World's Last Hope

"Sorry?" Eric asked, questioning if he had heard what Olivia proclaimed accurately.

Without saying anything, Aria whispered something and then jumped, falling into the ravine.

"You heard me right!" Olivia proclaimed with a smirk. In the next instant, she kicked Eric's bottom, sending him flying down the ravine.

"You're all insane!" Eric shouted, but his voice was swallowed by the darkness of the ravine.

Above him, he could hear Olivia's laughter. She had also jumped into the ravine.

"If you want to survive in a place as bizarre as this, you have to be a bit insane to stand a chance!" she responded.

Eric, with no experience falling from such heights, began spinning uncontrollably in the air, disorienting his mind.

'I'm going to die, either by hitting the ground or by touching that darkness at the bottom of the ravine.'

The wind blasted his face and ears, drowning out every sound except the rushing air.

That was until something caught his leg in mid-air, suddenly stopping his spin. Looking up, he saw Olivia, who had climbed onto a massive worm-like creature.

She had used some kind of whip to wrap around his leg, while Aria sat near the head of the creature, holding what looked like reins made of light to command it.

Olivia began slowly drawing the rope closer, pulling Eric toward her.

'Man, I'm going to puke.'

Finally reaching the body of the worm, Eric leaned to the side and threw up all the food in his stomach.

Olivia burst into laughter, nearly doubling over as she watched him.

"At least warn me next time!" he proclaimed angrily.

Suppressing her laughter, Olivia responded with a grin, "At least now we're even."

Eric wouldn't have let the issue slide so easily if he weren't mesmerized by the sight around him. He was standing on the back of a flying worm, soaring over an endless sea of darkness.

"What is this? Nothing makes sense!"

"We did warn you nothing would, right?" Aria replied.

"Princess!" Olivia turned her head to Aria. "You should've seen the face Eric made. Oh, it was priceless!"

"How the hell can you even manage to command a Grade-4 creature?! Isn't it supposed to be close to your level of strength?"

"Eric, we aren't called the strongest masters without a reason. This is one of my miracles at play," Aria explained.

"Don't underestimate us, oh 'chosen one,'" Olivia said with a smirk.

"If you're done playing, get ready to fight," Aria commanded, her sudden tone making Eric's body tense.

"Fight? Here? Against what?"

Without answering, Aria pointed forward. When Eric focused on where she was pointing, his eyes widened, and his face turned deathly pale.

"Is… is that a goddamn dragon?!" Eric shouted in disbelief.

"No," Olivia answered immediately. "This is a dragon herd."

Shifting his gaze, Eric realized she was right. There were at least seven dragons flying toward them.

The dragons were massive, their scales shining as if forged from metal, and their wings spread wide enough to cover the entire sky. Their glowing eyes radiated hostility, while their sharp teeth seemed ready to tear apart anything they could reach.

"How the hell am I supposed to fight a flying army? I don't even have a bow or anything!" Eric exclaimed.

"Then use this," Olivia responded, stretching out her hand. A black bow appeared out of thin air.

Eric hesitated for a moment before taking it. He was about to ask about arrows when she stopped him.

"You just have to draw the bow, and an arrow will appear." After a pause, she added with a grin, "Oh, by the way, I hope your aim is good because there's a penalty for missing your shots."

He was about to ask what penalty she meant, but Aria's sudden shout interrupted him.

"Brace yourselves!"

Olivia turned her attention forward, summoning another bow and began firing arrow after arrow. Eric tried to follow her example but realized that balancing on the back of a flying worm while trying to shoot a bow—something he had no prior experience with—was incredibly difficult.

But with no choice, all he could do was try.

Tightening his grip around the bow with his right hand, he used his left to draw the string. Instantly, a dark arrow materialized, ready to be fired.

Eric exhaled, relaxing his muscles, and released the arrow. It shot through the air at staggering speed… and missed its mark completely. Suddenly, Eric's chest hurt, forcing him to clutch it with one hand.

'Is this the penalty Olivia was talking about?! It feels like I'm having a heart attack!'

He wanted to complain, but seeing the dragons only a few hundred meters away left him no choice but to keep fighting.

The dragons opened their jaws, light glowing inside their mouths.

"They're going to fire!" he shouted.

The next moment, Aria yanked the reins, forcing the worm to dive downward. Eric nearly flew off, but he managed to summon his sword and stab it into the worm's body, anchoring himself. The worm shuddered slightly but didn't react, as if it were under some kind of mind control.

Summoning the sword caused all kinds of desires to flood Eric's mind, but the strongest one was the will to survive. This singular focus gave him the motivation to keep going.

Aria seemed proficient in leading the worm, skillfully steering it to avoid the dragons' fiery breath. However, the worm was descending rapidly, and if their trajectory didn't change soon, they would hit the bottom of the ravine and touch the ominous darkness below.

Gritting her teeth, Aria yanked hard on the reins, forcing the worm to pull upward. They came within mere meters of the ground before managing to avoid the abyss. Now, the worm soared forward once more, narrowly escaping the danger.

For a moment, Eric thought they had evaded the threat, but when he turned around, he saw the dragons still on their tail.

Seeing the deadly eyes of these mythical creatures made Eric freeze for a moment until Olivia's shout snapped him out of it.

"Less daydreaming, more shooting!" she commanded, drawing her bowstring yet again.

Eric cursed under his breath and tried to follow her lead.

"There's no way we're dying to a bunch of lizards!" he cried out, trying to motivate himself.