The howling wind kept passing by his ears, taking away the nearby air and the little warmth that was left. The originally cold temperature also dropped a bit as he stepped into the shadow of the high wall. , like this Qing Qing's mood shrouded in front of him. Squeezing the emerald green stone in his hand hard, he climbed the steps and moved his thoughts away from the empty feet in front of him, and his face covered with dried blood and dust also turned away. Come over and face the square below the steps you climbed up - it seems that due to the gradual approach to the wind shelter, the wind sound here is a bit quieter than before, and the tangible trajectory is also along Duan Qing's field of vision at this time. Continuously moving forward on both sides, with a scene full of ruined walls and abandoned streets spreading forward in a star shape, extending in all directions of the square. Small gravel and dust, still driven by the strong wind from high altitude, appear at the end of the picture from time to time, rolling and falling to the bottom where the invisible and faint shouts of death are coming. The shouts mixed with the cold sound It seemed to have become more chaotic and intense than before. Even the sunlight that was closer to them seemed unable to dispel the coldness and cruelty contained in it: "..."
"What are you doing?"
The voice from Christine then sounded in the back of his head, waking him up from his heavy heart with a colder voice: "Hurry up, we don't have as much time as you think."
"……I see."
The focus of his eyes gradually fell on the huge ice sculpture in the center of the square. Duan Qing, who was almost naked, then turned his head: "I just think... this place seems to be very suitable for enjoying the scenery."
"If you are willing to call the appearance here a scenery... yes." Kristine, who was already waiting by the door, turned Aina's head: "Stone."
Without saying too many jokes, Duan Qing, who kept his mouth shut, then walked to the foot of the door inlaid with various unknown magic circles, and then, under the gaze of Christine on the side, he raised the magic weapon in his hand. The Stone of Oknos. The magic arrays, which had been blown away by the strong wind and lost their luster, then responded to the call of the stone in Duan Qing's hand and emitted the same bright green light, but the seemingly connected magic resonance seemed to have only reached this point. It ended without any more changes: "...it doesn't seem to open so easily."
"Do you need something else? A ritual? A password?"
"It can't be Open Sesame or something, right?"
"Open sesame? What is that?"
"……nothing."
Duan Qing, who pressed his forehead and lowered his head, took a few steps back. First, he looked at the top of the giant gate with all his eyes, and then rubbed his chin: "Such a flat structure, It doesn’t look like there is any mechanism button...could it be voice-activated?"
"If possible, I would rather fly in directly from here." Kristine's voice then sounded in his ears: "But... Judging from the results of countless flights in this city, this place is Air defense should be the most powerful."
"...Aren't you going to give it a try? Although I can't tell how high this wall is..."
"No need to try, it's probably sealed inside."
Pointing to the surface of the door in front of them, Christine replied in a calm voice: "I don't want to be knocked down by the defense system here after circling in vain for a few times... What did you come up with? There’s no other way, experienced adventurer?”
"……I have a question."
His face gradually became tangled, and Duan Qing's questioning expression became a bit weird: "Can you sing?"
"……What do you want to do?"
"Aina's profession is a singer, and she sings very well."
Duan Qing's expression became slightly unnatural as he made a slight gesture of holding hands: "You should have seen the previous ceremony... She sang for so long before she teleported us here. Come."
"You mean... ballads are the key to opening this door?" Kristine's face began to look unnatural: "Is that really the case?"
"I'm not sure, but this is the most likely of all my guesses." Duan Qing shook his head: "Gais... the Oklites are a clan living in the sky, maybe They are born to sing songs from the sky and so on..."
"What you said makes sense, but it's a pity that I'm not the type that can sing and dance like my sister." The corners of her mouth twisted slightly, and Christine hid her expression in the movement of lowering her head: " And...even if I can sing, I don’t seem to know what to sing.”
"As for the lyrics... let me think about it." Duan Qing held his chin and began to think hard: "She used the language exclusive to the Oakles family, so I didn't understand a word, but if I remember correctly, She said at the end of the previous ceremony..."
“Feel the blessings of the sky.”
He held up the stone in his hand and said in a rather pious voice. However, as his words echoed, a bright green light suddenly lit up in front of the two people. In the magnificent scene where the light on the entire gate was also flowing rapidly, the green light like a searchlight condensed in the air into the shadow of a singer singing with arms stretched out, and then in Duan Qing's increasingly surprised eyes, she sang softly. A sweet and sweet song came out.
Rumble, rumble——
The loud trembling sound then covered the still-reverberating tail end of the song, and was accompanied by the violent roar of the magic circle on the door finally spinning, and a tiny gap was gradually revealed. The middle of the two opened doors completely covered Duan Qing's dull expression. The dark light and shadow full of ancient atmosphere then appeared in the center of this high-altitude city flowing with clouds and strong winds, and then was replaced by the blue light contained in the staff raised by Christine. She had already stepped in with one foot. She then turned around and broke Duan Qing's sluggishness with her own smile: "What's wrong with our adventurer? Let's go quickly."
"Ah...oh."
"...Didn't you come up with the way to open the door? Why do you look more surprised than me?"
"No, I just..."
As the door slowly closed behind him, Duan Qing held up the green cube in his hand: "I just didn't expect... that she would stay in it."
