"We’re ready, brothers!"
Longjing Tea called out, "Have everything packed... We’ve arrived at the Dirge Principality!"
Chocolate owed softly, complaining in a low voice, "It’s all mist down there, can’t see a thing clearly.
"Speaking of which, how do we get down there? We’re not going to be air-dropped, are we?"
"...Ailin?"
Hearing this, Longjing Tea also turned to look at the female Priest Ailin, silently asking.
Huh? How should you get down?
...Shouldn’t you have figured this out before boarding the airship?
Why are you asking ?
And really, for a group of adventurers at the silver rank... would our ordinary thods even be useful to you?
The female Priest hesitated for a mont, then glanced at the kitten in the young girl’s arms that spoke human language.
...You seem a bit off too.
Could it be that the Tower of Black Radiance, after years of research into "Advanced Intelligent Creation," finally made so progress?
But speaking of this problem...
Upon realizing that there seed to be sothing off about these people, Ailin scrutinized them further.
That bald Sword Saint also seed not quite right...
Sword Saints are not supposed to wear armor; the lighter the body, the higher the efficiency of ditation. It’s true that so Sword Saints might choose to go bare-chested or just drape a cloth diagonally over their body to hang their sword.
But this muscled bald Sword Saint was terrifying.
He wore a thin white garnt—revealing muscles like a demon’s on his body, so defined that they were visible even through the clothes.
...Aren’t Sword Saints supposed to be lean, handso n with flowing long hair?
What’s the deal with a Sword Saint having such bulging muscles?
The muscles on his shoulders looked so tough that it felt like even a dagger couldn’t penetrate them... Did such a Sword Saint really need armor?
That Wind Dancer who spoke the least and kept dozing off in the corner also seed odd.
I hadn’t noticed before... Why does his skin have a wooden texture? At first glance, his hair looked sowhat greasy, but upon closer inspection—aren’t those vines?
Could he be an animated Elven ancient tree?
...Can you fly?
This group really felt wrong all over—from the Beast Summoner whose highly intelligent pet seed to be controlling instead, to the fragile Sword Saint who seed almost immune to weapons, to the Wind Dancer looking like a pulled-up treant.
Only Master Longjing Tea seed relatively normal...
Ailin mused inwardly.
"...Because the outside is filled with deadly Mist, there are only two ways to descend," Ailin pondered for a mont before seriously answering, "One way is to find a place to land.
"Afterward, we will activate the ritual chamber and create a passage from where the airship touches down to the underground. You will enter the underground from inside the airship and carry out your exploration.
"The second way is... to continuously summon a curse-rich tornado from high above, which will temporarily disperse the Mist. You guys will descend through the eye of the storm by ropes, and then search for an underground space that can shield you from the Mist... My recomndation is the first thod, because you can’t see the city’s structure through the Mist, and we don’t have a lot of energy to keep ’illuminating’ continuously."
"So you’re saying, you can temporarily disperse the curse, right?"
Longjing Tea caught the crucial information: "How long can it last? How large is the area?"
"It’s a ritual called ’Heart of Restlessness,’ which turns the ritualist’s heartbeat rhythm into an invisible storm. Sister Georgina will perform this ritual."
Ailin frowned, thinking hard: "But the ritual requires the burning of oil-soaked frog hearts to maintain... and we didn’t bring too many ritual materials this ti around, we can only initiate it three tis, with a total duration of thirty minutes.
"Since the bottom of the airship is not very sturdy, we must first disperse the Mist once to ensure that there are no protruding, sharp statues or architectural structures below. We need to prevent the airship’s bottom from being pierced when landing... and we need to save one instance to lift you guys back up."
"Ah, there’s no need to go through such trouble."
The wandering child chid in: "Just open it up once... We can go down directly."
"...Huh?"
Ailin was stunned: "But aren’t you the only Wind Dancer..."
"I am a legitimate Wind Dancer."
