Chapter 931: Ascending the Tower

"Can cats use this relic too?"

Xia De asked curiously.

"Of course. Any creature with a normal digestive system and a mouth structure could theoretically use this relic. You can pay the spirit in advance; your cute pet is just an ordinary animal."

Miss Teresa pushed up her glasses as she spoke, and Miss Violet and the young maid behind her also looked over with interest.

Xia De then held out the food pouch with both hands to Leaving Xiao Leaving Xiao Miya; the cat shamelessly thrust its head into the pouch, and had Xia De not grabbed its tail, the greedy cat would have crawled entirely inside.

The front half of the cat squirmed inside the pouch, and when Xia De pulled the indignant Leaving Xiao Leaving Xiao Miya out, she had a wind-dried sausage clamped in her mouth. After Xia De's inspection, he confirmed it was an ordinary beef sausage.

This disappointed Miss Violet greatly; she had been hoping for a more interesting scene.

"An interesting scene means danger."

Xia De pointed this out as he stood up from beside the bonfire.

"For me, there is no danger."

The thirteenth-tier Great Witch said with considerable confidence.

Just like last time, the six maids stayed behind to guard the camp, and Miss Violet set off with the tenth-tier Miss Teresa and Xia De.

The road ahead would be extremely dangerous, so Xia De turned Leaving Xiao Leaving Xiao Miya, who was gnawing on the wind-dried sausage, along with the sausage itself, into a toy and tucked it into his pocket. Miss Violet led the way holding the relics 【Compass of Seeking】 and 【Lucky Iron Cross】, with Miss Teresa and Xia De, who held 【The Night Watcher】, following behind her.

The fog on the island in the center of Lost Lake was as terrifying as last time, but fortunately this time nothing as horrifying as the "giant object falling from the sky" from before appeared. However, Xia De noticed the island seemed to have changed; last time, even though he could occasionally see plants around him while venturing into the fog, most of the plants were low and withered yellow, much like the scenery near the Pantanal wetlands region in western Huntington in early winter.

But this time, following the witch deeper into the island, he found the ground covered everywhere with undulating thickets of withered-yellow, hard thorns. These thorns were even harder than the special alloys used in steam engine pressure chambers, and touching them with a hand would immediately produce bleeding points on the fingers.

Even the witch's flames had difficulty burning them away in a short time. Xia De, holding 【The Night Watcher】, used the "Moonlight Greatsword," letting the Moonlight Greatsword attach itself to the physical silver sword to clear the way, barely managing not to delay the journey.

These thorn thickets had appeared not long after Xia De left last time, when Miss Violet and Miss Teresa had already returned to the bonfire camp by the lake. With a muffled sound from the ground, the once barren soil immediately sprouted lichens, green grass, flowers, then small ferns, until shrubs appeared, followed by trees, and more shrubs.

Because it was hard to judge time here, the eight witches could not say how long the "plant evolution" in their eyes had actually taken. But the appearance of those plants was not to green the area; they were absorbing nutrients from the earth, and after the primeval forest scene emerged, they gave birth to terrifying Pantanal Pantanal Xiewu like "Evil Treants."

In Miss Violet's words, they were mobile plants wrapped in disgusting vines, with green flames all over their bodies. Once those monsters were born, they came into conflict with the eight witches, and a fierce battle ensued.

The thorn thickets currently covering the island were the product of that battle, and although Miss Violet appeared to be fine, she had actually suffered severe exhaustion. Combined with the fact that in the Lost Lake area, the recovery of spirit and stamina became extremely slow, had it not been for the pack of holy water Xia De brought last time, Miss Violet likely could not have maintained her present composure.

But in any case, relying on Xia De to "cut through the thorns" along the way, the three of them safely arrived at the very center of the island. The ubiquitous hard, withered-yellow thorn thickets, like the dense fog on the island, had not invaded the area around the obsidian tower. So after arriving at the base of the tower, the three of them could finally rest briefly.

Miss Violet adjusted her condition, and Miss Teresa, somewhat flustered, prepared herself to meet the deity again, hanging the relic 【Proof of Faith】 around her neck and praying softly.

Only Xia De looked up at the obsidian tower before him. Miss Violet had not originally noticed him, but suddenly realized something:

"I remember last time when you came with us, you also didn't dare to look directly at this tower."

She said softly from behind Xia De, afraid of disturbing the presence within the tower.

"People always make progress; the me from last time isn't the me of now... How interesting, the deity isn't on the first floor now, but on the second floor."

Xia De frowned slightly:

"What does this mean? A symbolic indication that we must complete the trials step by step? Or does it mean the god is moving away from this land, so we must hurry?"

He turned and asked the witches, but they didn't know the answer either. Even though they had always lived by the lakeside bonfire and could see the blurred silhouette of this obsidian tower from the edges of the fog and thorn thickets, they had not been watching the tower constantly.

"Yes, hurry. I truly don't wish to linger here a moment longer; I miss my soft bed."

