Vyea never intended to ride on Aiselyn Irwida Moon’s shoulders like a child, but she had no choice—the thick fog had closed in all around them.
The mist was so dense that falling even a few steps behind would mean losing sight of each other.
In order to resolve the issue before them as quickly as possible, and see her daughter soon, she had let go of much unnecessary reserve… or perhaps, the dignity that once belonged to the First Brave?
Dignity couldn’t fill an empty stomach, nor would it bring good luck.
Looking out at the endless expanse of white fog, Vyea couldn’t help but sigh.
They had been walking on the Frozen Water Surface for a long time now. The massive ark behind them, towering like a skyscraper, had already become blurred in their vision, ready to vanish from sight at any moment.
Half an hour ago, they’d been sitting comfortably and safely in the warm cabin, nibbling cakes with anxious hearts, fretting over how to mend the relationship with her daughter when they met…
Now, they were wandering atop the icy water, breathing in frigid mist, the cold wind cutting their faces like knives, treading a road with no end in sight.
All of this made Vyea feel as though she were in another world.
Moments like this truly highlighted the benefits of assembling a Hero Squad without any weak points.
Unlike now, where on such a grand ark, the person with the highest magical attainment was Aiselyn Irwida Moon, an elven bard specialized in singing and music, whose magic and swordplay were all self-defense skills learned for travel.
“Beneath the ice is a Giant Jellyfish Swarm,” Denonas Rotissa said, somewhat anxious. “If we want the ark to continue moving forward, we must first thaw the ice before we can re-form the ice track for the Starlight Lily of the Valley. But if we melt the ice, we’ll have to face a massive swarm of Demons beneath the water.”
“Defeating these Demons isn’t hard, but it would waste a lot of time. The more time we lose, the greater the chance for unexpected events in the Battle Zone. And besides…”
Rotissa spoke as she walked, “I strongly suspect there’s something even more dangerous lurking below.”
“Something more dangerous?” Aiselyn recalled her own journey. “Like, you finally manage to defeat an enemy and are ready to celebrate, but then the enemy’s father shows up. After defeating the father, out comes the grandfather. Grandfather’s gone, but now there’s the ancestor, the great ancestor…”
“……”
Rotissa glanced at the elven girl, her dark red eyes full of speechless resignation. Your experiences are really… something.
“It shouldn’t be exactly like that.”
She shook her head and added, “Ordinary Demons can’t stop the Starlight Lily of the Valley. Demons below the sixth tier are as fragile as eggs before it. Even if there’s a mountain of them, all they can do is get crushed.”
“Then how did it get stopped?”
Aiselyn’s pointed ears quivered. Suddenly, her eyes lit up, and she raised her right index finger. “So this is the more dangerous thing you’re talking about? I’m so curious! What kind of excitement will it add to my journey…”
“Don’t go hoping for troublesome things like that on your own!”
On the deck of the Starlight Lily of the Valley, white mist coiled, visibility barely a meter.
The Gold-armored Knights left on the ark were all feeling anxious, as if venomous snakes hidden in the fog had their eyes on them.
An invisible shadow seemed to cloak the entire ark, ghost-like, circling above each person’s heart.
The longer the hastily-formed Hero Squad had been out exploring without returning, the bigger that shadow loomed.
Most people carried only small bags on deck, abandoning their other belongings in the cabins.
With their last shred of reason, they suppressed their fear. No one shouted, nor did anyone break down in tears. They stood in the mist like statues, heads bowed and eyes empty, as if mourning the tragic fate of dying on the way before even reaching the Battle Zone.
Vice Captain Fatty watched all this in silence, feeling the suffocating weight of despair pressing down on him.
Maybe most people below were prepared to die gloriously at any moment, but only he knew—the moment this ship suddenly stopped, it had already been forgotten by Time.
All equipment aboard, all emergency magical devices, seemed to have been frozen, as if a pause button had been pressed…
The Magic Hourglass no longer flowed; the scent of half-baked Blueberry Pie lingered in the galley, the flames no longer danced, Butter Bubbles frozen at the moment of bursting, and the Ticket Storage Box jammed with tickets from a different era…
Sacrifice in a moment like this was doomed to be meaningless. Even their records would only have the word “missing” stamped on them.
Even Brave Lady Rotissa, before venturing out, had left them the bleakest warning: If I return as a Reverse Comet—forge my remains into a new compass, to mark every danger for those who follow.
The Brave set out knowing she might not return.
But Vice Captain Fatty couldn’t voice this truth, or everyone’s last bit of sanity would collapse…
He put down the lookout scope, turned away from the Lookout Platform; beneath the thick fog, nothing was visible now. He planned to return to the Main Control Room to see the captain, and check if there was any chance the equipment could function again.
At that moment—
A whiff of blood, tinged with the salty sea breeze, suddenly drifted from the fog. Vice Captain Fatty whipped around, pupils contracting. Thud!—a knight’s corpse, long dead, suddenly crashed down at his feet.
“Wait, have we been walking in circles all this time?” Vyea suddenly asked.
“Haven’t we?”
Every few steps, Aiselyn would pull a few Seven-Colored Stones from her pocket and place them at the roadside as markers. It was a necessary skill for every traveler, so she was sure they hadn’t been walking in circles.
But now that the human child had spoken, she took it seriously and checked the surroundings carefully.
“Hmm, all checked. I’m sure we’re not going in circles.”
After checking, Aiselyn dusted off her hands and stood, turning to look at Rotissa, who was staring blankly into the distance, lost in thought. She raised her eyebrows in surprise:
“What’s wrong? Brave Lady, have you discovered something new?”
“Maybe… Miss Vyea is right.”
Rotissa answered slowly, her dark red eyes flicking between Aiselyn and Vyea as she said,
“We might actually have been circling in the mist all along.”
Aiselyn froze, her eyes widening. “What?”
“But it’s not your fault.” Rotissa continued. A pitch-black spear appeared in her hand, and, to everyone’s shock, she hurled it with great force!
The spear vanished.
But a few seconds later, it inexplicably returned to Rotissa’s hand. At the same time, a look of understanding appeared on her face:
“You see, we’re trapped in a prison called ‘Time.’ Everything happening here… is the chewable seed of cause and effect.”
Time?
Aiselyn’s thoughts stalled. She hurriedly fumbled in her Traveler’s Cloak Embroidered with World Tree Leaf, and suddenly produced a Pocket Watch that had long since stopped ticking.
“I see… something is stealing our Time! This is the first monster of its kind I’ve seen!” Aiselyn asked anxiously, “I don’t have nearly enough intel, nor any preparations for this kind of thing…”
No matter, I’ll handle it.
Vyea opened her mouth, about to say the words, when she realized something very serious. She asked cautiously:
“Then how much Time have we wasted here? Has it been ten years in the blink of an eye?”
Rotissa shook her head; she wasn’t an expert in this field and couldn’t give a direct answer.
“Don’t worry, not much time should have passed. If it had been too long, you’d feel hungry by now.”