CHAPTER 263: 263: LAP FIGHTING AND SINGING!

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Alka launched into the air. The wind exploded downward.

The frogs were flung backward like sacks of dirty laundry caught in a wind tunnel. Leaves, spears, and war flags scattered into the trees as the great bird took flight.

The tunnel shrank beneath them. The crater, the broken bodies, the last echoes of Blor’Ghul’s legacy, all vanished into mist.

They had survived. And now, the skies belonged to them. Kai collapsed backward with a deep, exhausted sigh.

He landed on Alka’s back, sprawled across a section of warm feathers. "I am never fighting a boss again," he mumbled.

Naaro scooted closer and lifted his head. "My lap," she declared. "He needs comfort. He fought the hardest."

Sha pushed her. "Excuse you? I carried four frog bodies and two frog grenades. He goes on my thighs."

Azhara yanked his arm. "His soul likes my aura more. He told me in a dream. He belongs right here, next to my heartbeat, to my chest."

Vel placed one hand over her face. "This is going to get messy."

Akayoroi calmly adjusted the saddle ties and said nothing.

Kai groaned. "I do not care whose lap. Just... someone cradle me before I fall off."

He did not fall. He was immediately caught by three pairs of arms.

The girls argued over which part of him to hold, where to place his head, whether they should pluck a feather to make him a pillow, and who would hold his hands during turbulence.

Alka soared higher. The clouds parted.

And the sun touched the feathers of the sky boss as she carried her passengers toward their next destination. The journey had begun.

The sky stretched endlessly above them, painted in soft hues of rose and gold. Thin trails of cloud drifted lazily across the horizon like forgotten silk scarves, and the light of setting sun peeked through the atmosphere, kissing Alka’s feathers with a brilliance that made her shimmer like a goddess cloaked in night.

Alka soared without effort, her wings carving through the air with measured grace. Every downbeat sent powerful gusts rushing over the travelers. Below them, the marsh faded into shadow, the land slowly transforming from a swampy battlefield into rolling hills covered in pale green mist.

Kai lay motionless between the shoulder blades of the massive bird, face buried in a bed of smooth thighs of the girls. He could not feel his legs anymore. He was not even sure if he still had toes. The aches in his bones had formed a union, and the union was on strike. His eyes were half shut, and his mouth opened only to emit faint groans of fatigue and tongue trauma.

Vel sat at the rear, holding a folded map she had snatched from one of the frog scouts. She squinted at it.

"This map is useless. It only shows where frogs have built bathhouses and slime farms. Who even wants to track that?"

Akayoroi was in her usual position, centered near the mid ridge of Alka’s back, watching everything with calm, calculating eyes. She had secured their egg cargo using silk thread knots and had double checked the grip of every egg sac and gear pouch. She occasionally adjusted a rope or stabilized a warrior who began to slide, but otherwise remained still as stone.

Naaro, meanwhile, had decided that now, she deserved the place of honor.

She had placed Kai’s head on her lap, gently stroking his hair while glaring at the others like a wolf daring them to steal her prey.

"This is the rightful pillow zone," she said in a regal tone. "I have claimed it. Any resistance will be met with thigh pressure."

Sha did not agree. "You claimed it because you jumped on him first. That is not a strategy. That is panic flirting."

Azhara leaned over Kai’s side and poked his cheek repeatedly. "Sir Kai, blink once if you prefer my thighs. Blink twice if you want my chest to rock you to sleep."

Kai responded by snoring. Azhara gasped and leaned back. "He picked me. That was the blink of eternal trust. I accept your devotion."

Vel looked over from the back, one eyebrow raised. "He is unconscious / sleeping. He might not even remember his own name right now."

"He will remember me," Azhara declared, placing her hand over her heart. "Because I drew a little frog ghost on the wall in his honor."

Sha crawled closer and inspected Kai’s expression. "His mouth was slightly open, and one eye was twitching from either pain or a dream about someone(me) licking him."

"Look at him. He is not resting. He is haunted. That frog general probably left a shit smell scar on his soul."

Naaro frowned. "I will sing for him. A soft song to ease the nightmares."

"No. No singing," Vel said flatly.

"Too late," Naaro replied.

She leaned close and began humming a quiet melody. It was supposed to be soothing, but it sounded vaguely like a funeral chant in a tavern full of drunk moths.

Kai stirred. "Mmmmrrrgh..."

Sha clapped her hands once. "He is waking up. Someone held him down. If he stands up right now, he might lose balance."

Kai managed to open one eye. He blinked several times. "Are we flying? Or did I die? I heard some scary singing."

Vel answered from the rear. "Little of both. Naaro was singing to you, sir."

Kai groaned and buried his face deeper into Naaro’s lap. "I take it back. I was good. Don’t get sad."

Sha snorted. "Not before you explain how you survived that sonic belch. That singing attack erased half a brain."

Azhara added cheerfully. "And maybe a few of my brain cells. I still hear her songs in my ears."

Kai slowly shifted into a seated position with assistance. His back cracked loudly, and several feathers poked out of his armor.

He looked around, eyes hazy but smiling. Everyone was there. Alive. Loud. Bickering. Joking about Naaro singing. Everyone is safe.