Chapter 62: The Direction Forward
The shockwave formed by arcane power spread like a ring of cyan-white light, covering the entire outskirts and the provincial capital in an instant. The high concentration of magical elements was suffocating, yet it also invigorated transcendent beings like Black, making them feel noticeably more alert.
On a hill in the outskirts, the half-dragon and the paladin stood atop the remains of a rock giant.
"I'll go check the situation first. Follow up later."
After thinking for a moment, Loranda said this to Black, staring at the direction of the Thunder Mountain explosion. His body slowly rose into the air, his expression serious: "By the way, can you sense your master's condition? He should still be alive, right?"
*Naturally, my master isn't so easy to kill.*
The half-dragon nodded slightly. Though his expression was worried, it was not panicked. Black could sense that while Joshua's current state was indeed not good, he was absolutely not dead.
Receiving a positive answer, the paladin did not hesitate. He then urged his holy light and flew toward the direction of the Thunder Mountain explosion.
Because the previous arcane shockwave was so immense, the radiation it generated affected the observation abilities of all the stone golems. Now, most of the puppets were either standing still or circling within a small area. The paladin encountered no obstacles as he flew, smoothly reaching the center of the explosion—the edge of a massive crater.
The overly intense arcane reaction had instantly vaporized most of the rock, so the explosion did not kick up a cloud of dust. Because of this, with his vision unobstructed, Loranda immediately spotted his target at the edge of the crater.
Ying and Lin, who had reverted to human form, were supporting Joshua, who appeared to have fallen unconscious.
The warrior's condition looked very bad. Though there were no obvious external wounds on his body, he had extensive burns, even signs of melting, and the traces of mana radiation were unusually severe.
Accelerating immediately, the paladin landed beside the divine mechanisms. He walked forward and spoke calmly and concisely to the two who were struggling to carry him: "Let me check his condition."
"Alright, Mr. Loranda."
Seeing the paladin's arrival, both Ying and Lin breathed a sigh of relief. Naturally, they would not refuse this request.
Because both of them were too short compared to Joshua, they had been practically dragging him along earlier. Now, they placed the unconscious warrior on a flat rock surface so the paladin could examine his condition.
"The detonation power of that large stone golem's energy core was truly immense."
While Loranda was carefully checking, Lin sighed, his expression still showing some fear: "Such a powerful core is unheard of. But then again, even in our world, there aren't mana puppets hundreds of meters tall, like a mountain peak."
Ying stood to the side, not speaking. She bit her lip, staring at the unconscious Joshua, her eyes full of worry. The girl kept holding the warrior's hand, not letting go.
"Did he not consider this? The power of the enemy's self-destruction was something even he couldn't withstand."
Loranda examined the warrior's body, occasionally using holy light to heal some of the more serious wounds. His expression was somewhat helpless: "Regardless, he hasn't advanced to the Ultimate rank yet; he's only at Gold peak. No matter how confident, he needs to be careful. Being too reckless will only get him killed!"
But the black-haired boy shook his head, explaining: "Originally, my master had successfully escaped the core area of the explosion. If he had kept flying, he could have left without a scratch. But for some reason, at the last moment, he suddenly stopped in place, motionless, and then was hit by the blast wave."
Ying, standing nearby, silently nodded, indicating that what her brother said was true, not a lie.
They themselves weren't entirely sure why.
Not far away, heavy footsteps approached. Black had also arrived. The group moved Joshua onto the horse's back, but Loranda, who was responsible for carrying him, unexpectedly found that the warrior's body was abnormally heavy, denser than an equal volume of steel. Moreover, his left hand was clenched tightly, as if grasping something.
"How is my master?"
On Black's back, Ying spoke for the first time. The silver-haired girl's expression was no longer as worried as before. Since they, as divine mechanisms, felt no abnormality, it meant their contractor was not seriously injured.
Loranda was deep in thought but was interrupted by the girl's words. It took him a moment to react: "Joshua? He's fine... much better than I expected."
In fact, it was abnormally good.
Earlier, he had used divine arts to heal the warrior's burns and check if his internal organs were damaged, but the result surprised him.
Joshua's internal organs had shown signs of cracking, but they had now fully healed. A life force—so intense that the paladin could only use that word—surged through his body, being absorbed by the damaged parts. Even the surface burns were mostly healed, and the muscle tissue melted by the high-energy mana radiation had all regenerated.
This regenerative ability was comparable to the legendary trolls that had been exterminated! And the source of this life force was the Azure Orb on the warrior's chest. Upon realizing this, the paladin also breathed a sigh of relief.
With the Azure Orb present, there should be no problem. The warrior's awakening was only a matter of time.
"Next, what do we do? Where exactly is Black running?"
After a moment of silence, Ying couldn't help asking. Now, the half-dragon was galloping wildly through the wilderness, but she had no idea which direction Black was heading. This made the girl feel a hint of confusion and worry.
"This enemy is far too troublesome."
Hearing Ying's question, the paladin replied, his gaze unusually calm: "So we need to find a place to rest temporarily. Once Joshua wakes up and we understand the situation, we'll make other plans."
As the strongest among those still conscious, he was responsible for planning the next move. Addressing the two and the dragon, he began to explain the current situation: "Whether it's the stone golems or the rock giants, the enemies have no obvious weaknesses. And the entity controlling them is unknown. We know nothing about this world, and those elves are equally clueless about everything. Instead of starting to wipe out these endless puppets now, it's better to wait and see what the goal of this Chaos truly is."
As for the elves, there was simply no way. Those in the underground shelters might still have a chance to survive, but if they remained outside, they were surely doomed.
The paladin was right. Ying and Lin both nodded. They had originally come to this world only to find Black, but the unexpected Chaos had destroyed the space-time gate, temporarily preventing their return. Compared to fighting the stone golems now, they indeed needed a place to rest and organize the information they had.
"As for where Black is running now..."
Seeing that the two understood the next course of action, Loranda nodded slightly. But when he turned to look at the half-dragon running at full speed, he sighed: "I don't know either."
"I'm not Joshua. I can't understand dragon speech. How would I know where this big guy is heading?"
Hearing the paladin's words, Black let out a loud roar in response.
*He didn't know which direction he was running either!*
The half-dragon had simply chosen a direction and run instinctively. To be honest, he didn't know why.
If there had been a map, one would have noticed that the direction Black was heading was precisely toward the Origin Mountains.
(To be continued...)