Chapter 260: Why, No Earth

Dai Sen took a step forward, slammed his staff into the ground, and muttered low: "The God says, the fire of all believers is an unextinguishable fire, an unceasing faith—let it burn eternally!"

His quiet muttering wouldn't be interrupted by Andong, so Dai Sen smoothly recited the entire prayer, his chest growing brighter.

Slowly raising his head, Dai Sen gazed confidently far away and shouted: "Andong, your greatest regret is coming here yourself to kill me—and revealing all your trump cards! I sacrificed one of my clones just to wipe you out completely—try my Storm of Belief!"

No sooner had he finished than a shadow flashed before him—a scaled dragon-man appeared, fingertip pressing against his chest. Dai Sen instantly froze, unable to move.

Dai Sen stared in horror at the dragon-man before him. What kind of creature is this? How could its speed be so fast?

The scales looked like dragon scales, the form human-shaped—was this some hybrid of a colored dragon and a humanoid?

Dai Sen instinctively glanced at Negrilis—right here was one underdeveloped dragon.

Ang remained motionless; the Void Dragon's skill had frozen space—he couldn't move, Dai Sen couldn't move, the light in his chest ceased growing.

Meanwhile, where Ang had stood, a loud "Aoo!" erupted—he'd moved too fast, and the sound only reached them after he was already gone.

Hearing the "Aoo!", Negrilis instinctively turned to the Dimensional Beast, which also paused in surprise.

After spending too much time with the little angel and the little zombie, the big cat had learned "Aoo" language—but Ang's yell still made it hesitate.

The little angel and the little zombie, however, didn't hesitate—they both burst out "Aoo!" at it simultaneously.

Fine, the big cat trotted forward, leapt, and swiped its paw at the spot where Ang and Dai Sen stood. When it lifted its paw again, Ang and Dai Sen were gone—you heard it, it was him who banished them.

Negrilis's body lost control and collapsed onto the ground—it went offline.

The Dimensional Beast's Dimensional Banishment had flung Ang somewhere unknown; the spatial shift had disabled Negrilis's projection.

Far away, Andong froze for two seconds, then shouted: "Don't let any of them escape!"

He covered his face and charged forward, swinging his staff—once per target, once per target.

Without leaders, the convoy's guards couldn't hold against these wolf-like, tiger-like enemies—they were crushed in one wave.

After everyone died, Lamor and the Night Watchers harvested all the souls from the corpses, preventing the souls from leaking their secrets.

Having finished, they left behind a field of corpses and each tore open a teleportation scroll, vanishing.

They used nearly a hundred teleportation scrolls alone—another faction would've gone bankrupt; only Ang had silk cloth and could carve his own, so he could afford such extravagance.

Leaving the scene, Andong found the big cat, intending to lift it by its hind legs and shake it like Ang did.

Too bad—he wasn't Ang. The Dimensional Beast tolerated Ang's shaking because it couldn't fight back; the moment Andong showed any such intent, the big cat slapped him down.

After much pleading, the big cat finally released him. He stood up, awkwardly brushed off his clothes, and asked: "Where's the Master? Where did you banish him?"

"Aoo!" the big cat replied.

The little angel understood: "Aoo!"

The little zombie understood: "Aoo!"

Andong didn't understand, and no one translated for him—Negrilis hadn't returned, and it was the only one here who could speak human language.

Andong closed his eyes and sensed—Ang's presence was detectable, but too far away; his call went unanswered.

"The Master isn't hurt. It seems Dai Sen's Storm of Belief didn't touch him—he'll return soon. He has the Heavenly Staff; he can teleport back to Holy Heaven anytime." Andong could only reassure them this way.

…

Ang and Dai Sen, flung by the Dimensional Beast's paw, felt like a ball shot straight into an unknown distance.

Suddenly—CRASH! they smashed through something, and light flooded around them; glowing specks flew backward. Soon after—CRASH again—their vision blazed bright.

Countless fragmented beams of light struck them. Ang realized he'd fallen into water.

