Chapter 114 : To Be Honest
To Be Honest
The people on the cliff were still waiting. Considering that it would be a bit unsafe for Gu Yanxi to fly together with the others, out of fear that she might lose her grip and accidentally fall, Cecilia, who had already arrived at the coast within the next five minutes, had to spend a great deal of effort once again—flying and crawling, using both her hands and feet—before she finally managed to return to the top of the cliff with great difficulty.
As soon as she steadied herself, Yuewu immediately came up to ask, "Sister Ce, how was it? Can you do it?"
"It's doable, but don't copy me. The sea breeze is very strong—you have to hold on tightly with both hands, or it's very easy to fall."
Cecilia patted the soil from her hands, put on a stern face, and earnestly warned the group.
Although, from an outsider's perspective, Cecilia's descent seemed particularly relaxed and easy—she wasn't even using both hands, only holding onto one of the Darkwing Demon Bat's hind claws with a single hand, and could even leap directly from over ten meters in the air—only she herself knew how fierce the wind was up there during her descent.
The reason she only used one hand instead of both was to test how strong the sea winds really were; as for that final leap downwards, it wasn't to show off on purpose—her arm had simply gone numb from being pulled, and she just couldn't hold on any longer, so letting go was a move made out of sheer necessity.
Currently, in Legend of Kaloran, there was probably no one except Cecilia who could leap from the height of a three- or four-story building and land unscathed. If it had been anyone else, they'd probably have died on the spot.
Since Cecilia put it this way, the others naturally didn't dare take it lightly. Everyone became fully alert, grouped up as previously arranged, and gathered by the Darkwing Demon Bat.
Because Cecilia had already flown once, as the only male in the team, the first to face this extreme challenge had to be Dawn's Light.
Though he stood a towering one meter eighty-five and was clothed in an entire set of heavy Furious Bear armor, the steel-forged bear-head pauldrons looking imposing and fierce in their roaring pose, before the Darkwing Demon Bat—which was nearly five meters tall when standing and boasted a wingspan of over a dozen meters—he still seemed remarkably small.
Dawn's Light's face turned pale. Trembling, he walked under the Darkwing Demon Bat, stretched out his robust arms to tightly hug both of the bat's short hind claws, closed his eyes, and called out in resignation, "I'm ready, let's go!"
"Hold on tighter—don't let go no matter what."
Cecilia smiled, raised her hand to pat his shoulder, and kindly reminded him, "If you let go and fall to your death, it'll not only shake morale, but also affect everyone's spirit for what comes next. We don't have time to wait for you to resurrect and rush all the way back here."
Hearing Cecilia's words, Dawn's Light gritted his teeth. The thought that if he really died here, not only would he lose the chance at this D-rank world boss, but Yuewu would mock him for ages, made him hug on even tighter.
Reluctant as a duck pushed onto a rack, Dawn's Light was unwilling, but the Darkwing Demon Bat was even more unwilling about flying with such a heavy burden.
Not only was Dawn's Light heavy, the thick armor he wore made its claws extremely uncomfortable.
But this was a command from its master—no matter the reluctance, the bat could only let out a muffled low roar, slowly flap its wings, and struggle to lift off with Dawn's Light. Once they cleared the cliff edge, the bat spread its inky-black wing membranes, caught the sea wind, and glided downward.
Standing at the cliff's edge, Cecilia—thanks to her far better than average eyesight—could capture many details others missed.
For example, the Darkwing Demon Bat was repeatedly flexing its claws, apparently wanting to settle the score and shake off this heavy burden dangling from its feet. But the tighter it tried, the tighter Dawn's Light clung on; man and bat swayed and bobbed together in mid-air, swooping rapidly toward the beach below.
Perhaps because of the increased load, the Darkwing Demon Bat's speed this time was much faster than it had been when carrying Cecilia—even if it wouldn't crash outright, the higher the speed, the greater the risk and the difficulty of lowering down safely.
Cecilia estimated that while Dawn's Light would definitely land safely, as for the posture he'd land in—or how much health he'd lose—that was anybody's guess.
On the other side, Yuewu was staring intently at the swaying huge black shadow in the distance, fists clenched, muttering under her breath, "Fall... hurry up and fall..."
Sadly, the scene she most hoped to see did not come to pass.
By a simple application of the Pythagorean theorem and rough assessment of the coastline's terrain, it was clear that the Darkwing Demon Bat would only need to glide with Dawn's Light for sixty or seventy meters to reach a small golden beach—precisely the exit Cecilia had chosen in advance.
Sixty or seventy meters was not far; although it looked thrilling, only a few seconds had passed in reality. Dawn's Light plunged right into the dry, soft sand, bouncing along the beach several times like skipping a stone before finally coming to a stop, motionless.
"He died from the fall, yay!"
Watching Dawn's Light sprawled on the sand like a dead body, Yuewu gloatingly cheered.
"Are you an idiot?"
Little Persimmon Puppy wiped his forehead and rolled his eyes. "No matter how much of a noob he is, Dawn's Light is still the world's number one swordsman. That height? He couldn't possibly die from it so easily."
Seeing that Dawn's Light was already struggling to his feet and bending down to spit out sand he'd gotten in his mouth, Yuewu clicked her tongue in dissatisfaction and immediately turned her scorn on Little Persimmon Puppy. Gleefully, she proclaimed:
"The world's number one swordsman? Please. Then I'm the world's very first legendary mage; why don't you try for world's number one priest, huh, little schemer?"
Little Persimmon Puppy, though looking childlike, was far less combative than Yuewu. He snorted softly and turned his head coldly. "I'm non-combat personnel—I won't compete with you. The world's number one priest is over there. Do you think you could actually beat her?"
Following Little Persimmon Puppy's gaze, Yuewu immediately spotted Gu Yanxi's tall figure.
She was dressed in a pure-white nun's garment trimmed with gold, her ink-like black hair cascading smoothly over her shoulders and lying against her back. A gentle smile played on her lips as she quietly and tenderly watched Cecilia's delicate profile.
It was an utterly holy and pure sight, but for some reason, Yuewu couldn't help but sense faint wisps of black mist writhing menacingly behind Gu Yanxi's back.
Especially when recalling the last time in the Mutant Jungle, how Dawn's Light ended up after being "healed" by her, Yuewu felt a chill run down her back—despite the midsummer heat, she felt as if she'd fallen into an ice cellar: her limbs went stiff, and her whole body turned cold.
For the first time ever, Yuewu did not argue back with Little Persimmon Puppy. She quietly closed her mouth and fell silent.
Though she may be the world's number one mage, to be honest—there was no way she could beat this gentle, soft-looking priest.