Pillar of Yita

Climbing upward in the pitch-black and gloomy environment, Fang Hong shook his sore hands and looked up to see that he was in a circular, narrow space—it seemed the ladder above led to a well.

It seemed that a faint light was seeping down from above. He touched the walls with his hands, where traces of brickwork appeared on the bare surface, indicating that he might be nearing the mouth of the well.

He exhaled, ready to continue climbing upward, and it was at that moment that two deep voices conversing from above reached his ears.

Upon hearing the voices, Fang Hong immediately stopped and listened intently with his ears perked up, quickly making out the content of the conversation above.

”Have you heard? The ’Blade of Victory’ was taken by that rag picker, and Big Sister is so angry she wants to kill someone,” the first voice spoke with a seasoned calm, its metal clinking sounds due to body movements.

Upon hearing the words ’Big Sister,’ Fang Hong’s heart stirred. At the same time, he pictured a combat-oriented Invoker around thirty, draped in chainmail.

”Really? There’s more to it?” The second voice was much younger and didn’t reveal any particular profession, though it likely ruled out the possibility of a heavy armored profession.

”Exactly, more people came in from outside, but nobody expected that fool to blend in with them. People from Tabopolis seemed to have been trying to prevent our folks from getting it and accidentally let that guy slip in.”

”And then?” the second voice asked further.

”Then? Heaven knows,” Fang Hong could almost picture the first voice’s owner shrugging. ”Now no one knows where that fool has gone to. Dolifen is so big, do you think you can find him?”

The second voice paused for a moment before asking curiously, ”Speaking of which, what’s the deal with that guy?”

”That rag picker? Not sure, he claims to be a Combat Artisan, but my friend told me it’s all made up, not recognized by the Grand Guild, plus he’s not clean-handed, having been kicked out by several teams.”

”This guy is really odd...”

”You think that’s odd? There’s even weirder stuff you don’t know! That guy is a loner, he lives in an abandoned factory near Elpaxin with his cat, nobody wants him on their team, so he’s been picking garbage to get by.”

”Haha, I’ve heard about that too, quite disgusting.”

”Alright, keep it down, don’t let others hear it, especially Big Sister—” the owner of the first voice paused for a moment, probably looking around: ”She’s on a rampage, don’t become the target of her anger, we’re not core members, be careful not to get into trouble.”

”Big Sister being angry isn’t entirely because of this... Did you see her before, the Madam with the carrying case was quite beautiful, and that Elf Girl, that figure... tsk tsk, how did they offend Big Sister?”

Fang Hong was slightly startled upon hearing this.

The ’Madam with the carrying case’ was clearly referring to Hilveld, whose conspicuous characteristics couldn’t be mistaken, and the Elf Girl must be Atira. So who were these people? Judging from their tone, they seemed to be related to Big Sister. But why would these people be in Dolifen at this time, and it seemed that they just happened to run into Atira and her companions.

It was too much of a coincidence.

As he harbored some doubts in his heart, at that moment, the voices from above suddenly stopped. The first voice appeared alert: ”Shh, I think I heard something.”

Startled, Fang Hong immediately held his breath, then heard footsteps above, followed by a cat’s meow.

”Damn, it’s just a cat.” The owner of the first voice seemed to be startled and cursed loudly.

The second voice’s owner followed suit, asking, ”How could there be a cat in this place?”

”Anything’s possible in this damned place.”

”Once we’re done here, I’m definitely going to find a place to enjoy myself, staying in this godforsaken place for too long brings nothing but bad luck.”

The two seemed to patrol around above for a while before coming back and resuming their idle chatter by the wellside. Unsurprisingly, they shifted the topic to women. Fang Hong listened for a while but found it uninteresting, so he slowly climbed upward, gripping the ladder.

As he neared the mouth of the well, he lifted his right palm and released the Clockwork Fairy he was holding.

The Brass Sphere, not much bigger than a tennis ball, vibrated its wings, gently ascended, and then buzzed out of the well. The noise it emitted evidently attracted the attention of the two men outside, who were startled and exclaimed in unison:

”What’s that!”

But the Clockwork Fairy drew an arc, flying between the two men. Before they could see what happened, instincts usually compel creatures to avoid rear-approaching threats, so they turned around following the motion.

Fang Hong seized the opportunity to quickly climb up to the well’s mouth and jumped down with an agile step. The younger man in the robe reacted slightly quicker, attempting to turn back, but Fang Hong, without a second word, punched him in the face with all his might.

Although he wasn’t a combat-oriented character, the young man wasn’t either, and the system notified him that his critical hit was effective—the man was immediately knocked down onto his back by the punch.

Not far off, the older warrior Invoker seemed to have just reacted, turning around to draw his longsword with a ’clang.’

But Fang Hong was quick, lunging forward to yank a dagger from the young man’s boot, grabbed the older man’s long hair with his left hand to pull him up from the ground, and pressed the dagger against his neck with his right hand.