Moreover, this was a horror dungeon.
It was bound to be perilous along the way.
Cen Yao looked down at her wand, then glanced at where her wings had just vanished.
After thinking for two seconds, she raised her wand and drew a silver-white summoning array in front of her.
The patterns of the array expanded ring by ring, and light elements gathered at its center like stardust swept up by the wind.
Soon, the clear, resonant cry of a phoenix echoed through the forest.
A white phoenix spread its wings and flew out from the array.
It was much more solid than when it had appeared in the high tower's room earlier. Its entire body flowed with a translucent white glow, and the edges of its wings burned with a brilliant golden flame.
The moment it appeared, the surrounding shadows in the black forest quickly shrank back as if they had been scalded.
The human faces hidden on the tree trunks closed their eyes.
The man-eating flowers writhing underground also silently feigned death.
The phoenix lowered its head, its golden eyes quietly looking at Cen Yao.
Cen Yao reached out to stroke its feathers.
They were warm, soft, and carried a trace of the clean scent unique to light elements.
Stepping onto the phoenix's lowered wings, she lightly seated herself on its back.
Her Witch's robe billowed in the wind, and her hood covered half her face, revealing only the slight upward curve of her lips.
“Let's go.”
“To the east.”
The phoenix flapped its wings.
Its massive wings of light kicked up a gust of wind, and a golden-white flame spread through the woods, forcefully tearing open a bright path above the black forest.
The viewers in the live stream room watched helplessly as Cen Yao rode the phoenix into the sky, soaring toward the eastern kingdom.
The bullet comments went wild once again.
【???】
【She summoned the phoenix again?】
【Wait, wasn't that phoenix a one-time thing earlier?】
【Just how many skills does she have!】
【Help, I thought the wings were ridiculous enough just now, but now she's literally riding a phoenix to travel.】
【Other people's rookie dungeons: running for their lives, hiding, crying, and calling for help.】
【Her rookie dungeon: jumping off a tower, harvesting herbs, and riding a phoenix.】
【Is this even reasonable?】
【It's completely unreasonable, but it's so satisfying, isn't it?】
【I don't even want to see how she dies anymore. I want to see how she flips this dungeon upside down now.】
【+1】
【+1】
【Wait, she's heading in the direction of the royal capital, right?】
【Seems like it.】
【She knows the king's location, so is she planning to go straight to the royal capital to snatch the flower?】
【A Witch riding a phoenix to rob the royal capital... Suddenly, I feel like the king of this dungeon is going to have some bad luck.】
High up in the sky, the wind gently ruffled the edge of Cen Yao's hood.
She hadn't summoned the phoenix directly when jumping off the tower earlier just to show off. And, of course, to earn some shock points on the side.
Now that she had earned the shock points and her landing pose had been sufficiently beautiful, she naturally couldn't continue flapping her own wings for the upcoming five-hundred-kilometer journey.
Besides, she was a Witch.
Not a migratory bird traveling long distances.
Professional matters should naturally be left to professional air transport.
Cen Yao gently patted the phoenix's back. Her voice was scattered by the wind, yet it carried a faint hint of a smile.
“Fly a bit faster.”
“Let's go see where that flower-stealing king got the nerve to steal flowers that someone else painstakingly grew.”
The phoenix let out a long cry, its wings cutting through the clouds.
The high tower and the black forest were quickly left behind.
The outline of the eastern kingdom was slowly emerging on the distant horizon.
...
As the phoenix soared above the black forest, its golden-white flames left a long trail beneath the clouds.
The high-altitude wind puffed up Cen Yao's hood slightly. Sitting on the phoenix's back, she looked down.
This forest was much larger than she had imagined.
Looking down from above, the black canopies layered upon one another, resembling a frozen swamp.
Occasionally, massive white bones protruded from the woods, with dark red vines tangled in the gaps, looking like some giant beast that had been dead for years but had not yet completely decayed.
