linsey poured cold water on Red's idea. "Unless it's something immovable and constant, we're unlikely to get the same benefits since the Dragon Beast have already enjoyed them."

The former star, faced with such a blow, would probably have fallen into a slump.

But her current way of thinking is starting to resemble Linsey's, so she immediately came up with another idea. "Even if we can't become stronger, we can still understand the enemy better!"

Linsey did not deny this:

"I don't see any problem with that."

Boom! As the two were communicating, the ground beneath their feet suddenly trembled again.

The two Sixth Stage powerhouses near the Salt River were still fighting, and even if you ran far away, you could still feel their movements.

Hong immediately frowned and exclaimed, "Linsey, is the difference between Sixth Stage and Fifth Stage really that big?"

Her situation is similar to Linsey's.

Although they had encountered the Tree Mother of Starshine Forest, her situation was unique.

The Eyeless People elder and the Lizard Dragon Leader fighting without restraint at this moment truly made people feel the despairing gap in power emanating from this high-ranking being.

Linsey tidied up her language:

"One of my teachers once told me that awakened beings begin to enjoy the title of Ascender after reaching the Fifth Stage."

"At the time, I didn't have a very clear feeling about this change."

"But now it seems that this so-called upgrade is probably the most accurate description."

"Each advancement from the Fifth Stage onwards signifies a change that was unimaginable in the past."

As Linsey shared her thoughts, she was also filled with emotion.

The existence of the Sixth Stage means that a real battle would result in a scene of earth-shattering destruction.

Dragon Beast at the Seventh Stage can even influence the entire world through advancement!

So what level is the Eighth Stage? In Nal Kebandek, the main city of the War School, what level of power does the Invincible King, who is at the Ninth Stage, possess?

Linsey also wanted to exchange some views with Red.

Before he could say anything more, a faint sound came from the tunnel behind them:

"Hiss, hiss—"