âGet ready, my brothers!â Longjing Tea raised his voice, âGrab everything⊠Weâve arrived at the Elegy Dukedom!â
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Chocolate meowed and complained lowly, âItâs all misty down here. I canât see a thing.â
âSpeaking of which, how do we go down? Are we just going to jump down directly?â
âIrene?â Hearing this, Longjing Tea also turned to look at Priest Irene, asking.
Ah? How do you go down?
Isnât this something you should have thought about before boarding the airship?
Why are you asking me?
Moreover, you all are Silver Rank oddballs⊠is the method we ordinary people use really of any reference value to you?â
The female priest glanced hesitantly at the cat that was being held in the arms of the young girl and uttering human words.
âŠYou donât seem to be quite right either.
Could Black Glory Towerâs years of research on âadvanced spiritual creationâ have finally come to fruition?
Speaking of which, thoughâŠ
When Irene realized that there seemed to be something wrong with these people, she assessed them carefully again.
That bald Sword Saint didnât seem quite right eitherâŠ
Sword Saint wouldnât wear armor. The lighter their body weight, the higher the efficiency of meditation. So some Sword Saints would choose to go shirtless or simply wear a cloth belt diagonally to hang the sword.
However, this muscular bald head was even more terrifying.
The muscular bald wore a thin white garment, which revealed his demon-like robust muscles. His distinct flesh tone was visible through the fabric.
Generally speaking, shouldnât Sword Saint be the handsome guy with a thin physique and long fluttering hair?
Why does a Sword Saint have such a burly build?
The muscles on his shoulders canât even be pierced with a dagger. Does this Sword Saint really need armor?
The Wind Dancer, who talked the least and was sleeping in a corner all the time, was odd too.
I hadnât noticed before⊠why does his skin have a wooden texture? At first glance, his hair looked a bit greasy, but upon closer inspection â isnât that actually vines?
Could he be an awakened Elven Ancient Tree?
Can you fly?
Thereâs something off about this group of peopleâ a beast summoner whose highly intelligent pet seems to be controlling her instead, a Sword Saint whose body is so robust that he seems nearly invulnerable despite his frail appearance, and a Wind Walker who looks just like a walking tree.
Only Longjing Tea can be considered a normal personâŠ
Irene groaned.
âSince the Gray Mists are deadly, there are only two ways to force a landing,â Irene thought for a while and replied seriously, âFirstly, it will be for us to find a place to land.â
âAfterward, we will activate the ritual room and make a passage down from where the airship landed. You may go underground from the airship to explore.â
âThe second option is continually generating a curse-laden storm from above, temporarily dispersing the mist. You would descend through the stormâs center using ropes and seek an underground space that provides shelter from the mist. My suggestion is the first option because we wonât be able to see the city layout through the mist, and we donât have enough energy for sustained âilluminationâ.â
âIn other words, you can temporarily blow away the curse, right?â Longjing Tea captured the critical information, âHow long will it last? How far is the range?â
âThatâs a ritual called âRelentless Heartâ, which can turn the rhythm of a ritualistâs heartbeat into an invisible storm. Sister Georgina knows how to operate this ritual.â
Irene frowned, thinking seriously, âBut this ritual needs a frog heart soaked in burning oil to maintain it. We didnât prepare much ritual material this time, so we can only activate it about three times, which is about ten minutes.â
âBecause the bottom of the airship isnât sturdy enough, we must first disperse the mist once to ensure no protruding, sharp statues or building structures below. This is to prevent the airshipâs bottom from being pierced when we land⊠and then we need to save another dispersal to bring you all back up.â
âAh, thereâs no need to be so troublesome.â The Wandering Child said, âJust activate it once, and we can go straight down.â
âWhy?â Irene froze momentarily, âBut, arenât you the only Wind Dancer?â
âIâm an orthodox Wind Dancer.â The Wandering Child said to himself, âNot one of those knock-offs. I can at least handle two people.â
âŠWait a minute, why two people?
