Pillar of Yita

”What!?”

Tianlan, clutching her reddened forehead, came out of the captain’s room and only caught the latter part of what was said. She almost thought her captain had lost his mind. ”Brother Ade, did you just say something crazy?”

But Bakins understood what he meant. After all, this sailor was a native of Istania and knew what the Colin Kingdom meant to Istania.

He slid down from the mast and said, ”Actually, it’s not that complicated. The rear cannons haven’t been installed in time, so the Seven Seas Traveler only has a front crossbow cannon. The range isn’t enough at this distance; we can just fire it casually.”

Fang Hong nodded, ”Let’s do that.”

Bakins and the Big Cat People moved toward the crossbow, one person was in charge of loading, while the other took the projectile from the rack and placed it on top. After Gita sent three announcements to the Port Authority, the Seven Seas Traveler pretended to fire once in the direction of the battery.

But the projectile, as if for fun, twisted and veered out a few chains and fell drastically before even covering half the distance to the target, disappearing into the cloud layers.

Tianlan stared at this scene, bewildered.

But Fang Hong smacked the back of her head and said, ”Stop spacing out, get to your position.”

With that, he put on his tricorn hat, adjusted it slightly, looked back at the three bright sixth-rate escort ships on the Cloud Sea, and issued the command loudly:

”All crew of the Seven Seas Traveler, listen up.”

”Southward, into the Cloud Wall, we head to the Mist Fjord.”

”Everyone, say farewell to Istania.”

...

In the darkness, it was silent, only occasionally broken by the sound of dripping water.

And the Rotao People believed that something evil lay dormant in the darkness.

Thus, after the Finn disaster, they forgot the Dust World Hall beneath this cavern littered with sharp rocks. There was a tall, heavy wall, intricately patterned, sealing away a history belonging to the King of Madness.

Even now, people are unwilling to mention that bloody past, about the death of the rebel and the tyrant, how the Empire collapsed, how a bustling royal capital turned to ruins overnight, sinking into this dark underworld.

For many years, guards were sent to keep watch over this place, but every single one ended up going insane, incessantly chattering about the things lurking in the darkness. Initially, people remembered everything, but over time, no one was willing to come anymore, and after years of peace, many things were gradually forgotten.

And they forgot, what exactly lay hidden in that darkness.

Xidor Milianko watched as the debris slipped and rolled into the void beneath his feet, the sudden sound in the silence enough to chill one’s spine.

He clutched the rock wall tightly, his other hand holding a climbing pick wedged into the fissure in the wall — a fissure that seemed unnatural to him, like a giant claw mark.

He had always believed that the dark legends of the Rotao People were true, about the tyrant and those crazy tales, an ancient Empire on the brink of collapse and the shocking ancient rumors that arose.

But his tension only brought forth a soft chuckle.

Companions crouched atop the cliff, teasing him, ”Xidor, are you too scared to move? Hurry and climb up, look at you. Just some rocks, and you’re scared like a startled little squirrel.”

The warrior, resting his great sword on the ground, straightened up and looked at the distant darkness, ”This place has been thoroughly explored, the ruins below had anything valuable taken a decade ago.”

”But if we could pass through these cliffs,” he glanced behind him, ”and reach areas unexplored by others, we might still have a chance to get rich.”

”But truly, only us Invokers come here, the locals never do.”

”That’s because this place was once connected to the Pillar of Stars, a holy site for the Rotao People,” the warrior replied. ”I heard that over ten years ago, there was a bloodshed on the surface, and a Tanro Knight guarding the Pillar of Stars escaped...”

”What does that have to do with us?”

The warrior was about to say more when suddenly he frowned slightly.

He looked at Xidor still hanging on the cliff, impatiently saying, ”Xidor, how long are you going to hang there? If you aren’t going to continue, we won’t wait for you.”

Xidor trembled all over, his face pale as he stared at him.

”What’s wrong?” The warrior was slightly stunned, ”Do you have acrophobia?”

But then he sensed something amiss, glancing back, he saw faint ’crack’ noises coming from the rock wall above, the ground seemed to shudder slightly, fine gravel hanging from the sharp rocks above.

Falling at his feet.

There was a moment he even felt the rock beneath moving, and with a soft ’swish’, Xidor beneath could no longer hold onto the protrusion, falling along with the rubble.

Uttering a scream.

”Xidor!” The warrior shouted, but the quaking ground left him barely able to stand, forcing him to hug the ground, ”What’s happening, an earthquake?”

But before he could finish speaking, a pair of golden eyes suddenly opened in the distant darkness.

The thick stone wall was collapsing —

An enormous shadow, slowly emerged from the darkness, with cold, golden eyes, nearly as tall as the cliff itself. Yet, it ignored the insignificant beings on this cliff, gently shaking off the rubble and dust from its body.

The warrior gaped, watching this scene, feeling a chill all over, involuntarily letting out a clucking sound from his throat —

”Interesting...”

”...that little fellow.”

A deep voice resonated from the darkness.

...