Chapter 195

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Chapter 195

Suddenly, she realized something and pushed away from Xerath who was holding her. The archmage’s expression turned unbelievably shocked, then terrifyingly fierce after feeling offended. Black wings abruptly spread open, as if preparing to rush towards Sylas.

However, at that moment, fierce flames rose around her. Tongues of fire rushed towards her, wrapping around a creature disguised as the archmage, rapidly spinning and disappearing into thin air.

The dream suddenly shattered. She pulled down the sleeve of her eye, revealing a faint candlelight reflecting on the inn’s ceiling. The candlelight flickered gently, causing the light spots to sway as well.

It was a dream.

Sweat covered her forehead as she turned and saw Luna sleeping peacefully. She took a moment to catch her breath, then got up and took a sip of water, unsure if a demon had invaded her dream just now.

It was still completely dark outside, but there were flames outside the window faintly illuminating the black silhouette in the distance. It was probably Mount Borliboli being active at night.

But I am not weak, she thought angrily. After thinking it over, she decided to place the silver little mirror on her forehead.

Maybe the mirror worked because she slept much better in the second half of the night and didn’t dream anymore. However, when she woke up in the morning, she couldn’t help but miss a scene that would never happen.

Would Xerath say, "I don’t allow others to share my private property"? What kind of behavior would she consider as "sharing"? She remembered when Xerath talked to her about "love" when she was younger, it seemed like she didn’t object and even encouraged her to find someone she liked. In other words, she didn’t mind her private property falling in love with someone else, which wasn’t considered "sharing" in her definition.

But… but you are the one I like…

The feeling of liking someone is possessive. If their roles were reversed, she would never allow Xerath to like someone else. Just the thought of this possibility made her want to lift the entire desert.

But… I don’t have the right to keep her all to myself…

"Hey, why are you daydreaming? Get ready to wake up. If we can finish testing the Earth Meridians today, we can leave tonight."

"Are we going to travel tonight?"

"Oh my, I don’t want to stay in this place any longer. It’s too scary."

"Did you have a bad dream?"

Luna said angrily, "Yes! I had a nightmare! I dreamt of strange demons, and each one stepped on me!"

Sylas blinked her eyes. Is that all? Yesterday’s dream about demons pretending to be Xerath had more signs of being haunted. What’s being stepped on compared to being haunted?

"And what about you? Did you sleep well? Did you have a nightmare? Probably not, since you’re so capable. Maybe even the demons would be afraid of you."

"Uh, well… actually, I did. I dreamt of demons harassing me."

"Tease you? Is it a male devil or a female devil?"

"I don’t know…"

"Tell me more carefully?"

"I won’t tell."

"What happened? Did it ‘eat’ you?"

"No! Don’t talk nonsense."

"So you realized it when it was about to eat you?"

"No!"

Luna said to her, "Don’t be embarrassed. The most commonly seen demon is said to be an incubus, which likes to have relations with humans and draw their energy. It’s not strange to see them in a place like this."

"No, I won’t! Plus, I’ll get angry."

"Okay, okay, fine. It’s not a nightmare monster." Luna quickly surrendered and took the opportunity while Sylas was angry with her back turned to secretly take note of this scene. Although she didn’t know what contribution it could make to the entire circle (which actually only had three people), the reason why the puzzle couldn’t find its place was because it wasn’t completed yet, right? She thought optimistically.

Originally, there weren’t many people here, but because the four of them suddenly arrived, the landlady enthusiastically got up early to make breakfast for them. The rich Nislan style (since this place is close to the Nislan region, the flavor is different from that of the Sauran heartland), made Sylas very happy.

Sure enough, no one slept well at night. The landlady optimistically comforted them, saying, "It’s normal for demons to come out and take a look when they see new people."

"It sounds like the locals get along well with the demons? Aren’t they supposed to enjoy harming others?"

The landlady smiled and said, "At first, everyone thought so too, but it seems that demons actually prefer to have a bit of popularity near their ‘Demon Palace.’ They would choose a farther place to do bad things, and they aren’t really interested in the locals. If not for that, there wouldn’t be any people around within a hundred miles."

"That’s unexpected, isn’t it?"

However, Swis kept his distrustful gaze on the landlady.

"I know what you’re thinking, young man. You think that all the humans here have been tempted and corrupted by the demons, right?"

Swis nodded and continued to stare at her.

"Most people outside think that way, but demons are very picky eaters. They won’t even glance at food that isn’t tasty. It might seem offensive to ordinary people, but it’s because we are ordinary that we live well." She shrugged. "By the way, do you need a guide?"

