Chapter 497: The Divine Door, Attacked By The Requiem Stronghold?
The golden door on the [Divine Journal] was truly mesmerizing, and Leon found himself staring at it without even realizing how much time had passed.
There was something strange about the image that made it difficult for him to look away, as though the door itself was drawing his attention.
It took several shouts from the girls for Leon to take his eyes out of it.
"...LEON!"
"Yeah?"
Leon finally turned when Emilia grabbed his shoulder and shook him.
"What?"
"You’ve been staring at this thing for five minutes," Emilia said, looking slightly worried. "Is everything okay?"
Leon blinked before glancing back at the [Divine Journal]. He hadn’t realized that much time had passed.
Fwoosh!
He immediately pulled the [Divine Key] out of his inventory and stared at it before looking back at the golden door.
’That must be it.’
There was no other explanation that made as much sense.
The [Divine Key] had clearly been connected to something important, and now he had finally found a door that looked like it required a key of its level.
But another question immediately came to mind.
’Was Dominik looking for this key?’
It was certainly possible, but there was something that didn’t make sense.
If Dominik had been searching for the [Divine Key], then why had he been giving them away inside those [Divine Boxes] to students who completed the event?
Leon thought about it for a moment before reaching another possibility.
’Maybe the problem isn’t the key itself.’
Perhaps Dominik already knew about the key and simply didn’t know where the door was located.
The words written beneath the image suddenly seemed much more important: "Find it".
That explained why there was no location written in the [Divine Journal]. Dominik knew what he was searching for, but he didn’t know where to find it.
Leon looked at the golden door one last time before closing the book.
For some reason, he had a feeling that whatever was behind this door, wherever it was located, would either be incredibly powerful or terribly dangerous.
Perhaps it was even both. For now, however, there was nothing he could do about it.
"We should leave," Leon said.
The destruction of the Divine Academy had caused an enormous commotion throughout the city.
Almost every player and native nearby had begun rushing toward the center to find out what had happened, giving Leon the perfect opportunity to leave without attracting too much attention.
He grabbed Emilia, Celeste, and Violet before activating the [World Map].
Fwoosh!
In the next moment, the four of them disappeared.
After a few seconds, they appeared near the Requiem Guild’s stronghold, although Leon had chosen a location far enough away that the guards on the walls did not immediately notice them.
Leon looked toward the direction the Hunter had given them, "It’s that way."
Celeste looked into the distance, "How do we reach it, though? It must be fairly far. Do we have to run?"
"I mean, the best way would be for me to head there by foot and teleport all of you once I arrive," Leon said with a shrug. "But there is another way."
"What is... oh!"
Emilia and Celeste seemed to realize what he meant at the same time.
They turned their heads toward Violet. Leon did the same.
"What?" Violet asked before noticing their expressions. "Oh..."
She already understood what they wanted.
Violet was reluctant to use her dragon form just for transportation, but the destination was too far away to waste time traveling on foot.
After a quiet sigh, she finally gave in. Her body began changing as her dragon form appeared.
"Climb up," she said in a much rougher voice than usual.
Leon climbed onto her back first, followed by Emilia and Celeste. Once all three were seated, Violet spread her wings and flapped them strongly.
The four of them quickly rose into the sky.
Violet remembered the direction the Hunter had given them, so she simply aimed to follow it, hoping they wouldn’t have to fly for too long.
She had enough stamina to fly for days if necessary, although maintaining her speed for such a long time would still be tiring.
But unfortunately, the moment Violet rose was the moment they were noticed, and an alert suddenly rang out inside the Requiem Stronghold.
"Maybe I should have gone farther," Leon sighed, "Just wanted to make sure we followed where the Hunter pointed exactly."
[Alert, a dragon has been spotted nearby, we will attempted to bring it down!]
Leon looked down and saw the guards on top of the walls moving into position.
The various defensive constructs were quickly aimed toward Violet.
Ballistas were loaded, magical weapons began charging, and several other defensive mechanisms were pointed toward the dragon flying through the sky.
The guards didn’t know that Violet was a player.
As far as they were concerned, a dragon had suddenly appeared near their stronghold, and they naturally assumed that it intended to attack.
Leon didn’t want them firing at Violet. He stood up on her back and pointed his staff toward the incoming attacks.
"Fire a spell to destroy them," Leon said to Emilia. "Violet, just focus on getting us to the destination."
"I know," Violet replied.
At that moment, the guards fired.
Fwoosh!
Fireballs, giant arrows, boulders, magical spells, and powerful rays were launched toward Violet from the walls.
The sky quickly filled with attacks. Violet continued flying forward without slowing down, but the attacks would surely hit her.
Perhaps they wouldn’t kill as her dragon body was far too tough for that, but injury was possible.
Leon raised his staff, casting Cataclysmic Fireball as a massive fireball immediately began forming in front of him.
The flames rapidly grew until they became far larger than an ordinary spell, then launched it.
BOOM!
The enormous fireball collided with the attacks fired by the stronghold and overwhelmed almost everything in its path.
Fireballs disappeared into the flames, giant arrows were destroyed, and the boulders were shattered before they could reach Violet.
At the same time, Emilia lifted her scepter to use her maxed-out skill.
HEAVEN’S WRATH!
Unlike before, however, she didn’t fire [Heaven’s Wrath] directly from her scepter. This time, she used the skill in its original form, which was its most powerful one.
Fwoosh!
Golden energy suddenly began spreading across the sky. The guards looked upward as the entire area became illuminated by a brilliant golden light.
"What is that?"
Before any of them could react, the golden energy erupted.
BOOOOOOM!
A terrifyingly large beam descended upon the stronghold’s edge, destroying a massive section of its walls.
The guards who had fired at Violet were caught directly in the attack, and many of them were killed instantly.
The defensive constructs were also destroyed beneath the overwhelming power of [Heaven’s Wrath].
Emilia lowered her scepter.
"Oops." She scratched the back of her head with an awkward smile, "I tried to hold back a little, but... my magic is too strong."
"It’s fine," Leon said with a grin. "They’ll be able to fix it, I think."
Violet looked back at the destroyed section of the stronghold before deciding not to comment.
She immediately flapped her wings harder and accelerated.
The three passengers held on as she rushed away from the Requiem Stronghold before the remaining guards could retaliate.𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