On the planet marked by the star chart.
Sparkle led the way while Sylvia followed behind, exploring the terrain. Robin clung close to Sylvia's side, her eyes wide with curiosity as she took in their surroundings.
The planet was a desolate wasteland. The climate was wretched; fierce gales whipped around them, and in the distance, one could spot the swirling chaos of massive, exaggerated storms.
The air quality was abysmal—strictly speaking, it was unfit for human habitation.
While Sylvia was unaffected, Robin had no choice but to wear a life-support collar. She had also swapped her high heels for a pair of sturdy hiking boots.
"Phew... are you sure there's actually treasure on this planet?"
Having come along just to clear her head, Robin squeezed Sylvia's hand and asked tentatively.
She still didn't know exactly what they were looking for; she had only heard Sparkle mention something about "treasure."
As the frenzied winds brushed past Sylvia, they were dampened by an invisible force, shifting into a gentle, pleasantly tempered breeze. This was the only reason Robin was able to remain so relaxed.
"Probably. Honestly, it doesn't matter much to me if we find it or not," Sylvia replied with a shrug and a smile.
Sparkle was the one hell-bent on finding the train. To Sylvia, it was inconsequential, and Robin was just here for the scenery.
Hearing Sylvia's remark, Sparkle whipped around. Her petite frame blurred, appearing instantly in front of Sylvia. She thrust her neatly organized map right into Sylvia's face.
"Of course it matters! This is directly tied to whether or not I can catch a Bird!"
"An Origami Bird?" Robin looked at Sylvia, confused as to why that name would pop up in a place like this.
"Well... I'll explain it to you when we get back." Sylvia patted the back of Robin's hand. This wasn't exactly the place for a long-winded story.
"Oh..." Robin nodded trustingly, but Sparkle was already losing her patience. She grabbed Sylvia's arm and began dragging her forward.
"At this snail's pace, we'll never get there!" Sparkle seemed genuinely thrilled, pulling both Sylvia and Robin into a run.
Their pace quickened significantly. Fortunately, while Robin wasn't a fighter, she wasn't so fragile that she couldn't keep up with a jog.
However...
Once they reached the destination marked on that nonsensical map, all they found was a gargantuan, sheer cliff face. There was nothing that looked even remotely like the Astral Express.
Sylvia watched as Sparkle hopped onto a stone platform to scout around.
The platform jutted out from the base of the cliff, looking somewhat out of place—mostly because the other surrounding rocks weren't nearly as massive or flat.
"Sylvia... do you think that 'damaged train' you're looking for might actually be this stone block?" Robin looked around, finding the rock highly suspicious.
It was entirely possible the train was buried right beneath it.
"Aha! I didn't expect our big superstar to have such a sharp eye!" Hearing Robin's suggestion, Sparkle let out a giggle from her high vantage point.
Then, to Sylvia's horror, Sparkle fished out that small bomb she had assembled back at the bar.
"You're not planning to blow it up right here, are you?!"
"But of course! I think the map is fine, so the problem must be this cliff wall. Why don't we just blast it open?" Sparkle tossed the bomb up and down in her hand.
Robin froze, her face blank. Wait, we're jumping straight to explosives? We couldn't try some construction equipment first?
"..."
Sylvia watched wordlessly as Sparkle pulled out a second bomb, slapping them both onto the cliff face and the stone platform. Without a moment's hesitation, Sparkle slammed the detonator.
Beep—beep—beep—
"Run for it! Ten seconds until the big bang! Hahahaha!" Sparkle took off like a literal gust of wind back the way they came.
When Sylvia heard the countdown, her face turned pale with fury.
"Sparkle, you &%@#—!"
Cursing under her breath, Sylvia reached out and scooped up the stunned Robin. Holding her protectively in a bridal carry, she spun around and bolted!
Surging flames erupted from Sylvia's body, providing a powerful thrust that accelerated her instantly. In the blink of an eye, she streaked past Sparkle.
They hadn't been running for more than a few seconds when the bombs behind them went off.
A brilliant white light bloomed instantly, followed by a silent, crushing collapse. After the implosion devoured the surrounding rock into a crater dozens of meters deep, it finally transformed into a world-shaking display of light and heat.
BOOM—!!!
The exaggerated explosion and the following roar instantly drowned out everything within a radius of dozens of kilometers. The blinding light forced Robin to bury her head into Sylvia's chest.
Sylvia gave up on running. She stood her ground, using her sheer power to shield them from the brunt of the blast.
"Yahoo—!"
Sparkle, on the other hand, had used some unknown trick to let the hurricane-force shockwave toss her high into the sky. She let out a long, wild cry as she rode the wind.
As the flames and light gradually dissipated, Sylvia remained hovering in mid-air with Robin. She used her silken threads to forcibly yank the descending Sparkle back, leaving her dangling in front of them.
Ahead of the trio, the former cliff had been replaced by a massive crater. And there, within the pit, the battered and broken wreckage of an Astral Express train appeared.
But at that moment, both Sylvia and Robin wore expressions of utter revulsion.
Attached to the train was a monstrous, hideous creature.
It possessed disgusting mouthparts and was covered in oozing slime; its body looked as though it were a parasite fused directly into the metal of the carriage.
SCREECH—!!!
Accompanied by a shrill, piercing cry, the earth began to rumble again.
One by one, long, spindly insectoid legs tore out from the ground. The creature's massive body, spanning dozens of kilometers, began to emerge from the subterranean depths.
And it didn't stop there.
That single cry acted as a signal. More and more gargantuan insects began to hiss and awaken, rising from beneath the mountains and the plains.
Robin's face turned ashen. "So many of them?! Are these remnants of the Swarm Disaster?"
"Heehee~ What ugly big bugs." Sparkle, still dangling, covered her mouth and giggled.
She looked down at the massive insects—some several kilometers long, others dozens—and actually had the nerve to pull out her phone to snap a few selfies.
But the insects on the ground had already spotted them. They took to the sky one after another, swarming toward Sylvia with murderous intent.
"You're still laughing? This is all your fault for poking the nest!"
"Hawawawa—gentle, be gentle! Ow~"
With a flick of Sylvia's fingers, the silk threads holding Sparkle jerked violently, nearly making her drop her phone.
"Stop shaking me, stop shaking me~!" Sparkle pleaded, though something "accidentally" fell out of her arms.
As the small gadget hit one of the insects, it triggered another violent explosion, instantly vaporizing several of the creatures.
As for Robin, she was clinging to Sylvia so tightly she refused to let go.
From their vantage point, it looked as though the entire planet had been hollowed out by the Swarm. Everywhere they looked, countless insects were surfacing. Even beneath the caverns carved out by the bugs, one could catch glimpses of shimmering, pitch-black shells.
Robin didn't even want to imagine just how many of them were hidden inside the planet.
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.