Chapter 149: Marching Path and Snow Peaks

From the storage item he always carried with him — one of the rings — the Gray-clothed Swordsman pulled out a small porcelain vial, poured out several round little pellets that looked like pills, and swallowed them all. After taking a few deep breaths, his pale face quickly improved.

After a moment of adjusting his breath, he almost instinctively glanced at the nearby golden figure radiating an overwhelming sense of terror and sacredness. His gaze lingered on the great sword the figure had thrust into the ground for a long while before he struggled to stand up, lowering his head in shame towards the White Fox Girl behind him.

“I’m sorry, I… I lacked the skill and made Miss Xī laugh…”

This was said without any reluctance or unwillingness. Despite feeling a little lost, the Soul knew all too well that he had been utterly defeated. If not for the girl intervening, he would have likely tumbled down the mountain and turned into a puddle of meat by now.

He thought this would be the end of his learning journey, but after a long wait, he only heard Miss White Fox’s bland critique, or perhaps a sarcastic remark?

“That was indeed quite foolish. You clearly had the flying wings on your back, and I even reminded you before the battle, yet you nearly fell to your death without using those wings. Did you want to make me laugh? When did I ever say the challenge was to defeat the enemy?”

“Ah? This…”

Hearing the White Fox Girl’s reminder once again, the Soul remembered that he indeed had a piece of equipment called the 【Artificial Flying Wings】 on his back. Connecting the dots from earlier incidents, he felt a bit embarrassed and lowered his head again to repeat the words he’d said several times today.

“I’m sorry…”

But after the lesson, the girl named Xī didn’t seem intent on pursuing the matter further. She didn’t immediately send him down the mountain; instead, she nodded and pointed to the Golden-armored Warrior standing silently with its sword.

“That is your challenge object for the time being. Let me reiterate: your goal is not to defeat it, and you cannot defeat it.”

“You must last fifteen minutes in its hands without losing, using any methods you can. That will count as passing the first challenge. Of course, it won’t take your life, nor will it attack the wings on your back. Keep these two points in mind and do your best.”

Like a fairy, the White Fox Girl soared into the air, leaving her last words hanging in the air.

“Every day around this time, someone will come to bring you food. If you need healing potions or such, you can ask her. Of course, if you can’t hold on anymore and want to give up, feel free to let your examiner know; it can understand what you’re saying~”

“Ah, Miss Xī…”

Watching the girl’s figure disappear almost in an instant, he raised his hand to touch the cold, iron-like wings on his back that he could still maneuver with ease, took another deep breath, and his eyes gradually focused.

“I understand. Then… let’s begin.”

Finding his beloved sword, now stained with snow and wind, the Gray-clothed Swordsman took firm steps toward the formidable golden figure that loomed like an insurmountable mountain.

As he advanced, the Golden-armored Warrior finally drew its magnificent great sword, inscribed with ornate holy patterns, silently pointing the blade towards him.

The youth bent slightly and held his sword in response.

“I am 【Soul】, please offer your guidance, senior!”

…

Time flew, and in the blink of an eye, several days had passed.

According to plan, the Expeditionary Army continued to swiftly march towards the predetermined rendezvous point, the City of Angels, making good time under the starry night and getting ever closer to their destination. It was estimated that in three days, the fastest vanguard troops would reach the city’s radius.

Meanwhile, on the other side…

“Ah? Miss Xī?”

Hearing a somewhat perplexed voice behind her, the White Fox Girl, standing at the edge of the temporary camp, turned to see a pair of light golden, beautiful eyes and smiled gently.

“Are you going to deliver food to that guy?”

The White Feather Girl, who wasn’t carrying anything, nodded, glancing down at the round array plate in her hand, saying without hesitation.

“Yeah, as you instructed, I bring him a meal every day at this time. Is there a problem?”

The girl shook her head.

“No, I just find it surprising that the kid hasn’t given up yet. I even told Lucas to give him a good beating…”

Talking about this, Miss Leila’s expression shifted to something odd.

“From what I observe, he doesn’t seem to be giving up; rather, he seems to be enjoying himself. Even though he gets beaten to a pulp each time, he’s completely restored by the next day and seems to be full of energy, as if he doesn’t know fatigue or fear at all. Truly a strange person.”

“Haha… If he wasn’t strange, he wouldn’t have the gall to come begging me to take him as a disciple, right? I’ll go in person today and check out what that guy is like now; once we reach the City of Angels, there might not be time for him to take it slow anymore.”

“Okay, I understand.”

Handing over the array plate in her hand to the girl in front of her, Leila took out a few sealed boxes containing compressed biscuit-like food items from her storage item and handed them over to the White Fox Girl.

The Saint Balgen Mountain Range is no ordinary place. Due to the extremely low temperatures at its high peaks, many foods cannot be stored properly. However, Vilyric couldn’t bear to let that kid named Soul starve, so she devised this method by referencing similar items from the Blue Star.

Well, as long as it fills him up, that’s all that matters.

After bidding farewell to Leila, who was already ready to turn back, Vilyric stored the food away, summoned the 【Invisible Space Portal】 she had prepared earlier with the array plate in her hand, and stepped inside.

As the Expeditionary Army continued moving forward, getting farther and farther from the Saint Balgen Mountain Range, although Leila could fly, it wouldn’t be feasible for her to make long trips back every time.

Therefore, the Priestess had left the portal on the peak of the snow mountain in advance and connected it to a simplified teleportation port that only needed to link to that one location, saving Leila energy and effort.

Just right, this place always gave Vilyric a faint sense of oddity, as if it was hiding some more peculiar secrets that she hadn’t discovered yet, leaving a backdoor for easy access later.

Naturally, the portal she had personally tested wouldn’t have any problems. After a brief familiar space jump, the White Fox Girl reappeared at the snowy summit of the Saint Balgen Mountain Range.

Perhaps she arrived at just the right moment; not far away in the sky, two figures were intensely battling.

Hmm… Or to describe it better, one side was flitting all over the place in the sky unpredictably, while the other was closely pursuing and delivering relentless blows… would that be more accurate?

The Soul’s strength was only at the beginning stage of the legendary level; it was impossible for him to confront the demigod, Guardian of Heaven Lucas, who was at lv80. Even though the latter wasn’t skilled in attacking and destruction, his strikes were far beyond what a human could withstand, especially someone who couldn’t even bear the extreme cold.

As for defense, it was even less worth mentioning; even if he stood there like a wooden stake, Soul probably wouldn’t be able to scrape off even a piece of Lucas’s armor scales.

Aside from the stipulations about not harming his life and prohibiting attacks on his wings, Vilyric had specifically instructed Lucas to only use one-fifth of his speed and refrain from using any active skills, simply to suppress the opponent with physical means… Just this level of combat.

Otherwise, even if Soul trained for an entire year, he would still never be able to last a full fifteen minutes in Lucas’s hands.

   

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