Antagonist Protection Service

Across the chained isles of dead woodland, rising constantly upwards at a rate that held no concern for whoever might be clinging to the side, corpses of monsters half-stuck in the ground, buried under ashes and dirt, littered the aberrant battlefield.

White worms, only comparable to the length and girth of any moderately-sized snake from the Earth before the Tower; their aversive, slimy bodies ringed in countless segments were all cleaved through one way or another, and yet remained writhing even off the back of death.

Leaking small streams of consequential green and purple blood, the residual forces of life dripping from the revolting monsters all flowed to the edge of the island, descending as a cascade of miniature waterfalls to the next, until all that was left was the trailing river of plasma and the adjacent void below.

Across that conclusive battlefield, the sound of soft flesh being pierced could be heard, followed by the transient roaring of a flame, and finally, a voice containing just a miniscule amount of strain.

"―Last one over here! Are you two both alright over there?"

Turning his head, the blond figure's sight captured two others, a man and a woman, who themselves appeared to have just finished with identical opponents.

Nodding to himself at their evident safety, he warned them again.

"Watch out for their blood."

They were all already aware of the sickly-coloured blood's properties, but there was no harm in reminding them.

Without sparing a single caring glance down to his own body, he first confirmed his party were unharmed before making his way over to them.

In the process of that, he inadvertently stepped into a drooping puddle of the murky stuff, disturbing its downwards flow and soiling the boots of his armour.

The figure's pristine white armour, resembling that of a holy knight from another world, was not sullied for long, and without even himself realising it was dirtied in the first place, an identical white glow emanated from just that trainted spot, cleansing the blight in a matter of moments.

Grasped within the man's dominant right hand, he wielded an iconic azure spear, with which he jammed firmly into the side of the island, using it as a sort of temporary climbing hook to traverse the skewed land.

See, on this particular island, the island "leading" the rest of the pack, and the one from which they could obtain the best view of what lay ahead, there were no trees such as with the previous woodland, dead or alive.

Only the small hills and valleys of the land itself, which was fortunately rugged and undulating enough to be used in the same manner, was stopping them from falling all the way back down, or further.

The man, whose name surely went unrecognised by not a single soul who was familiar with either cable television or the internet, quickly reached his two teammates, waiting for him near the periphery of this leading island.

"John...!"

One of them called out―a young woman with two katars by her wrists, seemingly held in place by her clothing to replicate the function of a cat's retractable claws. Her clothing which, while bearing a theme of dark blue, undoubtedly appeared designed to prioritise agility.

"Sophie."

Nodding to her smile and replying in kind, John Pierce then cast a glance to their third compatriot, a likewise youthful man with clothes a peculiar mix between a magician's silk robes and a vanguard's sturdy armour.

Strangely, or perhaps not so much, his only visible weapon was a simple sheathed dagger at his side.

"Anders. Are either of you hurt anywhere?"

All of the worms had been eradicated, but there wasn't time to idle. The Objective wasn't over, and before they could even think about what would come after, they still had to figure out what on earth the stated 'Salvation' was...

So, after a quick confirmation that everyone was in good shape, they should――

RUMBLEE~!!

Before any answer could be returned, however, an extraordinary weight was felt impacting the island, causing the three to stagger.

"Ngh...!"

"Aah...!?"

"Sophie!"

Due to her unstable position, the sudden quake knocked Sophie to the ground, promptly sending her to roll down the slanted hill they were positioned atop, allowing no purchase.

There was no time to think or reconsider―With tightly gritted teeth, John Pierce dove, his azure spear penetrating deep into the ground as his outstretched hand snatched that of his falling comrade, the earth-stabbing spear barely holding the two's weight dangling from it's shaft above the trailing isles below.

The ruling hand of gravity tugging on them rather intensely, John Pierce paid it no heed and, with the singular arm he had to clutch onto the spear handle, began exerting his full might to pull the both of them back up to safety.

Even if they fell, it's not like there was a guarantee that death would follow.

However, even to the very next island behind them, it really was a long way down, and even if they managed to successfully break their fall with something like a dead tree sticking out of the ground, there was no doubt that the time spent returning wouldn't be the only consequence.

More than anything else, though, was the source of that sound.

That eerie, awfully disturbing sound, comparable to a rapid show of fireworks.

"Tsk! Get up here quick! It's coming!"

The distressed plea of Anders cutting through the thunderous noise coming from somewhere they couldn't see, John Pierce pulled harder, the shaft of the spear now barely reaching his chin.

The islands were still drifting, undoubtedly so, but something had changed. Even while he was there, hurriedly pulling himself and his comrade back up to safety, with the unfitting sound akin to exploding fireworks looming in the background, of which the vibrations could be felt vividly through the ground right beside them, there was no question about it.

After just a matter of seconds, John Pierce successfully pulled himself to atop the sturdy spear shaft, and then again to the adjoined hill, Sophie following just a 'step' behind as he pulled her high enough to grab onto the spear herself.

With the three of them back to one group, John Pierce promptly retrieved the spear from its spot dug into the ground, its exceptionally sharp tip appearing to almost melt into water to smoothen that process, then turning to Anders who must have caught a glimpse of what caused the incident.

"Anders, what's going o--"

"John! My fog won't work here; the islands have increased their speed―it'll just flow right down the side like running water. That thing also didn't look the type to welcome physical attacks, so you'll have to take--"

RUMBLE~!

The hastily-worded man did not possess the permission to fully explain what 'it' was, it seemed, and while John Pierce himself was also still belatedly contemplating the former's words, another tremor occurred.

This time, he reacted quickly―shoving the spear back into the ground, he clutched the end with one hand and snatched the hand of Sophie with the other, immediately pulling her close before the risk of slipping was even allowed, and even Anders bringing one hand up for security.

"Gh..."

He hadn't yet seen with his own eyes what exactly 'it' was that shook the island so, but with the mention of the island's increasing pace, he belatedly began to realise it was indeed true, albeit hard to distinguish with the unmoving void as the backdrop.

And, if the islands truly were speeding up, it meant one thing.

'...! The Objective!'

'Before the islands reached their destination.'

Like that, he found the answer.

Snapping his head to look upwards, craning his neck towards the very direction of where the islands were flowing to, he laid eyes again on the two patches of land arising all by their lonesome from the surrounding void.

On the left, a cluster of snowy mountains; on the right, a cluster of volcanoes leaking lava――blankets of congruent sky positioned above them, forming a scene as if pockets of two worlds had been plucked and placed by a transcendental entity.

The river of plasma that flowed between those lands―wherever it led was a place that would only serve to bring them closer and closer to that forbidden 'destination'.

Then, those pocket worlds...

"...'Salvation'."

A mutter so light it was barely comprehensible, such a sound fell from John Pierce's whispering lips.