Chapter 281

"How can this be?" The lead Soldier Captain looked at everything around him in shock, walking forward subconsciously with a stumbling gait.

"A trap of the evil spirits! It's over." The priest of the Sun Ring Church was the same, gritting his teeth as he looked around in shock; compared to the soldiers, he was even more astonished by what was happening.

The Soldier Squad Leader and his soldiers had their mouths wide open, their hands gripping their weapons involuntarily, subconsciously entering a combat state.

Their group of thirteen had originally intended to reach this high-end Noble suite to question the mage who had impersonated a Noble and used magic to lure them up; regardless of whether the other party was related to the assassination case from that morning, they were to take them away for interrogation.

But they never imagined that, even after they had entered this Noble suite with caution, they had only just passed the main entrance and taken a few steps before their entire team was shrunk.

They themselves did not feel a single thing.

There was no being enveloped by mysterious Magic, no strange things jumping out, nor were there any common phenomena seen during standard Magic casting, such as a flash of red light, a flash of blue light, or a flash of green light.

Everything around them, within the span of two breaths, became larger and larger, and larger! Lar! Ger! And! Lar! Ger!

The high-end carpet that had been under their feet instantly became taller than what was described in books about the vast grasslands in distant lands, and everyone sank half their thighs into the soft fur on the surface of the carpet.

The long, high-end carpet that could have been crossed in a dozen steps now truly became a grassland in front of their eyes that was even more vast than they could have imagined.

In the extreme distance of their line of sight was a stretch of white wall reaching the sky, glowing with white light, looking like the pure white mountains rarely seen even in the most famous heroic tales. Looking up and all the way to the top, in the extreme height and distance, there hung a light source that looked just like a blazing sun.

Only after the shock could they realize that it was nothing more than a reflective metal ornament originally hanging on the wall. The polished metal ornament reflected the warm sunlight shining in from the opposite window, and those light rays, after being scattered by the pure white wall, illuminated the entryway where they had just entered the high-end Noble suite.

They turned their heads to look along the path of the sunlight; the warm afternoon sun shone in from a window that looked like a vast hole torn open in the sky. The transparent glass, imported from the distant North, let the sunlight into the room without the slightest obstruction, yet it blocked the wind and sand outside the inn.

Bright sunlight shone into the room, and some unknown things dancing in the air revealed their forms once illuminated by the light.

They lifted their heads high and observed carefully, only to discover that those things were merely tiny specks of dust brought into the air by the sunlight-heated atmosphere.

Tiny as they were, in that very instant just now, they had actually become less than half a centimeter tall.

"Quickly retreat in the direction we came from!" Shocked as he was, the priest was finally the first to recover his ability to think; he shouted loudly, pulling and slapping at the surrounding soldiers and the Soldier Captain he knew.

Everyone came to their senses and looked toward the direction they had come from; fortunately, the door to this high-end Noble suite had not been closed after they opened it.

The soldiers and the priest hurried to run along the path they had come from, but while they had previously felt the carpet under their feet was very soft and quite nice, now that they had somehow become so small, the originally soft carpet had turned into a thick "grassland" that was difficult to trek across.

Although the others were all wading through the carpet surface that reached their thighs while retreating with all their might, the Soldier Captain, who was of the Knight Rank, gathered his strength and leaped forward.

"I'll go ahead and take a look, you all keep up!"

This Captain leaped more than twenty meters in one bound (subjective distance; in reality, it was likely less than ten centimeters), and with a few jumps, he flew quite a distance.

But just as they thought they could leave this place and escape this terrifying situation, the Soldier Captain, who had leaped into the air, *splat*, collided with an invisible wall in the air.

Like an insect, the Captain slid down the invisible wall, making a *zzzt-zzzt* sound as he pressed against it.

"Ahhhhh!" Unable to believe it, he drew the broadsword at his waist the moment he landed and slashed continuously at the invisible wall in front of him with fierce blade techniques that left countless afterimages.

