Chapter 1237 - 1236: Touch

Chapter 1237: Chapter 1236: Touch

Enya’s speculations made Gawain truly realize the most severe consequences of the mutation at the Inversion Tide Tower.

It’s not just the spread of pollution, not just the expansion of the Inversion Tide’s power outward, but the Inversion Tide becoming a real god—a complete god who has completely broken free from seal and embryonic state, and is not bound by any clerical status, nor restricted by the rule of "protecting mortals." Ordinary means like weakening Divine Power, cutting off thought waves, and imprisoning divinity will be ineffective in front of such a "complete god"!

"An uncontrollable god will wander the world, with no conscience or sense of good and evil, and could very likely be full of hatred..." Enya’s low voice came from the golden giant egg, and the scene she described sent chills down Gawain’s spine even as he listened.

But soon, Enya’s tone shifted slightly: "Of course, all of this is the worst speculation; there is no actual evidence to prove that the Inversion Tide can really pollute Lady Night—and judging from the Shadow Sand Dust brought back by Modir Vealt, Lady Night’s power is still stable and pure, having not been tainted in any way..."

"But the anomaly occurring in Modir Vealt as a ’link’ is real," Gawain said in a deep voice, "Perhaps nothing has happened yet, or perhaps it’s only a matter of time."

His thoughts raced, striving to conceive of a way to dispel this crisis invisibly, and he did not ponder for long because he had discussed an "ultimate plan" with Enya long ago.

"...Looks like I’ll have to reconsider the orbital descent plan I mentioned earlier," Gawain sighed lightly, with some helplessness in his tone, "Only the legacy of the Voyagers might truly and completely destroy that tower..."

The so-called "orbital descent plan" involves redirecting some Voyager Satellites and small space stations positioned in orbit to designated locations, allowing them to crash onto the planet’s surface through an orbital abandonment agreement—in a complete shutdown of all safety protocols, these space debris falling from the sky would have devastating power comparable to a meteor impact. More importantly, the residual energy and munitions in those abandoned facilities would explode during the crash; according to Enya’s previous explanation, the impact generated by these Voyager legacies exploding is the only means to destroy other Voyager legacies.

Before Talronde’s "coming-of-age ceremony," Gawain had treated this method as a trump card to deter the Dragon God, and afterwards, when he discussed the Inversion Tide Tower with the "reborn" Dragon God, the "orbital descent plan" was once again brought up as a backup plan to destroy the Inversion Tide Tower. However... this backup option isn’t so easily decided upon for execution.

Those ancient and worn-out space facilities can’t fall precisely, and the impact they generate after crashing won’t just destroy a "small" Inversion Tide Tower—even in the best scenario, the destruction caused by orbital descent would sweep across the Western Coast of Talronde and a considerable portion of inland areas. In those places, perhaps there are survivor settlements struggling to survive in the wasteland, waiting for assistance.

One orbital descent would mean sacrificing those survivors who have been holding on until today—they survived the "coming-of-age ceremony" that resisted the divine calamity, only to become dust under the exploding satellites for the sake of the greater good, and their names might not even be recorded in future history books...

The Hatching Room quieted down, and Gawain spoke again after a long time: "Once the aid from the alliance arrives, Talronde has already started investing heavily in sending the expeditionary army, searching for survivor settlements along the western coastline. They have also conducted limited activities in the vicinity of the Inversion Tide Tower, and in the past two months, several large and small survivor groups have been discovered... You said that you didn’t spare any effort when attacking these places, there wouldn’t be many Dragons left, but as it turns out... survival is a primal instinct, and this applies to dragons as well."

"But if the God of the Inversion Tide truly has the potential to escape containment..." Enya said softly, "the entire Dragonkin could become its ’vengeance targets,’ whether the survivors on the Western Coast or other Dragonkin, or even all mortal races in the world... would only face even greater sacrifices."

"I understand, so I will be ready to execute the orbital descent plan, but unless there is no other choice, it will always only be a plan," Gawain said solemnly, "I will... personally verify the situation within the Inversion Tide Tower."

