58. Kyuushou's Great Adventure! City in the Sky
The bitterly cold air currents of high altitude were violently torn apart, and a figure pierced the gray-blue sky at the border like black lightning.
Behind Houraiji Kyuushou, each flap of the Dark Night Wings stirred up a visible vortex, propelling her forward at astonishing speed. Her Starry Cloak fluttered wildly behind her, rustling.
Swish!
The smooth black trajectory suddenly froze. Kyuushou's figure was pinned to the sky as if by an invisible nail; its powerful kinetic energy instantly dissipated.
Hovering in the clouds, she gazed at the shocking scene on the earth below—a meteorite crater. From this crater emanated a strange, ominous, purple-gray magic energy that pulsated faintly like a living being, distorting the surrounding light. After taking a quick look, Houraiji Kyuushou flicked her wrist, and a thick leather map depicting the vast mountains and rivers of the Lands Between appeared out of thin air, hovering steadily before her.
She then took out a pen and, upon finding her current location, marked it.
After completing these tasks, Houraiji Kyuushou didn't even glance at the deep pit that emanated an eerie attraction.
She had already learned her lesson; she had simply been curious. She wanted to get a little closer to see what was going on, but was nearly struck directly by an attack. Fortunately, she dodged quickly, or she would have been hit. Although she had Xiling's Starry Cloak, Houraiji Kyuushou was afraid that if she told Xiling about this, she would be banned from coming, so she didn't dare tell Xiling.
Boom! The air was violently compressed and exploded! Her figure instantly blurred, transforming into a black meteor that ripped through the sky. With a piercing scream, it streaked towards another possible falling star on the horizon, leaving behind only swirling, turbulent air currents and a gradually dissipating sonic boom cloud.
...
Soon after, high in the sky, Houraiji Kyuushou pulled out the map she had recently marked.
The map slowly unfolded before her, marking every spot from Limgrave to Caelid, each one hand-drawn by her.
"This place is already marked..." Houraiji Kyuushou muttered to herself, her fingers carefully tracing the outline of the map. She muttered each location, her gaze darting back and forth, confirming that every remembered pit location perfectly matched the map's markings.
After checking three times, a smile of relief and immense satisfaction blossomed on Houraiji Kyuushou's lips, gradually widening until it transformed into a dazzling, brilliant smile.
"Perfect! Not a single one missed!" She snapped the map shut with a light, joyful swoop.
"Hehehe!" Houraiji Kyuushou puffed out her modest yet proud chest, one hand on her hip, the other raised high, index finger pointed toward the heavens.
"Hehehe, leave finding the falling stars to me, the savior. Isn't that easy?"
Since the mission had been accomplished.
The girl's lively and fervent curiosity immediately took over like a bird freed from its shackles.
"Mission accomplished! Now then—"
"It's free time for me, the savior, to explore! Just wander around!"
The moment she declared, Houraiji Kyuushou, the self-proclaimed savior yet overly energetic girl, completely let herself go.
The Dark Night Wings behind her adjusted their angle and strength at will. Sometimes she glided slowly at low altitude like a light feather, skimming over the canopy of the ancient forest, startling a swarm of colorful birds and leaving behind the clear chirping and laughter of young girls. Sometimes she would suddenly accelerate, performing bold and dazzling aerial maneuvers, swooping and stopping.
As she soared, she spotted knights on horseback. They were knights sent by Xiling to welcome those Silver Rule believers who held deep faith but had gone into hiding due to fear of the royal capital's majesty or fear of rejection.
As the vessel of the Elden Ring, Lemuen could clearly sense where the believers were.
And the reason Xiling was sending knights to fetch these people was that preparations were underway in the royal capital for a grand celebration worthy of being recorded in the annals of history of the Lands Between!
It would be an unprecedented event, a clarion call that would herald the arrival of a new era to all living beings—the Silver Age!
On that day, Xiling will personally repair the shattered Elden Ring and reshape the world's fundamental rules! He will also spread the principles of the "Holy Scripture" of the Silver Rule to every corner of the Lands Between and the hearts of every living being—whether they are devout believers, confused bystanders, or stubborn opponents.
That day will be the funeral of the old era and the birth of the new!
Houraiji Kyuushou was gliding leisurely beneath the Lands Between sky, Dark Night Wings slicing through the air with ease.
Suddenly!
A dull roar echoed from the earth below, and a colossal creature soared into the sky! Its white scales reflected a cold, heavy luster in the sunlight, and its enormous shadow instantly swallowed the sunlight around Kyuushou—a dragon! The next second, the dragon's head suddenly turned toward her without warning. A cold, pure, ancient predator-like pressure descended upon her.
"Oh no! Time to flee!" Houraiji Kyuushou saw the dragon, clearly noticing her. The Dark Night Wings behind her trembled slightly, a deep, dim light flowing along the edges of its jet-black wings.
Just as Houraiji Kyuushou was about to flee, the massive dragon's head veered away without hesitation.
Then, a deafening roar! Not a roar, but a pure explosion of power.
