Chapter 60 – The Sky Horse

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“This is bad! Really bad! My friend—Isolin—she got carried off by a horse!”

I clutched my head, running frantically toward Liza. I nearly tripped over my own feet in my panic.

Liza, who had been diligently collecting clouds, seemed to sense my distress. She abandoned her task and turned to me.

“Carried off by a horse?”

“Yes!”

I nodded vigorously, then launched into a description of the creature—a massive, muscular beast over two meters tall, its body wreathed in white mist where fur and hooves should have been.

With its terrifying size and speed, it was clearly a powerful monster. We had to rescue Isolin as soon as possible.

She must be terrified. Despite acting mature, Isolin was a scaredy-cat at heart. Right now, she was probably stiff as a board, dangling from that monster’s mouth like a ragdoll.

“Big, covered in clouds… Sounds like a Sky Horse took her.”

“I don’t care what it’s called! We have to save her, now!”

Liza’s calmness was maddening. Who cared about the monster’s name when my friend was in danger?

Heart pounding, I scrambled onto the Skyhawk. If we were going to catch that thing, we’d need speed.

I smacked the metal frame impatiently.

“Let’s go!”

Liza just stared at me.

Then she sighed.

“Relax. Sky Horses aren’t hostile.”

“Huh? But it took my friend!”

“They like pure-hearted people. Sometimes they ‘borrow’ kids for a while.”

“Borrow?! For what?!”

“To play, probably. From what I’ve heard, they let the kids ride on their backs and return them by evening.”

Was that true? A horse that liked pure-hearted people—sounded like a unicorn.

Still, I couldn’t shake the worry. I stared toward the forest where Isolin had disappeared.

Isolin was my first real friend in this world. The thought of losing her made my chest tighten.

“Ugh…”

My fingers tapped impatiently against the Skyhawk’s hull. My short legs swung restlessly.

Liza finally relented.

“We’ll go look for her. I’m just saying, she’s probably fine.”

“R-Really?”

“Yeah. Now get off the Skyhawk—we won’t need it.”

“O-Okay…”

I climbed down as Liza finished refueling. She patted the machine and grinned.

“Alright, let’s go. To the Sky Horse’s habitat.”

“You know where that is?”

Liza smirked, hand on her hip.

“Of course. Sky Detective Liza knows everything.”

She strode confidently into the rainbow-hued forest, proving her point by naming every monster and plant we passed.

“That’s a Pong-Pong. Don’t get too close—it’ll attack.”

“Oh…”

“That’s a Kuru-Kuru. A bird that sticks clouds to itself to fly. Delicious meat.”

“Eek…”

She even plucked a yellow cloud-fruit and handed it to me.

“Try this. Cloud Apple. Texture’s different from a real one.”

I bit into it—

“Whoa!”

Juice exploded in my mouth, sweet and crisp. I stuffed a few more into my inventory to share later.

The forest was teeming with bizarre creatures. A deer-gorilla hybrid ([Gorildeer]) nearly made me faint.

“Don’t worry. Gorildeer don’t attack first.”

“R-Right…”

Honestly, who wouldn’t panic at a gorilla with a deer head?

But the real danger, Liza explained, wasn’t the Sky Horse or even the Gorildeer.

“Watch out for Cloud Turtles. They hide in the clouds and swallow anything below.”

“Cloud Turtles…?”

“Yeah. They traded shells for clouds, so they’re fast. And huge.”

Just then, a massive cloud drifted overhead. Liza yanked me down.

“Shh! Stay low…!”

A monstrous head peeked out—a turtle with sinewy, muscular limbs.

GULP.

It lunged, snapping up something below before vanishing back into the mist.

After that, we reached the Sky Horse’s territory—a range of towering cloud mountains.

“Safe here. Only Sky Horses live in this area.”

Relieved, I scrambled up the soft slopes. Even if I fell, the fluffy clouds would cushion me.

At the peak—

Neighhh—!

—there they were.

Isolin. And Gladie.

Both sitting side by side, happily petting a giant Sky Horse.

Neighhh—!

“See?” Liza said smugly. “Told you she’d be fine. Looks like your other friend got ‘borrowed’ too.”

Just then, Gladie and Isolin spotted me.

“Supreme!”

“Supreme!”

“Gladie! Isolin!”

We crashed into a group hug.

“You’re okay!”

I checked them for injuries, but they were unharmed.

Gladie explained:

After arriving alone, she’d wandered until monsters chased her. Then the Sky Horse “rescued” her.

“I thought it was going to eat me at first… But it just brought me food and nuzzled me like a puppy. It was… kinda cute.”

I glared at the Sky Horse. It lounged lazily, watching us with dull eyes.

[Lv. 40]
[Sky Horse]
Known to adore pure-hearted humans.
Occasionally “borrows” children.
Can gallop across the sky using island clouds.

I wasn’t happy it kidnapped Isolin, but it had kept Gladie safe.

As a thanks, I pulled out a bunch of grapes.

“Here. For taking care of my friends.”

Sniff.

The Sky Horse stretched its neck—then snatched the grapes and spat them out.

Neighhh!

It trotted over to Gladie and Isolin, nuzzling them instead.

“You little—!”

I gripped my mace, but his level (40) made me reconsider.

Fine.

If brute force wouldn’t work…

[Void Gaze]

I glared. Hard.

Hueeeek—!

The Sky Horse collapsed, retching.

Isolin and Gladie gasped, clinging to me in horror.

I won.

Vrslop_translator