The howling wind kept passing by his ears, taking away the nearby air and the little warmth that was left. The originally cold temperature also dropped a bit as he stepped into the shadow of the high wall.
, like a youthful mood like this, shrouded in front of him. He squeezed the emerald green stone in his hand hard, and after climbing the steps, he moved his collected mood away from the empty feet in front of him.
He opened the door, and his face covered with dried blood and dust also turned around, facing the square below the steps he climbed up - it seemed that due to the gradual approach to the wind shelter, the wind noise here was quieter than before.
For a while, tangible tracks were also moving forward along Duan Qing's field of vision to both sides, with a scene full of ruined walls and abandoned streets scattered forward in a star shape, extending in all directions of the square. It was still covered by the high-altitude sky.
Small gravel and dust driven by strong winds appear at the end of the picture from time to time, rolling down to the bottom where the invisible and faint shouts of killing are coming. The shouts of killing mixed with the cold sound seem to become louder than
It had become more chaotic and intense in the past few days, and even the sunlight that was closer to them seemed unable to dispel the coldness and cruelty contained in it: "..."
"What are you doing?"
The voice from Christine then sounded in the back of his head, waking him up from his heavy heart with an even colder voice: "Hurry up, we don't have as much time as you think."
"……I see."
The focus of his eyes gradually fell on the huge ice sculpture in the center of the square. Duan Qing, who was almost naked, then turned his head: "I just think... this place seems to be very suitable for enjoying the scenery."
"If you are willing to call the appearance here a scenery... yes." Christine, who was already waiting by the door, turned Aina's head: "Stone."
Without saying too many jokes, Duan Qing, who kept his mouth shut, then walked to the foot of the door inlaid with various unknown magic circles, and then raised his hand while Christine watched intently.
The Stone of Oknos had been blown away by the strong wind and lost its luster. The magic arrays then responded to the call of the stone in Duan Qing's hand and emitted the same gleaming green light, but the magic resonance seemed to be connected together.
It seems that it just reached this step and ended without any more changes: "...it doesn't seem to open so easily."
"Do you need something else? A ritual? A password?"
"It can't be Open Sesame or something, right?"
"Open sesame? What is that?"
"……nothing."
Duan Qing, who pressed his forehead and lowered his head, took a few steps back. First, he looked at the top of the giant gate with all his eyes, and then rubbed his chin: "Such a flat structure,
It doesn’t look like there’s any mechanism button...could it be voice-activated?”
"If possible, I would rather fly in directly from here." Kristine's voice then sounded in his ears: "But... Judging from the results of countless flights in this city, this place is not suitable for
Air defense should be the most powerful."
"...Aren't you going to give it a try? Although I can't tell how high this wall is..."
"No need to try, it's probably sealed inside."
Pointing to the surface of the door in front of them, Christine replied in a calm voice: "I don't want to be knocked down by the defense system here after circling in vain for a few times... What did you come up with?
There is no other way, experienced adventurer?"
"……I have a question."
His face gradually became tangled, and Duan Qing's questioning expression became a bit weird: "Can you sing?"
"……What do you want to do?"
"Aina's profession is a singer, and she sings very well."
Slightly making a gesture of holding hands, Duan Qing's face became a little unnatural: "You should have seen the previous ceremony... She sang for so long before she teleported us here.
Come."
"You mean... ballads are the key to opening this door?" Kristine's face began to look unnatural: "Is that really the case?"
"I'm not sure, but this is the most likely of all my guesses." Duan Qing shook his head: "Gas... the Oklites are a clan living in the sky, maybe
They are born to sing songs from the sky and so on..."
"What you said makes sense, but it's a pity that I'm not the type that can sing and dance like my sister." The corners of her mouth twisted slightly, and Christine hid her expression in the movement of lowering her head: "
And... even if I can sing, I don’t seem to know what to sing.”
"As for the lyrics... let me think about it." Duan Qing held his chin and began to think hard: "She used the language exclusive to the Oakles family, so I didn't understand a word, but if I remember correctly,
She said at the end of the previous ceremony..."
"Feel the blessing of the sky."
He held up the stone in his hand and said in a rather pious voice. As his words echoed, a brilliant green light suddenly lit up in front of the two people. The stream of light on the entire gate also followed.
In the rapidly moving magnificent scene, the green light like a searchlight condensed in the air and became the shadow of a singer singing with her arms stretched out. Then, in Duan Qing's increasingly surprised eyes, she softly sang a melodious ballad.
Rumble, rumble——
The loud trembling sound then covered the still reverberating tail notes of the song, and was accompanied by the violent roar of the magic circle on the door finally spinning, and a tiny gap was gradually revealed.
The middle of the two opened doors completely covered Duan Qing's dull expression. A dark light and shadow full of ancient atmosphere then appeared in the center of this high-altitude city with flowing clouds, mist and strong winds, and then was blocked by Klee.
It was replaced by the blue light contained in the staff raised by Sting. She had stepped into it with one foot and then turned around and broke Duan Qing's sluggishness with her own smile: "What's wrong with our adventurer? Let's go quickly.
.”
"Ah...oh."
"...Didn't you come up with the way to open the door? Why do you look more surprised than me?"
"No, I just..."
As the door slowly closed behind him, Duan Qing held up the green cube in his hand: "I just didn't expect... that she would stay in it."
