Transcendent Gene
Chapter 246: Scenario Quest [4]

Chapter 246: Scenario Quest [4]

WHOOOOOOOSH!

The roaring winds covered up all other sounds as the four young Sequencers pushed through the rainforest.

They moved with the wind, doing their best to not fight it more than they had to as they scanned the surroundings for signs of anywhere they could find shelter.

"There!"

Shiro yelled out, pointing to the left. The others moved on his words without verifying them. There wasn’t enough time to do so.

They ran from tree to tree, using them as physical supports to keep them steady. Gio maintained a barrier just big enough to surround the four of them. Serene manifested bubbles for the same purpose, while Shiro and Neriah focused on finding cover.

They struggled in the direction Shiro pointed to until they found a large rock formation surrounded by trees. There were trenches in the ground around it as if someone had prepared to fight a war.

It was the remains of a swamp that had lost all of its water.

"Jump in!"

On Gio’s words, the four of them dropped into the trenches and flattened themselves against the back wall. The wind still roared in their ears and it would be a lie to say they couldn’t feel it, but it certainly wasn’t slamming into them directly.

"Can we just stay here?!" Shiro yelled, trying to make his voice louder than the roar.

"No!"

Gio and Serene responded at the same time.

She certainly wasn’t calm. On the inside, she was panicking beyond panic. She managed to at least get herself together enough to use her power to protect them. Now that they’d been running for a bit, her ability to think returned somewhat.

"It’s terraforming, remember?! We need the high ground, or we might become a part of the environment!"

Gio nodded in agreement.

"Our best option is a mountain! If we can find one that blocks the wind, we can also get high enough to avoid being terraformed!"

The problem was getting to a mountain. Considering where they were, they could either go against the wind until they reached the mountainside behind them or keep moving forward until they found another one.

They couldn’t communicate much, but all of them knew that going against the current was impossible. As they were, the moment they lost their footing on the ground, they would be swept away into oblivion.

How were they meant to fight those winds?

The only option was to keep pushing forward. They looked at each other and nodded before pushing out of the trench as a group and charging forward.

They shot away from the rock formation, almost losing their stability several times. The trees were the final lifelines allowing them to stay grounded.

For a moment, it seemed like everything would go according to plan.

Until a new sound entered Gio’s ears.

It sounded like glass breaking. The glass shards slammed into each other and shattered further, creating a crystalline sound that spread wider and came closer with every passing–

"JUMP!"

Blue energy flew across the ground and forced all four of them into the air. They went flying over the tree line with only the sky around them.

Gio grabbed onto Shiro and Serene, who were immediately nearby. Shiro grabbed Neriah and the four of them held on so they didn’t get separated. The moment they were connected, Gio used his energy to push them higher into the sky.

And before anyone could question him or panic, they saw what was coming at them.

VOOOOOOOM!

The entire world turned over. The ground was cut into cubes that were then rolled by a steamroller of energy and flattened back down. A wave of energy spread across the newly created ground like a tsunami, touching the bottoms of their feet and ripping apart their shoes.

In front of their eyes, the energy transformed everything.

The framework of an entire city was built around them. Buildings rose out of the ground, breaking the wind currents into much more bearable streams.

"Woah!"

Whoosh!

They swung to the side as a building appeared out of the ground below them. When they were out of its way, Gio put down his energy and allowed them to fall to the ground.

The sound of glass shattering was accompanied by a glittering crystalline effect that spread across the ground, digitally creating streets and sidewalks that imprinted themselves on the land.

The wind was still very present, but it could barely be felt at ground level anymore. It made the buildings sway wildly from side to side and roared even louder as it echoed through the newly created city, but...

"This is a whole city," Gio said as they landed on concrete.

"It was still expanding when our view got blocked by the skyline. It’s probably as big as Celestelle, which means we probably don’t have to worry about the wind or the terraforming anymore."

This area had been built. Out in the direction the energy came from, there was likely a completely new world that wasn’t the mountain range they entered, and everything behind them would soon join that world as well.

Gio could see his party members struggling to catch their breath, but they couldn’t stand still for too long.

"Every monster in this Wild Zone just lost its home and ecosystem. They’re going to rage for a while. On top of that, the Scenario Quest hasn’t started yet. We never know what’ll happen when the Quest Window shows up, so we still need to find safety," he said.

"The good part is...there’s shelter all around us now."

The atmosphere around them was already filled with roars and howls. It was unknown how much of the population was killed in the terraforming, but those remaining were not small in number at all.

Following Gio’s lead, the group of four moved through the city until they found a highrise apartment building and used the stairs to reach one of its highest floors.

They broke down the door to one of its units and walked in. Shiro immediately found a couch to plop himself down on. Neriah and Serene decided to explore the apartment unit, while Gio walked up to a window that looked out on the city and beyond.

He could faintly see the energy wave in the distance. Rather than the energy itself, what was visible were the rising skyscrapers and buildings appearing on the distant horizon.

’I remember how it was described. It’s not just one uniform world. It was assumed that this space was created based on the living beings within. In other words, along with human areas like this...’

There were also parts of the monster world present as well.

’And this isn’t our world.’

"Gio, look at this!"

Serene’s voice came from a nearby room. He walked over and pushed past the door, finding himself in what looked like a child’s bedroom. Serene was in the corner of the bedroom hunched over a desk.

"What is it?" He asked as he got closer.

"Look."

She lifted the book she was reading off the table and handed it to him. When he saw the cover, he realized what she was surprised by.

[Summerside Elementary School Yearbook]

[Class of 2650]

This world was a relic from humanity’s distant past.