"...Keep that stone well, we might be able to use it in the future."
After gently reminding the other party, Christine, who was walking in front, began to observe the left and right sides of the dark hall: "Now... let's see what's here."
"...It seems to be a hall."
Looking at the various elegant decorations and flag patterns hanging on the walls that were still well preserved, Duan Qing came back to his senses and replied in a low voice: "It is probably used to receive every guest who comes here."
"The Oaklites are arrogant by nature. How could they design a place like this just to welcome outsiders?" Christine's voice then appeared on the other side of the hall: "Unless they are here to welcome the royal family."
"...royal family?"
"To be precise, they are the royal family that ruled the ancient magic empire."
Sighing deeply, Christine's voice became deeper: "The Magic Council was the highest power center of the ancient Magic Empire. The great magisters there were also the most powerful people in the world at that time. Their Even the entire Oklet family may not be able to match their strength, let alone the various powerful followers gathered under each of them..."
"...Don't there be any decent great magisters in the Oklet clan themselves?"
"Maybe there is, maybe there isn't."
As if she was unsure of the answer she knew, Christine's voice became hesitant: "It is impossible for a group of people to create an entire sky city without superb magic craftsmanship, but according to our Judging from the history we know, the Sky Clan has indeed never had a magician powerful enough to join the Magic Council..."
"This is indeed very contradictory."
Picking up the bottle-shaped decoration closest to him, Duan Qing said to himself: "How did they develop this craft? Is it collective wisdom? Or is there some expert secretly giving guidance behind the scenes? "
"……have no idea."
The light footsteps began to move forward with Kristine's voice, and finally went around to another door on the other side of the hall. Unlike the previous door, this door easily closed. The Grand Magister pushed it away with his hand: "This issue can now also be included in the research topics we want to answer."
"...If you have any other topics, can you tell me about them together?"
"We still have many questions left, such as whether the strengthening skills of wind magic were developed by this clan, whether they still retain other advanced technologies that are not spread to others, and whether they are the founders of the ruins on the top of Falling Star Mountain. Or, does the protective circle left there have anything to do with them... Hmm."
"It seems... there is indeed some connection."
The creaking sound of the moving door still sounded behind them. The figures of Duan Qing and Christine who passed through the door then stopped in a wider hall in front, with a A rotunda with complex zigzag lines then appeared in front of them, with strange pale white fluorescence flashing on the ground and surrounding walls. After slightly testing the staff, Kristine retracted her arm and then frowned. While placing the Aina ice sculpture that had been held in front of her on the ground, she sent a timely message to Duan Qing. Warning: "Don't touch these magic circles, the energy on them... is very similar."
"Similar?" Duan Qing approached cautiously: "Similar to what?"
"Remember those magic circles on the top of Falling Star Mountain?" Christine reminded in a low voice: "They should be the same thing."
"...if you touch it, will you be thrown out of this hall?" Duan Qing, who recalled for a while, asked in surprise: "How could they..."
"This should only be a one-way protection method to protect the energy flow inside from being deflected."
Raising her hand to interrupt Duan Qing's words, Christine turned her eyes to the interior of the rotunda in front of her: "Although I don't know how long the energy has been flowing here, it shouldn't be any better than the one on the top of Falling Star Mountain. The library should have declined even more..."
"That is to say...I can't touch it anymore?" Looking at the densely packed circuits all over the ground converging in the center, Duan Qing suddenly got a headache: "How can we keep going?"
"Of course there are ways to crack it. After all, we have been studying it on the top of that mountain for several years." After floating upward slightly, Christine's figure began to move slightly toward the inside of the hall: "But That takes time and could have irreversible consequences."
"You mean..."
"Even if this is not the energy center of Sky City, this must be a very important place."
Disappearing into one of the passages next to the rotunda without looking back, Christine's voice came back remotely: "Maybe it's the transmission center, or maybe it's the control center, etc..."
"If you can't fly, you'd better stay where you are." Her voice paused for a moment, and then returned to Duan Qing's ears: "After I remove the energy overload, it should be fine here. Passed safely and without damage.”
"Hey, can I just sit here and watch?"
"Unless of course..."
As if she didn't intend to explain any more, Christine's voice finally began to become inaudible along with her footsteps as she walked away: "If you can find another way to crack it..."
"It's okay for you to come over by yourself."
The faint hum of energy then filled Duan Qing's ears, suppressing the grinning expression he just wanted to make. With his bare hands, he looked back and forth inside the hall filled with energy pipelines, and let out a helpless sound. sigh. Taking a few steps back slightly, the man standing on the spot took a deep breath to suppress his rising restlessness. His expression that was originally constantly searching for the surroundings gradually changed over time. On the head of the ice sculpture.
"I thought I could spend this last game time with you, but I didn't expect..."
Saying this to himself, his eyes stayed for a moment on Aina's frozen face, which had closed her eyes. Then, as if he remembered something, he took out the green stone again: "The Stone of Oknos... Oknos... Surge of Wind... Emerald Blessing... That's right."
"It seems that I have never seen the skills and special effects described above."
He sighed lightly, and at the same time began to look around again: "Is there anything..."
"Is there a way to trigger this skill?"
