While the emergency response team raced toward the Anomaly, those left behind at the dungeon began to worry that there might be more to the situation than they had been led to believe. There were too many Anomalies lately, and they were at war on every side, except for the border with the beastkin. The Giants had to know something more than they were saying, and the Magical Knights couldn't shake the feeling that they had missed a critical memo.

But in the helicopter, things were more relaxed, as everyone meditated and prepared for the upcoming mission.

"Five minutes to the edge of the Anomaly zone," the pilot informed them.

Karl stood and stretched, getting ready for whatever they found when they disembarked.

[Thor, be ready with the barriers.]

Eternal Lightning came up on everyone as Thor got his last few minutes of beauty sleep, and the other beasts followed Karl in stretching, so they didn't strain anything or have stiff muscles when it was time to come out.

[Descending through heavy cloud cover with extremely limited visibility.] The Pilot announced.

Karl moved to look out the window, keeping an eye out for anything that might have been missed by the helicopter's sensor suite.

There was nothing, just white. That didn't seem right. He should be able to see the ground through cloud cover, unless there was heavy rain beneath them, but these were white puffy clouds, not the dark storm clouds that would bring that sort of rain.

Rae thought the same thing, something wasn't right.

Then the sound of rending steel shattered the drone of the helicopter blades, and Karl found himself flying through open air.

As he rotated, he could see the massive hole torn in the side of the helicopter, which was being violently molested by a pale white dragon that seemed to be made of clouds, not quite corporeal.

The others were beginning to bail out with hastily donned parachutes, and Karl noted with pleasure that all of them had their barriers active still.

With Eternal Lightning active, they should be fine. He was the only one likely to have a rough landing.

Karl felt the air around him suddenly condense, as if he were below water, then it was thin again, the sort of high altitude atmosphere that left the lungs struggling to breathe.

It had to be an Air Element Dragon. That was fine, once he figured out how to track it, he would be able to take it out.

Beneath him, the clouds were thinning, and Karl looked around for the others to make sure they hadn't pulled their parachutes too early.

But there was nobody nearby. Not even the crippled helicopter.

Then, the clouds parted beneath him, and Karl found himself plummeting towards a massive lake.

The only lake that large in the Golden Dragon Nation was Lake Chiptonrith, and that should be hundreds of kilometres away. Karl was reasonably confident in his pathfinding abilities, but moreover, the direct route to the Lithium mines took them away from the lake, not towards it.

As he approached the lake's surface, Karl crossed his ankles and his arms, as he had learned to dive off the cliffs into the intake water pond for the mine as a kid.

He hit the water at an incredible speed, but even after the [Eternal Lightning] barrier broke on impact, the Flaming Body kept him safe and uninjured. The water was wrong, very wrong. It was bath water warm, and even ten metres deep after his emergency entry, the water was still crystal clear, and he could clearly see the surface. So, he removed his armour for mobility, but kept the barriers active for safety, and made his way to the surface.

He was still a few hundred metres from the shore, but that wouldn't be too bad of a swim, especially in this nice warm water, but Karl was beginning to wonder where he was.

I could be possible that he had been knocked into an instance, as he wouldn't have been able to see the entrance through the thick cloud cover. Karl stepped out onto the shore, and he was absolutely certain that he was not in the Golden Dragon Nation anymore. None of the plants were familiar, and the sun was just about to set, despite the fact it had just been coming up when he was knocked from the helicopter.

[It's in the wrong spot in the sky as well. If we were close to home, the sun should be south of overhead. But it's not.] Hawk added.

[Alright, then the question is: What do we need to do to get out of the instance? There don't seem to be any enemies, and I haven't seen a message from the system.] Karl sighed.

[Forget that. They stole my Dana and my Lotus.] Rae reminded him.

Karl laughed a little. [I think that they stole us, and and Dana was left behind with everyone else. Or did you see something I didn't?]

That was a great dilemma for Rae. Could someone have been brave enough to abduct her? It made sense, in a way. They were in a new place, and the girls weren't here with her.

[I think the others are all still together. The Dragon killed the helicopter, but it didn't hurt the others who had my barriers. Even if they landed on the ground, they should be alright, and they had the Rogue man Niall with them.] Thor suggested.

[Does this mean we get to explore?] Remi asked hopefully.

"I think that's our only choice." Karl agreed, forgetting to speak internally.

[I will go fly up and see if there is anything we missed on the way down.] Hawk suggested. The others came out and spread out for a bit, getting used to this new place, which felt different from home.

[I found a village. It looks like humans, you can go northeast.] Hawk advised before returning.

That was a good sign. If there were humans, he might be able to find out what was going on, and perhaps even where he was, assuming that they weren't also lost.

So, With Hawk scouting overhead, Karl began to make his way toward the village full of humans.

[Everyone, please return to your spots when we get close. I don't want anyone getting injured on a misunderstanding.] Karl reminded the team.

Thor returned right away, eager to watch the proceedings from his pond full of holy water, while Remi hung herself around Karl's shoulders for the next few minutes, reluctant to return to boredom, but also not enthusiastic about being attacked by random weirdos.

Hopefully, random weirdos were the worst sort of people that he found. For all Karl knew, they could be some sort of humanoid monster trapped in this place, or coded to be aggressive but maintain their position like the dungeon monsters.

He would have to be cautious, but if there was a chance that they were just a random village full of humans who might have answers for him, he would have to take it.

The [Silent Movement] skill let him creep up on the village easily enough, and Karl dropped into a shallow ditch just beyond the edge of the fields, so that he could observe the villagers in peace for a few minutes while he tried to determine whether they were hostile or not.

They looked peaceful enough, going about their daily chores, and there were children. There were never children in the dungeon, only combatants. That was good enough for him, so Karl made his way to the road to approach like any normal traveller would.