Pillar of Yita

”Did you see it earlier?” the Messenger asked, looking back.

Bann was slightly startled, ”What?”

The Messenger said, ”Dragon’s Golden Eyes.”

Bann, not quite understanding, replied, ”Didn’t we all see it, along with those Dragonfire Guild people?”

The Messenger shook his head, ”Bann, you didn’t experience the events thirty years ago, and neither did I. But Lord Manlo’s father died in that disaster. Only ’disaster’ can describe the failure we experienced then. He personally entrusted me with a message before he came, that everything seen in this Phantom Realm is not to be trusted.”

”But I don’t quite understand?”

The Messenger said, ”Think about what we need to do, Bann.”

”My lord, are you talking about killing Lord Nikopolas?” Bann swallowed hard, ”But that’s just an illusion. We need to obtain the Blade of Victory in this process to get the Dragon’s Golden Eyes. We’re not really going to be enemies with Lord Nikopolas—His Grace, the Bishop has said, it’s an illusion set by Lord Nikopolas’s enemies, not to be trusted.”

The Messenger, upon hearing this reply, neither agreed nor disagreed but just looked meaningfully at him.

”So why did we fail thirty years ago?” he asked in return.

Bann was caught off guard.

As a simple man, how could he know so much? What he understood was all told by the ’priests,’ but who knew why they failed thirty years ago?

Even Lord Manlo couldn’t guess the outcome.

The Messenger shook his head, ”But you’re right, I never really expected the Dragonfire Guild people to perform beyond expectations. Honestly, their performance has already exceeded my expectations; they’ve been behaving quite well before entering this Phantom Realm.”

He looked intently at Bann, ”Bann, I understand your thoughts. But you must correct this view. These unexpected allies are important to us, their world...”

He thought for a moment and then decided to drop the topic, shaking his head, ”In any case, in light of your father’s face, I’ll give you some opportunities, but within my limits of tolerance.”

Upon hearing this, the fearsome man quickly nodded earnestly.

Just then, the Messenger suddenly stopped and looked towards the Forest.

The bushes there suddenly rustled and parted left and right, revealing a group of people emerging. Their attire wasn’t much different from theirs, except that half of their faces were covered by hoods, and the edges were ragged, as if made by man.

Moving closer, Bann saw that their cloak’s edges were adorned with metal-fashioned dragon scales, their belts were tied with dragon eye pendants, and they held a Nine-Tailed Whip and a blood-stained Spike.

”Immortals!” Bann gasped in shock upon seeing these people, and looked at the Messenger, ”They’ve come too?”

But the Messenger did not look at him and coldly asked those who had arrived, ”’Raven’ has sent you to see me, I assume you’re ready?”

The Immortals nodded.

One of them spoke, ”The fog near Hustings Cathedral has mostly dissipated. Someone indeed saw that person entering the cathedral earlier. We have located several key Sealing points; entering the cathedral next should not be a problem—though ’Raven’ himself isn’t sure if the dissipation of the fog is related to the Blade of Victory.”

When that person spoke, his voice had a strange hissing sound, like a Poison Snake spitting, or the noise of metal scraping. Bann frowned heavily upon hearing this sound, as if he was extremely uncomfortable with it.

However, the other seemed quite pleased with this voice, looking smugly at Bann.

The Messenger asked, ”Did you see clearly what the clash over there was about?”

The person replied, ”It seems that others have infiltrated near the cathedral, but they don’t seem to be members of the Tabopolis Oak Knights. At the moment, we are not sure which side they are. They seemed to have clashed with the Dragonfire Guild members. We will pay special attention to this area.”

”Be careful,” the Messenger replied, ”This is the final battle; the real resurrection of Lord Nikopolas is the most crucial step of this plan. The situation from thirty years ago must not be repeated; we must succeed in one go.”

”Understood.”

The Messenger drew a peculiar symbol over his heart and spoke a cryptic phrase, ”Soling shall ultimately lead it all, pursuing the immortal Yita.”

The Immortals then responded in turn and turned to leave, disappearing back into the bushes.

Bann watched this scene dumbfounded and took a while to snap back to reality, excitedly asking, ”My lord, so you did prepare in advance. I can’t believe I got to see the Immortals. The rumors said they were always clashing with Aquen’s Elves—behind this mission, is it ’those people’?”

But the previously approachable man just gave him a cold look.

”Shut up.”

The latter seemed to realize something and immediately fell silent.

...

The Fog Shield Road leading to Hustings Cathedral required crossing a wooden bridge, which spanned a babbling brook, the season witnessing dense reeds growing beneath it.

Fang Hong and Hes hid under the bridge, carefully listening to the chaotic footsteps that gradually receded above, dust fluttering down onto their heads.

The two dared not even breathe heavily, let alone cough or sneeze.

After a while, when there were no sounds outside, Fang Hong climbed up the dirt slope and peeked outside. Confirming that there was no one, he finally exhaled.