Chapter 913: Act 88 – Shadow of Death II
The Blazing Tree is a precious tree species found south of Saint Ausoor, rich in light elemental magic. After undergoing special preparation, it emits a sunlight-like glaring light with just a slight jolt, briefly blinding those who gaze upon it.
The young man behind Delphine, named Efi, watched helplessly as the sprite threw the round, ball-like object toward him. He quickly shut his eyes and shouted to the other people present, “Shut your eyes!” The Blazing Tree seed traced a graceful arc before landing with a thud at the feet of the Chancellor’s Daughter, rolling away. Before anyone could react, their gazes still fixed on the round object, it crashed into a nearby wall and cracked open, releasing a strong beam of pure white light.
At that moment, a figure flashed through the corridor. A woman with long hands reached for the Blazing Tree seed, grasping it in her palm. It seemed her hand possessed some invisible magic, able to contain the surging light. The beams of light collided with an invisible barrier, refracting back, and the blinding glow dimmed slightly, turning into a gentle radiance, as if all the light had merged into a warm sphere, firmly controlled within a small area by her hand.
Everyone stared dumbfounded at this scene.
Efi, the only one with closed eyes, felt a long silence and couldn’t help but cautiously crack open one eye, witnessing the strange sight: a woman with flowing silver hair, dressed in a white robe, was standing between them, holding a ball of light. The glowing orb floated in mid-air, its light reflecting the coldness on the woman’s face. She was exceedingly tall, surpassing many of the human males, and her eyes sparkled like pure silver, shining brightly. The light from the orb was flickering slightly in her palm, and just before returning to darkness, the lady turned and shot a fierce glare at the sprite.
The sprite, fearless of everything, felt her heart race at that glare. She felt aggrieved, her small mouth pouting as tears welled up in her eyes.
“If you don’t want to die, leave this place quickly,” the woman in white said coldly, surveying each person around her with a husky voice.
“Who are you?” Delphine asked cautiously. “What do you mean?”
The sudden appearance of the woman had stunned everyone present. To be able to contain the explosively blooming light within the palm, how powerful one’s control over the light elements must be! If the earlier was an illusion, at this moment, the light orb was dissolving into tiny sparks in her hands, and by this capacity alone, it was enough to instill a sense of helplessness in everyone present.
The woman in white glanced at the ceiling, shaking her head with evident frustration, her voice seeming to suppress something. “Foolish, leave quickly; I don’t have time to explain to you!”
Delphine wanted to say something more, but suddenly felt a sharp sensation in her heart, prompting her to instinctively take a step back. She looked up, astonished, at the woman before her.
At that moment, a wave of helpless fear arose in the hearts of everyone present.
The two guards of the Chancellor’s Daughter collapsed to the ground with a thud, shouting, “Lady, are you going to kill us!”
But at that moment, the only unaffected one, Xainne, suddenly flew up, pulling the sprite’s cloak by the nape and desperately dragging her back, screaming, “Sprite, run! She’s a dragon!”
Everyone saw the color in the woman’s eyes gradually transform into a flowing mercury-like hue, and elongated silver scales started to appear on her forehead.
‘Boom—’
The wooden cottage seemed to be struck by a powerful gust, shaking violently.
Outside Rowse’s Compass, those hiding in the embassy on either side of the street saw it even more clearly. A massive creature was descending from the sky, striking with wings like shadows in the sky. With every flap of its wings, the gusts whipped up a storm, sweeping over Gravel Town, temperatures rising, and fiery embers scattered in the turbulent air. When they touched the rooftops, flames leaped up.
A distant, haunting wail emerged in everyone’s minds, coming from the depths of far-off darkness, piercing into their souls. Every heart constricted with intense tension, blood rushing back into their bodies, their surroundings fading into darkness. They gaped like fish out of water, and those of weaker constitution fainted immediately.
Qiyala pressed a hand to her chest, her pale face flushed red. She stared intently at the scene, as if fearing to miss any detail.
A giant dragon was descending from the clouds, hovering above Gravel Town, its dark eyes like dull graphite spheres, carrying a detached coldness that seemed to survey the world. It coldly gazed at the city, creating an illusion that its terrifying eyes surveyed all beneath it. This colossal creature was nearly the size of half the town, and flames swirled beneath its wings like a fire cloud, the turbulent air carrying pinprick streams of golden light, setting the entire area ablaze.
The streets were burning, emitting creaking moans.
“Medisa, are we going to die?”
“Medisa, Medisa, is it coming to eat us?”
