Lily lowered her head and held her chest with her right hand, trying to calm her rapid breathing.
She can guarantee that the encounter just now - or rather the chase and escape - was the most thrilling in her entire career as a hunter. She has defeated all kinds of beasts or monsters, but she has never thought of fighting the Balrog.
And survived successfully.
It is a powerful enemy that represents the image of "Devil" and has a vicious reputation throughout the El Continent. Its image is described in fairy tales, its power is written in knight novels, and its power is recorded in historical files.
The destruction caused. In historical records, every time the Balrog successfully came to Aiur - whether it was because of an unlucky person who was deceived or an arrogant man who wanted to control the other party, it left indelible scars on the continent.
, and a large number of casualties.
She thought of the sacrifices Mishara and Eskar had made to cover the team, and sighed, then raised her head and carefully looked at everything in front of her.
She has never seen a similar sight anywhere. Under her feet is a broad circular platform, floating in the void, with no edges as far as the eye can see. It is as transparent as crystal and looks solid, but is very soft when you step on it.
Under the platform, it looked like an endless starry sky, with countless stars twinkling and slowly changing their positions. A brilliant band of light passed through the starry sky, like a long silver-white river. The female mercenary raised her head, and the sky was a flawless streak.
The circular dome covers the entire upper half of the platform, making it difficult to tell how far away it is. It emits pure soft light, enough to illuminate the surroundings, but does not block the starry sky below.
The space was completely silent, and no living being could be seen except for her. She clenched her right hand, and the familiar giant sword was still in her hand, which made her feel slightly at ease.
She recalled Yuffie's words and repeated that thought in her mind - "I want to meet someone who can help us defeat the Balrog and relieve the crisis in Breeze Forest."
The scene in front of me changed. The galaxy began to flow, and many stars gathered together and merged upward into the platform, creating a road full of starlight. A slightly bright light was cast from the sky, interspersed with the stars, and pointed the way forward for Lily.
The female mercenary strode forward. The surroundings seemed to become brighter and brighter, and the stars under her feet gradually faded. When she took another step, her eyes turned into a completely different place without any warning.
It was a vast plain, with green grass blades swaying slowly, containing endless vitality. The soft but never dazzling sunlight filled the grassland, the air was filled with a wonderful fragrance, and there were faint hymns carried by the breeze.
A road paved with pure white marble extended from under her feet, and at the end was a magnificent and holy pure white palace, not far away from her more than ten meters away. The outer walls of the palace were covered with exquisite reliefs, and Lily took a general look.
, most of them are carved with scenes of people resisting tyranny, or justice winning, which are spectacular yet simple.
She instinctively approached the palace. Two spheres about ten centimeters in diameter, emitting golden soft light, flew to her side, making a soft buzzing sound, and then led her into the palace and to a hall in the middle.
.
She saw Yuffie and Lin there, and not long after, the other people were also guided here. She briefly greeted everyone, but still remained vaguely vigilant. There were unexpected or incomprehensible things here.
There were too many for her to feel completely at ease.
"What is this place?" she asked Yuffie.
"It should be the Paradise Mountain in the outer world." The girl replied, "If the abyss is a symbol of evil, this is where the good is gathered."
"——Exactly."
A generous male voice came from the front. Lily turned her head and saw a man wearing a white robe standing at another entrance of the hall. He walked along the road paved with white stones and stood in front of the female mercenary and others.
around.
Lily looked at the man up and down. His face was not handsome, perhaps more generous, but it made the female mercenary feel particularly comfortable. Except for a simple white robe and brown cloth boots, there was nothing long on the man's body.
He didn't have an imposing manner, nor did he feel too powerful, but Lily was sure that he was by no means a mere mortal.
"Welcome to my realm." As if he could see the confusion of Lily and the others, the man took the initiative and said, "I am Leonos, the agent of Protodis."
"Hey - you are the "Lord of Light", the deity of the Theocracy of Saint Leon?" The person who had the biggest reaction to this was actually Amberley, who hurriedly took out pastries and preserves from her pocket, "Want it?"
...Want to try the snacks I made!"
The female mercenary frowned and wanted to slap Amberley's hand away, but she felt that it was not polite to do so in front of the gods, so she just glared hard at the Elna man.
"If we are talking about the Lord of Light that the Theocracy believes in, it is indeed me." Leonos smiled, took a piece of pastry, and replied calmly, without the expected majesty at all, "But I am not a real 'god'.
Rather, he is an agent who has accepted the divine authority of the "Lord of Light," and that's all."
Bell looked around with his mouth wide open. In fact, Bellon's mouth had not been closed since Lily saw him here. "Oh my God, how much does it cost to build such a palace?"
"The appearance of the outer world is determined by the inside. I shaped the shape here to commemorate those who have accomplished great things." The man smiled and shook his head, "No manpower or any precious materials were used."
That's really good. It would be great if she could become someone like Leonos in the future - or a substitute. Lily thought to herself.
Yuffie thought for a moment and asked softly, "Then, are the other gods, such as Ada and Mal, the same?"
"That's right." Leonos nodded, "We are not 'gods', we are just 'gods' with their rights and obligations."
"Let's talk about that later, right?" Lily was confused and couldn't help but interject, "Your Excellency, Lord of Light, can you help us kill that Balrog?"
"I can't attack the Balrog directly." What she didn't expect was that the man refused this request. "The world in the last era was destroyed because of the gods' excessive interference in the world. Even if the Balrog is indeed evil, as a
As a guardian of balance, I cannot judge anyone based on my own likes and dislikes." He paused and continued to answer Lily's question, "But I can give you - to be precise, give you some help so that you can have
Chance defeats the Balrog."
"That's no problem!" the female mercenary agreed, "but what exactly should we do?"
"I will guide you to retrieve a sealed memory and your true identity." The man replied.