"...It’s very dangerous, even though you are special, even though under normal circumstances you can resist spiritual pollution from all gods in this world, I dare not guarantee that this specialness will be valid in front of the Inversion Tide," Enya’s tone was exceptionally earnest, the runes on the surface of her eggshell almost completely stopped shifting, "Frankly... I don’t think it’s a wise choice, you hold greater significance to this world, although the Inversion Tide losing control is a calamity, the alliance losing you at this moment is equally a disaster."

"Don’t make it sound like I’m preparing to court death," Gawain couldn’t help but chuckle, he then shook his head gently, "And not long ago you also said you admire my spirit of not wallowing in past achievements, and still being willing to risk my life when I could enjoy accomplishments..."

"That was a compliment from the perspective of a friend, now it’s concern from the perspective of a friend, it doesn’t contradict," Enya said with a very calm tone, "For one million eight hundred and seventy thousand years, you have been my only friend."

"...I will be cautious," Gawain said earnestly, restraining the smile on his face, "Although I know that ’caution’ might not be sufficient in this matter, in a situation with no other choice, I can only try to be as cautious as possible."

The voice from the golden giant egg came with a hint of laughter: "Then I wish you all the best—although my ’blessing’ now doesn’t have much effect, in a situation with no other choice, I can only wish you well."

Saying this she suddenly paused, as if remembering something she added: "Ah, perhaps I could do something else to celebrate your ’adventure’ this time..."

Hearing the subtle excitement in Enya’s latter half of her words, Gawain’s heart skipped a beat suddenly, it was as if the word "danger" appeared on his forehead, his expression changed slightly: "What do you mean..."

"Would you like to try the new drink I recently concocted?" Enya’s tone lifted, if her eggshell could have a facial expression, it would definitely be filled with smiles now, "I adjusted the formula, tempered several main ingredients, and perhaps it won’t be as overly stimulating as the last time—this time it’s truly a confident..."

Gawain didn’t wait for the egg to finish its sentence, he jumped up from the sofa and quickly walked towards the door: "I suddenly remembered I have a meeting to attend this afternoon, next time, we’ll discuss next time..."

He moved swiftly, and as soon as he finished speaking, he was already in the hallway. Enya wanted to stop him but didn’t have time to speak, and only saw an empty doorway not far away. Two seconds later, a regretful sigh came from the golden giant egg: "Ah... I was quite confident this time, could it be the last time was too stimulating?"

Saying this, she suddenly saw something flash by in the hallway outside the door, upon a careful observation, she realized it was a snake tail with fine scales and pretty patterns. She instantly shook off her disappointment and loudly called to the sea demon passing by outside the door: "Miss Tiel!"

The snake tail in the hallway twitched a bit, stopping its forward shuffle, and a moment later a head peeked in through the hatch room door, Tiel curiously looking at the golden giant egg bathed in lamp light: "Lady Enya, are you looking for me?"

"Yes, Miss Tiel," Enya said with a smile, "I have some good things here, would you like to come in and try them?"

"Good stuff? Have a taste?!" Tiel’s eyes instantly lit up, the entire serpent became energized at once. She arched her body and squeezed into the Hatching Room, her hands inexplicably holding a sparkling set of knife and fork, formed from water elements. Holding the knife and fork, she headed towards the golden egg in the center of the room with a beaming smile, "You finally figured it out? That’s great! I promise, just one bite won’t hurt, my teeth are very good, and you’ll heal in no time..."

To be honest, she had been longing for that aromatic "tea egg" in the room for quite some time. Ever since Enya moved in, Tiel had been ready with knife, fork, and dining plate for her new neighbor. Yet, their interactions had been continuously unsuccessful, and the sea demon could only suppress her appetite until today. But unexpectedly... food could have a day of sudden enlightenment too!

However, her excitement only lasted a moment before Enya mercilessly interrupted it. An invisible force pushed her, making it difficult for her to move forward. Meanwhile, a voice somewhat surprised, somewhat helpless, and a bit nervous came from the golden egg: "Hold on, Miss Tiel, I didn’t mean that... wipe your mouth, I meant for you to try something else!"