“Medisa, will Brendel come to save us?”
“Will Brendel be eaten too?”
“Forget it, Romaine, don’t wait for Brendel to save us! Brendel, run! Run far away!”
Merchant Miss was frightened and bewildered, Medisa biting her lip tightly, gripping her spear, while beside her, Nasha had already fainted, crying uncontrollably in Eynid’s arms, and Dierphir hid closely in the embrace of her cowgirl knight. Aike, trembling, had drawn his sword, while Marjory protected the Duchess’s daughter. Among all, only Princess Margadale was unfazed, feeling somewhat strange about her own composure.
The Silver Elf Princess was taut like a drawn bowstring, ready to spring into action, but at that moment, she suddenly let out a soft “eh?”
Another aura was rising from Rowse’s Compass. It started weakly, like a candle flickering in the wind, but quickly grew, soon rivaling the might descending from the sky, pushing back the dragon’s presence from below.
“I didn’t expect you to be hiding here, Mistral.” A rumbling voice echoed in the air, laced with contempt and taunting, tinged with a hint of cat-and-mouse mockery.
“Obsidian!” An enraged voice reverberated through Gravel Town, originating from the small wooden cottage drifting in the storm near Rowse’s Compass.
The cottage creaked and rattled as if under an unimaginable pressure, its wooden walls, floor, doors, and windows trembling, as if about to collapse. The woman in the white robe released an uncontainable force, casting a regretful glance at the others while struggling to restrain the chaotic power that surged from her kin. “Quick, run for your lives…!”
The final tone of her words turned into a distant howl.
She raised her head and howled, silver wings sprouting from her back, her limbs transforming into talons covered in fine, strong scales. The white robe ripped apart inch by inch, revealing the body of a dragon. A tail sprouted between her legs and when she turned back, she had fully transformed into her draconic form. Amidst the terrified gazes of everyone, the silver dragon was rapidly enlarging, bursting through the corridor, breaking the roof of the wooden house, and crushing the floor. Everyone in the corridor slipped down with the collapsing floor; Delphine screamed as she tumbled down the stairs, and the sprite, dizzy, lunged forward, slamming her forehead against the door frame, “Ouch!” She flailed her arms trying to grab something, but ended up grabbing Xainne’s tail, dragging her down with a scream. Efi, Sorens, and Delphine’s two guards clung to the nearest obstacles, but it was futile.
Rowse’s Compass let out a shrill wail before shattering into pieces. Bricks, wood, dust, and beams crumbled and fell, instantly turning into ruins.
Upon the ruins, a massive and elegant creature spread its wings, dust and shards of tiles raining down like a shower; Romaine and Qiyala looked up in shock as the shadowy wings rose high, when the silver curtain fully opened, it nearly overshadowed several nearby blocks. Both of them gaped slightly; the silver dragon had become immense, perching over several streets, its silver body shimmering beneath the moonlight, with a halo of sacred and inviolable light enveloping its scales. Raising its head, it locked its mercury-like gaze with the black dragon in the sky.
“Obsidian, I ask you one last time: why do you defy the oath and leave Jotungrund?” The woman’s icy voice echoed over the entire Gravel Town, even crossing the valley, spreading in all directions toward the nearby hills.
A mile or two away, in the center of the old district, Brendel bore witness to everything unfolding, seeing the shadow in the sky return to hover over Gravel Town. A force capable of contesting it surged from within the city, and in an instant, a silver dragon appeared out of thin air, confronting it. Juliette and Diya were left speechless, while Sir Cooper emerged from the Temple with a battered Earl Orkans, and upon seeing this scene, he collapsed to his knees in terror.
“For the love of the gods, what’s happening!” Cooper screamed.
Brendel was equally bewildered about the chaos in Gravel Town.
“Medisa, respond to me!” he urgently called through their mental connection.
…
“My lord…” Medisa responded with difficulty.
“Where are you?” Brendel asked, tense.
“I’m… You should have seen it, I’m right here…” Medisa glanced outside at the scene, which mortals might never witness in their lifetimes.
Brendel fell silent for a moment. “Are you all right?”
“We’re fine, the targets of the two dragons should be each other. We’re hidden well and haven’t drawn their attention for now.”
“Is it Brendel?” Brendel sensed the sound of Romaine in Medisa’s perception; the Silver Elf Princess gestured for her to stay quiet.
Medisa’s words brought a slight sigh of relief to Brendel. He thought for a moment and asked, “Do you have a way to enter the secret passage now?”
