After landing, he rolled again, narrowly avoiding several rolling rocks, and even his pipe fell out of his pocket, landing on the ground, finally clumsily escaping danger. Then the Big Catfolk climbed to his feet, looked up, and saw across the torrent a Sky Pirate leader in a captain's coat pulling his enemy up from the ground.
The other party glanced back in this direction but didn't take further action. Instead, he turned around and disappeared into the darkness.
The Big Catfolk recognized him; it was the Dragon Knight from the Sky Pirates he had seen on the battlefield not long ago.
Then Reed heard a jumbled sound of footsteps approaching; looking in that direction, he saw members of the Descendants of Flor hurrying this way. He pondered for a moment and realized the reason for the retreat—it seemed the battle was already decided.
The Blood Shark Sky Pirates had been excavating here for months, yet the descendants of Flor were a step ahead. Like Fang Hong, Reed naturally didn't believe these Invokers were truly here to eliminate the Sky Pirates for justice—
With dawn approaching, a line of white already appeared on the horizon, and after rolling forward for a while, the rock torrent finally began to calm down.
Now, in this place, he seemed rather conspicuous.
But the Lion Paladin had no desire to interact with these people. He took a step back, intending to leave the area.
Just at that moment, the slightly pale sky suddenly brightened slightly. The sudden commotion drew everyone's gaze, and the Big Catfolk instinctively looked in that direction, only to see a pillar of purple flame rising in the central area of Idus.
The purple flame completely dispelled the last traces of darkness before dawn, illuminating the entire ancient city.
Reed watched this scene in astonishment.
The flame lasted for about half a minute before gradually dissipating, and the fire that soared into the sky seemed to pierce the clouds, fleeing toward the distance like lightning.
Its fleeing direction was followed, moments later, by a sudden burst of dazzling light in the eastern sky—the light spread in all directions like fireworks, but it only lasted a few seconds before turning into sparks, slowly falling from the sky.
The Big Catfolk had not yet figured out what happened when he heard an exclamation nearby:
"Our Floating Ship!"
"It's the Bai Yu!"
The Big Catfolk glanced back at them, narrowing his eyes.
Then he bent down, picked up his pipe from the ground, brushed off the dust, and put it back in his pocket.
...
Atira, Elisa, and Parker tilted their heads up, staring for a long time at the gradually dissipating pillar of purple flame in the square. Had they not seen it with their own eyes, the three might find it hard to believe that such power came from Fang Hong—their Lord Captain.
The Elf Miss looked worriedly at the two figures in the center of the square—more accurately, one person and one Sorcerer-Ghoul.
The Sorcerer-Ghoul, holding a Magic Wand, slowly bent down, using his bony white fingers to tap the forehead of the unconscious young man lying there.
Fang Hong's face was devoid of any color, like a cold corpse. Ever since he fainted moments ago, he remained like this. The Sorcerer-Ghoul straightened up, tapped his chin with his fingers, making an empty sound, contemplating.
Beside them, the middle-aged man with black hair turned around first, walking toward Atira and the others.
"Mr. Kalatu," Elisa asked worriedly, "Is our captain okay?"
The middle-aged man paused for a moment before speaking: "Fortunately, he has the strength of Pale Glory, and the Shining Sea saved his life at a critical moment. Otherwise, his Starlight would have completely dissipated."
He thought for a moment: "But even so, it will be a long time before he can recover and must recuperate well."
"To put it simply," another 'empty, empty' voice came, sounding like the jaws hitting together, the crowd then saw the Sorcerer-Ghoul also walked back: "You'll have a... cough, frail captain. If I were you, I'd fire him quickly and find a competent replacement—"
It nodded its chin: "But this boy, huh, is suitable to be a competent family inheritor, you know, most Nobles are frail like that, it fits perfectly."
It let out a chilling weird laugh.
The black-haired middle-aged man looked at the latter, asking, "Is he really related to your Rogsel Family?"
"Not really," the Sorcerer-Ghoul replied 'empty, empty': "But, well, I do appreciate when he said, 'I am the blood heir of the Roges family,' much better than the few others I've met, although those folks have been in the ground for years, leaving only me alone."
Atira, hearing their casual chat, couldn't help but finally ask: "Sirs, what exactly was that purple flame earlier?"
Kalatu stopped, turned to look at her, and seriously replied: "That is the power of Lifegard—"
"What?" Parker was shocked: "Wasn't that guy sealed back already?"
"The Seal has loosened, after all," Kalatu replied: "So a portion of Lifegard's power escaping is quite normal. And your friend, having absorbed the Dragon's Heart's power, it's not surprising for Lifegard to seek him."
"But fortunately, he bears the Crown Mark of Hailin."
He paused, then said: "Additionally, I have important matters to discuss regarding your friend."
Atira spoke: "Please, go ahead."
"As Miss Eve mentioned, the era of the Dark Giant Dragon has ended, as it is a calamity left over from the Giant War, and Verdant has perished, so these past events should have ended long ago. After the Numelin Elves left, they left behind a few Holy Relics—"
"One of them is related to your friend."
...