That night
Chang Long, her friends, and many AIs were marched in an orderly line through the city streets, heading toward the grand temple located at the heart of the city. The townspeople, dressed respectfully and sprinkled with incense oils, had co to await the important ritual at the grand temple, which had been magnificently and elaborately decorated. Large torch braziers lined both sides of the path, and the temple priests, adorned in animal hides and feathers, perfud their skin with fragrant resins. The chanting in the native language echoed from afar, evoking a sense of mystical reverence for the ritual—despite the fact that this ritual was ant to take their own lives.
At the summit of the temple—where the Inca believed they were closest to the gods—the sacrificial offerings were brought together to face the high priest performing the ceremony.
"Let go, dammit—mmph!"
The little lion roared in human language, startling the Inca people. One of the priests quickly stuffed a piece of cloth into its mouth, but this had allowed Chang Long to pinpoint Fluffy Head-chan's location.
As the first priest raised a sharp dagger above Chang Long's body, under the horrified gazes of Aswa, Siegfried, and the spirits who could do nothing to help, the young woman remained expressionless. She rely activated one skill—enough to send the surrounding AIs into panic.
"Puppet Manipulation."
Snap!!
The ropes binding the little lion's body snapped and fell away as if they were old and worn. What once looked like a re cat had now returned to his true form—the majestic Nean Lion. He let out a thunderous roar that caused all the slumbering beasts nearby to scatter in terror.
"How dare you bind . Watch —this ti I'm going on a rampage!"
Fluffy Head-chan, in his Nean Lion form, roared in fury. He looked for Chang Long and spotted her among the group of captives bound together a short distance away. He strode toward her and used his claws to slice the ropes binding his master with ease.
Chang Long climbed onto Fluffy Head-chan's back, since using the skill prevented her from moving much. Siegfried easily cut the ropes binding himself with his dagger, then helped free Captain Hicks, Aswa, and the other AIs. Once freed, everyone rushed to find weapons for self-defense. The temple priests drew their daggers, and dozens of tribal warriors ascended the temple steps.
"Chang Long! There aren't any usable weapons here at all—we won't be able to hold off the warriors for long!"
Aswa shouted to the young woman after surveying the area across the grand temple and finding no viable weapons to fight with.
"Fluffy Head-chan, we need to break through to the lower level. We'll get back the weapons they confiscated and then force our way out of this city."
Chang Long leaned down and whispered to Fluffy Head-chan, who was now facing off against dozens of tribal warriors—none of whom had yet dared to make the first move.
The Nean Lion nodded. He arched his neck, roared, then leapt forward, startling the unprepared tribal warriors into scattering and unintentionally opening a path. The others seized the mont of confusion to follow Chang Long's group down from the temple, hoping she would pave the way for their escape from the city.
But it seed the warriors were only montarily stunned. They soon rushed in to surround the captives—the would-be sacrifices to the gods. Chang Long's group hesitated again. They needed to move quickly. If they stopped in any spot for too long, they would be at an imdiate disadvantage.
"Tch! Spirit Realm."
Chang Long activated the skill out of necessity. However, this ti, Spirit Realm did not only affect their own group's spirits as it usually did. Because the mont her invocation ended, the spirits that had been silently lurking around the area began to appear—visibly confused.
Countless unfamiliar spirits, suddenly returned to physical form without expectation, appeared. They were all spirits of those who had been unwillingly sacrificed—warriors from other tribes, wanderers, soldiers of the colonizers. They took only a short mont to realize their rebirth before charging at the Incan priests and warriors with deep resentnt.
"Oh, that was unexpected. But now we won't have to do much ourselves."
Chang Long smiled in delight at what had just occurred. It seed that the spirits resurrected by the Spirit Realm skill bore intense hatred toward the Incan priests—evident in both their expressions and their ruthless thods of killing.
With this unexpected aid, Chang Long's group was able to escape from the grand temple with ease. However, once they moved beyond the 100-ter radius of the Spirit Realm skill, the resurrected spirits reverted to incorporeal form—vanishing back into air—leaving both themselves and the Incan warriors confused and swinging weapons at empty air.
