Chapter 912: Act 87 – Shadow of Death I
From above, the entire city was enveloped in a silence that felt almost tangible. In the northern part of the city, shadowy troglodytes were still on the move, but the central area of the old town lay in eerie stillness. Looking further south, a group was making its way quickly through the dimly lit streets.
“Faster! Don’t give them a chance to react!” Medisa led the charge, a swirling flame of silver streaking through the long street. The troglodyte patrol that blocked their path scattered in panic; those who hesitated were engulfed in the soul flames conjured by the Silver Elf Princess’s spear, reduced to ash. The elegantly towering unicorn galloped down the street, its hooves dancing in the air, leaving a trail of starlit glow in its wake.
Following her was the White Lion Guard in a charging formation, and behind them, the Summer Solstice Knights. “Keep up, Imperial Knights!” roared Bulfield, the deputy commander of the Summer Solstice Knights. “Clear a path for our allies and protect both flanks! Don’t let those rats from below get a chance!” The Cruzian Knights had retrieved their gear two days prior, and Brendel had invited them to fight for the Empire. As knights of the Empire, they had an obligation to do so. Although they knew they were still hostages, the true enemies of the Empire were the Jotungrund people. Compared to them, the relationship between the Erluins and the Cruz people showed distinct advantages.
As the old saying goes, comparisons yield differences.
Once the knights paved the way, it was the cumbersome convoy of the embassy following behind. Aside from a handful of aristocrats accustomed to warfare who could keep pace silently, the others, having lived in luxury, were almost pushed, dragged, or carried along by their attendants. A few particularly heavy-set individuals had their tongues lolling out like dying dogs. At that moment, no one dared to complain; there was no one urging them to move faster, but the consequences of falling behind were evident.
Members of the Erluin embassy rode on real warhorses—Brendel was unwilling to waste Medisa’s cavalry preparation card on these nobles, and summoning a celestial steed would attract too much attention. As such, the number of steeds was limited. On Romaine’s horse, three people were currently riding together. She cradled the young daughter of Duke Golan-Elsen, with QiYala following closely behind. Thankfully, the combined weight of the three was still less than that of Afram, the hefty companion, making it easy for the purebred Cruzian warhorses to carry them.
“Afram, you idiot! You took the wrong path! Come back!”
“Don’t pull the reins so tightly! Do you even know how to ride a horse?”
“There’s a monster on the left! Mr. Bulfield, please hold back those troglodytes! Ah!” Merchant Miss shrieked in fright, quickly hunching down to protect the young girl while ducking from a spear thrown at her by a troglodyte. She shouted, “QiYala, are you okay?”
“I… I’m fine, Miss Romaine.” The representative of the Siphai family, the eldest son of the king’s sister, was as pale as a ghost, with the spear almost grazing her nose. However, she took a deep breath and quickly calmed down, excitement shining in her light blue eyes. “Miss Romaine, there’s a troglodyte over there! Let’s go take a look! The book said these creatures can change color with their environment when alive, just like chameleons. I’ve never seen one before!”
“Okay!” Romaine responded enthusiastically.
“Don’t!” The only sane person among them, Judith, Golan-Elsen’s daughter, suddenly started to cry, “Sister Romaine, Sister QiYala, let’s run, wooo!”
Merchant Miss was then torn: on one hand, QiYala’s words ignited her curiosity, but on the other hand, the young girl in her arms was tearing up, causing her to panic. After a moment’s thought, she finally came up with a compromise: “Princess Margadale, Oni, come help me!”
The duke’s daughter was sitting behind the officer Marjory, and upon seeing this scene, she quickly understood the merchant miss had come up with another bizarre idea. She coldly huffed, “Please, have some self-respect, Miss Romaine. Have you forgotten what the commander said?”
As for Princess Margadale, she merely smiled slightly and shook her head.
“Ah!” Romaine seemed to remember Brendel’s instructions, her mood immediately dropping. QiYala looked displeased. “That annoying guy. Fine, let’s consider he owes us two living troglodytes, one for each of us.”
“That’s quite a bizarre debt to accumulate, my lord.” Aike couldn’t help but comment to Marjory beside him.
The officer from Yanilasou nodded in agreement.
Although the embassy was noisy, Merchant Miss, displaying a leader’s poise, managed to keep this cumbersome group organized despite the confusion, and thanks to her reminders, so far, nobody had fallen behind or faced any unexpected situations. The only headache for Bulfield, the deputy commander of the Summer Solstice Knights, was if only this young lady could streamline her orders a bit more, avoiding merchant slang mixed into a couple of sentences. How could a noble knight understand such things?
