"Saint Elouan."
These four words jolted Felix's heart, and his entire being seemed to be drawn by the mere mention, an indescribable feeling calling him, urging him to rush toward the source of the spreading energy.
"Let's go," Felix glanced at the woman beside him.
Without waiting for Marilyn's response, he soared into the air like a large bird, darting toward the direction of the wind.
"Hey, wait!" Marilyn stomped her foot in irritation and took off after Felix.
St Pilds Cathedral, located at the center of the continent, stood like a pillar between heaven and earth. According to legend, this mountain was originally nearly ten thousand meters tall. However, following My Lord's descent, it became one of the main battlegrounds between the Second Abyssal Invasion and the Kingdom of Heaven.
As a result, St Pilds Mountain was cleaved in half.
The entire peak abruptly broke off at the middle, as if sheared by immense divine power. The severed part vanished without a trace, and the remaining flat area spanning dozens of miles became home to a castle – St Pilds.
St Pilds Cathedral was the most iconic building there and the largest gathering point for ascetics in the world. They lived on a peak nearly three thousand meters high, honing their strength and will through suffering.
In St Pilds, one must not underestimate any shabbily dressed priest or cleric. For he might once have been a great archbishop in some rural area.
This was not a joke.
The ascetics living in St Pilds Cathedral were either utterly devout or former clerics corrupted by power but never lost their faith in My Lord.
It was an unspoken rule in Delrano's world church: to temper one's power through suffering in St Pilds, then contribute it during the next Abyssal Invasion.
The Lord is forgiving; He would pardon these once lost sheep.
It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that even a janitorial cleric in St Pilds Cathedral possessed power not inferior to high-ranking professionals. They were true ascetics with fervent faith, more dangerous than great magicians.
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After crossing the sixth mountain, Felix had to stop.
His current strength didn't support flight. Or rather, he couldn't remember how to use his power to fly. Though he could leap over ten meters in a bound, reaching St Pilds before nightfall was impossible at this pace.
"Can you fly?" Felix turned to Marilyn, who was leisurely following him, and asked plainly.
"Yes," Marilyn glanced at Felix and crisply answered.
"Teach me," Felix stated directly.
"Can't do," Marilyn pursed her lips, continuing, "Death Knight powers aren't suited for flight. Ever seen a flying Death Knight? To fly, you need to summon your own Frost Bone Dragon."
"How do I summon it?" Felix asked.
"Don't know," Marilyn replied simply.
They continued for several kilometers until Felix spoke again while resting on a mountaintop.
"Transform back to your true form and carry me. Otherwise, we won't make it before dark." Felix looked at Marilyn with an indifferent expression, showing no embarrassment about riding on her.
Marilyn's face showed a hint of anger, her charming visage flushing slightly. "In your dreams!" she huffed.
Felix frowned slightly, raising his hand to point in the direction of St Pilds. "There's a power calling me. Either fly me there or carry me in your true form."
Marilyn, taken aback, watched as Felix slowly opened his shirt. Over his heart was a thin, dark gray crystal pulsating like a heartbeat. His expression was grave as he looked at Marilyn. "In return, I can tell you about the planes and divinity."
Marilyn finally showed interest. "Really?"
"Really." Although Felix himself wasn't clear, it didn't stop him from making promises. The most important thing now was to get to St Pilds, drawn by an increasingly strong and familiar summons.
The source of all answers was there.
"Misty Wings of Dawn."
As Marilyn chanted, a pair of wings with the essence of dew appeared on her back. She moved behind Felix, hesitating slightly on her beautiful face, then embraced him from behind. Flapping her elemental wings, they soared toward St Pilds.
Feeling the warm and soft embrace around him, Felix was slightly startled. He turned his head in surprise to look at the woman behind him. He had thought Marilyn, with her strength, would easily fly with him. Yet, she chose this method. Was her power insufficient to fly with another person?
"I was partially rebounded by the planar laws when I came to this world," Marilyn explained with a hint of blush, her voice magnetic. "The seal loosened due to the Goddess of Life, but most of my power is still bound. That
's why I'm helping you."
"In this world, I'm forcibly confined to a human form. Actually, I can't transform back into a silver dragon now. Otherwise, with my half-elementalized dragon form, I could break through the planar barriers and leave this wretched place."
In a world like Delrano embroiled in warfare with the Abyss and Hell, semi-divine beings like her were insignificant. A slight misstep could lead to being hunted by lords of the Abyss. She wasn't a deity with the assurance of rebirth as long as her divine realm existed.
Though powerful, she was still just a silver dragon; death meant true death. If unlucky, her corpse could be turned into a grotesque bone dragon.
That was a fate Marilyn refused to face.
Felix didn't respond, merely patting the arm of the woman behind him. For some reason, after hearing her words, he felt a sense of kinship with her.
Perhaps it was his imagination, but he felt the arms around his waist tighten slightly.