Chapter 110: Fright After the Shield Jump

"It seems I have no choice but to bring out my forbidden wall-Piercing Shield Jump."

Blaze looked at the massive stone wall in front of him, his arms crossed and his expression extremely serious.

He looked exactly as if he had hit a dead end, left with absolutely no other choice but to use a forbidden move to break through the obstacle.

"You literally just have to take two steps to the left to see the path," Chicken pointed out.

Chicken spread her left wing and pointed to the left, where an incredibly obvious, spacious main road lay.

"If that’s too hard, taking two steps to the right works too."

Simply put, this was a fork in the road. Yet Blaze stood dead in his tracks in front of the rock right in the middle, stubbornly insisting on going straight through. He was hinting to her that he wanted to use that bizarre move—the wall-Piercing Shield Jump.

"I have this profound feeling that something behind this rock is Summoning me."

Blaze’s gaze was clear as he lied through his teeth.

"Look, although we haven’t explicitly discussed this before, we should have a mutual understanding: this ’erroneous Skill’ is only to be used in times of crisis."

This was a matter of "abuse."

It was common knowledge that relying too heavily on clever tricks and shortcuts would eventually backfire.

The first time Blaze used the wall-Piercing Shield Jump, he failed countless times. In the end, he received the Golden Sheep as a reward for his efforts.

But suppose Blaze constantly abused this move, not even using his own two legs to travel, relying entirely on this wall-Piercing Shield Jump for Ejection.

Then one day, the normal phenomenon of "Ejection" would turn into an error for Blaze. After a spatial Twist, he would merge with the material he was Piercing.

The Foreigner who invented this technique at least had the fallback of leaving this world, but Blaze did not.

"You’re absolutely right." Blaze agreed with Chicken’s reasoning. He was a man with great self-control, and besides, he preferred walking on his own two legs. But!

"This rock looks like it’s just begging to have a wall-Piercing Shield Jump used on it. That’s its own fault." As long as he didn’t abuse it, didn’t that mean using it occasionally was perfectly fine?

Chicken stared in disbelief. Blaze was actually acting like a rascal, and he was even shifting the blame onto a rock!

And that wasn’t all. After his shameless display, Blaze added with a straight face, "I just want to go on an adventure where I don’t have to risk my life for once. Didn’t you say I’m too busy sometimes, constantly darting through all kinds of danger all day? Well, haven’t I just found myself a little hobby?

"Besides, a technique meant for critical moments needs to be honed to perfection, right? But I’ve only succeeded once so far. Think about it: in a moment of crisis, I skillfully apply Piercing through the enemy’s weapon, followed by a high-speed Ejection for an instant Escape. It even saves us from having to use an Escape item!"

When all was said and done, it boiled down to one thing: Blaze was determined to pass through this rock. He even brought up their combat Escape items as an excuse.

Chicken knew perfectly well that Blaze had an item capable of instantly escaping combat, but he treated it like an absolute treasure. No matter how dangerous the situation became, he refused to use it.

"Alright, alright, but you have to bring me along this time."

Chicken knew that if she nagged him a bit more, Blaze would give up. However, if this was a rare opportunity for Blaze to enjoy himself without having to fight a Monster tooth and nail, then it wasn’t a bad idea.

However, she definitely didn’t want to fly straight up into the sky through such a complicated tunnel all at once. Besides, after his Transformation into a Werewolf, Blaze’s Strength Value was high enough to withstand any fall damage.

"Great!" Blaze gave a small cheer and then set about bringing Chicken along.

The method to bring Chicken along was quite simple: take out the Soul Seed that acted as her core, and place the seed into his inventory. This way, Chicken would revert to her soul state.

"Mhm, returning to soul form feels pretty good."

The Illusion of Chicken spread her wings. Compared to her initial chick soul, Chicken had grown more than a dozen times larger. She was even bigger than a Peregrine Falcon now, having reached the size of a Vulture.

"Looks like you’re not far from being mount-sized," Blaze said, gesturing somewhere around his chest level.

To be able to carry his current size, Chicken would have to grow to the scale of a large Fast-Walking Ostrich.

Given Chicken’s growth rate, she should reach that point very soon. But considering Chicken’s goal was to dominate the skies... her current progress actually seemed a bit slow.

"I can still manage to pick you up and fly as you are now," Chicken said, spreading her wings. Her wingspan had already reached three meters. "Even though you look like you’re wearing Heavy Armor, you’re surprisingly light."

"That’s because I’m not wearing any gear underneath," Blaze said, quite mindful of this fact as well.

The Armor he wore, originating from the Black Beast Knight, was created through the Summoning of the mysterious Profession, the Soul Suppressing Knight. Beneath the numerous scars etched across it, it no longer possessed the formidable Defense Power its appearance suggested.

Right now, his equipment slots were empty, which meant he could equip other items. And the reason he couldn’t equip them was very simple: he had to take off his current Armor before putting anything else on. The very fact that this Soul Steel Armor could adapt to his Werewolf body’s Transformation proved that it was possible to put on gear first, and then don the Soul Steel Armor over it.

"It really is an issue with the Curse. I need to find an opportunity to ask that Elf named Catherine. Since she knows about the Golden Country, maybe I can find a way to remove the Armor without having to gather all the Honor Points."

"I thought you’d be more than happy to collect some Honor Points," Chicken remarked.

"Of course I’m happy to, but it kind of makes it seem like I’m only helping Foreigners and others just for the Honor Points."

Blaze took out his Space Shield and hopped in place a few times, eager to give it a try.

Chicken shook her head helplessly. Sometimes, Blaze could be a bit Stubborn. But that was fine too. A straightforward person walking his own path like this might encounter many difficulties, but he would never go astray.

"Alright!" Chicken raised her voice, holding her wings high. "Let me use the eyes of an Eagle and a soul’s perspective with dynamic Sight far surpassing a Human’s to capture every single detail of the movement! We’ll aim for success on the first try!"

"Oh! Are you going to join the Shield Jump God cult too?"

"No way!"

With Chicken’s help, coupled with his one previous successful experience, Blaze managed to complete the Shield Jump after only about ten failures.

A strange sensation of spatial Twist washed over him.

But this time, it wasn’t an Ejection toward the sky. Instead, it was as if he had been pulled by something, plummeting deep into the Earth.

"COUGH, COUGH, COUGH—" Blaze scrambled up from the ground in a sorry state. His surroundings were pitch-black, without a single light source.

Fortunately, the Night Pupil Skill granted him excellent Night Vision, allowing him to see his surroundings clearly.

This appeared to be a massive underground karst cave, even larger than Lai Kaion City.

"Where is this... It seems to be directly beneath the Hundred-Womb Ganges?" Chicken looked around in confusion. Her upgraded Skill Level of the Map allowed her to possess a vague sense of direction even in places she had never been to before.

"How can that be? I specifically waited until we had crossed the Hundred-Womb Ganges before attempting the Shield Jump." Blaze frowned. He wasn’t about to risk phasing directly into the Hundred-Womb Ganges.

But even the Map from his Blessing showed that this place was directly beneath the Hundred-Womb Ganges.

"What’s going on?" Blaze compared his previous coordinates. It was safe to say he had essentially flown straight backward for quite a distance. It was almost as if he had been sucked over by something.

After Blaze took a few steps forward, the story returned to the very beginning—a Fire Dragon emerged from the darkness and lunged at him in attack.