Chapter 1453: Shadow of the Blackstone Region
North of the Fertile Plains.
Since leaving Neverwinter, Lightning and Maggie had flown for nearly ten consecutive days.
They cruised at what Lightning called their “economic speed” — a pace where magic power recovered through the night could sustain a day’s use — sweeping back and forth across hundreds of kilometers of plain. They touched ground only to camp or hunt. The Exploration Group had entered a new phase: though they carried the latest maps the Union had provided, centuries of change had rendered those maps nearly useless. Desolate paths, dried canals, abandoned cities buried under weed and shrub — nothing corresponded to what the paper showed. Only the stars overhead and the distant ridge of the continent told them where north was.
At this distance, the Sigil of Listening no longer carried messages. Bird and girl moved alone through a vast silence. The desolation was its own kind of obstacle, and Lightning knew, with the clear-eyed honesty of someone who had tested herself against difficult things, that without Maggie she could not have continued.
The mission was simple enough to state: confirm the location and route of the demons’ new Deity of Gods, and illuminate the plains beyond Taquila. Simple to state, harder to execute. A floating island could fly low enough to resemble any ordinary hill from a distance. To be certain, they had to approach close enough to verify through Red Mist — weather permitting. To avoid missing it entirely, Lightning had chosen to fly broken paths along the edge of the continental ridge.
“Grrr…”
Maggie’s stomach announced itself from above.
Lightning glanced up. “Hungry again?”
“Owh.” Maggie nodded, unashamed.
“You barely moved. How are you hungry earlier than me?”
“Because I’ve been staring at the ground, aooo!” She tipped forward and rubbed her cheek against Lightning’s. “Eyes and brain are connected, and according to the book, using the brain is most exhausting, owh!”
That isn’t what Theoretical Foundations of Natural Science says. The book clearly states that the brain consumes more energy than any other organ even at rest — which doesn’t mean that a stationary person is using their brain more than a moving one.
But the cheek-rubbing disrupted her balance, and correcting Maggie’s natural philosophy while trying to fly was more trouble than descent was. The sky was already darkening at the horizon; another half-hour at most before they had to stop anyway. And their jerky supply was running low, which made the extra time useful.
Most importantly: she could not refuse Maggie. That was simply a fact.
“Same rules. You hunt, I make fire. Sigil of Listening for emergencies. Understood?”
“Got it, owh!”
Before the last syllable landed, Maggie had already transformed and was beating upward into the dimming sky in the form of a Devilbeast.
Lightning found shelter and began dinner preparations. Roland’s technological advances had replaced the old adventuring kit — flints, fire-wool, torches — with something altogether more elegant. Windproof matches no bigger than half a palm. Single-use torchlights. The multi-function knife that every Exploration Group member treated as a personal talisman. All of it fit in a coat pocket, leaving room in the pack for an embarrassing quantity of spices and condiments. There were times Lightning wasn’t sure whether she was an adventurer who happened to cook well, or a gourmand who happened to fly.
It was probably related to how often Maggie got hungry.
What followed was as practiced as breathing. Maggie returned with a bison and reduced it to portions with her talons. Lightning selected the best cuts — smoking some, baking others in clay — while the fire did its patient work. They had run this routine so many times it had become something closer to ceremony than labor. When the coals died, they were full, and the haversack was restocked. Everything reset to the state before departure. The only things that changed were their position on the map and, perhaps, their sense of what they were going toward.
Whatever guilt lingered was buried efficiently by food and exhaustion.
Lightning laid out the Sigil of Screaming, burrowed into the sleeping bag beside Maggie, and was gone before the last ember cooled.
She woke into reverie, eyes still half-closed — and saw a shadow on the horizon that had not been there the night before.
Lightning sat up and rubbed her eyes. The plain had been flat yesterday; they had checked the surrounding terrain thoroughly. A hill could not have appeared overnight.
After a long moment of drowsy disbelief, she looked again.