The wandering child confidently stated: "Not one of those counterfeit ones, I can at least carry two people."
...Wait a minute, why two people?
However, Ailin didn’t dwell on these details.
Although she remained sowhat skeptical, she didn’t forget her role—she was rely there to serve.
She quickly called over the Priest known as "Georgina." That was the granddaughter of the Pope, the only high priest among the four.
Once one reached the position of Chief Ritualist, they could already conduct most rituals independently. After receiving the ssage, she quickly went to the first ritual chamber to begin preparations for the "Heart of Restlessness" ritual.
The ritual itself was not particularly difficult.
However, powered by the enhancent of the "Banquet of Collective Affection," its might also increased manifold—
As Priest Georgina placed a tal disc resembling a stethoscope against her chest, she also began to intone the sacred verses that praised the endlessly pulsating heart in a low voice.
The next mont, a clear and powerful heartbeat sounded in everyone’s ears.
Each beat of that heartbeat was stronger than the last—within the blink of an eye, it had rged with the clouds, thundering like lightning.
That clear heartbeat soon synchronized with the sound of thunder.
A storm arose in its wake.
An extrely sharp, ghostly wail erupted—as if grasping at one’s heart.
It was a roar so dizzying that one felt disoriented rely by listening to it.
The Mist, which even strong winds struggled to dissipate, was now visibly fading away under the breath of this invisible tempest.
And in the blink of an eye, they saw what was directly beneath them.
——It was a grand city of gray.
It evoked thoughts of ancient Roman architectural style.
"Leave it to ."
The wandering child took a deep breath and grasped the bronze ring: "Rember to keep up—don’t turn into a box!"
He opened the hatch at the bottom of the airship, and the violent, icy airflow surged in.
Within the eye of the storm, the child plunged headfirst from a height of eight thousand ters!
Looking down from above, one could see a tornado spreading outward from him at the center.
Yet he was descending slowly like an ant, caught in the midst of it.
This scene caused Priest Ailin’s pupils to contract with tension.
Before long, the Dragon Well tea and the bald Sword Saint followed suit, leaping down right after him.
——They must be out of their minds! This was absolute madness!
They didn’t even bother to descend gradually?!
To jump from such a height straight down...
Seeing that the small-statured girl didn’t jump, Ailin finally breathed a sigh of relief.
But just then, the cat in the girl’s arms suddenly sprang up and leaped down as well.
——Right afterward, she saw the city below suddenly collapse.
As if pressed down by so invisible force... The central buildings of the city lted away like cream, revealing a large pit and exposing the dark, damp earth beneath. It continued to lt, "excavating" a tunnel within seconds.
The seed of the hurricane wrapped around the three people and the cat, protecting them.
It was more akin to flight than falling—they struck down into the pit like a white stream of light, from top to bottom.
Without making a sound, the ground did not tremble. The three disappeared into the cavern and then the lting ground closed back up, restoring the gray "top."
It was as if sealing the filling inside a pie with dough.
And the girl stepped forward, closing the hatch.
She lifted her head and with her doll-like, icy pupils, she watched Priest Ailin.
With a slightly awkward tone, she said earnestly, word by word, "I am here. I will notify them to co back. You conduct the ritual. I will position. You must open the hatch."
Although it was difficult, Ailin still understood.
In essence, the girl could stay here and help with positioning...
What actually crossed Ailin’s mind was this thought: How co this girl doesn’t speak as fluently as her own cat?
Your own cat can even speak the Noah dialect fluently.
Aren’t you embarrassed...
Ailin didn’t know what to do for a mont.
She sat in her chair, next to the girl who was half-closing her eyes as if she were about to fall asleep—mainly because she feared the girl might disappear, that such a small child, if accidentally opened the hatch and fell out, would be a disaster.
"But the speed of tunnel digging is just too fast..."
She murmured to herself.
——That child with hair like vine, must be a Tree Person, right?
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