The group proceeded, getting closer to their destination until finally, after turning the last corner, Rowse’s prominently displayed sign with its four-arrow emblem came into view.
“We’re here!” Knight Nasha could not help but cheer.
Medisa immediately raised her left hand, signaling for everyone to stop: “Teams one through eight, spread out and find cover! Commander Bulfield, have your men look for shelter! Miss Romaine, get the embassy into the buildings!”
“What’s going on?” Nasha paused for a moment, confused about the elf princess’s command.
Bulfield looked equally puzzled.
Only Romaine glanced at Medisa and quickly instructed all the nobles behind her, “Quick, hide inside!”
In fact, the nobles behind had not yet turned the street corner and had no idea what had happened ahead. However, they were accustomed to Merchant Miss’s various strange commands. No matter how absurd they sounded, they tended to be useful. For example, when she inexplicably ordered the group to stop, it would help them avoid ambushes by troglodytes. Or when she said to go left but actually meant right, it conveniently led them away from ambushing forces, as if a halo of “miraculous fortune” surrounded this young lady, and they had long since grown used to it.
As soon as Romaine gave the command, the nobles leaped towards the surrounding buildings in a unified rush, as if they had rehearsed this many times before.
Fortunately, the owners of these houses had fled Gravel Town before the war, preventing any unnecessary disputes.
Seeing this scene, Bulfield felt a bit perplexed, but the captain of the Summer Solstice Knights expressed enough admiration for Miss Romaine’s miraculous aptitude. Although he remained skeptical, he ordered his subordinates to find cover, and once everyone hid in the shadows along the street sides, Medisa suddenly raised her gaze to the night sky. Following her sight, Bulfield and Nasha also looked up, as did the nobles hiding in the buildings. The clear night sky of Anziluwa was filled with twinkling stars, with sparse clouds drifting in the distance. The proud moon was gradually disappearing into the clouds, casting a shadow across the land.
The surroundings seemed to grow especially quiet.
“What’s that sound?” Knight Nasha suddenly asked uneasily, “Did I mishear something?”
Deputy Commander Bulfield shook his head gently; he too had heard it—
The sound of wind beneath the clouds.
In the winter of Anzeruta, land and sea winds blew from the Floating Cloud Hills toward the highest inner sea. As these winds swept through the pines in Anziluwa’s vast mountains, they emitted a rustling sound, echoing in the still night, like a poem or song. But at this very moment, it seemed that this celestial poem was recited by another voice. This voice grew increasingly high-pitched, as if a feverish, delusional madman was shouting loudly, each word enunciated in every stanza. The sound of wind gradually morphed into a roar, sweeping across the entire hills, leaving the nobles and knights hiding on either side of the street stunned as the turbulent air became visible, accompanied by crashing and clattering noises of things being blown over and shattered, merging into a sound like the harbingers of doomsday.
In an instant, Medisa squinted her eyes.
Everyone else who, like her, had looked up at the sky saw a massive shadow gliding through the clouds, like a fish swimming through water, sweeping over Gravel Town. Following closely was an unmatched, overwhelming presence.
…
“Clang.” The metallic disk in Nemeses’s hand, shimmering slightly under the moonlight and invaluable by mortal standards, suddenly slipped from her grasp and fell to the ground.
Brendel looked at the lady knight in confusion. With Nemeses’s strength, she shouldn’t be unable to hold onto a mere object. He knew just how well she understood the value of this disk, and she wouldn’t let it slip. Nemeses frowned as she gazed at the disk on the ground. Instead of bending down to pick it up, she observed it with a puzzled expression as the disk trembled slightly on the marble steps, emitting a soft buzzing sound, as if an invisible hand was guiding it in a graceful dance.
Five pairs of eyes converged on the metallic disk, but after a moment, they all looked up.
Brendel was the first to notice the clouds accelerating in the night sky beneath him.
“Damn! What is that thing? Quick, get inside the Temple!” His expression changed, and he grabbed Diya’s hand, rushing back into the Temple. The wild elf sister was caught off guard, letting out a startled scream.
Nemeses reacted slightly slower, but she quickly picked up the metallic disk and dashed to follow. Next was Juliette, who didn’t fully understand what was happening but could sense that something was amiss with the strange sight suddenly appearing in the sky over Anziluwa. She instinctively caught up behind Brendel. Finally, Flour, the wild elf sister, picked up her sister’s fallen staff before leisurely joining them inside the Temple. She handed the staff to her startled sister and shot a disapproving glance at her lord.
Unfortunately, at this moment, Brendel was completely oblivious to her gaze. He and Nemeses were focused on the sky outside the Temple.