The dragon's massive body lashed out, its massive wings whipping up a hurricane that ripped through the air. Its massive form transformed into a bolt of lightning that tore through the sky. With a resolute momentum that crushed all obstacles, it charged vertically toward the unreachable summit of the sky! It violently shattered layers of the thick cloud curtain, leaving behind swirling holes and turbulent currents. Its massive form vanished from sight in a matter of seconds. Houraiji Kyuushou blinked and subconsciously tilted her head, her face filled with disbelief and astonishment.
"What...what's going on?" Penglai Temple Jiuxiao muttered softly.
"Did I get lucky today? Did I meet a dragon with a particularly good temper? Or...is its eyesight not so good?"
This wasn't her first time dealing with these overlords of the sky.
Those dragons were all fiery, their nostrils spitting fire and their tempers flaring at the slightest provocation. Their greeting was often a barrage of dragon breath.
However, Dark Night Wings, a gift from the Supreme Will, was far faster than these dragons.
In the past, the dragon breath of those fiery dragons was so intense that even her tailpipe couldn't detect it.
But this time...it was completely different.
Houraiji Kyuushou didn't flee immediately. Her wings remained slightly open, the wind ruffling her hair and stirring her thoughts.
Her eyes narrowed slightly as she gazed at the clouds in the direction the dragon had disappeared. That glance wasn't a dismissal, nor was it kind. It was... an abandonment.
A complete abandonment of a lesser priority.
Something was in the sky. Something that made the dragon unwilling to even spare a glance at this intruder, or even to spit fire to repel it.
The dragon soared toward the clouds with an unquestionable, overwhelming determination.
There was a faint premonition in her heart, like a stone dropped into a calm lake, rippling rapidly, becoming an intuitive signal too strong to ignore.
There was definitely something up there! Something beyond imagination, something powerful enough to capture the dragon's entire being!
She had to go there! She had to!
"...Interesting," Houraiji Kyuushou murmured, her lips curling upwards in an uncontrollable, tiny arc.
"So interesting!"
A smile of excitement spread across Houraiji Kyuushou's face. The Dark Night Wings sensed the shift in their master's will, and the dim light flowing around their edges suddenly grew intense and vibrant. The next second, the jet-black wings suddenly expanded and unfurled!
With a sharp sound that ripped through the air, Houraiji Kyuushou's figure transformed into a deep stream of light, soaring relentlessly and fiercely towards the thick sea of clouds where the giant dragon had disappeared!
The world blurred and receded as she soared.
Time lost its inherent scale, leaving only the pounding of her heart and the deafening whistling of the wind as the background.
One second—shadows descended from the bottom of the sea of clouds, and a cold, damp mist instantly wet her hair and the tips of her wings.
Ten seconds—her vision was completely engulfed by a gray-white chaos, with walls of cloud billowing endlessly above, below, and to the left and right.
Thirty seconds—a sense of absolute isolation overwhelmed her.
One minute—the clouds seemed endless.
Yet the more this happened, the more determined Houraiji Kyuushou became. There must be something within! The dragon's desperate end!
The concept of time was lost within the thick clouds.
Perhaps minutes, perhaps even longer.
—Swish!
Without warning, deep within the endless, swirling clouds ahead, a faint yet remarkably steady light pierced the dense veil.
"We've arrived!"
Houraiji Kyuushou had a premonition; that was the end of her quest!
Houraiji Kyuushou, exerting her last remaining strength, charged towards the source of the light!
The heavy, sticky feeling of oppression instantly vanished; her vision was replaced by an unimaginable expanse!
Houraiji Kyuushou abruptly stopped, suspended in the air. Her pupils constricted sharply at the sight before her, and her breathing paused.
What came into view—a city.
A ruined city suspended above a boundless sea of clouds!
Its grandeur was soul-stirring! Countless towering, sharp, and bizarre architectural silhouettes pierced the thin, surrounding clouds, layer upon layer, stretching out as far as the eye could see! The entire city resembled a colossal coffin floating in a sea of gray.
And even more suffocating was the storm that enveloped it!
Violent, visible gray-white lightning swirled around the ruined city, lashing it with fury! The wind howled!
It was a gale powerful enough to rip apart giant rocks!
Thick, dark bolts of lightning continuously lashed the city. Muffled thunder and the terrifying storm were the only sounds of this dead city.
Many towers were broken in half, their fractures jagged and intertwined. Huge blocks of stone and metal cascaded like frozen waterfalls, drifting to the city's edge or into the lower clouds. Magnificent arches collapsed, their delicate carvings obscured by wind and frost. The bulk of the city seemed composed of a grayish-white monolith emitting a cold, faint glow, a light so dim and desolate at this moment.
Countless tiny fragments and dust particles floated and swirled silently in the thin air, forming an eternal, solidified dust belt of death.
A vast aerial bridge connecting two fractured peaks collapsed in the middle, its long structure drooping miserably like the backbone of a giant dragon. One end sank deep into the swirling sea of clouds below, the other pointing lonely toward the void of the sky.
Houraiji Kyuushou silently hovered at the edge of this shattered city, whipped by eternal storms. The wind ruffled her hair, and her eyes met the tale-like city in the sky.