Pillar of Yita

”P... Plain?” Gita was momentarily taken aback before realizing what the brash woman was implying, ”Mi... Miss Fuli, you...!”

”Wow, don’t come any closer, Gita. What’s wrong? I’m just stating the facts. How about we compare?” Tianlan exclaimed, retreating quickly as she saw the other’s anger flare up.

Seeing the two young girls squabbling in the cottage, Atira felt both amused and exasperated, and just as she was about to intervene, Tianlan stepped back right into the dilapidated cabinet behind her.

There was a light click, as if a mechanism had been triggered, and suddenly Atira felt the floorboard tilt downward, hastily grabbing the bed frame for support.

Once she stabilized herself and looked down, she saw that below the slanted floorboard, a dark tunnel entrance had been revealed.

”Ah, what’s this?” Tianlan and Gita immediately stopped their scuffle, staring dumbfounded at the hidden passage that had unexpectedly appeared, both equally baffled—could this even be possible?

”It seems to be a secret passage,” Gita murmured faintly, her cheeks pulled by Tianlan.

”I obviously know it’s a secret passage, but where does it lead underground?”

The three girls looked at each other, at a loss for an answer to this question.

They had merely sought a shelter in this cemetery, never expecting to find a bizarre secret passage beneath it.

”Do you think there might be some terrifying monster down there?” Tianlan suddenly grew fearful as the moment of truth approached, considering she was always most afraid of such eerie things.

”Please don’t jinx it, Sister Fuli.”

It was then that Atira, after a slight pause, said to them both, ”Help me up, let’s go down and see—”

”Really, are we going down there, Sister Atira?”

The Elf Miss slowly nodded.

...

The battle at Grey Oak Square ended with no warning.

Lady Misu’s personal strength was exceptional, with at least three of the seven Dragon Worshippers attacking her being fourth-tier entities, yet they still couldn’t gain the upper hand against her.

As rumored, devotees of the Dark Giant Dragon wielded the Dragon’s Magic—being Zealots, blessed by the Dark Giant Dragon itself, they could use magic at will without the need for Core Crystals to channel their Magic Power.

However, the power of the Dark Giant Dragon was singular in its attribute of slaughter, hence their magic was also filled with the essence of destruction, summoning a swathe of dark flames that seemed capable of engulfing everything, reducing everything it touched to Ashes.

Even Misu had to be cautious to avoid these magical fires.

But such power invariably imposed a burden on their frail human bodies, the more they used it, the quicker their bodies deteriorated. However, this didn’t mean all followers of the Dark Giant Dragon disregarded life and death; quite the opposite, most of them feared death—

On one hand, they recklessly pursued power, choosing to imbibe the Dragon’s Blood to transform themselves into a dragon-like form. But they couldn’t transform into true Dark Giant Dragons like the ancient Dragon Slayers, lacking the necessary Willpower.

In the end, these people merely became Half-Dragon monsters, stripped of their cognitive abilities, existing in the world in this form almost eternally.

As long as the Dark Giant Dragon lived, they were Immortals, Undead.

Dragon’s Servants.

Such eternal immortality naturally held no interest for Fang Hong.

But the scales of victory eventually tipped in favor of the Dragon Worshippers.

Certainly, that lady could be said to be one of the strongest Natives he had encountered since entering Eteliria, and naturally, the followers of the Dark Giant Dragon could not match her.

Yet she also couldn’t kill these troublesome monsters.

Fang Hong found that his opponents faced the same issue he had encountered at Traveler’s Rest—every monster he killed transformed into a black smoke.

Moments later, it would recondense into human form—

And the speed of this resurrection was far quicker than anything he had seen before.

This made sense, as this was the power of the Dragon’s Golden Eyes, while what he had encountered at Traveler’s Rest was merely the residual Magic Power of a Dragon Horn.

Moreover, although the aged knight had shown stronger abilities in the Phantom Realm than he later demonstrated, he was at best comparable to Sicape and Kroid.