The transformation ended; his scales rapidly retracted.

Dai Sen regained freedom; the light in his chest seemed ready to burst out—but now he stared in horror at the surrounding water, lips trembling.

From his mouth shape, he seemed to be trying to say: Where is this?

But the moment he opened his mouth, water rushed in—glug glug—drowning his words.

But he wouldn't need to speak—light erupted from his chest, exploding into countless holy flames, lashing forward. Dai Sen's body ignited rapidly, as if fueling the holy flames, vanishing in an instant.

Ang, directly in the path, barely raised his hands to block—then he was swallowed by the holy flames.

But the Storm of Belief didn't harm through burning—it merely ignited a spark to anchor the endless faith of believers. After passing over Ang, it all retreated to the Hand of Passage, since the Hand had been raised first and made first contact.

The Storm of Belief fanned out; a small portion struck Ang, most scattered wide. The scattered flames froze—because they had no target.

Dai Sen sacrificed a clone not to kill one enemy, but to annihilate them all—especially Andong. But now, the enemies were gone?

The Storm of Belief, unable to find targets, turned back toward Ang, all converging into the holy flame in the palm of the Hand of Passage.

A little wisp rose from his finger, puffed out its cheeks, and took one tiny bite of the holy flame—just one bite. It immediately burped, exhaled, and shrank back. The holy flame in Ang's palm showed no sign of dimming.

Negrilis's voice echoed in Ang's soul: "Get out of the water first."

Oh. Ang thought, and his body shot upward like a cannonball, piercing the water toward the source of light.

In water, due to higher elemental density, movement was far easier than in air. Soon, Ang broke the surface, leaping high above the water.

As he fell back, his foot touched the water—and the surface instantly froze, forming a large floating ice slab. Ang stood upon it, floating.

"Where are we?" Negrilis asked. The Dimensional Beast's blow had flung Ang somewhere unknown—and had also knocked Negrilis offline.

Looking around, the endless water stretched like an ocean.

"Are we on the sea? Still in the Prime Plane?" Negrilis marveled—only the Prime Plane had oceans this vast.

But Ang shook his head: "No. The water isn't salty." He'd noticed no salt crystallized when he froze it.

"Freshwater? Where is this?" If it was freshwater, this couldn't be the Prime Plane—no freshwater ocean existed there.

But seeing Ang tilt his head in confusion, Negrilis gave up: "Forget it. Doesn't matter where. Pull out the Heavenly Staff—we teleport back. Teleportation scrolls probably won't work; this plane is unheard of, must be far from the Prime Plane."

Ang raised the Hand of Passage—the holy flame in its palm burned silently.

Though also Storm of Belief, this flame didn't hiss or smoke like the one on Harvey's hand.

Ang didn't even feel it harming him—but…

"Can't reach in." Ang said.

"What do you mean? Can't reach into the Palace of Rest? Then you can't get the Heavenly Staff?" Negrilis said.

Ang nodded.

"Can you extinguish it? Is this flame from Dai Sen? I heard him shout 'Storm of Belief'—can Storm of Belief be used as a weapon?" Negrilis asked.

Ang shook his head.

"Uh… what does that mean?"

"Can't extinguish. Dai Sen's." Ang replied—rarely speaking so many words.

"What? If you can't extinguish it, your Hand of Passage will never reach the Palace of Rest?"

Ang shook his head, raised a finger: "It can eat."

On his finger, the little wisp floated up, tilted its head—perhaps unsure why Ang raised his finger—but when it heard "eat," it reacted instantly, biting down on Ang's finger.

Too bad—it was all bone. The wisp couldn't bite through. It exhaled, then lunged at the holy flame and took a huge bite.

The holy flame didn't diminish—but the wisp was satisfied. It burped, then curled contentedly back onto his finger.

Negrilis scratched his head—how long would this take?

But rushing wouldn't help. Storm of Belief was a spark that ignited divine fire—how easily could it be extinguished?

Luckily, Ang reacted fast—if not, they might've been wiped out. Who'd expect Dai Sen to have a Storm of Belief?

