EBE Chapter 61 The Last Staircase
Chapter 61 The Last Staircase
"Everyone, this is the last stop for me."
After destroying the two Rift creatures, Jepard turned to look at Lin Qiong and the others who were walking towards him, and then slowly spoke.
"Next, I will transfer all the Silvermane Iron Guards from the restricted area here to try to draw some of the attention of the Rift creatures."
"Are you alright?" Hilva asked with concern, her face filled with worry. "The 'Barrier' was damaged in the battle just now, wasn't it?"
Upon hearing this, Jepard waved his hand, a faint smile playing on his lips, "As long as we don't encounter a large-scale attack from the Rift creatures, we can handle it."
Seeing this, Hilva, who knew her younger brother's personality very well, didn't say anything more, but just nodded silently, her eyes shining with trust.
"Time is running out, we should probably get going."
After the siblings finished their conversation, Lin Qiong suddenly spoke to everyone.
"Things will get complicated if Cocolia starts making contact with the 'Star Core'."
"Qiong is right," Danheng nodded in agreement. "The longer it drags on, the more disadvantageous it will be for us."
"So where should we go next?"
On March 7th, looking at the maze-like ruins before him, he frowned, his face filled with confusion.
Upon hearing March 7's question, Jepard suddenly pointed to one of the entrances and said, "If we go this way, we should be able to get through these ruins."
“The scouts in the army have surveyed the terrain here. According to them, after crossing the rift, you will reach a vast snowfield.”
As he spoke, Jepard suddenly pulled a map out of his pocket and unfolded it in front of everyone. "This is the map he drew, but the Rift wasn't eroded as severely back then as it is now, so there might be some errors on it."
Lin Qiong quickly glanced at the map in Jepard's hand and found that the route drawn on it roughly matched the route in his memory.
"Take this map with you. It may not be accurate, but it might come in handy in special circumstances."
Lin Qiong nodded, took the map from Jepard's hand and put it in his pocket. "Thank you for the map. Let's set off now."
"No need to thank me right away. As I said, if you can really stop this cold disaster that has swept through the world for hundreds of years, the entire population of Beloborg will owe you a favor."
Jepard gave Lin Qiong and the others a solemn military salute, saying, "May Kripper protect you and bring you back safely."
Afterwards, Lin Qiong and the others said goodbye to Jepard and headed toward the entrance to the ruins he had pointed out.
"Uh... this place feels a bit eerie."
After walking through the ruins for a while, March 7 looked around at his surroundings and involuntarily shivered.
"It was like some strange thing was watching us from nearby."
"Really?" Upon hearing this, Hoshino also looked around, just like March 7th.
However, after scanning around, she did not find anything suspicious.
Apart from the surrounding light being distorted and somewhat hazy, everything seemed perfectly normal.
Let alone strange things, we haven't even seen a single creature from the rift.
Xing scratched his head in confusion. "There doesn't seem to be anything strange here. It looks much like an ordinary ruin."
"I can't quite put my finger on this feeling; maybe it's just my imagination."
March 7th frowned slightly, that subtle feeling still lingering in her heart.
But the others in the group seemed oblivious to anything amiss, continuing to move forward with steady steps.
This made March 7th start to wonder if she was overthinking things.
She raised her hands and gently patted her cheeks, trying to dispel the inexplicable feeling.
Then, led by Lin Qiong, the group arrived at a long, narrow staircase.
"We're here." Lin Qiong, who was leading the way, suddenly stopped. "From here, we'll reach the snowfield that Jepard mentioned."
Just then, March 7th suddenly realized that the subtle feeling she had just experienced was gradually becoming stronger, which gave her an ominous premonition.
"Let's go up..."
Before Lin Qiong could finish speaking, the distorted light around them suddenly began to move slowly.
As if drawn by some force, these rays of light converged downwards along the stairs.
"what happened?"
Upon seeing this, Seele immediately summoned her weapon, a giant scythe, and gripped it tightly in her hand.
But soon, to everyone's astonishment, the beams of light gradually coalesced into a familiar figure.
"Cocolia?" Upon seeing the familiar figure, Hilva's eyes widened in surprise.
As Cocolia appeared, a chaotic, indistinct male-female voice slowly emanated from it.
It was like the sound of an old-fashioned radio playing when the channel signal was bad—intermittent and unclear.
"You must not...approach..."
"Wait... is this an afterimage?"
Hiluva looked at the figure that resembled Cocolia with a puzzled expression.
At first glance, it does look very similar to Cocolia, but a closer look reveals subtle differences.
Because at this moment, this fake Cocolia seemed to be formed by countless rays of light interwoven and converging, and its entire body emitted a faint glow.
Moreover, the figure was slightly transparent, and the staircase behind it could be vaguely seen, as if looking at something through a layer of glass.
Just then, that chaotic sound came from the fake Cocolia once again.
"Intruders, halt here! You are not permitted to...approach the star core!"
As the sound rang out, the afterimage waved its hand, and several ice spikes radiating a cold light appeared out of thin air, then quickly attacked the group.
"careful!"
Ice spikes rained down, and Seele, who had already drawn her weapon, immediately moved to the front of the group, rapidly wielding her scythe.
Seele's movements as she wielded the scythe were as graceful as a butterfly in flight; the massive scythe seemed to become an extension of her body in her hands, as if she were using her own arm.
The scythe drew graceful arcs in the air, and Seele accurately struck down all the incoming ice spikes.
"Great!"
Seeing this, Lin Qiong couldn't help but praise loudly, his eyes shining with admiration.
As expected of the top DPS character at launch, his skills are truly impressive.
Seeing how skilled Xi'er was, Lin Qiong didn't stand idly by either. He quickly summoned his baseball bat and gripped it tightly in his hand.
Immediately afterwards, he lowered his body slightly, pushed off the ground with his legs, and charged towards the afterimage of Cocolia like a tiger on the hunt.
Upon discovering Lin Qiong charging towards it, the fake Cocolia opened its palms, and a large number of ice spikes shot out from its palms.
The ice spike sliced through the air, flying towards Lin Qiong with a sharp whooshing sound.
Faced with the fake Cocolia's attack, Lin Qiong quickly adjusted his body and used agile movements to dodge the ice spikes that were coming at him.
At the same time, he kept swinging the baseball bat in his hand, knocking down all the ice spikes that were hard to avoid.
"Star! Let's beat it up together!"
Numerous ice spikes blocked their path forward, and Lin Qiong, feeling somewhat strained, shouted loudly.
Upon hearing the shouts, Xing, who was in the crowd, immediately sprang into action.
Powered by the inexhaustible energy provided by the star core within her body, she shot towards the fake Cocolia at an astonishing speed, like an arrow released from a bow.
As fellow members of the Galaxy Baseball Team, their teamwork speaks for itself.
While Lin Qiong was distracting the fake Cocolia, Xing had already rushed to the fake Cocolia's side with a baseball bat in hand.
Immediately afterwards, Xing exerted force with both legs, forcefully pushing off the ground, and his whole body soared into the sky.
"drink!"
In mid-air, she swung her baseball bat down hard on Cocolia's head.