This time, she went cold.
Through the thin morning mist, the hilltop was flat. Geometrically, impossibly flat. No natural landform produced that edge. And in the few seconds she’d been staring, it had grown. Not because the mist was clearing. Because it was moving toward them.
Lightning knew what moved on the Fertile Plains that looked like a hill.
She grabbed Maggie’s shoulder and shook. “Peck me once.”
“Coo.” Maggie raised one finger and tapped Lightning’s forehead.
The small pain snapped the world back into focus.
It was not a hallucination.
A gust of wind swept over them, sending Maggie’s white hair streaming. With the wind came a thin mist — and in that mist the shadow resolved into form.
On a triangular black mountain sat a gigantic pyramid built entirely of Blackstone. Its dimensions defeated easy comprehension. If the old Deity of Gods had a demon city at its center, this pyramid could have held the entire city on its surface. One large and one smaller inverted awl gave the floating island a silhouette that pressed down on the eye. The first Deity of Gods had resembled a mountain range — organic, accidental. This structure was none of those things. Its exterior was deliberate, its symmetry absolute. Every line of it expressed intent.
This was why there had been no Red Mist. The Blackstone form had concealed it.
The second Deity of Gods they had been searching for had found them first.
Without pausing to pack, Lightning seized Maggie’s wrist and pulled her into the sky.
They climbed. Below and behind the demon city, the sight that waited made Lightning’s throat close.
Countless black dots surged across the plain like a wave that covered the horizon — and threading between them, alternating red lines, forming something like cloth, like a net, like a tide that devoured everything it touched. If every black dot was a demon, their numbers exceeded the human population of all Four Kingdoms combined.
The enemy’s main force was in motion.
Chapter 1453 - Shadow of Blackstone Region
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
To the north of the Fertile Plains.
Since leaving Neverwinter, Lightning and Maggie had continued their flight for close to ten straight days.
They patrolled across the plains cruising over hundreds of kilometers at an “economic speed,” where their magic power recovered through the night able to sustain a day’s use. The two only dropped to the ground when they needed to camp or hunt.
The current Exploration Group had entered a new phase; although they held the latest maps provided by the Union, the centuries of vicissitudes that constituted desolate paths, dried canals, abandoned cities that were overwhelmed with weed and shrub, made them useless to locate road signs. The only things that guided them directionally were the stars in the sky and the large ridge of the continent in the distance.
And at such a distance, the Sigil of Listening no longer broadcast messages, leaving the bird and the girl alone in the vast lands. The sense of desolation and solitude was a large barrier to adventuring, and without the company of her trusted companion Maggie, Lightning did not know if she could persist for long.
The purpose of the journey was clear—to confirm the location and route of the demons’ new Deity of Gods, as well as “illuminate” the plains beyond Taquila.
Even so, looking for a floating island in the vast lands was not an easy mission. To lessen the exhaustion of the vein, the enemy’s city would not be
flying at a high height, and might possibly be clinging close to the ground. This way, the Deity of Gods would resemble any small mountain from a distance, and they had to get up close to verify the target through Red Mist, provided that the weather permitted it.
So as to avoid brushing past the Deity of Gods, Lightning chose to fly in broken paths with the edge being the ridge of the continent.
“Grrr…”
Suddenly, the stomach of the gray eagle flying above grumbled.
“You’re hungry again?” Lightning looked up.
“Owh.” Maggie nodded.
“But you didn’t even move much, how are you hungrier than me so much earlier?”
“Because I’ve been staring at the ground, aooo!” She leaned over and rubbed Lightning on the cheeks. “The eyes and brains are connected, and according to the book, using the brain is most exhausting, owh!”
Wait a minute, that’s not what was written in Theoretical Foundations of Natural Science… The paragraph clearly stated that even while stationary, the brain’s energy consumption remains the highest out of all the organs in the body, that doesn’t mean that a moving person isn’t using their brains.