A *clatter-clatter* twisting sound came, but only the sound was heard; there was still no sign of any visible trace on the invisible wall.

The Soldier Captain slashed more and more frantically; in the end, not only did his blade bring forth a whistling wind as he slashed, but even his arms, which were swinging out afterimages, stirred up shrill waves of wind.

But it was useless; the blade had hit an obstructive object, yet the thing being struck neither became visible nor did a single bit of debris appear from being cut.

The priest and the twelve soldiers pushed aside the carpet "grassland" that was blocking their way and rushed behind the Soldier Captain.

"How is it?" the priest asked urgently. They had all seen the other party collide with the transparent wall, and it was precisely because they saw it that they had rushed here even more urgently.

The Soldier Captain panted as he slammed his broadsword into the carpet beside him, shaving off a large patch of the carpet's surface fuzz. He gritted his teeth and said, "It's no good! You try touching it; a layer of something or other is blocking the path that is right before our eyes. We are trapped."

The priest's expression turned solemn. He held his long staff high, and bright white light emanated from his body: "Let me try!"

"Great Lord of Light and Flame!"

"Sun that holds everything high!"

"Break through all obstacles!"

"Secure a path of survival for the people!"

"Ten Thousand Victories!"

The white light from the priest's entire body gathered at the tip of his long staff. The pitch-black Coal Stone at the tip of the staff, surrounded by white light, burned entirely from the outside in, rapidly transforming into an energy ball emitting dazzling white light before the priest's first "Ten Thousand Victories" was even uttered.

Led by the Squad Leader, the soldiers collectively knelt on one knee to pay their respects to the Sun God and his priest. Beside them, the panting Soldier Captain watched his partner's grand display of Divine Power with eyes full of anticipation.

As soon as "Ten Thousand Victories" was uttered, a surging white pillar of fire erupted from the energy ball at the staff head, which was emitting very bright light, and shot straight ahead.

Like the breath of flames spewed by a Fire Dragon, the fire, bolstered by Divine Power, struck the invisible transparent wall with great force. It scattered upon impact, igniting a large area of the carpet around them.

It would have been very dangerous for the surrounding carpet "grassland" to be ignited, but the burning carpet fuzz around them seemed to be drawn by something, and the weak flames swayed toward the priest who was making his grand display.

"Ten Thousand Victories!"

As the second "Ten Thousand Victories" was uttered, all the surrounding flames, like birds returning to the forest, broke away from their original fuel and flew all at once onto the staff head held high by the priest.

The white fire spewed by the greatly enhanced glowing energy ball was no longer like a Dragon's breath; instead, it began to rapidly concentrate, forming a regular cylindrical column of fire that shot out, striking the invisible wall in front with even greater violence.

The Soldier Captain, who was squinting at the transparent wall, had an ugly look on his face. Although his partner's attack looked very powerful, he could only see the compressed flames splashing and scattering after the impact, yet he did not see the slightest change in the transparent wall.

The priest struggled to maintain the Divine Art, and the white light dissipating from his body was visibly decreasing, but when he looked at his companion, he could only see his companion, who was leaning on his broadsword, shaking his head in regret.

The priest, refusing to believe it, squeezed his eyes shut, opened them abruptly, took a deep breath, and roared with his entire being at full capacity: "TEN! THOUSAND! VICTORIES! Ahhhhhhhh!"

He leveled his trembling long staff, aimed the high-temperature energy ball—which was shining with extremely bright light—directly at the transparent wall in front, gripped the hot, softening staff with both hands, and fired the energy ball from the unstable staff head.

The Soldier Captain didn't even want his weapon for a moment; he flashed behind his priest companion, planted his feet firmly, extended both hands to brace his companion's back, and simultaneously roared at his subordinates who were staring in a daze behind him: "Get behind us, all of you! Quick! Quick! Quick!"

