Volume 6, Chapter 16 – A Worrying Discovery

However, this gag character Fog Demon seems to know Nola. I’ll give him a chance to speak first.

Just as Fia dismissed the thought of using [Mind Blast], the Fog Demon in the distance suddenly felt a chill run through his entire body. Theoretically, as a being without a physical form, he shouldn’t have reactions like chills. But at this moment, he felt the long-lost sensation of once possessing a body. This made his figure pause, and he even forgot to say what he was going to say next.

Unaware of this, Nola held the Flame Greatsword diagonally, the flames wrapping around the blade much more intense than before.

“Fog Demon, you and I have no grievances. You know my identity. If you harm me, the Goddess will not let you off. We stay out of each other’s way; you stay here and be your king, and I’ll just pass through. Isn’t that beneficial for everyone?”

“Ho ho, wasn’t it you who attacked my people first? If that little one behind you hadn’t hunted my people and made my subordinates come to complain to me, I wouldn’t have even known you were coming. I can overlook those who died, but you must provide me with enough amusement, or don’t think about passing.”

As he spoke, the Fog Demon formed a giant finger out of white mist and pointed at Fia behind Nola.

Nola tilted her head slightly, her purple vertical pupils full of suspicion.

“Is what he said true? I was right beside you; how come I didn’t know you were slaughtering his people?”

“Well…”

Fia looked away guiltily. Because of the illusion barrier, Nola wasn’t aware that the true form of the thick fog was ghosts, so she couldn’t connect healing magic with eliminating the fog. In Nola’s view, the healing magic was offering prayers for the poor souls who died in the Weeping Mountains in the past, and the thick fog, moved by this, retreated into the distance.

“So you really did it quietly while I wasn’t paying attention?”

Nola asked aggressively.

“Um… but as you saw, I only used healing magic. If worse comes to worst, shall I go and deal with it? I am a magic caster; dealing with this kind of pure energy body is a piece of cake.”

“That’s too troublesome. Fighting here makes it easy to get lost. Right, you’re smarter. This Fog Demon is just a fool trapped in the Weeping Mountains unable to leave, and he’s bored. If you can tell a few jokes, or tell him some riddles that take time to think about, he won’t stop us anymore.”

“Yes, yes, that’s it,” the Fog Demon nodded in agreement, crossing his arms, even though he was over twenty meters away and could hear Nola and Fia’s conversation. “If you can tell me a few interesting riddles, I’ll let you pass. I only meet a newcomer here every few weeks; it’s too boring. If you can’t tell any, then stay here forever and become one of my people.”

I thought he was a gag character from the start, but now he’s completely reduced to one?

Only being able to pass by answering questions… feels like the riddle of the Sphinx.

Aside from her retort, Fia had a more pressing concern. The Flame Greatsword was burning with much fiercer flames than before, which meant it recognized the Fog Demon as a Darkborn. However, Nola addressed this seventh-rank ghost not as an undead, but as a “Fog Demon,” which was puzzling. One must know that Fog Demons and ghosts were two different things. Fog Demons were elemental spirits similar to fire spirits or water spirits, not Darkborn.

She couldn’t help but confirm.

“Nola, are you sure this guy is a Fog Demon and not something else?”

“Of course!” The one who answered wasn’t Nola, but the Fog Demon himself. He puffed out his chest proudly. “I am a genuine Fog Demon. Although I haven’t been anywhere else, I must be the strongest Fog Demon in history, bringing glory to my ancestors!”

Not only Nola, but even the “Fog Demon” himself hasn’t realized he’s undead…

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The effect of this illusion barrier is way too strong.

“How about it? Do you have an idea? If not, we can team up and beat him up.”

“Just some riddles; nothing difficult.”

Fia waved her hand lightly and stepped forward. Since this guy was like the Sphinx, she might as well tell him the Sphinx’s riddle and stump him.

“Oh my, stepping forward alone. What courage. What do you want to say?”

“Just a riddle.”

“A riddle? Simple riddles can’t stop me. It must be an interesting one.”

“Don’t worry, it will definitely stump you. Listen well: What creature walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs in the evening? And when it has the most legs, it is actually at its weakest?”

If the Sphinx’s riddle didn’t work, she had other difficult problems. For example, boiling water can push a kettle lid, but why can’t it push a steam engine with a similar structure? This question would definitely make the Fog Demon break down and study it for a lifetime.

“Hmmmm…”

The Fog Demon made a troubled sound of thinking. If he had eyebrows, they would surely be knit tightly together now.

Nola raised her head and shouted.

“Hey, can you let us go now?”

“Hmm mmm hmm…”

No answer. The Fog Demon just stroked his chin, continuing to make loud thinking noises.

