Pillar of Yita

At this moment, Gita raised her hand, and a bright light appeared on her Magic Guided Book. A natural stone bridge rumbled out from the edge of the cliff, reaching towards the other side. The three of them dared not wait, and rushed onto the stone bridge one after another.

The Papalarian ran ahead on his short legs, seemingly afraid that the bridge might collapse under him. As he neared the other side of the cliff, he made a leap and rolled over like a ball. Fang Hong landed second, not because Xiesta couldn’t outrun him, but because the Miss Maid intentionally stayed behind him.

However, apparently finding his speed too slow, she simply grabbed him by the collar, dashed off the bridge, and threw him onto the ground.

Fang Hong felt the world spin, landing solidly on the ground. But just as the two stepped off the bridge, it collapsed behind them with a loud crash. He turned back in that direction, only to see the scene on the other side of the cliff quickly disappear, the gap in the wall of illusion closing smaller and smaller, finally shrinking to a slit.

A moment later, it was once again shrouded in darkness.

Fang Hong looked towards that direction, beyond the cliff was now only the abyss they had seen earlier. He tried to connect with the other side, but as he expected, this Puzzle Lock Barrier had a certain blocking ability, rendering the Communication Crystal useless.

He opened the system, pulled out the Light Page, and found he could still log into the community as usual. The military-controlled Stargate’s communication capability was extraordinarily powerful. The only time he had encountered communication interference with the Stargate was during that event in Istani.

But to be fair, that was actually related to the Stargate’s upgrade and modification.

In the darkness, Xiesta stood silently to the side, surveying her surroundings, her eyes as bright as a feline’s. Though human, she had perfectly adapted to such dark environments through training. Although it wasn’t as if she could see as clearly as in daylight, at least her movements weren’t restricted.

The Papalarian, having some ability for dark vision, got up with a roll, dusting off his clothes, the only noise in the quiet darkness. Only Fang Hong lacked the ability for dark vision—he actually had it once, but the power of the Dragon King’s Heart seemed to have disappeared after Idus, functioning sporadically.

He had no choice but to light a resin torch, the bright orange light once again filling his vision. The light extended forward along the deep path, outlining the bizarre shapes and shadows of the surrounding rocks.

”Other adventurers explore sunny, scenic forests, or at least they’re among gold and treasures,” complained Parker as he brushed the dust off himself and surveyed the sinister surroundings. ”But we’re always burrowing through these dingy caves like mice, facing vicious monsters, without any reward. Honestly, I can’t see any benefit in dealing with these Dark Followers.”

Fang Hong gave him a glance and said, ”I’ve never heard of such adventurers.”

”That’s just an exaggeration, it doesn’t negate our worrying situation.”

”When we talked about treasure being down here, you didn’t say that.”

”Uh, that’s another matter.”

As Parker spoke, he took the Magic Guided Crossbow from his back and then lit the crystal within his Magic Guided Reactor.

Fang Hong shook his head and raised his torch higher, lighting the path ahead. Xiesta glanced at the two of them but didn’t join their conversation, silently following behind. However, she did reach back, inserting her hand into the Construct Arm Armor and then taking it off.

The three of them proceeded forward along the rugged path, and it wasn’t long before they made a discovery.

It was the wreckage of a Construct—or more accurately, a part of a Construct.

This piece of wreckage appeared by the roadside, its metal shell gleaming under the torchlight. Judging by its slender shape, it seemed to be part of a limb, though exceptions could exist—after all, some Constructs have tentacles, like the Sea Witch Configuration.

Fang Hong picked up this Construct piece from a pile of rubble, feeling slightly puzzled. At this moment, the Papalarian took the torch from him and also examined the object in Fang Hong’s hand, asking, ”What is this, a piece of a Combat Construct?”

Fang Hong nodded, but then shook his head.

His first impression was that it felt somewhat unique; this piece seemed to have subtle differences from the Constructs he knew.

He had never seen this style of Construct—naturally, it’s not as if he’d seen all Constructs, Dragon Hunters were also Constructs he had never seen before—but this fragment in his hand was different. Because no matter how unique Dragon Hunters were, regardless of their outstanding performance, aside from the Astrolabe and the crystal in their head, most of their structure was understandable to Fang Hong.

But this fragment...

The more he looked at it, the less it seemed like the work of Alchemists, it seemed more like something that had naturally grown. He couldn’t find any transmission device on this fragment, nor any power source, only a peculiar metal fiber forming its tendons.

It also had bones, made from another metal Fang Hong had never seen, neither Mithril nor Mithril, the metal fibers covering these bones, with a layer of flexible and high-strength metal shell outside.