The flickering, shifting movents of the spirits caused the twelve Avian Gatekeepers to be confused for only a mont. Once they realized they could not land any hits, and that the spirits' attacks caused no damage, they naturally lost interest in the Devi-chan's gang and focused their full strength on attacking Chang Long, Siegfried, Aswa, and Lycanth instead.
However, even though they caught on quickly, it was already too late to undo the injuries that had been inflicted. Every one of the Avian Gatekeepers was wounded, bloodied all over. They coordinated their attacks and swung their weapons at Chang Long's group so relentlessly that their once-fluid movents beca disrupted. The strength of the gatekeepers was as if they had not been hurt at all.
The four retreated to regroup in shock, but the Avian Gatekeepers did not stay idle—they flapped their wings and charged after them, their spears aid precisely at everyone's heart, clearly intending to end their lives in a single blow. Chang Long and the others had no choice but to scatter, for if they stayed grouped together, they would surely be overwheld and killed on the spot.
Each person was followed by three wounded Avian Gatekeepers. They pressed forward with perfectly coordinated strikes, utterly ignoring their own injuries. For Lycanth, it was not too hard to handle—the creature had a base level of ninety-nine, and the gatekeepers were already injured. As for Siegfried and Aswa, even though their opponents were wounded, they were still tough to deal with.
There were several tis when the two could not avoid the gatekeepers' attacks, and counterattacking was no easy task either. So various special skills were brought out in the battle, resulting in deafening booms and crashes.
Chang Long's situation was even worse. She barely had a chance to strike back. Just defending and dodging was already all she could manage. She received nurous wounds from being unable to dodge in ti. Until finally, Devi-chan and Hisa-chan, unable to bear watching any longer, pleaded for Chang Long to let them possess her body.
Chang Long already knew and had been waiting for the right mont to activate the skill—but such a chance was not easily found, especially while she was being pressed so hard that she could barely breathe.
Boom.
Chang Long was blasted away by a synchronized attack. Her body was flung far, and she coughed up blood. The Sovereign Sword flew out of her hand. Her eyes stared blankly into space. The two young n shouted for her, but could not break away from their own fights. The last thing they saw before turning back to defend themselves was Chang Long lying motionless on the cloud floor, surrounded by three gatekeepers. They raised their spears high, ready to drive them down with deadly force.
"Devi-chan, Spirit Possession…"
A chilling aura spread from Chang Long's body, causing the Avian Gatekeepers to pause montarily in their attack. Seizing the opportunity, Chang Long managed to slip out of the encirclent—but the gatekeepers imdiately took to the air and gave chase, closing the distance alarmingly fast. Her wounded body, combined with having no weapon in hand, placed her in life-threatening danger, while the two young n were powerless to help.
"Spread wings, Mystic Gust."
Chang Long commanded her wings to unfold and activated her skill Mystic Gust, allowing her to shoot away from the three gatekeepers at great speed. She turned back to face them and saw that they too were closing in just as fast. In just a few monts, their spear tips would likely pierce through her body.
"Sovereign Sword!"
Clanggg!
Chang Long called out to her beloved sword, which had fallen far across the cloud floor. It flapped its wings and flew back into its master's hand just in ti. Chang Long barely managed to block the gatekeepers' triple assault in ti—but the force of the clash sent her body tumbling far backward.
'Missy, why don't you just use your skills and finish them already? The skills you have are all incredibly powerful.'
Devi-chan, currently possessing Chang Long, asked in confusion.
"Are you crazy, Devi-chan? All my offensive skills are all Reaper King's skill, and they cover huge areas with enormous destructive power. At my current level, if I don't let you possess to boost my base stats, I can't even activate them. But even if I could—imagine what would happen to this place."
Chang Long explained to Devi-chan while simultaneously fending off the gatekeepers' attacks.
'What do you an?'
Devi-chan still did not understand the reason why Chang Long refused to use her skill. She sighed and began to explain further.
"The last ti I used that skill, the entire city of Ark disappeared. If I use it now, won't the cloud we're standing on just dissolve into rain? And if I use the Reaper Soul Harvest or Reaper's Baptism skill, there's no guarantee that those two and Lycanth won't get caught in it too."
'Then what about the skills from the Eye you received?'