Miss Violet said softly. The three of them adjusted their appearances, and the witch-Emperor was about to push open the weathered wooden board at the base of the tower, but was stopped by Xia De:

"No, my condition is better this time; I'll do it. Miss Violet, you should conserve your strength; you'll still have to live here for a long time."

Xia De left 【The Night Watcher】 outside and stepped forward first. Miss Violet did not contest him, and watched as Xia De stepped up and pushed open the door. The sealed space inside had wind; the damp moisture rushed toward them with that wind, and once breathed into the lungs it made one feel the brain instantly calm, as if all the worries in one's heart had been set down at once.

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Miss Violet was about to step forward when she saw the side of Xia De's face, as if cracked open by that wind. Then, golden-yellow light poured from the cracks on the side of his face, with specks of light trailing golden-yellow embers.

Xia De turned and waved to the witches:

"Ladies, I'll take the lead; follow me quickly."

Miss Teresa looked in surprise at Xia De, whose entire body was covered in golden cracks, as if burning with golden flames:

"Wasn't it red flames last time?"

"No, these are not flames."

Miss Violet stared at Xia De warily:

"Although I don't know what this is either, it is far more magnificent than last time's flames. Very well then, Mr., you take the lead; this time we are going to the second floor of the tower, so be extra careful up front."

"No problem. Although I don't mean to boast, I've been through this sort of thing more than once."

"Mr., we still don't know your name."

Miss Teresa still remembered this matter.

Xia De hesitated for a moment:

"Xia De·Su Lun·Hamilton."

"Su Lun..."

Miss Violet glanced at him with some surprise, while Miss Teresa nodded to indicate she had remembered.

【Just like that, you gave your true name?】

"Miss Feliana and Miss Orlanode know as well, and besides..."

Xia De stepped into the tower; the abundant moisture almost made him think he was submerged in water:

"【The Father of the Infinite Tree】 seems to be deliberately erasing my traces from past eras. Otherwise, Saint Byrons should have noticed something off about me long ago."

The first floor of the tower was still that small lake, the rich water vapor rippling over the calm surface, only the table and the deity behind the table that had been in the center of the tower were now gone.

"As expected, he went to the second floor."

Xia De thought, turning his head to look behind him; Miss Violet and Miss Teresa had also caught up.

"The god is not here."

Xia De said softly, and the two witches nodded gently.

The three of them surveyed the first floor of the tower and saw no staircase leading upward. Looking up, they could not see the ceiling at all, only increasingly thick fog.

"Something's not right over there."

Still, the thirteen-tier witch-Emperor's perception was sharp—she pointed toward the area across from the door, and after the three of them drew closer, Xia De also noticed that the mist in that area was dispersing abnormally.

He reached out to touch it, and when his fingers made contact with a solid surface, the shape of a staircase appeared in the mist with a mercury-like texture. But when Xia De pulled his fingers back, the staircase vanished once more.

"An invisible staircase?"

Xia De asked in surprise, and Miss Violet nodded:

"I once saw the relic 【Stairway to Heaven】, which is very similar to what's before us."

As she spoke, a ball of light flew from Miss Violet's right hand; that ball of light appeared at the spot where the staircase had just shown itself, then passed straight through. Xia De frowned slightly, drew his hand back into his sleeve, then used his clothing to touch that area—and touched nothing at all. When he tried with his bare hand again, however, he touched it immediately.

"It only appears with direct physical contact; without contact, it's as if it doesn't exist. The abnormality in the mist was likely a clue deliberately left for us by the Great One—otherwise, finding the staircase would have taken quite a bit of effort."

He reached his conclusion.

"But why would the gods do it this way?"

Miss Teresa asked in a quiet voice.

"Did you think meeting a god was like paying a visit to a neighbor?"

Miss Violet retorted, then looked at Xia De again:

"You first, or shall I go first?"

"I'll go first."

Xia De said, bending slightly at the waist and reaching both hands forward. After a few tentative touches, as his palms made contact, the mercury rippled and once again traced out a small portion of the staircase. Xia De memorized the position, but when he lifted his foot to step on it, he found himself stepping on empty air once more.

"Right—the shoes."

Xia De understood at once, and so he took off his boots and socks.

Turning his head, he said to the two ladies:

"You two should take off your shoes and socks just like me. Oh, this really does feel like going on a pilgrimage. A while back I visited a lady in white robes who lived in a lake, and the blind nun accompanying me took off her boots; and I've heard that in some rural areas, people deliberately clean their feet before entering a church, walking barefoot toward the holy emblem... I should turn my head away."

He patted his own head, and Miss Teresa, her face slightly flushed, bashfully bent down to remove her shoes and socks. Miss Violet, meanwhile, glanced at Xia De's back with great interest—it was the first time she had ever seen a man like this.

Even in the Fifth Epoch, a lady's feet were still a part of her that could not be casually looked upon.