Sanctuary Paradise

Chapter 913 Going deeper
As soon as the young man in the big hat spoke, Xin Lailai, who was about to pull the lever, stopped. She lowered her eyes, looked at the young mage in the big hat behind her, and spoke in a calm voice with a hint of pressure:

"Do you know what you're talking about?"

"I……"

As soon as he finished speaking, the young mage hesitated for a moment, but then, as if he had made up his mind, he took a deep breath, nodded vigorously, looked at Xin Lailai with utmost seriousness, and affirmed firmly, "Yes, I am very sure, Mr. Black Sword."

"..."

Upon hearing this, Xin Lailai remained silent for a moment, then calmly turned around without saying a word. This caused the young man in the large hat behind her to gasp, thinking his request was about to be refused—

"The deep church has no restrictions on entry and exit, and I can't control the people behind me."

"Therefore, what you do is your own business. As long as you don't interfere with me, it has nothing to do with me."

As the calm statement fell, Xin Lailai indifferently gripped the lever again, without asking if the other party was ready or anything. She simply pulled it, and together with the young man in the big hat, they soared upwards amidst the hum of the array.

Upon seeing this, Vic was first taken aback, then his face lit up with joy, and he quickly nodded, affirming, "Rest assured! Lord Black Sword, I will absolutely not hold you back!"

……

……

So, half an hour later, we arrived at the pilgrimage site.

"Flacra explodeaz!"

A violent burst of flames erupted from the mountain path, blasting the body of the rock giant, which was over ten meters tall, into countless pieces of rubble. The young man in the large hat who had unleashed the attack let out a long sigh of relief, habitually revealing a smug smile. But then, as if remembering something, he quickly composed himself, cleared his throat, and addressed the black-haired youth who was walking unhurriedly behind him:

"Black Sword Elder... cough, Mr. Black Sword, the route ahead has been completely cleared, we can just go straight there."

"Ah."

After a simple, emotionless reply, Xin Lailai glanced briefly at the crumbling corpse of the mountain giant, then calmly continued walking towards the summit without saying anything more.

As for why he was here instead of inside the deep cathedral, the answer is naturally not because he was bored or anything.

Because he hadn't thoroughly checked things on his first visit, he hadn't realized anything was wrong. It wasn't until he was ready to seriously begin his exploration this time that he suddenly discovered an extremely serious problem:

—That is, those two metal doors leading to the depths of the cathedral, he...cannot open them.

—Not only that, when he seriously tried to fly up and explore, he suddenly realized that as long as he was not inside the Deep Cathedral, he would be surrounded by gray fog as soon as he was more than two meters off the ground in other areas.

These two restrictions effectively blocked his methods of 'skipping class,' forcing them to take a detour via the mountain path to see if they could find another way into the deep cathedral.

As for what just happened, it was purely because the young man in the big hat volunteered to step forward and clear the way for them. In addition, since their soul points had already exceeded several million, they simply let the other party do as he pleased.

Judging from the actual performance, although the other party kept babbling on and on, it proved that anyone who could survive in such a shitty world, no matter how eccentric their personality, couldn't possibly be weak.

Of course, the strength here is relative to the opponent itself. If we calculate by their standards, Vic, whose intelligence attribute is only seventy points and whose spell level is only around Master LV30, is not much different from the monsters on the road that the opponent deals with as 'speed bumps'.

Incidentally, the young man in the big hat had already muttered about his reasons for wanting to enter the deep cathedral on the way here, saving Xin Lailai the trouble of asking him any further questions.

Logan Wilhelm, the "legendary archmage".

This is the real reason why the young man in the big hat wanted to enter the Cathedral of the Deep. According to his description, the legendary mage who founded Wilhelm College and was once the object of worship for most of the mage apprentices in the Ash World, left his last trace at the Cathedral of the Deep at the end of the pilgrimage route.