"...Keep that stone well, we might be able to use it in the future."
After gently reminding the other party, Christine, who was walking in front, began to observe the left and right sides of this dark hall: "Now... let's see what's here."
"...It seems to be a hall."
Looking at the various elegant decorations and flag patterns hanging on the wall that were still well preserved, Duan Qing came back to his senses and replied in a low voice: "It is probably used to receive every guest who comes here."
"The Oaklites are arrogant by nature. How could they design a place like this just to welcome outsiders?" Christine's voice then appeared on the other side of the hall: "Unless they are here to welcome the royal family."
"...royal family?"
"To be precise, they are the royal family that ruled the ancient magic empire."
Sighing deeply, Christine's voice became deeper: "The Magic Council was the highest power center of the ancient Magic Empire. The great magisters there were also the most powerful people in the world at that time. Their
Even the entire Oklet family may not be able to match their strength, let alone the various powerful followers gathered under each of them..."
"...Don't there be any decent great magisters in the Oklet clan themselves?"
"Maybe there is, maybe there isn't."
As if she was unsure of the answer she knew, Christine's voice became hesitant: "It is impossible to create an entire sky city without superb magic craftsmanship, but according to our
Judging from the history we know, the Sky Clan has indeed never had a magician powerful enough to join the Magic Council..."
"This is indeed very contradictory."
Picking up the bottle-shaped decoration closest to him, Duan Qing said to himself: "How did they develop this craft? Is it collective wisdom? Or is there some expert secretly giving guidance behind the scenes?
"
"……have no idea."
The light footsteps began to move forward with Christine's voice, and finally went around to another door on the other side of the hall. Unlike the previous door, this door easily closed.
The Grand Magister pushed it away with his hand: "This issue can now also be included in the research topics we want to answer."
"...If you have any other topics, can you tell me about them together?"
"We still have many questions left, such as whether the strengthening skills of wind magic were developed by this clan, whether they still retain other advanced technologies that are not spread to others, and whether they are the founders of the ruins on the top of Falling Star Mountain.
Or, does the protective circle left there have anything to do with them... Hmm."
"It seems...there is indeed some connection."
The creaking sound of the moving door still sounded behind them. The figures of Duan Qing and Christine who passed through the door then stopped in a wider hall in front, with a
A rotunda with complex fold lines then appeared in front of them, with strange pale white fluorescence flashing on the ground and surrounding walls. After slightly testing it with the staff, Christine withdrew her arm and then frowned.
He frowned, and while placing the Aina ice sculpture that had been held in front of him on the ground, he issued a timely warning to Duan Qing: "Don't touch these magic circles, the energy on them... is very...
resemblance."
"Similar?" Duan Qing approached cautiously: "Similar to what?"
"Remember those magic circles on the top of Falling Star Mountain?" Christine reminded in a low voice: "They should be the same thing."
"...if you touch it, will you be thrown out of this hall?" Duan Qing, who recalled for a while, asked in surprise: "How could they..."
"This should only be a one-way protection method to protect the energy flow inside from being deflected."
Raising her hand to interrupt Duan Qing's words, Christine turned her eyes to the interior of the rotunda in front of her: "Although I don't know how long the energy has been flowing here, it should not be better than the one on the top of Falling Star Mountain.
The library should have declined even more..."
"That is to say...I can't touch it anymore?" Looking at the densely packed circuits all over the ground converging in the center, Duan Qing suddenly got a headache: "How can we keep going?"
"Of course there are ways to crack it. After all, we have been studying it on the top of the mountain for several years." After floating upward slightly, Christine's figure began to move slightly toward the inside of the hall: "But
That takes time and could have irreversible consequences."
"You mean..."
"Even if this is not the energy center of the Sky City, this must be a very important place."
Disappearing into one of the passages next to the rotunda without looking back, Christine's voice came back from a distance: "Maybe it's the transmission center, or maybe it's the control center, etc..."
"If you can't fly, you'd better stay where you are." Her voice paused for a moment, and then returned to Duan Qing's ears: "After I remove the energy overload, this place should be fine.
Passed through safely and without damage.”
"Hey, can I just sit here and watch?"
"Of course, unless..."
As if she didn't intend to explain any more, Christine's voice finally began to become inaudible along with her footsteps as she walked away: "If you can find other ways to crack it..."
"It's okay for you to come over by yourself."
The faint chirp of energy then filled Duan Qing's ears, suppressing the grinning expression he just wanted to make. With his bare hands, he looked back and forth inside the hall filled with energy pipelines, and let out a helpless sound.
Sighing. He took a few steps back slightly. The man standing there took a deep breath to suppress his rising restlessness. His expression that was originally constantly searching for his surroundings gradually relaxed as time went by.
On the head of the ice sculpture.
"I thought I could spend this last game time with you, but I didn't expect..."
Saying this to himself, his eyes stayed for a moment on Aina's frozen face, which had closed her eyes. Then, as if he remembered something, he took out the green stone again:
"The Stone of Oknos... Oknos... Surge of Wind... Emerald Blessing... That's right."
"It seems that I have never seen the skills and special effects described above."
He sighed lightly, and at the same time began to look around again: "Is there anything..."
"Is there a way to trigger this skill?" (To be continued)
This chapter has been completed!