The living looked around them, eyes wide in fear, as they realized what they had just been fighting so fiercely against. They could no longer deny the truth—that the vengeful dead had returned and attacked them without rcy. The evidence remained all around them—and on their own wounded bodies. The vengeful spirits had not yet departed; they continued to try and attack the priests and Incan warriors again and again. But the result was that their attacks now amounted only to a faint, icy breeze brushing past the living bodies.
.....
At the base of the grand temple, Chang Long's group had just reached the ground far more smoothly than anticipated. Everyone went straight back to the holding area to retrieve the supplies and weapons that had been confiscated, before escaping the city as quickly as possible. It seed the Incas were still reeling from the spirits' appearance, and many claid it was the wrath of the gods—because one of the sacrificial offerings had to have been taboo for this ritual. The high priest who had led the ceremony and was unaware of this fact would have to take responsibility.
"Well, they're ignoring us now. Everyone's marching toward the temple in a fury."
Aswa observed, noticing that both the warriors and the townspeople were heading directly to the temple and had completely stopped paying attention to them—except to show unease and reverence toward Fluffy Head-chan in his Nean Lion form, and Chang Long sitting on his back.
Brownie led them directly to the storage area where their weapons and supplies were kept. Chang Long's group had already decided—whatever happened to this city, they would not stick around to find out. Their base levels and number of allies were not yet enough to face the Incan warriors. But just as their smooth journey neared the city gates, and although there were barely any townsfolk or warriors blocking their way, the delay gave opportunity for those who had been waiting to seize their mont.
Chang Long's group went wide-eyed when they saw that just beyond the city gates—their path to freedom—was now filled with hundreds of armored soldiers, led by a man on horseback wearing a golden mask.
"That's…"
Chang Long murmured under her breath.
"Spanish soldiers, aren't they?"
Siegfried said, looking quite troubled.
"What are colonizers doing here at a ti like this!"
Aswa himself looked extrely irritated as well, since it was well known that the colonial soldiers not only possessed very strong combat skills, but their base levels were also above forty-five—and they could even use skills.
"They must have spies inside this place. Once they learned there was chaos going on here, they seized the opportunity to launch an attack."
Captain Hicks gripped his weapon tightly, even though he did not know whether he would get the chance to actually use it against the Spaniards.
"That's not what I ant. I an him—the one wearing the golden mask on horseback."
Chang Long stared with excitent at the mysterious man in the golden mask, drawing everyone else's attention to him as well.
"What about him, Chang Long?"
Aswa asked in confusion, puzzled by Chang Long's excitent, which looked like she had just seen a famous celebrity.
"Francesco Pizarro, the famous historical figure—he's the one making Chang Long so excited, right?"
Siegfried smiled and replied, unable to suppress a chuckle at Chang Long's childlike delight when encountering sothing she liked. Chang Long nodded and smiled back at the young man, which stirred up intense jealousy in the outsider, Aswa.
"This isn't the ti to be excited, missy. With things like this, how are we going to break through?"
Devi-chan walked up beside Fluffy Head-chan with a tense expression, while the Nean Lion rolled his eyes in exasperation.
"Is she always like this in monts of crisis?"
Rogy—forrly Roche Roger, renad by Chang Long—whispered softly to Hisa-chan. He thought of himself as soone who often did not care much about what was going on, so much so that his subordinates would frequently feel frustrated. But no matter how indifferent he acted, he never neglected a truly dire situation like this, where they were clearly at a severe disadvantage.
"Oh, quite often actually—if she's in a good mood. But if anyone ticks her off, even if it's a god standing in her way, she'll probably wipe them out just to vent her anger."
Hisa-chan replied with a half-serious, half-playful look, leaving Rogy unsure whether to believe him or not.
"Submit to the Kingdom of Spain, or be utterly destroyed!"
The man in the golden mask shouted with authority. His voice carried the power of leadership and sent many of the AIs following Chang Long into a panic.
"A voice of leadership, huh? Well, we've got one of those too. Fluffy Head-chan, give him a loud roar to enjoy."
Chang Long leaned down and whispered into the Nean Lion's ear.
ROOOAR!
Fluffy Head-chan let out a thunderous roar that nearly made the well-trained soldiers scatter and break ranks in retreat. If not for the continuous shouting of orders competing with the roar, their battalion might have been reduced to just a few hundred troops.