The moment the third "quick" was uttered, the priest had already fired the energy ball from the staff head. The energy ball did not fly fast, but it seemed extremely heavy; as it flew forward while vibrating, its entire size kept growing larger and larger.

The soldiers also realized that the priest was about to unleash a major move, so they scrambled to hide behind the Captain. They thought the Captain was going to use a special ability of the Knight Rank to shield everyone from the impending impact, but that was not the case.

Their Captain himself was hiding behind the priest, appearing to rely on the priest—who was not stronger than anyone else present—to withstand the attack the priest himself had unleashed.

Turning his head to look at the confused expressions of his subordinates behind him, the Soldier Captain knew what they were wondering, so he had to explain: "A priest will not be struck down by the power of the god he believes in. Careful! Close your eyes!"

Before he could even finish half his explanation, everyone had no choice but to squeeze their eyes shut. The energy ball in front finally flew at a slow speed and collided with the transparent wall.

In an instant, a rapidly expanding high-temperature explosion sphere engulfed them all.

Boom!!

A large area of the surrounding carpet "grassland" was completely destroyed by this explosion.

But miraculously, starting from the priest, who was not far from the origin of the explosion, the area within an angle behind his back suffered not the slightest damage.

Not only was the carpet on the ground undamaged, but even the soldiers and the Captains, whether standing or lying on the ground, were safe and sound.

"Cough, cough." The priest coughed twice, falling to the ground with a burning-hot body. As soon as the long staff he held in his hand touched the fluff of the carpet on the floor, it turned the fluff into ash; it didn't even burn, the contact point simply became charcoal ash.

Yet, the priest's hand, which was barely holding the long staff, showed not the slightest sign of being scalded, burned, or charred.

The entire long staff radiated high heat, distorting the air it touched, making the staff appear hazy to the human eye.

The Soldier Captain lunged forward, jumping to the edge of the carpet that had turned to ash and the transparent wall; after just one look, he stomped his foot violently, kicking up a large pile of ash from the ground.

"How is it?" the priest asked with difficulty.

"It's no good." The Soldier Captain looked at the scene before him and replied bitterly.

Before his eyes, starting from a transparent dividing line, one side of the thick carpet on the floor was covered in burning ash, while the other side remained as it was before, a "grassland" of carpet fluff reaching up to their thighs.

The Soldier Captain reached out his hand and touched the empty space in front of him; the solid, temperatureless obstacle appeared once again, just as before.

Just as their group of thirteen fell into a desperate silence, a voice like rolling thunder from the heavens resounded from the high, vast space of the high-end Noble suite of the inn, now that they had shrunk.

"Heh, interesting." This was the voice of the old man they had heard before.

Immediately following was a young voice: "Truly amazing. Teacher, is it alright?" They had not heard this voice before, but with a little thought, they knew this must be the voice of the person who had impersonated the young Earl.

It sounded as if he were a student or Apprentice to that old man. In the parlance of a Mage, this was a Magic Apprentice.

Following that were four strange cat meows.

"Meow?"

"Meow!"

"Meow."

"Meow~"

The four meows were different; there were four cats. The Soldier Captain, who kept cats, even recognized these as the calls of four Farah Desert Cats, which were very common in the local area. However, being familiar with cat calls, he felt a bit strange; the meows of these four cats were far too rich in emotion.

Unlike the Soldier Captain, the priest of the Sun Ring turned pale with fright after hearing the cats' meows.

He struggled to stand up with his still-scorching long staff and shouted to the Soldier Captain and the other Soldiers: "Quick! Find the nearest place and hide!"

The others looked at the priest with confusion.

Just then, another muffled, thunderous voice resounded in the vast space overhead: "Go, bring these little guests of ours over."

Immediately after, four cat meows sounded together: "Meow! X4"

Now, the Soldiers all understood the priest's meaning. The Soldier Captain rushed over, grabbed his saber that was stuck in the ground, then hoisted his companion, the priest, onto his shoulder and ran rapidly toward the towering White Wall on one side, while shouting to his subordinates: "Follow me! Keep up!"

