50,000 Meters Is A Lot

Velios exited the room through the window, slowly closing it after having put Artemisia's unconscious body back into her room, her bright-golden hair spread out across the bed as her rythmic breathing continued. Velios would have to admit that he had went to far with that punch, even if she was practically begging for it. He should know better than to hurt the innocent but he's also glad that he didn't use any magic to actually strengthen the punch, nor did he spend proper time with his technique. If he had fully followed through with the punch, that is to say, if he had actually punched her without holding back in the end, Artemisia's body might aswell could have blown up on the spot from the pressure of the punch, her blood splattering on the walls. Velios imagined the scene in his head, his face pretty calm while doing so. The only things that got him to react was the slight guild he would have felt from killing someone innocent and then having to most likely serve time in prison or the even more likely outcome, the death penalty.

In a way, Velios' attempt at covering this up while sacrificing himself for her reputation was also beneficial for him. He wouldn't stay in the city for too long so having a bad reputation wouldn't hurt him. If news got out that she was seriously injured to begin with, then Velios would most likely be sentenced to some kind of punishment. It was also for another reason. A reason that he had picked up from this game particularly. In the previous world, Velios would often think about morality, what is moraly wrong and what isn't. Even though he decided that he would prioritize his own survival infront of anything, Velios now had an overwhelming amount of power, far superior to most humans. The distance between him and the rest was many times greater in the game world than in the real. Although he didn't even know it himself yet, Velios would rather try and prioritize his friends lives over making selfish decisions.

Now there only remained one problem. Velios had absolutely no idea what to do. He didn't know if it was proper to wait for the knights that were most likely returning or if it was better to leave and hope for the best. It was at that point he remembered something. Because of the hurry he was in, he never made sure of how practical and precise his teleportation would be on multiple people at the same time. Velios knew exactly what specific coordinates he used to plan where they were going, which is why something seemed wrong. No, I remember where they were supposed to be teleported to... so why don't I have any memories of which y-axis they are supposed to teleport to...? If that's true, then it should have instead teleported them as far away as the magic I used to form the spell should allow them to- wait... Doesn't that mean that they are quite high up right now...?

They had no idea where they were teleported, but panic quickly spread amongst the few that were teleported. They had ended up somewhere above the mesosphere. "F-Freya! Do something!" Ragaja shouted out as loud as he could, the wind from them falling making it almost impossible to hear. "Just because we both are Velios' subordinates doesn't mean that you can order me around like an equal!" Freya shouted, but the wind made it equally as hard for her to communicate as her mouth was constantly moving due to the wind. But the truth was, Freya couldn't fly. She hadn't learned to utilise her powers yet due to two reasons. She was of the beauty goddessess' which meant that her powers were far weaker than other holy beings and the other being that she simply hadn't obtained that abiltiy yet. "You're a dragon, aren't you?! Then fly yourself!" Freya shouted out, using her arms to try and get closer to Ragaja through a swimming motion. 

"You think we dragons are made to fly however high up this is?! Both me and Ajagar are only on the low spectrum of superior dragons! We're not even close to our hybrid form and you want us to fly in this situation?!" The three were falling increasingly faster and faster by the second. Ajagar was laughling and giggling to herself, not realising the severity of the situation. Ragaja was panicking and at the same time arguing with Freya because she refused to tell him why she wasn't flying and Freya kept on arguing back at Ragaja while telling him how useless he is and how big of a failure he is as a man and that he won't ever match up the beauty and power of Velios, which was completely unrelated to the argument they were having. Velios ran as fast as he could with the magic circles still intact, constantly depleating mana to keep them active while strengthening the ground under him instead of just disabling them and teleporting there instantly.

They continued accelerating on their way down, Ajagar still clueless as to what the danger was. Eventually, Ragaja kept resisting the tremendous amount of speed that had been building up and would most likely not have to face any severe damages. But due to their argument, Ragaja refused to help Freya in any way, leaving her to hit the ground after having fallen from a height of roughly 50,000 meters. That would mean that she would hit the ground while going at almost a thousand meters per second and even if she was going to be able to heal herself, it would still hurt like crazy which she didn't necessarily want. She would be going at a speed of nearly three times the speed of sound right before going into the ground which was sure to cause her pain either way. She tried to conjure holy magic around her but at the speed which she was going, she wasn't going to stop herself. Her mastery was still way too low. 

It was at that moment Velios had arrived. He was right under them, the three of them still falling. Velios closed his eyes and moved his arms forward, the weight of several magic circles constantly weighing him down making him need to constantly increase his strength output. He focused on the three of them individually, sensing each of their positions with pin-point accuracy before applying magic to all of them. However, he only stopped two of them from falling. Both Ajagar and Freya were now slowly falling as if they were a pair of feathers. Because Velios hadn't forget that smile which Ragaja gave him. He knew that Ragaja was one of the most humanlike, one of the most pure-hearted monsters he knew but that didn't stop him. Even if he died, Velios could just summon him back. Velios applied magic that instantly boosted the speed at which he was going, making any attempt at flying useful as he boosted Ragaja's speed.

"You're kidding me!" Ragaja shouted out with all he had. He knew that it was Velios and there was no doubt about it. He couldn't even get a good glimpse on the ground before he made contact with something, but there was something weird. He didn't just land on the ground, but instead, he landed on something. The shortest of screams could be heard from the ground before Ragaja eventually landed, crushing not only him, but Vadh which Velios had summoned. The two of them collided and caused a massive crater to form in the ground, a massive mushroom cloud expanding due to all the heat of the impact. Velios jumped away just before contact, pieces of rocks and dirt flying everywhere as Ragaja made contact with the ground, Velios shielding himself with a thin layer of mana, even massive pieces of rock bouncing off without even touching him.

"Emmerge." Velios said so in a casual tone with a light smile on his face, two magical circles appearing in the ground, two individuals slowly rising up. The two were breathing heavily, both of them having died just mere seconds ago. With their eyes still wide, they both turned to look at Velios who had summoned them, wearing a devilish grin of amusement and enjoyment. Vadh was replaying the scene in his head, as soon as he came to he saw Ragaja fall at too fast speeds to dodge, instantly killing them both. Ragaja was breathing heavily, looking up at Velios. "You..." Ragaja was almost about to snap at Velios but he stopped himself. There would be no point. "Velios lifted Ragaja of the ground who was kneeling down, grabbing him under his shoulders and pulling him with his forearms to a standing position as if he was a child. 

"Fine, I get it, I'm sorry for almost laughing earlier." Ragaja let Velios lift his body up without resisting, his limbs hanging and his feet dragging on the ground. "Why the hell did you kill me for?!" Vadh was heard screaming from being totally ignored. It was as if he didn't even exist for the short amount of time where Velios picked Ragaja up. Velios released his hold over Ragaja, almost making him stumble backwards before he managed to catch himself. "Oh? You're saying you don't know Vadh? Here, let me remind you." Velios voice instantly switched tone, a darker voice and much more stern and serious. His eyes were wide open, starring directly into Vadh's eyes. Vadh realized then what he did. "Wait, no, it was not like that! I swear I didn't try to kill Yotsuya! I was ju-" Vadh realized that he only made the situation worse the more he was speaking. "I think you also understand why I crushed your head?" Vadh didn't answer or argue back this time. The only thing he could do was to hope and pray that he would only be killed a couple of times.