“Not likely,” Medisa replied. “The silver dragon is right above Rowse’s Compass, which is now in ruins. Finding the entrance to the secret passage will be difficult; I need to wait for them to start fighting to confirm it.”
“Is it dangerous?”
“Not really, you can rest assured, my lord. I’ll protect myself.”
“If there’s danger, find a way to retreat back near the teleporter.”
“I understand.”
“Wait for me, I’ll be there soon.” Brendel seized the trembling Cooper, “Come with me, take me to Rowse’s Compass.”
Sir Cooper, terrified and weak, struggled desperately, “My lord, you’ve gone mad!”
“I’m not mad, Nemeses, bring Earl Orkans, Juliette, Flour, keep an eye on that mouse; I have more questions for it. Mr. Walton, you can inform the nobles in the crypt that plans have changed. We need to execute Plan B. Whether they stay or leave is up to them, but I won’t escort them out of the city.”
He paused, “This also applies to you.”
Walton glanced at Cooper, still being held by Brendel, and shook his head helplessly.
“Do we have a Plan B?” Husher, following along, asked confusedly.
“We do now,” Brendel replied.
…
“Lord—” Medisa realized with resignation that Brendel had cut off the mental connection unilaterally. She sighed, feeling somewhat moved.
“Obsidian, it’s been ages since anyone mentioned that name, I once regretted losing it so much,” the voice from the sky rumbled, “Mistral, but unfortunately not now. Back in Samilian, you were so invincible. And now? Insecure, like a lost dog; you shouldn’t have appeared, only death awaits you.”
“Obsidian, it’s you cursed, do you forget that divine pact? How dare you participate in mortal wars? All three of you have gone mad together, one mistake after another; only the most severe punishments await you.” The silver dragon raised its head pridefully, answering coldly.
“Punishment?” Marlaxias sneered. “Who will enforce it? The ancient people withdrawing from the world, thinking they could avoid disaster. How pathetic and laughable.”
“Me!”
“By you?” A trace of derision unintentionally seeped into Marlaxias’s voice. “Have you fully recovered from your injuries, Mistral?”
Mistral roared angrily, her silver wings spread wide, shaking the ground slightly. She shot toward the sky like an arrow, heading straight for Marlaxias. The wind pressure generated from the dragon’s wing beats created a terrifying storm throughout half the town, blowing everyone nearby off balance, rows of houses creaking as if they were dying, and the slightly older buildings nearly uprooted, their loose walls and roofs collapsing into countless fragments like butterflies amid a storm.
The two dragons collided mid-air, and at that moment, the whole sky seemed to flicker with the radiance of the laws—one half of the night sky densely adorned with golden flame patterns and the other half shimmering with overlapping layers of faint silver networks. The two entirely different scenes enveloped Gravel Town, expanding outward in all directions, and as if delayed for a moment, a shockwave swept through the entire city.
At that moment, Gravel Town seemed to endure a terrifying earthquake; buildings along the streets collapsed like dominoes. Romaine was suddenly lifted by the incoming shockwave and crashed hard into Qiyala behind him, both of them rolling out and losing consciousness. Medisa’s ethereal laws automatically activated at the moment of the shock, weaving a gray mesh of light, but it was pointless. She let out a muffled groan and was pushed into a collapsing house, while the nobles were thrown into chaos. Without elemental power, their retaliatory force was much smaller, yet they tumbled about, many even blown out of windows to crash onto the street below.
At the eye of the shock, Rowse’s Compass suffered the worst. The bakery, already in ruins, was swept into the sky by the gusts, and the people trapped beneath were hurled into the air. Xainne, almost screaming, tore the sprite’s cloak away from the whirlwind, pulling her out just in time. Delphine collided against the wall of a nearby building—thankfully it was wooden—so the Chancellor’s Daughter crashed through with a snap, narrowly escaping becoming a large meat pancake. However, her two guards were not as fortunate; one was tossed dozens of meters away, crashing hard onto the ground, while another had half of his head cut off by a rooftop tile, dying before he even hit the ground.
Sorens managed to grab a pillar at the crucial moment, avoiding being swept into the air, while Efi, the young man, wasn’t as lucky, crashing directly from a nearby house’s second floor.
Among everyone, only one had the best luck: Dwarven Poli Fireanvil roared, “Who woke me up at this hour!” and then splashed right into a nearby tributary of the rushing Milky Way, bubbling as he went.
The firmament above rolled back layer after layer, forming a massive void, and endless starlight streamed down from the gaps in the clouds.
The whole city glimmered with snow silver.