Devi-chan asked, making Chang Long suddenly rember. But if she were to use those, she would have to aim very carefully, because the high-level skills from the Eye of Darkness consud an enormous amount of energy—to the point that using them even once nearly left her unable to stand.
"That's true. The skills I got from the Eye are three: Calamity Thunder, Mausoleum, and Abyssal Tide. If I use Calamity Thunder, there's a high chance others will get caught in it. Mausoleum's out of the question because there's no earth up here. The only one that might work is Abyssal Tide. I'll have to lure them together and use the skill in one move."
Chang Long analyzed before deciding to use the Abyssal Tide skill from the Eye of Darkness.
Chang Long flew to bait the three Avian Gatekeepers into clustering together so she could activate the skill—but they did not comply easily with what she wanted. anwhile, her ti with Devi-chan's possession seed to be running out. Her body started aching—perhaps from the wounds—but the pain was growing more and more intense, making Chang Long realize she did not have much ti left.
Crash!
Chang Long struck the gatekeeper in front of her with all her strength, sending it flying into the two behind it. They crashed down together in a heap. And before they could regain their footing, a powerful surge of water rushed in and engulfed them completely.
The icy current swirled into a large sphere, trapping the three Avian Gatekeepers inside. The Abyssal Tide skill did not just suffocate its victims under freezing cold—it also created a violent whirlpool like a storm, disorienting anyone trapped within so they could not regain their balance. As fear grew, anxiety accelerated the depletion of the limited air they had left.
When the fierce water stopped swirling, the lifeless bodies of the three Avian Gatekeepers floated like puppets with no strings. Chang Long dismissed the skill and had Devi-chan exit her body, before collapsing in exhaustion on the cloud floor, watching the spirits of the three gatekeepers drift away and disappear.
The two young n's battles ended shortly after Chang Long's fight. Watching them, the young woman could not help but think—if the day of reckoning ca, and she had to fight both of them while her skills were still so lacking, there was no way she would be able to fulfill Devi-chan's dream. Devi-chan had to have sensed Chang Long's thoughts, because he spoke up.
"You still have ti, missy. A seat for the seventh heir to the Pirate King has just opened up. After you finish your business, go and train."
"Finish my business?"
Chang Long repeated, turning to look at Devi-chan with confusion.
"I an Alice-chan, the special territory, the land of the dead, the dark tribes, and that sulking dragon lady, of course."
Devi-chan replied gruffly, irritated that Chang Long never seed to rember the things she needed to take care of—and always left it to them to remind her.
"Oh, right. That's true. But why is there so much to do?"
Chang Long suddenly rembered, then furrowed her brows tightly in frustration, because it seed like she had an overwhelming amount of tasks to handle.
"Don't give that look. You're the one who keeps finding trouble for yourself, you know."
Devi-chan scolded her sternly.
"Chang Long, are you alright?"
Siegfried was the first to walk over to her, followed by Lycanth, whose mouth and claws were still stained with blood. The young man sat down beside Chang Long, his body covered in wounds, and began rummaging through his bag for a blood crystal and healing salve.
"Uh, here, let help you apply it."
Seeing that Siegfried looked clumsy while trying to apply the dicine, Chang Long offered to help. The young man smiled and handed her the jar. She took it and gently began to apply the salve to him.
Aswa's eyes practically blazed with jealousy at the sight of the sweet, affectionate mont playing out before him. Chang Long was the woman of his dreams, the one he had vowed to make his own sweetheart as the guildmaster. He had fallen for her at first sight—how could he just sit back and let Siegfried get ahead? He had wounds too, and he was definitely going to ask Chang Long to apply dicine for him as well.
"Chang Long, I'm not very good at applying salve either, so if you could help..."
ROAR!
Before Aswa could finish his sentence, Lycanth stepped in to block him, letting out a loud roar that startled the young man. He looked at him warily, suspicious of what the beast was planning to do—especially when he saw Chang Long and Siegfried giggling together. His suspicion only deepened.
"What's the big idea? Why are you blocking , huh?"
Aswa asked Lycanth.
ROARR
Lycanth roared again and snatched the jar of salve from his hand. Even though Aswa tried to snatch it back, he could not match Lycanth's speed.
"What's your problem!"
Aswa grumbled in exasperation. Chang Long laughed heartily and said,
"He just wants to help apply it for you. Aw, Lycanth, you're so thoughtful."
