“Wake up, Astraea, wake up.”
Half-conscious, the little elf thought she heard Luo En calling her.
Barely awake, the little elf reached out with her senses to get a read on her situation. She was still wrapped in warmth, and every breath still carried that reassuring scent of Luo En.
What was she worried about? Wasn’t she perfectly safe?
Astraea’s completely relaxed little head automatically judged her environment as safe, so the little elf smacked her lips, shifted to a more comfortable position, and went right back to sleep.
Luo En stared down at the little elf in his arms, a face full of exasperation.
Of course she was safe in his arms, but that meant he couldn’t move around freely himself.
And although his strength now surpassed the little elf’s, if they were going to explore Lakeheart Island, Luo En figured her magic would still come in pretty handy.
After mulling it over, watching Astraea’s sleeping face that was practically drooling, Luo En leaned down and kissed her.
“Mmph… mmph!”
Sigh
“Are you awake? If not, I’ll keep going.”
As much as she wanted to be messed around by Luo En again, the little elf barely managed to restrain herself, having finally gotten her rationality back.
“I’m not awake… ah no, I’m awake, I’m awake!”
Ugh… at this rate, she’d end up pouncing on Luo En herself someday, wouldn’t she?
Having successfully roused the little elf, Luo En didn’t linger for long. As they drew closer, that divine aura reached its peak. The nearer they got to the statue, the denser the sacred energy became. Taking Astraea’s little hand, he began walking toward that strange goddess statue. When they stood before the idol, which was only as tall as Astraea herself, the sacred aura they could feel grew even thicker.
Luo En wasn’t particularly affected by it. He’d already experienced the far more divine Elf Goddess Divine Kingdom when he’d been unconscious earlier.
But Astraea nearly fell to her knees in reverence.
It was an instinctual reaction from deep within her body. She could even feel a blood connection between herself and the Elven Goddess.
This made the little elf, who normally didn’t show much respect for the goddess, feel a hint of awe in this moment.
She knelt on one knee before the goddess statue and offered up a simple prayer.
The prayer’s form wasn’t proper, barely going through the motions.
But it was all Astraea knew how to do.
She really wasn’t a devout follower.
Still, the Elven Goddess didn’t withhold her radiance. After Astraea finished her crude prayer, the small statue erupted in brilliant divine light.
Astraea felt as though she were being enveloped by boundless radiance. When the light faded, she discovered a small chibi goddess bell hanging from the collar around her neck.
The chibi goddess figure wore a dress, but below the skirt wasn’t legs—it was a bell clapper made of some unknown metal.
With every movement of the little elf, the bell let out a crisp ring.
Ting-a-ling… ting-a-ling…
From within the bell radiated a steady warmth of power. If Astraea guessed right, this bell probably had defensive functions too.
“This is… a divine artifact!”
Beside her, Luo En’s eyes went wide. Having received all sorts of chaotic knowledge from the All-Father, he recognized the bell’s nature at a glance.
Of course, divine artifacts ranged from strong to weak, and this bell wasn’t anything overpowered—it merely had the function of shielding its bearer.
From the most straightforward perspective, if the little elf were to go back into the Royal Capital Sewers now, she wouldn’t need to constantly maintain a purification spell. The bell would automatically cleanse the unclean air around her.
But the goddess’s blessings weren’t finished yet. After the divine light condensed into the chibi goddess bell, the statue flashed once more, and a suit of armor suddenly appeared in place.
It was the armor that Astraea and Luo En had thrown into the Holy Lake earlier. The originally blue armor now bore decorative emerald-green patterns, and atop the helmet sat a tuft of pink plume.
Moreover, the armor had been adjusted to fit Luo En’s current height.
Despite having been submerged in the Holy Lake, there wasn’t a trace of moisture on it now—it simply emanated the aura of the Elven Goddess’s divine power. This exquisitely crafted armor had now been elevated by the Elven Goddess’s blessing into something akin to a divine artifact.
Why “akin”? Luo En could sense that the Elven Goddess had only made minor modifications to the armor, without changing its fundamental nature.
But that was enough. The armor gifted by the Duke was already a masterfully crafted product, and with the blessing of a deity layered on top, once Luo En put it on, even standing in the middle of a chaotic army, it would take some serious effort to break through his defenses.
Of course, wearing armor like that would probably make human knights mistake him for a traitor and attack him.