Most couldn't handle such flames—once touched, they couldn't be removed, watching helplessly as the fire grew until it burned them alive. The wisp being able to eat it was already a lucky surprise.

Probably for Andong's sake, Dai Sen had dared use such a move—never imagining Ang's space freeze combined with the Dimensional Beast's banishment would break it.

Ang and the Dimensional Beast were both indispensable—yet both appeared. Dai Sen must be regretting this now.

Ang looked up at the sun, pulled his straw hat down—the sun was too harsh.

The ice beneath his feet melted rapidly under the fierce sunlight. Ang didn't reinforce it—he'd rather dive underwater, since he couldn't drown anyway.

But just before the ice melted and he fell back in, a dark shadow appeared on the distant horizon, hovering about a meter above the water, speeding toward him.

As it drew closer, Ang saw clearly—it was a ten-meter-long gnome airship, with two horizontal wings and a rudder, no gasbag—replaced by vast sails.

Sailed airships were far faster than gasbag ones. It swiftly approached, and a woman leaned out, shouting: "Don't panic—I'm here to save you!"

Then a life ring was thrown down, landing not far from Ang. Apparently, the crew thought he'd fallen in and came to rescue him.

The airship, unable to stop, shot past, then made a sharp turn, slowing gradually until it hovered beside him.

Ang tilted his head, confused—he hadn't fallen in. He didn't need saving.

Negrilis advised: "Just pretend. Lie on the life ring. They traveled far to help you—don't make them waste their effort. Get on board, rest a bit, thank them, and ask where we are."

"Oh." Ang jumped into the water and grabbed the life ring.

The sail airship turned back, lowered its sails, slowed, and descended until its hull touched the water. A hook extended, pulling Ang and the life ring aboard.

There were four people on board—two men, two women. After pulling Ang aboard, a woman resembling a young mother rushed forward with a coarse but clean towel, concerned:

"Oh dear, how did you fall in? Quick, dry off—don't catch a chill. The sea wind is strong, medicine and clothes are scarce—don't get sick."

Ang took the towel, shoved into his hand without argument, and wiped nonexistent water from his body. The moment he was hooked aboard, he cast an elemental dispel—every water element vanished. His body was completely dry.

But under Negrilis's "advice," he still rubbed the towel a few times, then curiously studied the crew—especially the young girl and one boy—because Ang recognized them.

"This world is too small…" Negrilis murmured in Ang's soul.

Remember those two adventurers from the Black Mountain Kingdom's court, speaking cheesy love lines, descending from the sky with umbrellas? One was Lily—now both were aboard this ship.

Ang had seen them before, but they'd never seen him—so no greetings needed. Ang's gaze shifted to the ship's railing—because there, embedded there, was another thing he knew well: air bubble stone.

Tiny air bubble stones were inlaid along the rail. When wind hit them, they formed air bubbles, reducing drag. Was this why the sail airship could fly?

Why so many air bubble stones on this ship? They're expensive. If not for silver coin sources, Ang wouldn't even know where to buy them.

The woman noticed Ang standing still, staring at the air bubble stones. She immediately misunderstood: "You're here to mine air bubble stones too? How did you fall in? Where's your vehicle? Don't worry—this is close to the floating island. I'll take you back. I'm Jelis. What's your name?"

Ang didn't answer. Something at the ship's stern caught his attention—something even more compelling than the air bubble stones. He rushed toward it without even saying hello.

It was extremely rude—someone rescues you, you don't even say a word, just run off. But seeing where Ang ran, Jelis suddenly wasn't angry anymore—anyone who'd lived here long enough would react the same way upon seeing the ship's cargo.

Jelis followed, slightly proud: "Our ship garden. Never seen one before? Haven't seen green vegetables in ages? Heh. Live here long enough, even a bit of green feels comforting. Too bad—it's too expensive. I can't afford to feed you."

Ang looked at this small patch of land planted with colorful vegetables and asked seriously: "Why is there no soil?"