Chapter 494 - 464: Silver Radiance City (2)

Chapter 494: Chapter 464: Silver Radiance City (2)

Just then, the melodious sound of a Lute echoed within the cabin.

At some point, Galvis had begun to strum the strings, his eyes shining with a near-fanatical gleam as he chanted aloud in his signature flamboyant tone.

"Ah! Witness this lost gem!"

"Silver Radiance City, the legend made manifest!"

"A thousand years of dust cannot hide your glory!"

"The river of time cannot wash away your splendor!"

Duraga’s thick fingers gripped the railing tightly, a rare look of awe appearing on the Gray Dwarf’s resolute face.

"In the name of the Soul Forger..."

His deep voice trembled.

"This craftsmanship... this architecture... It’s even more magnificent than Molten City!"

Bronson practically pressed his entire face against the viewport, his eyes as round as saucers. He didn’t even notice when his notebook slipped from his hand and fell to the floor with a soft thud.

"Incredible... The records in the Ancient Architecture Examination were actually true! Look at the structure of that crystal dome—it perfectly matches the description of the ’Crown of Streaming Light’ in the ancient texts!"

Avril, meanwhile, leaped gracefully onto the control console, her uniquely Elven eyes sweeping across the city’s skyline.

"Every curve is so elegant..."

She marveled softly, her fingertips unconsciously tracing the architectural lines in the air.

"Like a dream woven from moonlight."

"I doubt even the ’Land of the Fallen Silver Star,’ sung of in our most ancient Elven ballads, could compare to this..."

While the others were still immersed in their shock, Roland was the first to come to his senses.

He coughed a few times, his voice, slightly hoarse with astonishment, breaking the cabin’s silence.

"Friends..."

He clapped his hands sharply to bring everyone’s attention back to him.

"Don’t forget where we are. Snap out of it."

Once everyone had composed themselves, Roland held his breath and stared down, focusing his attention.

Thanks to his power, which far surpassed that of an ordinary person, he noticed the anomaly faster than his companions.

"Duraga."

He narrowed his eyes and spoke to the Gray Dwarf leader.

"Cruise along the outskirts of Silver Radiance City for now. Don’t enter its perimeter directly."

As the Shell Ship began to circle around, Roland’s gaze remained locked on the distant city.

But the more closely he observed, the tighter his brow furrowed.

’Something’s wrong... Very wrong...’

The first thing that put him on alert was the city’s incredible state of preservation.

Everything he had seen on the Aiselon Continent before this was nothing but crumbling ruins and barren wastelands. Yet Silver Radiance City was as flawless as if it had just been built, as though a thousand years had left no trace.

Even more unsettling was the thin layer of mist flowing over the city’s surface.

If not for Roland’s keen Perception Power, it would have been nearly impossible to notice this ephemeral veil.

It resembled neither a typical Protective Array nor natural fog. Instead, it slowly flowed and swirled around the city.

It was as if some living creature were breathing softly, exuding an indescribable vitality.

But what sent a chill down Roland’s spine were the figures moving within the city.

In a single, fleeting glance, he saw at least several thousand living beings.

They weren’t the destitute survivors commonly found in ruins, but residents strolling calmly along the streets.

They were neatly dressed, with pleasant smiles on their faces, chatting in small groups. Children chased each other playfully in the squares, and merchants called out enthusiastically from their stalls.

Such an ordinary, heartwarming daily scene would have been perfectly normal in any other city.

But here, on a continent shrouded in death and desolation, within this impossibly well-preserved ancient city, the all-too-natural smiles on these residents’ faces seemed exceptionally eerie.

It was like a vibrant paradise had suddenly appeared in a painting of the apocalypse—a scene so beautiful it was disturbing.

Roland’s fingertips unconsciously tightened on the edge of the viewport.

In Roland’s initial estimation, even if Silver Radiance City had been the most brilliant jewel of the Crystal Era, it should have borne the marks of time after millennia of change.

Perhaps its general silhouette could have been maintained, but there should have been collapsed domes, mottled walls, or ruins eroded by wind and sand.

Even if the incredible technology of that era had allowed it to remain relatively intact, it should never have looked like this.

How did the Silver Radiance City before him look anything like an ancient city that had survived a cataclysm?

Set against the endless desolation surrounding it, its perfection was unnerving. It was like a Garden of Eden abandoned in an apocalyptic wasteland.

