Chapter 120
The archmage smiled and said, "So that's what Hyectra meant by 'legendary,' but isn't your body unable to be completely liquid?"
"Yes," Leunen smiled and said, "It's a bit inconvenient, but I've gotten used to it. Look, haven't we also gotten used to this turbulence?"
It was very turbulent. With each step Mountain Giant took, there was not only up and down motion, but also swaying from side to side. People would occasionally feel dizzy from being pulled in different directions. However, after the first part of the journey, everyone got used to this kind of turbulence. Dvořák would always startle and fly up at first, but now he started to doze off in the stone perch.
The archmage and Sylas were together, chatting freely about topics that only interested them, while Pegasus soared freely. Virgil, bombarded by the dense and complex terminology, kept dozing off. He felt like he was back in his student days, sitting in a classroom.
"Virgil fell asleep, teacher."
"Let him sleep. We still have a night watch ahead, and it'll be about two more days until we reach Aimekotes."
Sylas asked with concern, "What if we encounter a storm?"
Xerath smiled and said, "When the storm comes, you'll see."
As if unable to resist the summons of the elemental envoy, the morning of the next day, the sky that should have brightened up didn't. Shining silver "eyes" formed above them.
When Sylas crawled out of the tent, she could see the serious expressions on Virgil and Xerath's faces by the light overhead.
She was attracted by the strange light and let out a scream of fear as she looked up.
"Teacher! Teacher! What is that?"
Xerath turned around to comfort her, saying, "It's the eye of the storm, don't be afraid."
Sylas turned her head suddenly, eyes widening in disbelief. She hadn't forgotten the power of the storm she had witnessed with Xerath on her first day in Aimekotes, the roaring wind and lightning that rolled down like slimy liquid.
Now they were right beneath the eye of the storm, and those bright silver eyes above them were watching them evilly. How could Xerath tell her not to be afraid?
"Teacher?!"
Xerath had personally faced the core of the storm, so of course she wasn't very afraid. However, her magic could harm everything nearby when casting, so she couldn't puncture the storm core immediately.
Sylas looked anxiously at Xerath and then at Virgil. Virgil was comforting Dvořák, but he didn't seem very worried either.
It seemed like Virgil noticed Sylas's scared look, so he walked over and gave Sylas a pat on the shoulder (but Xerath knocked it away) and said, "Don't worry, with the Mountain Giant here, it's unlikely that lightning will strike us. Lightning usually hits tall and protruding objects, right? Do you know about the Clock Tower ruins in Withered Leaf City?"
Although Sylas didn't know why Virgil brought up the Clock Tower at a time like this, she nodded anyway.
"That Clock Tower used to be really, really tall, but it was struck by lightning and collapsed. After that, no Clock Towers or temples dared to be built that tall ever again."
"How tall was it then?"
"Um... probably as tall as the mountain next to Withered Leaf City. Actually, the valley is the area with the most thunderstorms. Every year, over a dozen people get struck by lightning in the valley."
"But Aimekotes is unharmed in thunderstorms?"
"Only the archmage can explain that."
Xerath looked up and absentmindedly said, "It seems like we'll have to wait until this lightning storm passes... Aimekotes has an Energy Storage Crystal at the top, connected to Mithril Wire that runs all the way underground. The energy released from lightning travels along the wire, so people inside are safe. I hope you can find the exact details in the library... We might have to wait for about an hour, Virgil. Shouldn't you contribute more to ensure our safety?"
"Oh, alright..." Virgil seemed very unwilling, even pained. He sat down, took off all the decorations from Dvořák's head, wrapped them around his bow and arrows, and climbed onto the sleeping Mountain Giant's head, burying the arrows in the ground.
Dvorak's decorations look really valuable, at least they are shiny metal pieces.
"Is everything okay now?" Sylas asked nervously, looking up.
"Not necessarily. Metal decorations could melt or break due to poor conduction, and the bow could be destroyed as well. In that case, the direction of the lightning would be uncertain. However, one thing is certain... In the absence of metal interference, it will follow the direction of the most active wind. So, you..."
"I remember, 'no spells allowed,' Teacher. I haven't forgotten," Sylas said slightly sadly.
"Want to sleep a little longer? I was planning to lie down for a while," said Xerath, lying down on the waterbed. A book floated in front of her, but the wind was getting stronger. The waterbed, like a shell, engulfed Xerath. Sylas settled next to her, gently leaning against her. There weren't many books in the desert, so they were looking through a rock identification guide.
