Deep-sea darkness (V)

The three of them had accompanied Corleon to keep him from having to act, preventing his aura of law from leaking out.

The same held true elsewhere.

The teams accompanying the other academicians had the same duty.

This enormous floating meteorite island was at least five times the size of the Tree of Truth floating island where Lola's secret garden lay. Even from Starveil Land, scholars could have observed an island this massive with ordinary telescopes while it was still in the Star Curtain meteorite layer beyond the atmosphere, let alone now that it was inside the atmosphere.

Viewed from the ground, it practically looked like another moon.

At that moment.

While Corleon recovered, the three gazed out over the endless desert, bored out of their minds.

Alder scooped up a handful of yellow sand from beneath his feet. After a slight frown, he let it scatter.

"The air temperature is fifty-five degrees Celsius, and the surface temperature is sixty-nine. Ordinary creatures from Starveil Land could hardly survive this heat. It's practically another Gulan Desert."

In the distance, the rising heat slightly distorted the air, refracting blurry, eerie images.

"A mirage?"

Leaving aside Alder's murmur, a large-headed bulldog had appeared at Audrey's feet, a silver ring around his neck.

Woof, woof, woof!

Audrey looked at the two of them. "As far as I know, none of the floating-island hidden realms in Starveil Land have ever been deserts like this. So I suspect this is very likely a remnant of the Gulan Civilization, just like the Gulan Desert."

She stroked the bulldog at her feet and smiled. "Beck's sense of smell is three hundred and fifty times stronger than a human's. He can even detect the scent of creatures about two meters underground. With my training, he can even locate some