That's why he so decisively followed in their footsteps. It wasn't just because of his thirst for knowledge, but more importantly, the young man in the big hat judged that if he wanted to find the legendary mage he had admired all his life, their appearance might be the best opportunity.

"Hmm? This location... I've finally found it, a place where I can go around to get in."

After walking along the mountain path for a while, Xin Lailai seemed to suddenly notice something. Her gaze shifted and she looked at a small section of rooftops adjacent to the mountain path. Following the path, she looked towards the deep cathedral, which was over a hundred meters high, and a deep, mysterious look flashed across her eyes.

If you go up from here, you can just squeeze through that window into the deep church.

"Mr. Black Sword?"

"Let's go, we've found the path forward."

As Xin Lailai spoke, she walked slowly towards the eaves along the crystal path that extended from her feet. She led the young man in the big hat to stand on the eaves covered with coral-like gray-white plants. After looking around for a while, just as she was about to continue walking forward, a cold light suddenly bloomed from the edge of her vision.

Precise parry.

clang--! !

A flash of golden light disappeared in an instant, turning into a heavy, powerful impact. Then, Xin Lailai decisively stepped forward, pulling the young man in the big hat along, and leaped towards the cover formed by the tower's spire. After a somersault, she steadily dissipated the resistance—

Boom boom boom boom boom...!!

The sound of arrows raining down fell as more than twenty silver arrows flew past the spot where the two had been standing, striking the nearby mountainside and creating craters the size of human heads.

"Mr. Black Sword, this is...!!"

It was only then that the young man in the big hat suddenly realized what was happening. Looking at the crater in the distance, he gasped for breath, realizing that if it weren't for Xin Lailai, he might have already been knocked back to the campfire.

"They are archers. It seems that whoever built this church had already considered this possibility."

Xin Lailai calmly returned, glancing at the slowly repairing crater on the distant mountain wall, and instantly made a rough estimate of the destructive power of these arrows in her mind.

If an arrow hits a vital point, it can take away about 1/10 of their health. If there are other buffs that target Ash's special attack, they might lose even more health.

"Is the location... in that direction?"

Xin Lailai murmured to herself, took out a small, smooth metal fragment, and, using the reflected light, saw several figures, each about the size of a dot, emerging from a certain direction. Her gaze flickered, and she took out a fine iron longbow from her storage space. Her magic power and soul energy surged together, transforming into a jet-black arrow that exuded a strong aura.

Whoosh! !

The next second, a jet-black arrow flew out, instantly reaching the attacker's hiding place at incredible speed, and then...

boom! ! !
A surge of raging demonic power erupted, transforming into a massive black sphere over ten meters wide, engulfing everything in its path. [“Holy Bow” defeated, Soul Points +30000 (20000 + 10000)]

[The "Holy Bow" has been slain; its soul...]

【...】

【already……】

[Slay "Blade of the Holy Church" - Soul Points +15000 (10000 + 5000)]

A torrent of hundreds of thousands of soul points converged, and Xin Lailai, who had taken down nearly thirty elite monsters with a single arrow, did not pause for a moment. She immediately drew her longbow again, focused her energy, and fired.

boom--! !

The next second, a violent black light burst forth again, completely engulfing the remaining Holy Archers. Only then did Xin Lailai slowly lower her longbow, let out a long sigh, narrowed her eyes, glanced at the archer team she had easily wiped out in the distance, and gently shook her head.

Too straightforward.

While this strategy of concentrated fire can indeed take down the opponent instantly upon a successful attack, it also gives the other side the opportunity to turn the tables on you.

If that bastard who designed the Frankish Fortress and the inner city of Isilul were here, he would guarantee that the other party would definitely plant these thirty-odd elite soldiers in all sorts of extremely insidious corners, aiming to be as disgusting as possible.

To be even more ruthless, one could even deliberately stuff some dropped items onto these zombies to guide the killer's actions and lure them into the next chain of traps.

"Let's go. Those two moves just now probably alerted a lot of zombies. We need to be careful on the way ahead."