However, Irene didnât care about such details.
Although she was still skeptical, she did not forget her duty â she was only here to serve.
She quickly called a priest named âGeorginaââthe granddaughter of a pope, whereby she was the only chief priestess among the four.
At the rank of chief priestess, the person could hold most of the rituals alone. After receiving the news, she quickly went to the first ritual room to prepare the âRelentless Heartâ ritual.
It wasnât a difficult ritual.
However, its power was also multiplied under the amplification of the âFeast of All Loveâ ritual.
As Priest Georgina pressed the stethoscope-like metal disc to her chest, she whispered the sacred chant about praising âthe one whose heart beats relentlesslyâ.
A clear and powerful heartbeat sounded in everyoneâs ears the next moment.
With each beat, the heartbeat grew stronger than the last â and in the blink of an eye, it blended into the clouds, roaring like thunder.
The crisp sound of the heartbeat quickly synchronized with the rumble of thunder.
The storm rose with it.
An incredibly sharp howl, akin to a ghostly wail, rang out â as if oneâs heart was being clenched tightly.
It was a roar so overpowering that merely hearing it could make one feel dizzy.
Even the mist, which was hard to disperse even in strong winds, dissipated at a visible rate under the invisible storm.
In the blink of an eye, the storm arrived right below them.
âIt revealed a magnificent gray city reminiscent of the architectural style of ancient Rome.
âLeave it to me.â Wandering Child took a breath slowly, reached out, and held the bronze circlet, âYou guys remember to keep upâDonât turn into a box after landing!â
[TN: Reference to games like Apex Legend, PUBG, Fortnite. It describes the situation where the player dies once dropping into the map, turning into a box for others to loot.]
The Wandering Child opened the bottom deck of the airship and entered the violent and chilly air flow pouring in from outside.
The Child jumped with his head down from 8,000 meters at the stormâs center!
A bird eye view would reveal a tornado spreading around the Child.
He was like an ant, slowly descending from the center.
This scene made Priest Ireneâs pupils tighten nervously.
Soon, Longjing Tea and the bald Sword Saint followed closely behind and jumped off directly.
Theyâre out of their minds! This is utterly reckless!
Are they going to land just like that?!
Jumping straight from this heightâŠ
Seeing that the small girl didnât jump off, Irene was relieved at this moment.
However, at this moment, the cat in the girlâs hand suddenly jumped off the airship.
Immediately afterward, she saw that the city below collapsed.
It was as if some invisible power was pressing it down. The buildings in the center of the city melted and collapsed like butter, revealing a large pit with dark, moist ground inside. The melting didnât stop, and a tunnel was âdug outâ in a few seconds.
The seeds of the storm wrapped around the three people and the cat, protecting them.
Rather than falling, it was more like flying â they streaked down like a beam of white light, crashing into the depths of that pit.
The three of them disappeared into the pit without making any sound and without the ground shaking. Following that, the melting ground closed back together, restoring the gray âsurfaceâ. It was like sealing the filling inside a pie with a touch of dough.
The girl stepped forward and closed the hatch.
She raised her head and stared at Priest Irene with those cold pupils reminiscent of a doll.
In a somewhat awkward tone, she said seriously, âIâm here. Iâll notify them to come back. You can hold the ritual again. Iâll locate it. You have to open the hatch.â
Although it was a bit difficult, Irene still managed to understand her.
Roughly speaking, Ireneâs task was to stay put as the beacon to pinpoint the location.
What came to Ireneâs mind was this thought. Why is this girl not as fluent as her cat?
Your cat is even fluent in the Noah Kingdomâs dialect.
Are you not ashamed?
Irene didnât know what to do for a while.
Irene sat on a chair with the girl squinting her eyes slightly as if she was about to fall asleep â mainly because Irene was afraid that she would disappear. For such a small child, it would be terrible if she accidentally opened the hatch and fell.
âBut, they dug that tunnel way too fastâŠâ she murmured.