Chapter 278 Rough Journey
Maria unconsciously caught the unconscious Mira and couldn't help but feel worried about her. She ended up checking her body for any injuries but was both surprised and glad to find that Mira was perfectly fine. Actually, she was more than fine, to an abnormal degree.
Her body was covered in muscles that her baby-like skin simply couldn't hide. Even though her body was the size of a child around 9-years old, that's the only thing about her that seemed young. Her muscles felt like they were forged out of steel. Her skin, although soft, also felt like they were forged out of silk as tough as metal. Her face also looked like it was forged beyond perfection. Maria could say with absolute confidence that no matter the age, gender, or sexual orientation, Mira would be able to attract anyone and everyone with just her face alone.
Maria also noticed her hair was darker at the roots and the aura she now exuded was different than before. If before she just gave off an ice-cold and unapproachable feeling, now she gave off an icy death-like aura that gave one the feeling they would be encased in ice until they died and even beyond that.
However, Maria didn't care about any of this! When she realized that Mira was fine and only seemed to be exhausted, she couldn't help herself and started checking out her cute loli body! She might never get this chance again and who knows when or if her body will grow up, so she needs to get her fill in now while she's still unconscious!
She picked her up in a princess carry and started rubbing her hair, pinching her cheeks, pinching her nose, and was even imagining the different clothes she can dress Mira up in while she was still unconscious.
Meanwhile, Celaine and Elenei were looking at this scene and were unsure of what to do. At first, they were worried about Mira, but looking at Maria acting like a creepy pervert all of a sudden, they knew she was fine and was just tired.
However, they weren't sure if they should stop Maria from doing… whatever it is that she was doing or if they should ignore it and go on with their day.
In the end, they decided to ignore it. Out of sight, out of mind.
Suddenly, Elenei's head perked up as she sensed numerous beasts running in their direction.
"It looks like we got company. Why don't you guys hop on my back and we can finally get out of here? Our journey will still take a while and I'll slow down a bit so Mira can sleep without any difficulties, making the journey slightly longer as well."
Celaine and Maria nodded their heads as they also didn't want to stay here any longer. They also knew that Mira would definitely agree with this plan if she were still awake. Soon, the two of them hopped on Elenei's back with Mira still in Maria's arms. The Phoenix didn't waste any more time and immediately took flight in the direction they were heading towards, to begin with.
Maria and Celaine looked down and saw hundreds of beasts charging at their previous position like… well… wild beasts. They were shocked seeing this scene as they didn't understand why those beasts would even run towards their position. There was literally nothing there!
However, what confused them, even more, was that when the beasts didn't find what they were looking for, they looked up at the sky and started roaring at them!
"What the fuck?! What's wrong with those beasts? Why do they have those looks like we slaughtered their entire family? I don't even remember killing any beasts over the last week or so!"
"They are acting a bit strange. However, I doubt it was a coincidence that they encroached on the area that Mira just returned from. Maybe she has some treasure on her that they want or maybe she just smells really good to beasts? I don't know. Elenei, do you feel anything different?"
"I don't feel like eating her if that's what you want to know."
The three of them thought in silence for a bit before they decided to stop thinking about it. They can ask Mira about it when she finally wakes.
In the end, they just went back to what they were doing. Maria started pulling out dresses for the unconscious Mira to wear, Celaine started meditating, and Elenei focused on flying.
However, not long after they were once again disturbed by something.
"Incoming!!!"
Elenei warned the two of them and before they could even react, a bunch of eagle-like beasts started bombarding them! Luckily, Elenei was a Phoenix so they didn't have to worry about much as she just dodged a few and killed a few before going on her merry way again.
"Again!? We just barely started flying and we're already being attacked by eagles! What's strange is that they straight up ignored Elenei's natural overbearing Phoenix aura and kept charging at us! What the hell did Mira eat that made her so delectable in front of these creatures!?"
Maria exclaimed and started smelling Mira to see if she could tell a difference, but other than her natural pure and untainted smell, she didn't smell anything that made her want to attack her even if it meant death.
Elenei and Celaine were both a little curious and also worried at the same time, but they could do nothing other than wait for Mira to wake up. They thought that maybe since they are still close to that 'unique biome' the beasts can still sense something important on or about her. They could only hope that things would be better once they get a bit farther away…
Unfortunately, they are in for a world of disappointment because for the next week they ran into one unfortunate encounter after another.
Sometimes they would be flying over a group of people and those people's attack would miss their target, to the point that it seemed to be aimed at them.
Most aerial beasts they encountered would try and kill them.
If they landed, a group of bandits would be in the area for some reason and start attacking them.
Hell, they even encountered a massive storm that basically forced them to either go around it or land on the ground and wait it out. Sure, Elenei could probably pass through it without much difficulty, but with their shit luck, one of them would definitely be struck by lightning! Neither of them really wanted that to happen so they opted to wait out the storm.
But that didn't seem good enough as the storm seemed to be hellbent on chasing them! Maria, Elenei, and Celaine just had to say "fuck it" and charge into the storm while creating barriers around their body to prevent any lightning from hitting them.
Luckily they chose to do so because as they traveled through the storm, they were repeatedly struck by lightning almost like it was searching for them!
"Fuck! Mira, what did you eat?! Even the world seems to want to kill you!!"
Maria cursed while forming several barriers around her to prevent another lightning strike from hitting her and Mira.
Luckily, it didn't take them more than a day to make it out of the storm and after that little event, they stopped encountering so many things and were able to fly with relative peace. Though that didn't mean those unfortunate events stopped completely.
It wasn't until 9 days after Mira returned did she finally wake up from her slumber.