Astraea helped Luo En into the armor, but her heart didn’t relax.
As the saying goes, before a great battle comes great supply.
The Elven Goddess had bestowed such powerful blessings upon them, and their weapons had been upgraded—so who exactly were they about to face?
Astraea gripped the hilt of her longsword, refusing to let her guard down.
Sure enough, before the two of them could even prepare, the goddess statue flashed with light once more, followed by that familiar dizzying sensation.
By the time they came to their senses, they saw the familiar brick walls again.
“This is…”
“We’re back?”
No time to joke around. Thanks to the bell’s protection, Astraea didn’t smell any foul odors and immediately drew her sword in alert. Luo En was even faster than the little elf—the armor on his body didn’t seem to hinder his movements at all, maintaining the same flexibility as if he were wearing nothing.
This was how Luo En discovered the Elven Goddess’s cleverest touch on this armor.
This armor didn’t restrict movement at all!
But there was no time to marvel, because the goblins were already closing in.
Goblins shrouded in black mist, in droves. Their once fairly clear eyes had turned murky and clouded, looking nothing like normal creatures.
They truly didn’t seem like normal goblins anymore.
As the most widespread type of monster in the Human Kingdom, goblins always loved to make a racket. They cared nothing for discipline or formation—as long as a leader was out front, they’d swarm along behind him.
But now, these black-misted goblins made no noise or commotion. They simply raised their weapons and silently advanced toward Luo En and Astraea.
Their weapons were a motley collection—from plain wooden clubs to rusty tetanus blades—basically whatever they’d picked up.
“Luo En, let’s go!”
Astraea shouted, then shot forward like an arrow released from a bow. With a flick of her wrist, the enchanted longsword sliced clean through the goblin in front of her, weapon and all, cutting it in two without resistance.
Truth be told, the little elf dealt with ordinary goblins even more easily than Luo En, because for her, she didn’t need to deliberately hold back her attacks to harm regular goblins.
Luo En wasn’t about to be outdone. Every time his longsword descended, it took out a whole line of goblins.
Swoosh!
A flash of silver sword light, and the last black-misted goblin fell to Astraea’s blade. Looking at the goblin corpses scattered all around, the little elf—who normally just wanted to pounce into Luo En’s arms and be pampered—rarely furrowed her brow.
These goblins, though shrouded in black mist, weren’t any harder to deal with than ordinary ones. But seeing the little elf like this, Luo En wisely chose to ask. Without even a breath out of place, he said, “What’s wrong, Astraea?”
“I can’t quite put my finger on it, but Luo En—if you can, let’s stay away from these goblins.” Astraea tugged at Luo En, leading him out of the area piled with goblin corpses.
A small ball of light flickered to life in the little elf’s hand. Under the illumination spell’s glow, black mist could be seen continuously rising from the goblin corpses. The moment the black mist came close to the little elf, it was purified by the invisible force field emitted by the chibi goddess bell. But Astraea noticed that with every wisp purified, the bell’s luster dimmed by a fraction.
It seemed the goddess’s bell had its limits too. The little elf tugged Luo En to stand further away.
But these black mists would keep spreading into the air endlessly. In time, the entire sewer would be filled with black mist.
She didn’t know what effects the black mist might have on people, but Astraea felt this wasn’t a good sign.
“By the way, Luo En, do you know where we are right now?” Astraea asked.
Right now, she could only confirm that the Elven Goddess had sent both her and Luo En back into the Royal Capital Sewers. But the sewers were a labyrinth, with new tunnels the goblins had dug out on their own—Astraea couldn’t determine their position at all.
On the other hand, Luo En had previously obtained the design plans for the Royal Capital Sewers and memorized the whole thing.
Maybe Luo En could figure out where they were?
But Luo En just shrugged at the question. “Sorry, Astraea. If we’d come down from the entrance, I could pinpoint our location. But we got teleported in.”
So there was no hope of finding their way anytime soon.
But Astraea had one more trick.
Divine power was immense. The gods could even predict the future to a certain extent.
So the Elven Goddess sending them here must have its reasons. As long as they followed their instincts, they’d accomplish whatever the goddess intended.
Though it was a suffocating feeling to have no control over her own fate, the little elf decided to go along with it for now.
Worst case scenario, she’d find an opportunity to do something sacrilegious and take revenge on the Elven Goddess later.