Reasonably speaking, once the monsters in a horror dungeon spotted a player, they would become exceptionally active.
Especially rookie players.
In their eyes, rookie players were probably equivalent to fresh snacks that had just been served and would run around on their own.
But now was different.
Cen Yao flew over their heads riding the light phoenix.
The writhing shadows of the trees below froze.
The things hidden in the swamp quietly retracted their extended tentacles.
Pairs of crimson eyes stared up from the tree hollows, drool dripping down, yet not a single one dared to rush up.
A black wolf with a human face had just poked half its body out of the bushes when the flames on the phoenix swept over. It immediately tucked its tail and rolled back behind the tree, pretending to be just a passing rock.
There were also several skeletal hands emerging from the ground. Their fingertips had almost reached midair, but the moment the phoenix looked down, they silently shrank back into the mud.
Cen Yao watched, deep in thought.
It seemed the light phoenix's deterrence against the dark creatures in this dungeon was even stronger than she had anticipated.
Although these things all looked at her with greedy eyes, greedy as they were, none dared to make a move for now.
This was great.
Cen Yao stroked the feathers on the phoenix's back, her mood relaxing slightly.
After flying for about half an hour, the phoenix suddenly let out a low cry.
Cen Yao looked in the direction it indicated and saw a pitch-black crow standing on a crooked tree ahead.
The crow was twice the size of a normal crow, but its eyes were not black; they were a cloudy, grayish-white.
It tilted its head, staring at Cen Yao gloomily, with a bit of suspicious shredded meat still hanging from its beak.
Cen Yao's eyes lit up.
A crow.
A classic source of information for witches in fairy tale dungeons.
She patted the phoenix, which immediately stopped beside the treetop.
Seeing her approach, the crow shook its wings and shrieked in a raspy, unpleasant voice.
“Caw—Get lost! Get lost!”
Cen Yao sat on the phoenix's back, looking down at it from above.
“I want to ask you something.”
The crow's grayish-white eyes rolled, and it suddenly spread its wings, lunging fiercely to peck at Cen Yao's face.
It was extremely fast, and its beak glowed with a faint dark red light, making it look like no ordinary attack.
Cen Yao's eyelids twitched.
Her wand was raised almost by reflex.
A fireball grazed the top of the crow's head and crashed into the adjacent branch with a loud boom.
The branch instantly turned to charcoal.
The entire bird froze in midair.
A few singed feathers drifted gently downward.
Cen Yao smiled faintly.
“Move one more inch, and I'll burn you into a bald chicken.”
The crow: “...”
Flapping its wings, the crow fluttered back onto the branch, its pitch-black body shrinking by a size.
“Caw... Ask away.”
Cen Yao did not speak immediately.
She first cast an Appraisal Spell.
A faint silver light flashed through her eyes.
In her magical vision, a ring of grayish-black mist floated around the crow's body.
As long as it lied, that layer of mist would fluctuate noticeably.
Once she confirmed it worked, Cen Yao asked, “Where is the royal capital?”
The crow's grayish-white eyes darted around.
“Caw, to the west, fly to the west, you'll be there soon.”
The moment the words left its mouth, the grayish-black mist around its body jumped violently.
Expressionless, Cen Yao raised her wand.
A small wind blade flew over, precisely shaving off a tuft of feathers right in the middle of the crow's head.
Black feathers drifted down in rustling heaps.
The top of the crow's head went bald instantly.
The crow: “Caw?!”
The entire bird was dumbfounded. It raised its wing to feel its head, and upon touching a smooth, bare patch, it immediately let out a shrill shriek.
“My feathers! My feathers!”
Cen Yao's tone was gentle. “I'll ask one more time. Where is the royal capital?”
The crow shivered and shrank its neck.
“E-East! Fly all the way east! Cross the black forest, go through Rose Town, cross another river, and you'll see the royal capital!”
Rate on N.U.
