High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 2340: Chapter 561: Red-eyed Earth Dragon

”The last question remaining is, how do we get back?”

”Naturally, the same way we came.”

”We took the Earth Dragon Express here, but for the return?” Xin Fat Man, after tightening the lid on the last Wide Mouth Bottle, stood up satisfied, stretched his arms, and gestured: ”Every direction is either wasteland or saline land, and a bit farther, you can even see an endless desert... where on earth is a staircase!”

Dylan opened his mouth, suddenly realizing this was indeed an overlooked blind spot.

The Earth Dragon Express is a transportation tool that shuttles between Earth Veins, so getting off is very convenient, as the Earth Dragon can pop out anywhere to let passengers off as needed.

But getting on is not so simple.

To ensure that the ’Earth Dragon’ roaming the Earth Veins can hear the call of the wizards, passengers need to perform a ’downward motion.’ From a Mysticism perspective, this is to create an ’emotional resonance’ with the Earth Dragon in the Earth Veins during the casting of the Spell. However, from a Dimensionism wizard’s point of view, it’s more like an external simulation guiding different dimensional lines to intersect.

In summary, most wizards choose a descent passage when boarding the Earth Dragon Express—this can include but is not limited to a staircase going down, an elevator descending, or even a rope dangling down. During the descent, wizards chant ’Earth Dragon Express’ to enter the Earth Dragon Express station.

Of course, these temporary stations are adapted to the passengers’ boarding point environment and are not true magical stations built by wizards.

But right now, the five Hunters of the Atonement Hunting Team were on the desolate, dry Acata Mountain plateau, surrounded by endless deserts and wasteland, with not a single suitable structure in sight for casting a Spell.

”I heard someone once tried jumping off a cliff to enter the Earth Dragon station,” the Fat Wizard enthusiastically offered up his suggestion: ”How about you give it a try, Mr. Zha?”

Zheng Qing squinted at him.

”Did they succeed?” As a captain, he had to show some responsibility.

”I don’t know... I just said it was something I ’heard’.” The Fat Wizard bent down suddenly, picking up an escaped Peruvian Red Scorpion by the Tail, shaking it in front of Zheng Qing: ”Any situation requires a trial to know the outcome, right?”

Zheng Qing watched as the Red Scorpion strained to flip its body, trying to pinch the Fat Wizard’s fingers off with its massive claws.

”Not all trials yield results,” he snorted.

Suddenly, Xiao Xiao’s voice came through: ”Mine shaft.”

”What?”

”That abandoned salt mine, it has a mine shaft... there should be a ladder inside, maybe we can check it out. If not, we can use the flying curse. The nearest town is only a four to five-hour flight.”

What a not-so-desperate distance that sounded.

The ’mine shaft’ Xiao Xiao mentioned actually belonged to this abandoned salt mine’s ventilation shaft. The iron grating at the wellhead was already rusted; with Zheng Qing’s strength, he could easily snap the iron bars off by force—this left him conflicted, especially after peering into the deep, seemingly bottomless black shaft, his face turned uglier.

”Do we really have to take this lift?”

Compared to Zheng Qing, the Fat Wizard was more worried, lightly stomping his foot, shaking down many specks of dust from the mine-tunnel top: ”Given my size... I mean, this contraption is evidently dilapidated, using it is no different than jumping off a cliff, wouldn’t you say?”

”The difference is, when you jump off a cliff, you know it. But when you’re on the lift, you don’t know if you’re jumping off a cliff,” Dylan analyzed earnestly.

He didn’t care about jumping or taking the lift, after all, with half of his blood being of the Blood Race, his agility was maxed, making his mood relaxed.

”We’re wizards!” Doctor Xiao scolded the Fat Wizard unceremoniously: ”Pick up your Law book... even if you don’t know the Feather Fall, aren’t you capable of a Flight magic? Is it so hard to attach Mayfly wings to yourself?”

”Since there’s Feather Fall, why not head to a real cliff?” The Fat Wizard mumbled in refusal.

”Because this is the closest ’cliff’,” the Diviner of the Atonement Hunting Team pushed the Fat Wizard toward the lift: ”Before coming here, I’ve already scouted the terrain within ten miles—this is the most suitable place for ’downward motion’.”

”I’ll go first, I’ll go first then.”

Zheng Qing complied, stepping ahead of the Fat Wizard into the lift, sensibly following the Doctor’s advice by casting Mayfly wings on himself in advance.

”Hou Bi Xiao Xing!”

Several bright stars of varying sizes shot out from behind Zheng Qing, one staying inside the cabin, while others squeezed through the grid gaps, illuminating the pitch-black ventilation shaft brightly.

The ample light gave the young cost student a sense of invisible security, so much so that when stepping on the metal floor, even the slight creak of the lift didn’t startle him.

Shortly after, the other Hunters of the Atonement Hunting Team also entered the cabin one after another; except for a menacing noise above when the Fat Wizard entered, as if wires snapping, the entire process was unusually smooth.

Swish.

The lift started laboriously, slowly descending, and the five Hunters all flipped open their Law books, chanting spells to summon the nearest Earth Dragon.

Almost immediately, they received feedback from an Earth Dragon.

When the lift halted again and the doors opened, there appeared a space not even a hundred square meters large outside, like a giant salt shaker but with complete facilities including a platform, a station hall, a wind shaft, and even safety passages—this was the smallest ’subway station’ Zheng Qing had ever seen, but just like the saying goes, small as a sparrow is, it possesses all its vital organs—the walls and arched roof of the station were covered with black-and-white wave-like stripes resembling a salt mine’s sectional profile, each layer taking about a hundred thousand years to form.

A dark yellow Earth Dragon was parked right at the platform entrance, its mouth wide open, waiting for passengers to board.

”Quick! Quick!”

A ticket seller in a wrinkled robe leaned half his body out of the Earth Dragon’s wide mouth, waving a similarly wrinkled Pointed wizard hat in his hand at the young wizards, shouting urgently: ”This is a Red-eyed Earth Dragon, it’s been running through the veins for a month now, its temper’s a bit violent, it won’t stay longer than a minute in any spot... hurry up!”

Zheng Qing instinctively looked up at the big mouth of the Earth Dragon.

Sure enough, a pair of bloodshot eyes trembled impatiently, blinking, seemingly ready to roar and leave them behind in the next second.

He never knew Earth Dragons had eyes.