ROARR
Lycanth responded to Chang Long's complint, then pushed Aswa into a sitting position. While the young man was still confused by Chang Long's explanation, Lycanth began scooping out the salve with his claw and saring it onto Aswa's face wounds.
"AAAH. That hurts, damn it. Are you trying to heal or give new wounds, huh!"
Aswa yelled from the pain as Lycanth's claw, covered in healing salve, touched his face—which only had a few faint scratches. Lycanth unintentionally added so new ones in the process.
Eventually, using what strength he had left—and perhaps because Lycanth had gotten bored of playing nurse—Aswa managed to wrest the healing salve jar back into his own hands. He sat there applying the salve by himself, irritated, but soon noticed that the wounds Lycanth had treated were healing remarkably fast.
"Are we even using the sa salve? Why did the spots he treated heal up completely first?"
Out of curiosity, the young man inspected the wound. He found a strange, slightly foamy, sticky substance around it. Instinctively, Aswa brought it close to his nose to sniff it.
"Ugh. It's saliva!"
The young man cried out upon catching the foul sll—caused by Lycanth, who had not brushed his teeth in years. Aswa had no idea that while he was struggling against Lycanth, the beast had sared his saliva over the wounds.
"What's wrong? You've been acting weird for a while now. And what's that sll? It's awful, don't you think?"
Chang Long walked over to Aswa after finishing up treating Siegfried's wounds. She wrinkled her nose at the stench wafting from the young man's direction.
"It's nothing, Chang Long. I'm ready—let's head into the temple."
Aswa quickly got up and walked away from Chang Long, afraid she would catch a whiff of the unpleasant scent from his body—which, oddly enough, seed to cling to his skin even more than to his clothes. He strode ahead toward the temple doors without waiting for Chang Long, making her suspicious of his odd behavior. But she said nothing, turning instead to Siegfried, and the two of them followed Aswa to the temple entrance.
Creeeeak.
With just the gentlest push, the massive golden doors swung open, letting out a deep rumble like thunder. As both doors opened fully, the trio saw a vast and majestic hall. Pure gold architecture lined the space, each structure three tis larger than the size of the building. Chang Long, Siegfried, Aswa, Lycanth, and the miniaturized Little Jade all stood stunned for nearly five seconds.
"Oww!"
Chang Long suddenly cried out, snapping the two young n out of their daze.
"What's wrong, Chang Long?"
Siegfried asked in concern. Aswa stepped forward to check on her, but Chang Long held up a hand to stop him.
"It's nothing. The system just notified of my status. I can't believe my level has gone up to 48 already. I hadn't checked since fighting Leviathan and it turns out I've leveled up pretty quickly, huh."
Chang Long said with surprise. Siegfried smiled in delight, but Aswa looked completely stunned. He could not believe Chang Long was only level forty-eight. He rembered the power of Calamity Thunder she had unleashed before—it was so destructive, even a top-tier player like him had been taken down instantly. There was no way her level could have been that low.
"What's that look for, huh?"
Chang Long glared at Aswa when she caught him staring at her strangely.
"N... no, it's nothing. Let's look for the plaque where we're supposed to inscribe our nas."
The young man quickly deflected and pretended to search for the na inscription plaque the GM had ntioned. Chang Long narrowed her eyes at his retreating back, still suspicious of why he was looking at her so dumbfoundedly.
"There it is. Just inscribe our nas on that plaque, and the quest will be complete."
Aswa bead, leading everyone toward the golden plaque.
"So how do we do that? We don't have to chisel our nas into it with a mallet or sothing, do we?"
Chang Long asked curiously, stepping closer to examine the golden plaque.
"Good point. Let's figure out how it works," Aswa agreed. Together they searched for a way to engrave their nas onto the plaque. Not far from it, they found a slate board on a stand, with a white chalk pen placed beside it.
"Could this be it?"
Chang Long walked over curiously, picked up the chalk pen, and tried writing sothing. The text that appeared on the slate slowly transford into deeply etched lettering on the golden plaque.
"The inscribed ssage is incorrect."
The notification from the slate startled Chang Long. The scribbled letters she had written vanished—both from the slate and from the golden plaque. Smiling at the two young n, she wrote her na on the slate. Soon, her na appeared on the golden plaque in the third slot, followed by a clear, lodious voice echoing through the hall, announcing her arrival.
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