Swis quickly shook his head. "No, we don’t need one. We can manage on our own."

"Really? The mountain path is difficult to traverse."

Swis said, "We have Pegasus and we are mage apprentices. The mountain path is nothing to us."

The innkeeper didn’t insist, but gave them a few reminders before watching them leave through the inn’s main entrance.

Luna said, "Swis, you’re being very unfriendly to her."

"I don’t trust her."

"You’ve also refused the guide, and this map is difficult to understand."

"Maps are more reliable than guides. How do you know the guide hasn’t been tempted by the devil to take us straight to the demon’s lair?"

Luna laughed and cried at the same time, "What did you just dream about?"

Swis said with a gloomy face, "In any case, it was very scary."

However, the plants near the volcano were unusually lush. As Swis walked and speculated about the reason for such dense vegetation, two theories emerged: the "leftover human bones nourish the demons" theory and the "demon feces nourish the demons" theory.

"It’s volcanic ash, I read about it in a book," said Sylas. It was a gift from Xerath’s new friends, probably a gardening manual. The book she mentioned discussed the different types of soil and plant fertilizer.

"Oh, why do you see everything?"

"It’s the teacher who sees everything."

Luna perked up her ears and asked, "What does the teacher study, anyway?"

"Um… I can’t explain it clearly, but basically, the teacher studies everything."

"What has the ‘teacher’ been studying recently?"

"…planting flowers?" Sylas thought for a moment and came up with an answer, furrowing her brow.

Luna felt a bit disappointed. She had wanted to guess the teacher’s identity based on their research direction. If they were studying a fundamental subject, it would make perfect sense.

Wait, if the archmage in the lonely tower is studying flower planting, this huge contrast would make her even more adorable. But can flowers grow in the desert? Hmm…what if the King of Elements, with his tremendous power over the elements, created an oasis in the desolate desert, just to cultivate a flower that one of her students likes as a bookmark? That would be so romantic…

Luna fell into a self-satisfied silence, completely disengaging from Sylas and Swis’ conversation and even ignoring the occasional ripples of space around her.

Following the map in his hand, Swis led everyone to the foot of the cone-shaped volcano. However, even without him, Sylas could have found it. She looked at the colorful and translucent air ducts converging here from all directions, resembling silk, and then rushed up the slope, which was not too steep or gentle, towards the volcano.

"Go ahead and give it a bounce!" the wind whispered around her. As it passed by, it even pulled her sleeve. "Don’t mind those ugly weirdos!"

She was a bit puzzled by what they called the "ugly weirdos." At that moment, Swis said, "The wind is so strong. What if it suddenly spews out magma?"

"You never know," Caroline said, looking at the volcano above them spewing ash. "I heard that demons bathe in the magma pool, breathing in the poisonous sulfur smell."

Swis scared her by saying, "Maybe there are a few creatures at the edge of the volcano, watching us, just like sitting next to a bathtub."

Caroline pushed him and punched him at the same time.

Swis raised his hand to block his sister’s attack and calmly asked Sylas, "How should we start, Sylas?"

Sylas hesitated for a moment and asked, "Did you not write the measurement report? The experimental steps?"

"Of course I was waiting for you! I saw your name in the Yearbook, you must know it, right?"

"Why didn’t you tell me earlier?" She asked the Earth Children, who were holding heavy measuring equipment, to wait far away from the hills. After careful observation, they discovered some unusual markings. After studying them for a while, Swis urged her to hurry.

"Don’t rush. I think if Eilan comes to measure every three years, she must have left marks in this place. It’s probably this." She pointed to an obvious mark on a nearby rock, with several other scratches next to it. "I suspect… um, it might be that she leaves marks every time she comes, and this is the sixth one. If she comes this year, she will leave the seventh."

Swis walked over and reached out to touch the rock. Suddenly, he heard a hiss sound and was startled. He jumped back, and above the rock, there appeared a green burning mark in the air, making a fierce sizzling sound. It kind of looked like… a goat’s head.

"What is this?" Everyone was shocked, but the mark disappeared after burning. Sylas gathered her courage and walked over. She touched the surface of the rock, and the mark appeared again.

"Feels like a warning…" Luna said.

But Sylas touched every suspicious scratch, almost all of them were there.

"Write it down and ask Eilan," Caroline said softly.

"Are you crazy? If she knows, won’t that mean we secretly came to Mount Borliboli?"