"No matter how boring the book is, with Xerath, it's guaranteed to be entertaining. Sylas leaned lightly against Xerath, occasionally urging her to turn the page faster.
"Teacher, haven't you finished yet? I'm already done! Why are you reading so slowly?"
"I'm pondering. Go ahead and turn the page."
This pointless conversation puzzled Virgil, who was lying diagonally on Dvorak. After all, the book was so boring that just seeing the title made Virgil yawn.
The wind became stronger, and rocks occasionally rolled down. Dvořák buried his head in his stomach, while Virgil opened his cloak and wrapped both himself and it up. Fortunately, the Mountain Giant sitting beside them blocked most of the wind, showing how strong the wind outside was.
Lightning flashed in the middle of their eyes, but the falling part was still on the outer edge of the storm, spanning miles. It appeared for a moment and disappeared in an instant, followed by rumbling thunder.
However, the storm's core, like an eye, lingered here and didn't go away, which made Virgil feel very strange. He walked over to Xerath and said, "Archmage, is it coming towards you?"
"Why would it be coming towards me?" Xerath raised her head, propping herself up from her soft, pure water bed.
Virgil put his hand above his eyes and looked at the increasingly bright storm core, saying, "The wind blows from west to east, so it shouldn't still be here, right? From what I can see, it's just hovering in the sky."
"I'm just a human after all. It must be some kind of coincidence. But you're right, look, isn't the lightning getting closer to us?"
"Teacher..." Xerath turned her head, and Sylas stared at her blankly, saying, "Did you hear something? Is it the 'wind'?"
Xerath lifted the almost completely enveloping blue film and listened carefully. The rustling sound of the wind was faintly repeating:
"They won't go, she is our queen."
"It's more fun here."
"Come here."
Xerath's face changed slightly. She still remembered the possibility of elemental mage causing elemental disturbances on their own, which was much more serious than Sylas's little mischief. This was a real turmoil between elements, and if they were careless, there would be nothing left of them.
But staying calm, "These winds are just swirling around us, not on a large scale. If we leave here, Virgil, although we can't go up, but we..."
"No problem!" Virgil quickly ran to the top of the Mountain Giant and stuck a row of metal arrows there. Then he happily saved the precious harness and his bow that was placed there before. After coming down, he tied a long rope around Dvořák.
Dvořák snorted and raised his front hoof to attack Virgil, but the poor Demon Hunter kept soothing him, "You have also experienced this before. Now is not the time to throw a tantrum. When we get to the tower, you can choose whether you want to eat shelled peas or peeled carrots."
Dvořák reluctantly agreed, and the rope was later twisted into a coil, wrapping around Hyectra. Not only was Dvořák unhappy about it, but the water lord also clearly expressed his dissatisfaction, "Oh my goodness, I thought I had finally gotten rid of this kind of thing. Do we really have to do this?"
"Hyectra, at the moment, I believe this is the best method, considering that you are not willing to fly at high speeds. So let it pull us along."
Hyectra reluctantly agreed. Xerath pulled Sylas and told her to hold onto her measurement data. "Whatever we lose later, we can't turn back to find it. You can only hope that someone will discover it in the future."
"Okay..." Sylas didn't know how to hold on tighter, so she used a belt to secure her backpack to herself, which looked ugly.
Hyectra prepared protrusions specifically for them to hold onto. The Mountain Giant woke up, and yesterday's Earth Childs, who were carrying luggage, transformed into giant hands that seemed to be attached to the Mountain Giant. Each one held onto the luggage.
Xerath tightened her headscarf and both of them were secured by Hyectra. She said to Virgil, "Let's go!"
"Teacher, what about the Mountain Giant?"
"It will follow behind, attracting lightning, but it's not very reliable..." Hyectra shuddered, the horse had already started running. Xerath casted "light as a feather" on both of them. Hyectra was like a huge trailer, speeding along and sighing.
Sylas suggested quietly, "If Hyectra doesn't want to, we can let Leunen take over."
Xerath immediately rejected it, "No."
"Why?"
Xerath tightened the rope and said, "Pure water doesn't conduct electricity!"
Hyectra was suddenly pulled to one side, causing Sylas to be thrown into the air. Luckily, there were special safety measures in place so that she wasn't thrown out.
Lightning suddenly struck the place they had just passed by. Sand and gravel flew up from the ground, with some sand even melting in the air, leaving a dark puddle on the ground. The Mountain Giant followed them about a hundred yards behind, seemingly running, but its movements were a bit clumsy.