Tiel coiled up completely, pushing hard against the invisible barrier while straining to talk, "Ah? Then you called me in..."

"I wanted you to try this," Enya said, while manipulating magic power to lift several containers on a nearby shelf. Skilled, she mixed the liquids in the containers, finally pouring a full cup of bubbling dark brown solution into one cup, "This is a drink I newly concocted, but couldn’t find anyone willing to try it for the moment..."

"Ah... so it was just this," Tiel immediately deflated, slumping to the ground, but soon her gaze fell upon the cup floating in mid-air, her eyes showing a slight interest, "But since this thing is handmade by you, maybe it tastes good to us sea demons?"

"You can try it," Enya’s smile was quite pronounced, "I’m quite confident."

Suspicious, Tiel glanced at the golden egg in front of her. Moments later, her hesitation finally faded away. She reached out to take the cup drifting towards her, carefully looked at the bubbling liquid inside, finally taking a deep breath, raising the cup to guzzle it down.

"How’s the taste?" Enya immediately watched the sea demon nervously, "Is it..."

"I think it’s a bit odd, like..." Tiel mumbled, smacking her lips, but before she could finish speaking, she suddenly widened her eyes, then in a very exaggerated manner leaped into the air, falling back down with a shout, "Whoa—"

And then died.

A moment later, the "corpse" of the sea demon on the ground suddenly turned into scattered clear water, and the Hatching Room floor was soaked. Shortly after, Tiel’s shouting could be heard from a room far away, followed by the maid’s startled exclamations...

Enya remained motionless on the pedestal in the center of the room, thoughtfully observing the cup on the floor and the dark solution spilled out, muttering softly to herself: "Looks like the stimulation of this is still somewhat severe..."

...

In a room with rather modest furnishings, curtains shielded the outside light, magic crystal lamps were not turned on, only a few rays of sunlight filtered through the dense fabric, casting a dim light throughout the room.

Two exquisite steel daggers hung on the wall opposite the door, a not-so-large vanity was placed next to the window. Apart from a few simple skincare products, there were hardly any bottles and jars favored by ladies on the vanity.

A cleverly designed metal storage box was placed on the tabletop of the vanity. As the lid gracefully opened, Amber’s figure emerged in the chair.

She gazed at the intricate little metal box, a few gray-white grains of sand at the bottom of the box reflected in her pale golden eyes. For several minutes thereafter, she simply stared at these "samples", occasionally frowning, sometimes relaxing, as if contemplating something deeply yet coming up with nothing.

These grains of sand appeared unchanged from before. Whether it was Gawain or Maji, even that former Dragon God had asserted these sands were mere dead matter. They seemed just like sand, at most... bearing a peculiarity that originated from the divine.

Yet, a consistently emerging feeling of familiarity and friendliness continually surged from within her heart. Amber stared at these sands, almost as though she could feel their... "attraction."

This attraction was something only she could sense.

Amber suddenly felt somewhat headache-ridden, having acquired part of the "samples" from Gawain for study, but now realizing she was at a complete loss on how to begin researching this thing... How to research it? Burn it with fire? Soak it with acid? Or find something to smash it? Certainly can’t taste if it’s salty or not...

The Empire’s Minister of Intelligence frustratingly scratched her hair, realizing this was not among her areas of expertise — entirely distinct from the intelligence projects she usually dealt with. Although those complex intelligence tasks were equally challenging, there was always a pattern behind them, much like intricate jigsaw puzzles. No matter how chaotic they appeared, each puzzle piece always had its rightful place. With ample patience and keen observation, she could always assemble those "puzzle fragments" from all directions into complete intelligence to present to Gawain. But this thing before her...

Patience and observation were utterly useless before this entity, the Shadow Sand Dust wouldn’t respond to any external stimulus. All she possessed was merely intuition...

Intuition...

Driven by intuition, she finally reached out her finger to gently touch one grain of sand.