The Soldiers scrambled to run fast, for they had already faintly heard a series of successive roars, like those of monsters from myths and legends, coming from the extreme distance of the carpet "grassland."

"Meow, meow, meow."

The cat meows, which usually sounded cute, now sounded so terrifying, because to them, who had been inexplicably shrunk, even an ordinary cat was likely something they could not handle.

Sure enough, as a cat head, which to them looked as big as a castle, poked out from the corner in the extreme distance of the "horizon," its large eyes were not much smaller than a fishing boat.

Although the cat head in the distance still looked small, they all knew that was because they were still very, very far from there. A small thing in the extreme distance would be an incomparably huge giant when placed up close.

The Soldiers only hated that they did not have an extra pair of legs; the carpet fluff that reached their thighs greatly hindered their advance.

Seeing that it was too late, a cat in the distance was approaching rapidly, and at the same time, the size of the opponent was rapidly increasing in their line of sight. The Squad Leader looked at the Captain and the priest who had already reached the foot of the towering White Wall; his face full of despair, he turned to his subordinates who hadn't run far either and said: "It's too late, everyone form a circle, point your weapons outward!"

The other Soldiers also realized that they absolutely could not reach the wall before the giant cat arrived, so they listened to the Squad Leader. The weapons they had been holding in their hands without any effect now became the Soldiers' last thin line of defense.

They stood back-to-back, holding various weapons in both hands, one pointing up, one held level, looking like a sea urchin made of swords and blades.

With a slight tremor of the ground, a female Farah Desert Cat ran over from the distance.

It had originally been trotting quickly in the distance, but as it approached these people, it slowed its pace, walking step by step, stepping with an elegant gait toward these little people quietly.

What was quiet for a cat was still a series of muffled thuds for the Soldiers, who were only half a centimeter tall. The cat's seemingly elegant cat-walk was, from their perspective, a "graceful," rapidly approaching giant fur castle.

Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump—the sound of footsteps approached bit by bit, and all the Soldiers, teeth chattering, turned to look at the behemoth cat approaching.

One Soldier said in a trembling whisper: "I finally know what a cat looks like in the eyes of a mouse."

The Squad Leader took a deep breath: "I think we might be even smaller than mice?"

The Soldiers looked at each other, then looked at the carpet fluff that submerged them to their thighs, and said in unison: "It seems so."

"Hey! What bad luck." A Soldier grinned, looking at the mountain-like cat head approaching.

"Mona, I love you!" A young Soldier, eyes unfocused, looked at the empty space before him and shouted with all his Yongqi.

"You brat, you actually like my sister?" A Soldier a few years older than the young Soldier looked sideways with his eyes, muttering about when his sister had gotten together with this kid.

"Mother, I'm sorry." A middle-aged Soldier said, choking with tears filling his eyes.

"Here, this is the money I owe you, I'm returning it to you." A Soldier quickly threw a money bag from inside his Armor at the feet of another Soldier, his eyes fixed on the approaching cat head.

"Forget it, what's the use of saying that now." The other Soldier didn't even look at the money he had lent out, his eyes also fixed on the approaching cat head.

"Great Sun God, please save your believers, please save your believers, please save your believers." A Soldier gripped his weapon tightly, first praying in a low voice to the deity of his Faith, then feeling the voice was too small and the deity might not hear, he shouted loudly, his face full of fanaticism.

The female Farah Desert Cat pricked up its ears, twitched its whiskers, and looked curiously at these little people on the ground. It saw their words and the expressions on their faces clearly; seemingly finding it interesting, the cat tried to stretch out a small, furry paw, tentatively reaching toward these tiny Soldiers.

And in the eyes of the Soldiers, it was a furry giant claw, larger than a house and sturdier than a city wall, reaching toward their heads, seemingly slow but actually fast.

Then, it "gently" swiped down.