Albrecht didn’t look backwards, not once. As the vanguard and the only one with a shield (though Jyu-Ni’s giant metal arms were probably a way better defensive tool), he focused on keeping his eyes everywhere except backwards. The growing darkness made it harder to see, and the constant [i]unrest[/i] he felt set his nerves on the edge as well. No resources, no other sign of civilization, and a deathbeam in the distance. What a goddamn life. Almost made him want to give up and just pretend to be a tree. A metal tree. With green hair.

It brought forth a fun memory, and Albrecht bit back a chuckle, before redoubling his focus and his efforts. He died a virgin once. No way was he going to die a virgin twice!

The knight climbed more hills, maintaining his pace and patience with a top-ranking student’s discipline. He scanned the horizon constantly, noting birds flying away from them and the skybeam of doom. He ignored how his feet ached, resisted the urge to sling his shield over his back again, and simply kept grinding away, leading the other members of his small party along with sheer force of will. And eventually, they did get lucky.

In this world, at least, effort didn’t go wholly unrewarded, even if the reward took the shape of a giant that dwarfed them all and that could probably kill them all with a friendly slap on the back. Albrecht tensed up again, back straightening and eyes narrowed, but didn’t move at all. In front of what amounted to an intelligent building, his kite shield felt mighty unreliable.

Irene, however, was the one to break the silence, buying time for Albrecht to do some thinking of his own. The giant spoke English, did they? Or had the goddess given them some natural ability where they could understand and be understood by others in this world? Did that apply only to the most common language, or did other ones work too? It was something worth testing, and, more than that, it gave him something else to think about beside the fact that those floating boxes must weigh a hell lot.

[color=82ca9d][b]“I heard,”[/b][/color] he began, voice a bit dry, [color=82ca9d][b]“that someone was doing some digging at this place with stone obelisks or something? Probably has something to do with the current big beam.”[/b][/color] Eyes flickering towards the way the giant had come, the knight pointed in that direction and said, [color=82ca9d][b]“Gibt es irgendwelche Städte in dieser Richtung? Oh, and if it’s not too much trouble, could you point us to the general direction of like, dunno, water?”[/b][/color]

The self-depreciating laugh came easily.

[b][color=82ca9d]“We sorta ended up in the middle of nowhere with nothing n’ all.”[/color][/b]