24. Ancient City Ruins
Entering Xia Yi's field of vision was a magnificent complex of ruins.
Its scope far surpassed that of Seaside City, with no end in sight, perhaps even the capital of the Rhine Kingdom could not compare.
The style of the ancient city was grand and awe-inspiring, just gazing at it allowed one to feel the weight of the years.
The city was complete with functional buildings, including bell towers, temples for priests, palaces, and even skyscrapers reaching into the clouds, such technology was unprecedented in this land.
Perhaps, this was truly a super-ancient civilization that had flourished to the extreme.
"…Incredible." Xia Yi was stunned.
Perhaps the Golden Country depicted in the Age of Great Voyages was right here?
But the entire ruins had fallen into decay, nearly half of them submerged in water, showing desolation under the erosion of countless times.
Why were there such ruins deep in the ocean?
Was the Black Tide originating from here?
And why did those half-dragon creatures bring her here?
Now, Xia Yi had many questions in her heart.
She saw some figures moving slowly in the ruins.
They were half-dragon creatures.
Xia Yi recognized them; these were originally residents of Golde, contaminated by dragon blood, cursed, and thus transformed.
Now they seemed to have become the inhabitants here.
"…?" A half-dragon creature stopped in its tracks, sharply lifting its head to look towards the cave where Xia Yi was.
Xia Yi reacted quickly, immediately retreating.
"Good, I was almost detected."
She deliberately moved back several steps, hiding herself in the darkness, and waited a while before stealthily observing the outside.
The half-dragon creature did not discover Xia Yi and continued to move forward.
"…There are too many secrets here." Xia Yi sighed.
Originally, she and Sera came to Golde to investigate the Black Tide, hoping to complete the mission and enhance her prestige through this opportunity.
But who could have imagined that after a series of events, there were so many secrets hidden, and the danger far exceeded initial expectations.
She even encountered the Legendary Beast—Leviathan.
"Sera, are you alright?" Xia Yi was somewhat worried.
At that time, Sera, to ensure her safety, bravely risked her life to fight Leviathan, drawing the Legendary Beast's attention.
It was just unfortunate that she later encountered the sirens.
If it weren't for Ella, it was hard to say what would have become of her.
"And Hill, I don't know how she is doing… Now, I'm the only one left."
Xia Yi frowned.
Although she was not sure of her exact location, she was definitely far from the coast of Golde and had entered deep into the ocean.
But she was not some pampered and capricious young lady, she was a resolute and unyielding Human Sword Saint!
In her adventures, she had been in grave danger many times, but the Human Sword Saint never chose to give up and fought until the last moment.
It was in many desperate situations that she forged her clear and tranquil sword heart.
Xia Yi would not sit and wait for death; she would take action.
She returned to the cave and looked at the half-dragon creatures.
Due to Ella's intervention, the half-dragon creatures were in deep slumber, oblivious to their surroundings, and did not notice her awakening.
Xia Yi raised her hand.
"Holy Sword, Gram."
She softly called for the Holy Sword.
Sensing its master's will, the sword discreetly appeared in her hand.
She approached the half-dragon creature, raised the sword, and plunged it into its heart.
In silence, the half-dragon creature died in its sleep.
After several rounds, she eliminated all the half-dragon creatures in the cave.
Xia Yi's swordsmanship was geared towards practical combat, not just fancy moves, including assassination techniques.
These people were mostly innocent residents of Golde, caught up in the Black Tide and transformed into this state.
In their dreams, to let them enter eternal rest without feeling pain, perhaps this was already the best outcome.
"Rest in peace."
Xia Yi murmured, taking care to dispose of the bodies.
…
In the cave, Xia Yi checked around and found that this was actually one of the passages leading to the ancient city ruins.
Besides this, there was another special discovery.
Should she consider herself lucky?
Or should she say the luck was not bad…
"Uh."
Xia Yi looked at the human youth lying on the ground before her.
If she remembered correctly, this should be a student from the Laurel Academy, Albert.
It was this guy who initiated the research project "The Black Tide of Golde," allowing her student Hill to lead the team to Seaside City.
This guy, surprisingly, was not killed by the half-dragon creatures, nor was he cursed and infected by the Dragon Curse.
Perhaps for some reason, he was brought here unharmed to the ancient city ruins, and Albert happened to come along.
"Hey, wake up."
"…"
"Albert, it's time to charge!"
Xia Yi found some cold spring water in the mountain and splashed it on Albert's face.
"Ah!! Charge, charge, charge! I must charge!!!"
Albert woke up, his mental state seemingly as abnormal as before, still delirious.
"Albert, can you communicate with me normally?"
"What? Charge now? Here?!"
"Forget it, you better go back to sleep."
Xia Yi smiled kindly.
This time, she summoned the Rose Staff and swung it towards Albert's head.
Sleep Magic, whoosh~!
"Ah!"
Poor Albert was hit by Xia Yi's magic and passed out again, no more charging for him.
"This guy is useless, just leave him here."
Originally, if Albert could have remained rational, Xia Yi thought he might be of some help, at least a little useful.
Unfortunately, that was not the case.
She was still alone, ready to fight solo once more.
Xia Yi placed Albert in a more concealed spot in the cave.
Then, she prepared to enter the ancient city ruins to explore.
After all, having experienced the Sea Dream, she had a strong premonition in her heart that this was the place people influenced by the Sea Dream longed for.
As she approached the entrance of the cave, the silver-haired loli hesitated.
"My body is now of pure dragon blood; entering the ancient city ruins like this will surely be detected by the half-dragon creatures, their sense of smell is very keen."
Xia Yi realized her predicament seemed to have become difficult to navigate.
Her combat strength was not as formidable as Sera's; even with the Holy Sword, she was at most a fourth-tier fighter, able to move freely in the enemy's lair?
Certainly not likely.
Was there really no way out…
Suddenly, Xia Yi remembered something.
The key to breaking the deadlock, she had been carrying it with her all along.
"Right, how could I forget this? With it, can't I solve the current predicament!"
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