’Could it be that Silver Radiance City developed some entity or device beyond comprehension? Something that not only allowed them to survive the cataclysm that swept the entire era, but even... insulated them from the flow of time?’

Pushing the speculation from his mind, he took a deep breath and instructed Duraga in a low voice.

"Move further away. Don’t get any closer to the city."

Limited by their own abilities, Duraga and the others couldn’t see the details within the city as clearly as Roland, so they were somewhat puzzled by his sudden caution.

But out of their absolute trust in Roland, no one voiced any objections.

The Shell Ship slowly changed course, heading toward the periphery, away from Silver Radiance City.

Throughout the maneuver, Roland kept his eyes fixed on the city.

The farther away they moved, the stronger the sense of dissonance grew.

There seemed to be an invisible dividing line between the border of Silver Radiance City and the surrounding wasteland.

Within the line was a perfect city, vibrant and shimmering with light.

Beyond it was a dead, shattered, barren world forgotten by time.

This almost violent sense of division sent a chill through Roland’s heart.

However, before he could fully process his unease, the scene outside Silver Radiance City’s walls made him tense up all over again.

Right beneath the high walls of that perfect city, the shocking remains of a battlefield came into view.

Broken Armor and shattered weapons lay half-buried in the scorched earth, while huge impact craters and marks from Magic burns littered the landscape.

Judging by the poses of the corpses not yet completely buried by sand, an exceptionally brutal battle had once taken place here.

And it had happened not long ago.

Roland’s expression turned grim. He immediately signaled for Duraga to land the Shell Ship on the edge of the battlefield.

He first scanned the surroundings carefully from the deck. Only after confirming there were no potential threats did he cautiously step onto the scorched earth with Avril and Galvis.

The soil underfoot was a mottled, scorched black, as if it had been eroded by several different types of Energy in succession.

Avril knelt, her fingertips lightly touching a skeleton half-buried in the dirt. Her keen Elven Perception made her frown slightly.

"These wounds... they don’t look like they were made by ordinary weapons."

she said in a low voice, pointing to a puncture wound on the skeleton’s chest that had an unnaturally smooth edge.

"What’s more, there were at least three distinctly different fighting styles on this battlefield."

Galvis bent over and picked up a shattered pauldron, on which the insignia of the Rusted Knight Order was faintly visible.

"Looks like they were in a vicious battle here."

For once, the Minstrel’s usual flippancy was gone, his tone grave. He then pointed to a completely different symbol on another body not far away.

It was a sun symbol, pierced by three cracks.

"This must be the emblem of another survivor group."

Roland walked slowly through the battlefield, his keen gaze scanning every detail.

In addition to the standard-issue equipment of the Rusted Knight Order, he also found at least four different styles of weapons and Armor.

Some bore crude marks of modification, clearly handcrafted from materials salvaged from the ruins, while others retained the characteristics of ancient craftsmanship, as if excavated from the remains of a lost civilization.

But beyond all that, the most striking feature was a metal track that stretched out from the edge of the battlefield.

It was forged from a dark alloy, its surface etched with intricate geometric patterns. Despite the battle’s aftermath, it remained astonishingly intact.

The pale blue crystals embedded along the track’s sides were now dim, but the exquisite craftsmanship was still apparent.

The track led straight toward the perfectly intact Silver Radiance City in the distance, like a link between the past and the present.

Just then, a faint vibration suddenly emanated from the direction of the track.

Roland’s pupils contracted. He instantly pulled Avril and Galvis back, and the three of them quickly retreated from the battlefield, hiding behind a heavily weathered sand dune at its edge.

Almost as soon as they had taken cover, a peculiar train came gliding silently along the track.

Its streamlined body was cast from dark metal, the surface etched with complex Runes. A massive, deep-blue crystal was embedded in the front, emitting a soft glow.

The armored plates on its sides were covered in fine scratches, yet they did nothing to mar its elegant lines.

Most surprising of all, it moved in near-total silence. Only when the train made contact with the crystals on the track did they briefly light up, sending out faint, ripple-like shimmers of light.

The train slowly came to a stop just a few dozen meters from their hiding spot.

With a nearly inaudible hiss, the armored plating on the side of the car slid apart like a living thing, forming a perfect circular exit.

A slender figure stepped slowly out of the car, then looked directly toward the sand dune where the three of them were hiding.