The cold wind above the sea howled past the shield. The sky and sea receded steadily in their field of vision, while the outline of land drew ever closer and communications with the North Port hub became increasingly clear.
Melita had clearly accelerated.
"Maybe the Mithril Ring was just broken," Gawain said casually to the dragon lady, though he was worried about the changing situation in Cecil and Typhon. "Tarlonnd's technology may be advanced, but it hasn't reached the point where everything is indestructible."
"Maybe," Melita said distractedly. "In any case, we have to hurry... Something really big is about to happen this time."
Gawain did not respond. He merely turned his head and gazed silently toward the North Port coastline for a long time.
Not far beside him, Veronica, who had been resting with her eyes closed, suddenly opened them. The Saint Princess rose to her feet and looked thoughtfully toward the land, a trace of confusion appearing on her face.
But that expression did not last long. After only a few seconds of watching, she withdrew her gaze and returned to her usual gentle yet inhuman demeanor.
Deep within the wasteland, dense trees clustered around the Explosion Pit formed after the destruction of an ancient imperial city.
A blue-white pillar of light that seemed to pierce heaven and earth surged from the center of the pit, its radiance illuminating this dark, polluted land. Within the vast "forest" growing around the Explosion Pit, similar blue-white streams of light endlessly leaped and flowed through branches and vines that pressed together, intertwined, and fused. Countless grotesque "plants" tangled into a colossal aggregate like neural synapses within some giant organism, spreading several kilometers outward from the ancient imperial capital. The stolen energy flowed through this vast, entwined system again and again,