Under the assault of the Dragon Worshippers, danger quickly ensued.

Misu even had to spare some of her focus to help him fend off their attacks.

The two of them were pushed back rather than advancing, unable to approach the center of the square to stop the monsters’ resurrection and were gradually cornered by the Dragon Worshippers.

Fang Hong watched the scene unfold, knowing it was merely a remnant of days long past, yet his heart couldn’t help but leap to his throat. Miss Misu and Mr. Diket seemed utterly powerless to stop Nikopolas from being resurrected.

If Nikopolas had fully revived back then,

why would the Dragon’s Golden Eyes have remained at this site?

As he pondered in confusion, out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly saw the chairman of the Black Goat Commerce Association, the man named Luen Linxiu, stepping out from an alley.

He silently stood there for a moment, then suddenly waved towards the square and shouted, ”Miss Misu, Mr. Diket, over here!”

The two people in the square were startled.

They turned around, seemingly oblivious to the age-old wear on Luen’s face, and their expressions morphed into identical looks of surprise.

Anger was clearly etched on Diket’s face, ”Luen, where have you been since you left City Hall? Why didn’t you return to Traveler’s Rest? I think we need an explanation.”

Luen silently watched the two of them.

For a moment, he seemed to have overlooked the enemy in the square, staring blankly at the scene until he finally choked up and said, ”Mr. Diket, Miss Misu, I will give you a reasonable explanation—I have found something important, but let us first escape this place.”

”Escape!?” Diket exclaimed angrily. ”Are you mad? The Dark Giant Dragon is about to resurrect; where could we possibly flee? The city lies just behind us; do you realize how many people could die because of this?”

He stabbed a Dragon Worshipper in front of him and continued, ”Unless I die, that Dark Giant Dragon will have to step over my dead body before I flee.”

”Trust me, Mr. Diket,” Luen shouted, ”we still have a chance to stop all this, but give me a moment; please follow me—there are no enemies this way!”

He looked toward the lady. ”Miss Misu, do you not believe me?”

Misu frowned slightly, swung her sword to push back the Dragon Worshippers in front of her, then turned back around, ”Luen, is what you’re saying true?”

Fang Hong suddenly realized—they were interacting with a Phantom Realm!?

Before this, beings within the Phantom Realm had completely ignored him and Hilveld, but it seemed that things had changed since the appearance of Luen Linxiu.

The Phantom Realm seemed different now.

But were they altering the history within the Phantom Realm?

Fang Hong frowned, seemingly also uncertain.

He looked toward the center of the square, which now clearly displayed the scene within the Magic Array—there, amid layers of bodies, likely the townspeople who had participated in the festivities.

Misu and Diket were simply too late; this might have been what Jeffrey had once mentioned, that if not for his betrayal, the outcome thirty years ago may have differed.

Above that heap of corpses was a swelling light cocoon. However, the light cocoon was not nearly large enough to contain a Giant Dragon—

It was just over two meters tall, and within the light cocoon was a humanoid figure.

The figure even appeared somewhat frail.

It made Fang Hong feel a sense of déjà vu, for he had recognized that it was another Hes.

That was indeed the Dragon’s Golden Eyes.

But Fang Hong grew even more puzzled; what exactly was the Nikopolas in the Phantom Realm at Grey Oak Square? As he pondered, he failed to notice that Diket had already turned in his direction.

The older Knight gazed intensely at him, his eyes seeming to shoot out flames, ”Declan? Luen, why are you with him? And you still claim you haven’t betrayed us?”

”What?”

Upon hearing this, Fang Hong was dumbfounded.

But when he looked up, he saw Lady Misu pausing in that direction, glancing at him incredulously and then staring at Luen.

The most surprised person present, however, was clearly not Misu or Diket.

It was Manlo Huolite above the square.

He screamed, ”Declan, you aren’t dead! How is this possible!?”

”Huh?”

...