Chapter 121
But even so, it's not slow at all, almost as fast as Pegasus, and when the lightning rolls, most of it is attracted by it.
With lightning woven around them, a bright purple giant net would suddenly appear without warning. Sylas held Hyectra tightly and trembled as she asked, "Teacher, will... will everything be alright?"
Xerath calmly said, "From what we see now, nothing will happen. Are you afraid?"
Sylas didn't answer, she just leaned closer to Xerath, almost touching her. Xerath looked at her actions, struggling with principles and boundaries, and couldn't help but gently stroke her shoulder.
"I'm here, everything's fine."
The lightning became more and more intense, not only the electric nets that fell each time, but also the frequency of lightning appearing.
The wind brought by the high altitude, in Sylas's eyes, often blended with the color of the sky. But when the sky was filled with dark clouds, they disappeared, indicating that the clouds were below the wind belt. She had never been clear about the relationship between "wind" and these storms, but now she knew.
The "eye" of the storm was a cluster of rich silver core. It didn't fill the entire eye of the storm, only a small part of it, its elongated shape resembling the iris of a demon often depicted in ancient paintings. Its surroundings were an unusually calm deep blue sky, with the wind gently flowing through it, forming a strange huge vortex. And the tail was on this core, absorbing the power of the west wind, not to mention the elements leaking from the crack of elements around it, eager to find a reliance in the mortal realm, so they quickly gathered around the core.
Fortunately, the storm core didn't move forward very fast, and it was not blown directly eastward by the west wind. Sylas was about to ask why, but then she realized that not everything is washed away by the water's current, but could also be pushed to the side where the water is not as strong.
However, the part that can release lightning is much bigger than the storm core. Although there weren't many lightning strikes at the core, it was a different story around it. It was as if long thin lightning bolts were crawling forward like claws. The lightning at the edge of the storm was denser than the middle, but fortunately, most of them were being attracted by the Mountain Giant, or more specifically, by the short metal arrows sticking out from the Mountain Giant's body.
Xerath had previously told her about the special attraction between metal and electricity, such as how lightning would accurately strike a metal spike rather than the surrounding non-metal parts. But at that moment, Sylas observed this phenomenon firsthand. Lightning passed by nearby and without exception, struck the Mountain Giant. As it moved, the electrical sparks also moved and crackled.
However, the power of the lightning was immense. It seemed that the metal arrows were no longer able to attract all of the lightning. The stone palm holding onto the luggage was repeatedly struck by lightning, as if there was a collar around the Mountain Giants shoulder that could discharge electricity on its own.
Even after seven years had passed, when faced with the power of nature, Sylas was still shocked to the point of being speechless. She just held Xerath's hand tightly and kept looking at her, trying to find reassurance in her eyes that they would truly be safe.
In that moment, there was still a calmness in Xerath's eyes, which eased Sylas's worries to some extent. But she also remembered the afternoon when the storm raged, and even when they were surrounded by lightning, Xerath's gray eyes remained just as calm.
Xerath has times when she is not afraid, to the point where she doesn't have any intense emotions. She thought to herself in frustration that this feeling of frustration was actually stronger than fear, to the point where she couldn't even monitor the storm and lightning anymore.
"Ladies, hold on tight!" Virgil shouted loudly as Pegasus accelerated once again. The wings behind them were barely visible, leaving behind two golden streaks, and some landed on Sylas's face, but she didn't feel any touch, they just flew away.
It started raining again, and the wind felt much colder. Hyectra created a curtain of water, which was being heavily beaten. She couldn't see anything anymore.
Even Hyectra complained, "It really hurts!"
The heavy rain lasted for a long time, but the sand behind them was only slightly damp. They had ventured deep into the desert, where there were probably no seeds at all.
She could only deduce from the rapidly receding scenery that they were moving very fast. She recognized many phenomena that Xerath had told her about before, like elemental creatures escaping through the spatial rifts created by the storm and joining in the frenzy. A small Son of the Wind even crashed into a water lord's water curtain. The sound of a taut bowstring startled Sylas, and she abruptly asked Xerath, "What happened to Virgil?"
"Don't worry, it's just an elemental creature."
"Is Virgil attacking the elemental creature?"
"Yes, if the elemental creature attacks him first. Don't worry about him."
However, as soon as she finished speaking, Virgil panicked and shouted loudly, "Teacher! Please help!"