Nola quickly gave Fia a look, then brazenly led Fia toward the Fog Demon. Even when they passed him and left him completely behind, the Fog Demon didn’t stop them.

Moreover, because the ghosts were controlled by the Fog Demon, and he wasn’t commanding them now, they could only watch helplessly as Fia and Nola left. When the two had put more than a kilometer between them and the demon, the surrounding scenery became much clearer. They could even see dense vegetation a little further away—though, of course, the vegetation here was an illusion.

“Phew, we shouldn’t be caught up at this distance. So, what’s the answer? The Fog Demon is very smart. The riddles I collected before were solved by him in seconds. How did you manage to delay him for so long?”

“Nola wants to know the answer too?”

“Of course!” Nola affirmed quite seriously. “Riddles solved by the Fog Demon will be used by him to ask newcomers. If the newcomer can’t answer, he turns them into part of the thick fog. If your question has no answer, that would be trouble.”

“It really is a Sphinx… The answer to the riddle is ‘man.’ More importantly, Nola, I have something important—”

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Before Fia could finish, Nola frowned and muttered to herself, just like the Fog Demon.

“It’s actually man? Why? Four legs in the morning, two legs at noon… I see, it’s a metaphor? The Fog Demon doesn’t see outsiders often; he might be stuck on this riddle for the rest of his life.”

“Put the riddle aside for now. What’s important is self-awareness.” Fia pointed to the Flame Greatsword in Nola’s hand; the light on it was much weaker than before. “Nola, don’t you think it’s strange? The Fog Demon isn’t a Darkborn, but the Flame Greatsword in your hand shines when facing him.”

Nola shook her head and sighed with relief, wearing an expression that said, “I knew you would ask me that.”

“That’s because this is the Weeping Mountains. After entering the Weeping Mountains, the Flame Greatsword often disobeys like this. To say something I shouldn’t, it shines even when facing the Goddess. My method of finding the Goddess is based on this. As long as I confirm the brightness of the Flame Greatsword every so often, I can know the distance between me and the Goddess. The brighter it is, the closer I am to the Goddess.”

“Ugh.”

Fia’s expression stiffened slightly. Nola thought it was disobeying because she was confused by the illusion barrier. But to Fia, who possessed [See Through], there was nothing wrong with the Flame Greatsword. Since there was nothing wrong with the Flame Greatsword, did that mean the god Nola spoke of was actually a member of the Darkborn?

In this way, the fact that the Goddess didn’t react negatively to Claire after hearing about her fit perfectly. The only remaining question was to drag the other party out and see what exactly they wanted to do.

It was just that this answer seemed a bit cruel to Nola.

Fia couldn’t help but glance at Nola again. She wasn’t clear on the significance of the Goddess to Nola. Nola had never shown devout faith in the Goddess. Fia had only accidentally heard from Ying before that the Goddess’s significance to Nola was just like Claire’s to Nola: someone who guided Nola to a new life.

So before reaching a conclusion, it was better not to tell Nola about this possibility. As for safety, there shouldn’t be too much need to worry. Darkborn were also divided into good and bad. When Nola got lost in the Weeping Mountains back then, if this Goddess hadn’t helped Nola, Nola would have died in the Weeping Mountains long ago. Plus, she also gifted Nola the Flame Greatsword and answered Nola’s questions. The other party was probably a benevolent Darkborn.

Let’s wait until I see her with my own eyes.

Fia gradually came back to her senses, only to see Nola’s face close up, eyes wide and staring. The purple cat eyes magnified countless times at close range startled her, and she subconsciously took a step back.

“Hey, what are you doing!”

“No, nothing. Just wanted to see the gem-like eyes unique to elf royalty that are spoken of in legends. Your eyes really look like rubies; if you look closely, there are even gem patterns inside.”

Fia was speechless.

“…Next time, remember to tell me in advance. Don’t do such scary things. And being this close, it would be troublesome if people misunderstood it as something ambiguous.”

“I saw you suddenly motionless and didn’t dare to disturb you. Out of boredom, I suddenly wanted to see if your eyes looked like gems. By the way, don’t elves also have [Mana Surge] gems? I’ve never seen gems growing on a body. Can I see?”

“No.”

Fia refused without thinking. [Mana Surge] had two meanings for elves: first, serving as an organ for storing and releasing magic; second, for conceiving life. Although Fia didn’t understand what was shameful about just looking at an arm, everyone did it—even Liti covered her [Mana Surge] crystals with stickers—so Fia followed suit.

“So stingy.”

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“Then are you willing to let me see how your tail connects to your body?”

“Are you serious?”