The clouds were surging westward—
The howling wind seemed to suppress all sound, the entire world transitioning into a kind of silence devoid of meaning. In the stillness, a shadow swept past from above the clouds. Its outstretched wings blocked the light of the moon and stars, casting a dim and lifeless shadow over Gravel Town. Juliette and Diya’s eyes went wide in shock, even forgetting to register that their mouths had dropped open, as just after that shadow, a second shadow followed closely, moving across a large portion of the night sky.
Juliette felt her throat tightening as if her heart were about to leap from her chest. For a moment, she could almost feel her blood reverse course, as if every hair on her body stood on end.
Diya squeezed her lord brother’s hand tightly, completely unaware of her own actions, her emerald green eyes shining as they were glued to the sky.
There was a legend in Vaunte: if someone were to see the shadow of a dragon sweeping across the sky beneath the clouds, it would signify that soon a child blessed by the dragon would be born there. This was the origin of the bloodline talent—shadow of the dragon.
However, since the golden age faded, few had witnessed true dragons on the earth.
Adult dragons.
These were not the youthful dragons like Alorze, Flourfa, or Shi Ta that came out to gain experience or were expelled from the Dragon Valley. No, these were the real deal: the most terrifying and elegant creatures in this age, true adult dragons—they stretched their wings like floating shadows, capable of blocking the light from the sun and moon, stars and all creation. They soared among the clouds, masters of the sky.
“Dragons…” The mercenary captain finally managed to utter the word.
“It’s a black dragon,” Nemeses added.
“I recognize those two dragons,” Brendel said, his expression darkening to an alarming degree, “Modest and Marlaxias.”
“Who are they, Brother Brendel?” Diya asked, her voice tinged with fear.
“The Sin Dragons, the banished black dragons, they are one of the Five Highest Lords of Jotungrund, and they’ve come too.”
“In the ash-strewn remnants of Bear Lake.” Nemeses suddenly recalled, whispering a reminder.
“It’s the Ridge Dragon Beast,” Brendel shook his head, “What a shame. I’ve never seen one of Jotungrund’s finest creatures; otherwise, I would have recognized it back then.”
“Are they… here for this thing?” Juliette asked, staring at the metallic disk in Nemeses’s hand, her complexion still pale, as if she hadn’t managed to catch her breath. The intimidation from the dragons felt almost tangible; had she not been right beside Brendel, she might have screamed. But as she regained her composure slightly, she instinctively linked it to the object they had freshly acquired from Tanfu.
Brendel shook his head. “I fear not. This would appear to be a coincidence. That incident…”
He glanced at Nemeses, reading the same sentiment in her eyes, he revised, “Tanfu must have acted on a whim, but…” He shook his head again, “His rank isn’t sufficient. This must be the intention of that Lizard King, yet they still don’t realize the true value of this item; otherwise, it wouldn’t have been so carelessly preserved, and we wouldn’t have obtained it.”
Taking a deep breath, he continued, “But you’re right, Juliette, they certainly wouldn’t come to the surface world lightly; those two behemoths must have a scheme.”
“My lord?”
Brendel managed a wry smile. Fortunately, he’d been cautious enough to previously toss the Sword of the Earth into Amann’s dimensional fold. Now he could confirm the source of the vague connection he’d felt before.
At the same time, he probably understood something crucial as well.
The true aim of Jotungrund.
…
The shadow of the dragon was drifting away.
Medisa let out a quiet breath. Behind her, almost all of the Cruz nobles had collapsed in fear on the ground, QiYala’s face was ashen, gasping for breath; previously, some had even screamed, but fortunately, Merchant Miss had been quick-witted enough to cast a silence spell, helping the embassy escape unforeseen disasters. However, the most unfortunate were Afram and Judith, the duke’s daughter, who had directly fainted, losing consciousness.
“What… what was that?” Oni could almost hear her teeth chattering.
“Dragons… they are dragons,” QiYala breathed in short gasps, her light blue eyes gradually regaining their sparkle. She was terrified but also excited, “Those are true dragons!”
“Be quiet!” Medisa turned back and commanded sternly, “No noise!”
The stern expression of the Silver Elf Princess even startled Romaine, who had never seen her like this before.
Medisa soon sighed, speaking softly, “If you don’t want to die, don’t talk. You have no idea how terrifying true dragons can be.”
In any case, her words effectively worked; the knights of the Summer Solstice and the soldiers of the White Lion Guard, still able to speak, obediently fell silent.
But just as silence spread, an abrupt voice suddenly pierced the still night.
“Don’t drop it!”
That voice echoed from afar, followed by a second frantic shout.
“Damn it, close your eyes!”
