Zane didn't know how long he'd been walking. He speculated it had been around two hours. His watch was covered by the suit, thus he was clueless.
The fake gravity-like feeling was rooting him and the gentlets to the ground. Zane already knew it was fake and didn't understand why it was affecting him. He could only conclude that a memory of gravity had been placed all around this place—this memory was like the air memory he was breathing.
Zane wanted to ask questions, but he couldn't. After all, he was in a vacuum; no sounds could be transferred.
Zane had even contemplated jumping into a nearby dream bubble for a quick chat, though they were far away and unreachable. Zane now wondered how he'd gotten into one, or how gentlets hunted memories from the bubbles that floated in the sky, moving in the opposite direction from where Zane was heading.
Zane now wished he'd asked where Eryndor was or how to get there before embarking on this terrifyingly silent journey. All he could do now was regret and walk.
His feet were sore; pain shot through them with every step. Zane had grown accustomed to breathing the air memory.
They were moving in a straight line with Cozysprouts at the front and Zane at the back.
It was only after an hour when Cozysprouts stopped. He then looked toward his right at a specific point.
Seeing this, Zane also diverted his gaze to where Cozysprouts was looking.
The ground was a multicolored expanse that looked more like a multicolored ocean than solid ground. From within the still assortment of colors just a few meters from where Zane stood, the colors appeared to be swirling in a circle at one point.
Zane could only see Cozysprouts' eyebrows raise in glee when he scanned his masked face for an expression. Zane didn't know what the swirling colors meant, but he suspected it had something to do with their destination—maybe a checkpoint.
The gentlets didn't seem tired at all, unlike Zane. Zane couldn't see Eryndor or anything else, no matter how hard he looked around him. He only saw the endless oceanic floor stretching in all directions with no signs of anything in the direction they were heading.
Cozysprouts then moved toward the swirling mass of colors. He began hitting the ground around it while stepping back with every strike.
He was watching out for something in the swirling mass. Then it happened—the ground started vibrating slightly. The vibrations continued to increase with every passing second.
The tremors reached a point where Zane couldn't stand properly anymore and started staggering, swinging sideways with every tremor that followed.
Then—then a black figure shot out of the swirling mass of colors and landed just beside Zane. It looked at them while making unheard sounds like a wolf howling. It looked like a large black cat with minor differences. It had a long, glowing green antenna where ears were supposed to be; its neck and chest region were also glowing green. Its claws, which looked like they could slice through anything, emitted a faint red glow. It looked very much like the dead dream eater Zane had seen earlier. The only difference was the glowing parts.
The dream eater slashed through the vacuum, sending five crimson crescent arcs toward the group.
One of the crimson arcs streaked through the vacuum, missing Zane's right arm by mere inches before ripping into the solid ground behind him. There was no dent in the oceanic ground.
Zane's heart was now thumping hard—he'd just evaded death by a whisker. Zane knew full well that he couldn't afford any puncture in his suit, let alone an injury. The vacuum was a more formidable enemy than the dream eater.
Zane quickly moved to the space behind the gentlets, who were now facing the dream eater with their weapons held before them. He was going to let them fight it.
But before he could think anymore, a huge suction force erupted from the swirling mass of colors, pulling everything within range into it. Zane wanted to run away from the suction's range, but then saw that the gentlets weren't struggling. He reasoned quickly that this was the plan—it seemed they were being sucked to another place.
The suction force increased with every second. The dream beast wasn't being sucked in; it had dug its crimson claws into the oceanic ground, rooting itself to the spot. Zane's body then started moving slowly into the ground that was now like a colorful black hole. Soon enough, all six of them were dragged into the swirling hole of colors.
---
This is the second time I find myself in some strange space suspended in air.
Zane thought as he swept his gaze around the space.
At least this one isn't dark and creepy.
Wisps of different colors were dancing and moving inside the space. Zane and the five gentlets were all suspended here.
At least now I have an astronaut's suit. I can now confidently say I've been to space as an astronaut—though I've never seen such colorful space anywhere else. Where even am I? There is no air here; I can tell by how the gentlets haven't removed their gas masks.
Zane then watched in surprise as Cozysprouts' machete disappeared and fluttered into thin air. Cozysprouts didn't seem surprised. He reached his hand into the satchel, then pulled out a familiar glass ball. He then held it for Easyglow, who struck it with the spear he held.
The ball burst apart, leaving a harpoon with a long rope attached to its wooden handle. Cozysprouts held the spear and just lay there suspended, doing nothing. It was as if he was waiting for something.
Easyglow and Cozysprouts lay suspended close to each other, about two meters in front of Zane. Around four meters further from Zane, also in front of him, Tramp was suspended alone. Blendriad was to Zane's right side, just a meter away. Zane didn't see Zest anywhere, so he forced his body to rotate toward his back. Zest was about ten meters away from Zane.
Bet it sucks to be Zest.
Zane thought as he looked at the blue-headed gentlet who was far away from his companions. He seemed calm.
Zane then turned his body to face Cozysprouts again—he was the man in action.
After a terrifyingly long period of what Zane estimated to be thirty minutes, Cozysprouts nodded to his companions, signifying he'd seen something. He pointed to a direction to his right where the wisps of colors seemed to be disrupting.
Cozysprouts shot the harpoon toward Tramp, who caught it and started pulling the rope toward himself. Tramp then held the end of the rope and threw it back at Cozysprouts. The rope was overly long.
Cozysprouts then threw it toward Blendriad, who also caught it and threw it toward Zest. Despite being far away, he also caught it. Blendriad pulled the rope and handed it to Zane.
Zane didn't know what was happening, but he took it. The gentlets definitely knew what they were doing. Zane also watched as Cozysprouts handed the rope to Easyglow, who also grasped it.
The rope was overly long—Zane estimated it to be about one hundred meters. Zane grasped the rope tightly, not knowing what was going to happen.
The wisps of colors dispersed, revealing a large creature the size of a whale. The creature had a snake-like body with a cubical head. It had two flipper-like organs at its sides. Its body emitted a color that shifted from yellow to luminous green with every second. Zane didn't even know if he could call what was at its sides flippers—they were more like colorful decorations, as the creature wasn't using them. Zane could only describe its appearance as a glowing snake with a cubical head and flippers. Its head was simply a cube—no eyes, no nose, just a cube attached to its neck.
The creature was moving like a fish swimming in a lake, flowing inside the space as it approached their location.
Are these gentlets crazy? Are they courting death?
Zane asked himself as the creature slowly approached them. Zane already knew what the gentlets planned to do.
I should have just stayed in the dream shard and ordered some training equipment. At least then I wouldn't be dead meat. The system would have been able to sustain me until I increased my stats and left this realm.
Zane lamented. The creature was now about five hundred meters from their location, approaching slowly but steadily. Zane felt like an ant before an elephant as he stared at the creature, whose size seemed to increase with each second. It was way larger than a whale.
Zane opened his eyes wide and braced for impact. At least he wanted to see how he died clearly.
But the creature didn't hit them—rather, it passed just slightly beside them. Zane watched the behemoth's body as it glided past.
Zest then threw the harpoon and attached it to the creature's tail region, which then dragged all of them with it. It looked like it hadn't even noticed them.
It then whisked them away like they were nothing, toward a place Zane had yet to discover.