For an instant, Nola’s eyes were full of disdain. A cat-person’s tail connected to their butt. Fia wanting to see the tail meant Nola had to lift her white skirt. Although she only needed to lift it a little bit to see, among cat-people, this was a signature phrase for sexual harassment.

Fia shrugged helplessly.

“See? Everyone is the same. Each race has its own habits. If you don’t let me see your tail, I won’t let you see my [Mana Surge] crystals.”

“Tch.”

“More importantly, didn’t you say there was a monster riot in the Weeping Mountains? On the way here, I haven’t seen a single monster.”

Hearing business, Nola’s unwilling expression became serious. She frowned as if encountering a difficult problem.

“That’s also what I wanted to mention… The Weeping Mountains weren’t like this before. Even on the outskirts, there would be many low-rank monsters. Now, only the Fog Demon is left here. I haven’t even seen a monster corpse—never mind. As long as we see the Goddess, we can get answers for everything.”

“Trusting the Goddess so much… what if she deceives you?”

“Impossible!” Nola emphasized matter-of-factly, her gaze toward Fia becoming sharp as if she would get serious in the next moment. “The Goddess disdains doing such things.”

“Yes, yes, I just mentioned it casually.”

The two continued forward. After a quarter of an hour passed, Fia’s pupils contracted slightly as she looked into the distance. As they went deeper into the mountains, the distant scenery finally changed from the desertified ancient battlefield to rocky peaks. Further away, one could vaguely see lush forests and a gray sky screen that covered the sun. The environmental change was quite drastic; it couldn’t be a naturally formed landscape. Especially the gray sky screen—it was clearly large-scale magic, reminiscent of the Holy Tree visible from hundreds of kilometers away.

Really interesting.

The more something is hidden from me, the more I want to see its true face.

Just as rebellious thoughts surfaced in her mind, Nola’s hand holding Fia’s trembled slightly. She suddenly stopped, her eyes widening slightly in surprise.

“Fia, the Goddess is summoning me.”

“Asking you to go over quickly?”

“Mm. And she also told me she would use teleportation magic to send me there. Strange, this has never happened before…”

“I’ll wait for you here. You go ahead.”

“You come with me. Being alone here is too dangerous.”

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Don’t worry, I’m not a child.

The words reached her lips, but Fia didn’t say them. It would be best if she could go see the Goddess with Nola; that way, she would know if the so-called Goddess was a god or a Darkborn.

Seeing Fia didn’t object, Nola stood still holding Fia’s hand. Immediately after, a ghostly blue teleportation gate similar to [Transmission Beacon] appeared in front of Nola. The inside of the gate was as dark and brilliant as the starry sky. Nola, experienced with this, lowered her head and walked into the gate. Fia followed closely behind. However, just as Fia’s hand reached into the gate, the teleportation gate suddenly began to fluctuate violently. It was also accompanied by an ear-piercing high-frequency hum, as if it couldn’t bear the heavy pressure and would shatter in the next moment.

Is it rejecting me, or is my rank too high, exceeding the limit it can bear? Regardless, one thing was certain: if she forced her way in, the result would be either the teleportation failing to activate, or both of them being sent to an unknown space. Either way would be bad. It was better to do as initially planned: let Nola ask first, and then follow up herself.

The Weeping Mountains were large, but the god was likely hiding behind that gray light screen. The target was extremely obvious.

Fia voluntarily let go of Nola, causing Nola to look back in panic.

“Fia, what are you doing?”

“You’d better go alone. I’ll wait for you here.”

If it were anyone else, this might have turned into a tragic scene of parting in life and death. However, she was Dofilia. Fia just smiled and waved to Nola.

Wait a minute. Doesn’t this feel even more tragic? Like staying behind to hold off the enemy desperately for the person you like.

“I can’t leave you alone—”

Sure enough, Nola inside the teleportation gate urgently tried to walk back out. However, the gate was already closing rapidly. Before Nola’s hand could reach out of the gate, it vanished with a zip .

The rusty ancient battlefield quickly fell silent, leaving only the sound of dry, cold wind blowing over the sand dunes.

Fia let out a long breath.

With the person in the way gone, I can do what I like.

For example, capturing a powerful and rational monster nearby and interrogating it about whether it has seen a god. And trying to break through that gray light screen. The Weeping Mountains are full of mystery in the eyes of outsiders, but in my eyes, it’s no different from a beautiful girl stripped naked. Even if it doesn’t want me to see, it is powerless to resist.

Let me see what good things are hidden under the fog.

Thinking this, Fia simultaneously activated [Flight] and [Flowing Wind’s Blessing], launching a carpet search of the Weeping Mountains.