The teacher lowered the water curtain, and the scene in front startled her. The sky eerily extended several tails, and dozens of tornadoes were swirling around their path. She was about to suggest taking a different route when she noticed mini whirlwinds crawling all over the ground beside them.
"Teacher! What are you hesitating for? Send these little rascals back to the Elemental Realm!" Virgil kept looking back and urging Xerath. He had to slow down Dvořák, but lightning was chasing them from behind!
Xerath's tone was still very calm as she said, "Virgil, you know, using these spells in a storm is very dangerous. So later, when I tell you to run, you run, and when I tell you not to look back, you don't look back, got it?"
"Whatever you say, just focus on the disaster in front of us!" Xerath nodded and gave some instructions to Hyectra. Then she stood up on the speeding water lord carpet, which didn't seem very reliable, with its tentacles wrapping around her ankles and waist, keeping her fixed to the carpet.
She opened her arms and performed the starting gesture for the exile spell. The wind blew onto her without any obstacles, causing her large white robe to cling to her body, making her look unusually fragile.
Dvořák circled outside the area of the strong winds. Clearly, Pegasus's innate danger-sensing ability prevented it from getting close to the area where the "Lucky Point" was almost impossible to find.
The teacher's voice was almost drowned out by the roaring wind. Even Sylas, who was very close, couldn't hear what she was saying. But it must have been about exile spells. Among the scattered words, Sylas could hear that her teacher had added many uncommon adjectives and modifiers.
The strong wind suddenly solidified, and for a moment, the teacher's robe fell down. The wind that played with Sylas's hair also stopped, and the whole space became eerily silent. It was silent until the sound of thunder filled the entire space, and the wind suddenly started blowing in reverse as if going crazy.
Sylas heard them whispering to each other, "Go back, go back, our master commands us to go back."
They continued forward in madness, but soon turned back. The wind started to reverse, forcefully pushing away the tornado that was blocking the path ahead. In the pushing and shoving among their kind, they lost the energy needed to sustain their bodies. They ruptured in the air, and when the sand fell, Hyectra had to raise a water curtain again, getting herself all dirty in the process.
The disaster in front of them had subsided. Xerath had sat back down and was now sitting next to Sylas. Sylas quickly grabbed her hand, as if afraid that she would run away or disappear.
Compared to her nervousness, Xerath seemed much more relaxed, as if she had just finished a weekend cleaning. Seeing Sylas's expression, the teacher burst into laughter but still withdrew her hand without showing any emotion, teaching her student with indifference, "Stay calm. Only in a calm and relaxed state can you not miss any possible way out, nor miss any possible danger. Okay?"
"Okay," this strange word made Sylas suspect that it was the key word for some mysterious training her teacher was giving her. It made Sylas's nervousness and fear disappear instantly, as if without rational thinking. Just this word made her body believe, ahead of her mind, that she was protected.
Sylas's thoughts were in turmoil as she looked up at Xerath. She couldn't find the right words and could only nod obediently, carefully maintaining a distance from Xerath that was close but wouldn't make her uncomfortable.
She was not satisfied and hoped to change the situation of getting close but not being able to. So she asked, "Teacher, why don't we climb on Mountain Giant and let it walk through this storm?"
"Aren't you afraid of being struck by lightning? Being hit by lightning is very scary. In the blink of an eye, your body will dehydrate and turn into charcoal."
"Well... we can stand on its hand..." To make herself more convincing, she stuck her head out to see Mountain Giant hiding in a blind spot. And she couldn't help but exclaim, "Ah! Teacher! Mountain Giant..."
Xerath also stuck her head out. Flames were ignited on Mountain Giant's body, and the thick, grey-black smoke was pulled long by the wind. The trees growing on its back became perfect conductors for lightning, and in a moment, the whole arm was ablaze.
"It might have to go back, there's no way to protect us anymore." The teacher murmured, closing her eyes and releasing the last connection to Mountain Giant. The giant let out a deep moan as another lightning struck it. Glowing hot, red stones scattered on the ground as it fell to the earth, rolling to extinguish the fire on its body, and then slowly sinking into the vast desert.
"It... did it merge with the sand?"
"Maybe it needs to rest underground for a while, before it can finally open the rift in space. I don't have time to help it."
"So what do we do..." Before she could finish her sentence, a lightning bolt silently struck down like a net. By the time she realized it, the lightning had already vanished. "...could it be dangerous?"
