"Cough, hold up a sec, envoy."

The sacred relic couldn't be kept safe anymore.

In the old centaur chieftain's eyes,

the sacred relic was just an heirloom from the first chieftain, mostly sentimental value.

Even if it had some hidden secrets, for the current centaur tribe, it was nothing but a hot potato that could get them all killed.

Since that was the case, handing it over to the half-elf envoy was a smart move.

First, to pay back the life-saving favor.

Second, without the sacred relic, scumbags like the Twilight Cult would naturally stop breathing down the centaur tribe's neck.

The centaur chieftain signaled for the centaur guards propping him up to let go.

With a solemn expression, his weathered fingers formed a prayer gesture,

A pure black jade hook slowly materialized, pitch-black. The light in this area seemed to be constantly gobbled up by this mysterious jade hook, making the sky several shades darker.

"Honored envoy, this is our centaur tribe's sacred relic."

Purple Vortex took the pure black jade hook and passed it to Carlos's hand.

Unknown Mysterious Jade Hook:

A sacred relic passed down through generations of the centaur tribe.

This was only surface intel.

Only a select few knew this was the key to cracking open those ruins.

...

Central Samana Grasslands, some ordinary wasteland,

From the surface, there was nothing worth writing home about.

Lush vegetation swaying in the wind, scattered bird songs, peaceful and quiet.

Rustle, several figures swept through the grass, the leader with emerald eyes casually checking out the surroundings.

"Somewhere around here."

With a thought, Carlos

held the centaur tribe's sacred relic in his hand—a dark jade hook hungrily devouring light.

"Ginya, take this and scout this area.

Keep an eye out for any weird reactions."

"You got it, master."

Taking the jade hook, Ginya spread her Shadow Wings, flying low and fast, beginning a systematic search with extreme care and attention.

Purple Vortex nearby

looked at Ginya flying in midair, eyes showing obvious envy.

Fly!

Fly!

Fly!

Its eyes rolled as a Dark Purple Force Field quietly gathered behind it,

forming a pair of purple wings,

Flap! Flap!

The purple wings beat, making the grass below go crazy, but Purple Vortex's feet showed no sign of leaving the ground.

"?"

Purple Vortex turned its head, staring at the pair of purple wings behind it, totally confused.

Roar!

Not giving up, it condensed another pair in front of its chest, flapping both front and back together, making flapping sounds.

Carlos sighed helplessly,

"Purple Vortex, you don't have the juice to fly right now."

Ginya's Shadow Wings seemed to rely on flapping to fly, but actually used shadow magic to achieve flight.

Purple Vortex's power setup currently had jack squat to do with flight.

"Roar~"

Purple Vortex looked down sadly, the purple wings on its chest and back drooping pathetically, looking like a kicked puppy.

Seeing this, Carlos had a brainstorm.

"However, you could try this..."

Saying this,

Carlos's thoughts were beamed to Purple Vortex's mind through their soul link.

"Roar!"

Immediately,

above Purple Vortex's head, the Dark Purple Force Field condensed into several propeller-shaped strips, spinning like crazy around their center...

Then... Purple Vortex shot into the air!

...

"Roar!"

"Roar~"

"Roar!"

Among the roar of the purple propellers, excited roaring sounds could be heard from time to time.

Ginya, who was searching, couldn't help looking up, her Shadow Wings instantly stopping as her eyes went wide.

"It's... it's actually flying!"

Purple Vortex could actually fly now!

With some weird contraption never seen before on its head, it just took off like that, higher and higher, soon becoming a tiny black dot...

Ginya was blown away but seriously impressed.

Carlos was pretty surprised—he hadn't expected Purple Vortex to nail it on the first try.

...

"Got something!"

When Ginya explored a small hill in the wasteland,

the centaur sacred relic in her withered leaf armor-covered hand—that dark jade hook—suddenly became ice cold,

The withered leaf armor pieces it touched instantly froze, bone-chilling cold spreading,

In just one breath,

Ginya's arm was actually covered with a thick layer of ice crystals, rapidly spreading toward her whole body.

Carlos had seen this coming and immediately ordered Ginya.

"Drop it!"

Boom!

Withering spiritual power erupted, the ice crystals shattered piece by piece, and Ginya immediately chucked the mutating jade hook.

Her Shadow Wings fluttered as she quickly backed off, flying into midair to dodge the insane cold.

After the jade hook left Ginya's hand, it got yanked by some mysterious force and fell onto the small hill below as expected.

"Crack!"

The moment the jade hook touched the small hill, it suddenly shattered, breaking into tiny ice crystals that became thick ice mist,

In an instant, vegetation froze solid, with the small hill as ground zero, layers of frost spread out,

In just moments, the originally lush nameless wasteland was wrapped in silver frost, dead silent.

High in the sky, Carlos quietly waited for the cold explosion to end.

"Who would have figured

that the so-called centaur sacred relic was actually a one-shot alchemical gadget."

Capable of freezing everything around in no time flat,

this wasn't simple ice-cold power—its essence was the coldness of death.

It was a one-time offensive alchemical weapon cooked up by an ancient necromantic archmage skilled in alchemy.

"With enough pure death-cold energy going off,

that door to the ruins should show up."

Shortly after he spoke,

in the center of the silver-covered earth, a section suddenly caved in,

A powerful sucking force erupted, and the surrounding death-cold energy rushed into it...

Gradually, above the small hill, dark ice crystals slowly condensed,

First simple outlines, then ancient patterns, soul-freezing skull reliefs forming one by one,

The sky changed color as thick gray mist seeped from this ancient door, draining the earth's life force.

The originally frozen vegetation and creatures

instantly turned to ash and vanished the moment they got swallowed by gray mist.

When Carlos finally found the ruins door like he wanted, his eyes showed wariness.

"Purple Vortex, get back here."

"Roar!"

Purple Vortex, buzzing around in the sky,

hearing its master's call, immediately whipped around,

instinctively condensing directional propellers behind it, roaring as it flew before Carlos, ready for orders.

Ginya curiously looked at the strange contraptions constantly spinning above and behind Purple Vortex.

Wondering to herself—wasn't this just a differently shaped Dark Purple Force Field?

How the hell did it manage to fly?

Carlos was stoked that Purple Vortex had mastered flight ability.

Though it was noisy as hell, making Carlos's ears ring.

But regardless of the method, as long as it could fly.

"I need you to go through that door and explore the ruins behind it."

"Roar!"

"Got it!"

Time to help master again!

Purple Vortex beat its chest, making banging sounds,

Leave it to me—definitely no sweat!

Ginya rolled her eyes, somehow feeling her companion would screw something up again.

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