But the itch on her cheeks prevented Lightning from flying properly, leaving her no choice but to slow down and head towards the ground. From the color of the sky, they were only able to fly for another half hour at most, so stopping earlier to rest was not an issue. Additionally, they had few jerkies left on hand, thus making use of the additional time to restock was not a bad idea.
Of course, the most important thing was her being unable to refuse the adorable Maggie.
“Same rules; you hunt and I’ll make the fire. Use the Sigil of Listening for contact in the case of any emergencies, understand?”
“Got it, owh!”
Before her voice trailed off, Maggie was already up in the air in the form of a Devilbeast.
Without a choice, Lightning looked for shelter and prepared dinner. With Roland’s technological advancements, flints, fire wool and torches, tools that were needed for adventuring were replaced by compact and intricate products. For example, the windproof matches that was the size of half a palm, the single-use torchlights, as well as the multi-functional knife that every member of the Exploration Group adored…
All of these items could be stored in a pocket, and because of that, the majority of space in her bag were replaced with all sorts of spices and condiments. If they had time, they were even able to produce a full table of dishes. There were times that even Lightning remained unclear whether or not she was better at adventuring or had a talent towards being a gourmet.
It was most probably related to Maggie becoming hungry so often.
What followed proceeded in a systematic structure—Maggie quickly brought a bison back and used her sharp talons to slice it into pieces. Lightning chose the best parts, and either smoked or baked them in mud. The two had repeated the process countless times and their coordination had become smooth and natural. By the time the fire had died out, they were not only full but had restock their haversack of jerkies. It was as though everything had been reset to the moment before they set off. The only difference was their progress, and maybe their objective for the trip.
Any little bit of a guilty conscience was quickly replaced with food coma.
After laying out the Sigil of Screaming, Lightning burrowed into the sleeping bag with Maggie and quickly fell asleep.
The next morning, when she opened her eyes in reverie, she surprisingly discovered an additional shadow that loomed in the distance.
Lightning rubbed her eyes in confusion—the land was a flat plain the day before and they had verified the surrounding topography, it was impossible for them to have missed out the small hill.
After spending a few good minutes in her drowsy reverie, she held her breath and took a good look again. This time, she was taken aback. Through the thin morning mist, the hilltop was unexpectedly flat, completely unlike any natural landform. The shocking thing was that it actually became larger in a few short minutes, which meant that the shadow was approaching them.
Lightning knew what the moving “Hill” on the Fertile Plains was.
She shook Maggie up in disbelief. “Peck me once.”
“Coo.” The latter raised her forefingers and poked Lightning on the forehead —
The pain immediately cleared up her mind.
It was no hallucination.
Right at this moment, a gust of wind swept past the two and sent Maggie’s long, white hair fluttering.
Along with the wind came a thin mist.
In that instant, the shadow revealed its true form—on the triangular black mountain form stood a gigantic pyramid structure formed completely of Blackstone; its sheer size and bulk difficult to fathom. If the old Deity of Gods’ center was the demon city, then this pyramid itself was able to hold the entire city on it.
This “form” was most probably the reason for the lack of Red Mist.
One large and one smaller inverted awls made the floating island look extremely oppressive. Compared to the first Deity of Gods that had the
resemblance of a mountain range, the new Deity of Gods looked completely unnatural. Be it the structured exterior or the symmetrical form, the entire structure manifested the power of the demons.
Who would have thought that the second Deity of Gods they were looking for had appeared right before them.
Without even packing their sleeping gear, Lightning pulled Maggie and soared into the sky.
After the continuous ascension, the sight behind the demon city gradually revealed itself.
Numerous densely-packed black dots rushed forth on the plains like a turbulent wave, amongst which were countless alternating red lines, forming a cloth that devoured everything in its path with the black dots. Lightning gulped. If the black dots were all demons, their numbers were more than the human population of the Four Kingdoms combined!
It was without a doubt the enemy’s main force in motion!