"Diplomatic mission?"
A dwarf officer with a captain insignia on his armor took the passage docunt handed over by Bromm. He took out a badge set with runes, pressed it onto the Lord’s seal, and emitted a weak wave of magic power.
"The passage permit is fine," the officer returned the docunt, "but passage is currently prohibited here. You need to circumvent from the trail at the foot of the southern mountain."
That ant at least two more days of rugged travel.
"Why is the road suddenly closed?" Bromm asked puzzled, "People were still traveling through this route to and from Ash City a few days ago."
The dwarf officer glanced at the delegation, thought for a mont, and did not hide:
The dwarf officer’s gaze swept over the delegation, pondering montarily, and then decided to speak frankly: "Those slags from the Underground City... that is the fire elents, have not given up. We were forced back by a counterattack a few days ago; a big fellow rushed out and self-destructed, scattering a lot of ’fire seeds’ around Goldfla City."
He pointed to the charred, twisted wilderness behind him: "When they are hidden, their magic power fluctuations are extrely weak, making them difficult to detect. But when triggered, they can foster complete fire elents within a few breaths. We are thoroughly clearing them, lacking manpower to escort you through this area."
The officer paused, and although his tone was polite, there was an unmistakable aning: "If anything happens to the diplomatic mission here, we can’t bear the responsibility. Therefore, please divert."
Facing the long-journeyed delegation, his wording was already quite polite, but the subtext was clear: Don’t cause trouble.
"We can protect ourselves," Inanna said.
The dwarf officer cast a troubled glance at the pink-haired woman.
He naturally noticed the well-equipped guards and mages in the delegation who were clearly from a regular army.
The combat power of this team was at least stronger than their clearing squad.
But is it about whether they can protect themselves?
If the delegation were allowed to pass through on their own, should anything go wrong, they’d inevitably be held accountable afterward.
Who would want to bear an extra risk for no reason?
Just as the officer was considering whether to respond with a firr, perhaps even slightly harsh attitude, the surrounding magic power suddenly converged towards a scorched piece of land!
"Fire seed!" a dwarf mage warned loudly.
The words had barely left his mouth when two fire elents composed of swirling flas erged from the scorched earth, sending a wave of heat rushing in.
The delegation’s well-trained shield guards imdiately stood out, protecting Ronan and Inanna in the center.
The dwarf warriors quickly ford a battle array, ready for combat.
Only the three Puki remained unmoved.
The so-called "hiding" of the fire seeds, in Lin Jun’s sensory vision, was nothing more than two panels clearly marked with a [Dormant] status floating above the scorched earth.
He had already reviewed the detailed information.
Although Lin Jun didn’t tell anyone, the Sword Saint also discovered the existence of the two fire seeds through Qi Sensitivity early on, judging that they posed no threat to the delegation and thus did not take action.
As for No. 4, who was comfortably lying in Inanna’s arms, neither Fourteen nor the knight made a move. Why should it hurry?
Lin Jun found the [Dormant] status, labeled by the dwarves as "fire seeds," quite intriguing.
Watching the entire process of transformation as the two fire elents erged and took shape, he could see that they didn’t manifest from gathering magic power out of nowhere but sohow turned into complete fire elents through deep dormancy, becoming a "fire seed."
However, after thoroughly reviewing the panels of the two fire elents in front of him, Lin Jun did not find any related skills.
Evidently, converting them into a "fire seed" status was achieved by another type of special fire elent, most likely the big fellow ntioned by the dwarf officer that burst out and self-destructed.
Lin Jun noted this information, intending to investigate further later.
He only hoped that such a special fire elent could have a core entity like the Fla Demon in the Deep Area previously.
If it was purely elental form, Lin Jun wouldn’t be able to consu it.
The sudden appearance of the two fire elents initially raised alarm for the dwarf officer, but he felt a trace of delight.
A re pair of ordinary fire elents clearly posed no real threat to them, but the unexpected attack would undoubtedly allow the delegation to witness the danger firsthand.
Thus, they would likely retreat and sensibly choose to circumvent, saving him a lot of words.
"Hold on!"
Just as the dwarves gripped their weapons, preparing to deal with the two fire elents, Inanna suddenly spoke out, stopping everyone’s actions.
Aside from Ronan, who vaguely guessed sothing, the rest of the delegation displayed expressions of bewildernt.
So dwarves even ignored the unknown human and continued the attack.
However, they were stopped by the suddenly jumping No. 4 waving its tentacles.
"What are you doing? Looking for trouble?" The dwarf officer asked in frustration, turning towards the delegation.
But his question got stuck in his throat due to the scene unfolding in front of him.
The two fire elents, which should have rushed towards living creatures first, displayed exceptionally odd behavior at the mont.
After fully erging from the scorched earth, they did not attack but instead cautiously, inch by inch, moved forward. The surging flas seed restrained, as if fearing to disturb sothing.
Then an even more astonishing scene unfolded. Inanna gently parted the guards before her and stepped to the front of the team, standing there without any protection.
The two fire elents imdiately responded. Their flas noticeably contracted again, with even the emitted heat weakening significantly, and then began to slowly orbit around Inanna.
Maintaining a not-too-close and not-too-far distance, the flickering fire tongues sotis probed closer to her, while other tis retreated in apparent fright, their posture...
It was as if they both longed to approach and instinctively feared harming her!
The officer rubbed his eyes; these were not the fire elents he knew.
Everyone showed confused expressions, except Ronan, who knew more of the situation and was trembling with excitent, murmuring inaudibly, "This is... the Elental Spirit’s favor, perhaps just like... their master..."
The two fire elents gently circled for several rounds and eventually stopped quietly at a slightly further distance behind Inanna, the glow of their flas calming down.
Inanna turned around, the crackling sound of burning flas accompanying her movent as she addressed the dwarf officer, who was stunned: "Dwarf sir, you see, I believe these fire elents are not dangerous. Now... can you allow us to pass through here? I promise not to trouble you."
"Well..." The dwarf officer swallowed hard, his gaze shifting between the docile fire elents and the calm pink-haired woman for so ti before finding his voice, "In any case, please follow to report to our superior first..."
...
When General Duvalin, responsible for reclaiming the Underground City in Goldfla City, was urgently brought to the temporary fortress wall by his subordinates, he almost thought the slags were launching an assault on the camp upon seeing the long line of nearly a hundred fire elents...
Reviews
All reviews (0)