"So that's your answer. Don't think I don't know that there's already chaos in the city. You lot alone could never withstand the elite forces of the Kingdom of Spain. Regret your audacity to challenge such great power. Attack!"
At the command of the man in the golden mask, hundreds of well-armored soldiers charged at Chang Long's group, who stood clustered at the gates of the city of Cuzca.
"Sigh... Spirit Realm."
Chang Long activated the Spirit Realm skill once again, with no other option. Siegfried summoned Lycanth to aid in battle. There were no other spirits in the vicinity besides those already in their possession, which ant everyone was in for a hard fight.
Fluffy Head-chan swung his claws forward, striking four Spanish soldiers at once. The impact flung them to the ground with severe injuries. As for the one who took the full brunt of the blow—when his body slamd into the hard ground, he imdiately burst into a pillar of white light shooting skyward.
When death occurred, the battle beca even fiercer. Both sides grew more and more determined, charging into combat with no intention of yielding. Chang Long's side might have been outnumbered, but their quality was flawless. As for the Spanish side, both their quality and numbers were equal—but they lacked the strange skills that Chang Long's group possessed. Aswa wielded a silver weapon that could freely change shape according to his will. Siegfried had both a werewolf and the Hoop Dragon Ring aiding him in battle. Chang Long sat calmly and comfortably on Fluffy Head-chan's back, watching her spirits fight. But before long, the Incan warriors ca out to help Chang Long's group in welcoming their guests.
The Spanish colonizers were forced to retreat in disarray. The warriors and townspeople of Cuzca stood facing Chang Long's group. For a brief mont, tension filled the air. They thought for sure that another battle was inevitable. But then sothing unexpected happened—an Incan citizen spoke politely and respectfully, and Fluffy Head-chan inford them it was an invitation to stay on as honored guests.
Everyone stayed on, surprised but very happy. At the very least, they now had another city where they could find shelter during their exploration of Aris Island. But before anyone could let pride swell over being treated with such respect, they discovered that the one the townspeople were truly honoring—constantly surrounding and bowing to—was none other than Fluffy Head-chan, the star of the show, who had already returned to his little lion cub form. Although he appeared indifferent, even annoyed, those who knew him well—Chang Long, Devi-chan, Hisa-chan, and Brownie—could tell that Fluffy Head-chan was imnsely full of pride, barely holding it in for fear of ruining his cool image.
One of the Incan townspeople took on the role of showing Chang Long's group around the city and introducing various places, including a look at the farming plots, which were not producing nearly enough for the city's needs. This was the cause behind the repeated sacrificial rituals. But in the most recent ritual, they had learned that not only did the crops fail to flourish, but the ritual also enraged countless spirits—those who had been unwillingly sacrificed and never moved on to the afterlife. Instead, they remained in bitterness, waiting for a chance to exact revenge.
"The soil here is too salty. That's why the crops can't grow properly."
Captain Hicks spoke up after bending down to inspect the soil in the farming area.
"How do you know that?"
Aswa turned to ask in curiosity, as did the others, who all looked to him for an explanation. Captain Hicks shrugged and answered casually:
"I tasted it."
"What!"
Everyone exclaid in unison, surprised. It was known that both Siegfried and Chang Long, in real life, ca from high-society backgrounds, so there was no way they would know how to farm hands-on. As for Aswa, though he was not so upper-class noble in real life, he had never had the chance to do real agricultural work either.
"But I have no idea how to fix it. Maybe the Spaniards do—after all, they ended up conquering this place anyway, didn't they?"
Captain Hicks added.
Since they could not help with the salty soil problem, Chang Long's group decided it would be better not to ntion it. If they admitted to knowing the cause, they would surely be pressured into explaining how to fix it—which they did not know. So, they continued their tour of the city, eventually arriving at the eastern city gate. Outside the city, the landscape looked desolate and bleak—almost no trees or life in sight. Only steep stone cliffs and parasitic plants that could burrow roots into the crevices managed to grow.
Not far from the city, at a crack in the high cliffs, was a dark and chilly corner. There, Chang Long and the others saw clearly a small wooden shack, with a hanging sign written in a language players could read. It clearly said:
"Spirit Shop"
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