Desolate World

"It's so cold!" Geo groaned.

"Yeah, this morning is pretty cold. But, don't worry. It will be better soon," Cloud said to her grandson with a smile.

"Okay," Geo replied.

Because of the change of plan, Ace couldn't go last night. Although he was more comfortable doing activities at night. 

At dawn, Ace, Cloud, and Geo departed when most people were still sleeping. Geo seemed to be a little sleepy, but it couldn't stop him from getting up and following Ace's schedule.

Because he brought along his son, Ace asked Geo to summon Red and Blue. It would be more convenient to ride both flying skates for traveling. The size of the two had been increased tremendously along with their levels. 

The two always followed the daily hunting, so their levels at the moment were only a level behind compared to Geo. With Geo at level 18, the two's levels were 17.

After saying goodbye to Sofia, Sampson, and Adrian, Ace on the back of Blue, and Geo and Cloud on Red's back crossed the lake. 

After Blue leveled up to 15, his size grew big enough so someone could ride on his back.

As for Red, she was really big at the moment. She was even bigger than Gon. It wouldn't be too much for her to carry 7 or 8 people. But, that would make her speed and maneuverability plummeted greatly. So 4 people were her limit —for now— to not affect her speed.

About the lake, it hadn't been named yet. The villagers still called it the lake. Nobody dared to name it, as Mars, their leader didn't say anything about it. So they only called it 'the lake'. 

The lake was one of the sources of food for the villagers other than hunted monsters and wild vegetables and fruits from the forest. While men were busy gathering materials and building longhouses and other facilities, many kids and women came to the shore of the lake to fish. 

With only some simple tools, their harvest was not too good. Fortunately, some of them had experience in fishing when they were in the cave, so it just needed some time for them to adapt. They had to wait for the manpower from Dragma Valley to arrive to develop more advanced tools.

It took 20 minutes for them to reach the point when the river started, despite flying. It couldn't be helped, the lake was very vast. It was about 30 km wide from West to East, as from North to South it was only 7 km wide.

Furthermore, the thick mist that always covered the lake forced Blue and Red to slow down their speed, as their views were restricted.

"What is that?" Suddenly Geo exclaimed while pointing to the surface of the river.

Ace and Cloud looked in the direction Geo was pointing. On the surface of the river were a pair of reptile eyes and a sturdy looking back popped up.

"Isn't that crocodile?" Ace asked.

"Yes, it seems," Cloud answered.

As Ace wanted to check its information, it submerged into the water silently.

They then continued their journey. However, because of the emergence of the crocodile, Ace asked Geo to order Blue and Red to raise their flying altitude. He didn't want them to be ambushed by the creatures in the river. Their adventure just started.

***

After flying on top of the river for nearly 2 hours, Geo looked quite bored. It couldn't be helped. Although they had met with some monsters, Ace chose to ignore them, as long as they didn't attack them. 

The first reason was because they were too weak and the second reason was because he wanted to concentrate on searching for the refugees. He wanted to finish this quest in one week, if possible.

*Yawn* 

"It's boring," Geo complained. 

Hearing that, Cloud couldn't help but smile. 

"How about we hunt for a bit?" Cloud suggested.

Geo's eyes lightened up. He then looked at his father in front of them with a pleading stare.

Of course, Ace heard that and felt his son's gaze. However, he steeled his heart to not agree. After all, it was just 2 hours. He knew such a boring time would happen all the time because as long as they were flying on top of the river, few monsters could reach them. 

Ace thought hard about how to refuse his request without making his son upset. As he was still thinking hard, he felt something coming from behind them fast. He instantly entered combat mode.

"Ambush!" Ace shouted.

His voice made Geo and Cloud alarm. However, they could shift their psyche fast to combat mode. After more than 2 months of playing this game, they could already manage their mind fast because such situations were not unusual for them. they just didn't know where the enemy was.

As someone who had warned them of course Ace knew from which direction the attack was. Without hesitation, he turned his body and threw a king of hearts card passing Geo and Cloud. The card flew a few meters more and then Ace activated it.

In an instant, a broad transparent barrier was created behind Red. Without waiting for a second, something hit the barrier. It made the barrier cracked, but not disintegrated.  

"So strong," Ace could help but exclaim. For a note, the barrier that he had created could withstand 1150 damage. It was about half of his total HP. An attack that could make it crack definitely had more than 500 damage. It made him gulped.

Although he was terrified, it didn't affect his decision at all. He then shouted, "Up! Up! The enemy is in the river."

Red and Blue then flew higher as fast as they could. Ace stopped them when their altitudes were more than 30 meters.

"What is that?" Cloud asked with urgency.

However, Ace wasn't sure who or what had attacked them. But he was sure about one thing. The attack was done from quite a distance, as Ace could still feel it and make a direct countermeasure. 

Ace then said with a little doubt, "It seemed to be a sniper-type monster."

Cloud frowned. She then asked, "You meant it could shoot a projectile-like object from far away?"

Ace nodded, He then said, "I'm not sure if it was an object like an arrow or a spell. It was just too fast. I was too preoccupied with our safety, I didn't check it.

Oh, and one more thing. I think it is an aquatic creature. Because from its trajectory, the attack was definitely done from the river's direction."

The two adults were thinking hard about the identity of the attacker. Geo could just look at them in turns with a confused expression. 

Ace then felt many things flew to their location. He realized they couldn't stay there anymore.

"Let's enter the forest. It is not safe to stay here," Ace said with a composed tone. Because based on his calculation the creature's speeds were not too fast.

They had ample time to evacuate to the forest at the bottom of them.

***

About 200 meters from Ace's last location when he and his family were ambushed, specifically under of the surface of the river, a small fish with silvery scales looked at the place silently. It then submerged deeper into the water.  

***