"Uh, um, okay...okay..."

The stunned reply fell, and Vic swallowed slightly, shocked by the power of Xin Lai Lai's magic. He was stunned for several seconds before he came to his senses. He quickly pressed down on his big hat, and while maintaining a safe following distance, he hurriedly followed.

……

Half an hour later, in the deep cathedral, on the top floor.

"Flacrile mnnc!!"

A flash of intense firelight streaked across the hall, which was covered in grayish-white corrosion marks, burning the charging zombies to ashes.

"Phew... With that, the last one is done."

As a slightly weary sigh subsided, in the hall that was no longer as magnificent as it once was, Vic put down his staff. After confirming that there were no other enemies in his line of sight, he nodded slightly and turned his gaze to Xin Lailai, who had been standing in front of a huge painting, deep in thought.

This is... a painting depicting the first Lord of Cinder ascending the throne?

The young man in the large hat approached Xin Lailai, glanced at her as she intently examined the painting on the wall, and then looked at the content of the painting that had her so lost in thought. His gaze flickered—

On the canvas, one can see a burly figure engulfed in blazing flames standing in the very center of a platform resembling a sacrificial altar, arms outstretched as if welcoming the flames that permeate the entire world within the painting.

On either side of the imposing figure, a group of figures of various appearances knelt on one knee beside him, one of whom was wearing a large wizard's hat just like his own.

“Logan Wilhelm…”

Upon seeing the figure wearing a large wizard's hat in the picture, Vic subconsciously paused, as if he had thought of something and suddenly became somewhat lost in thought.

"It's time to get ready to leave."

After an unknown amount of time, when Xin Lailai's voice rang out again, Vic suddenly snapped out of his daze.

"Ah, Mr. Black Sword, you've finished reading?"

"Well, I can't confirm its authenticity, but I did find some useful information in it."

As Xin Lailai spoke, she glanced at the gaunt figure in the painting that caught the young man in the big hat's attention, and said:

"Is he the person you're looking for?"

"Huh? How is that possible? This is the first Lord Logan. According to the academy's records, he has long since passed away under the protection of the King's Fire."

"The First Generation?" Upon hearing this, Xin Lailai's gaze flickered. She glanced at the painting in front of her, lowered her eyes slightly, and casually asked, "Do many people know about this division of the First Generation?"

"Uh, this... it's pretty common knowledge for the students of the academy and those who know the history of the Lords of Cinder, right? Mr. Blacksword, have you never heard of 'Logan Wilhelm'?"

"I've only heard of the name; I haven't been in this world for very long."

"Uh, I see. Then there's really no other way..."

"According to what you just said, the 'Logan Wilhelm' you're looking for is not the same person as the 'Logan Wilhelm' in this painting?"

“Uh, that’s true. What I’m trying to follow is the footsteps of the man who inherited the name ‘Logan Wilhelm’ in this generation, not the ‘Logan Wilhelm’ in this painting. Do you have any further questions, Lord Black Sword?”

"Not for now... Well, there is one more thing that I'm curious about: are any of the people in this painting still alive?"

Xin Lailai stroked her chin, pondered for a moment, then casually asked after her gaze seemed to sweep over a certain part of the painting.

"Huh?" The young man in the big hat was taken aback, clearly not expecting such a question. However, out of respect for Xin Lailai, he answered hesitantly:
"Well... I think there aren't any left."

"After all, what is recorded here is the story of the first Lord of Cinder, which is so ancient that only stories and legends have survived. Even the first Lord of Cinder himself could not endure such a long period of time, so it is even more impossible for others to do so."

"That's all... Yes, you're right, this time has indeed been far too long."

Xin Lailai murmured to herself, her eyes slightly narrowed, and withdrew her gaze from the mural in front of her. Without asking any further questions, she walked towards the exit of the hall, leaving the young man in the big hat looking somewhat bewildered.

"Let's go, it's time to move on."

……

(End of this chapter)