Chapter 2212 Magic Bean <TOC> Chapter 2214 Wind and Fire
Translator: SumTLMan
In the beginning, the Gondola moved against the wind without any loss of speed.
However, as they ventured deeper into the sea of clouds, the wind grew stronger and more turbulent. Even with Angel activating the Gondola’s against-the-wind mode, the raging howls of the tempest forced them to slow down.
Fortunately, while the speed had decreased, the stability remained intact.
The Gondola quietly sailed against the wind, as if the surrounding tempest could hardly shake its steadfastness.
This reassured Jack, who was clinging to the curtains, that his choice was correct. Had it been him, not to mention reaching Wind Island, just swirling in the sea of clouds’ violent wind was an insurmountable barrier, with its slender vine body unable to penetrate deep into it.
Half an hour later, as the sky gradually darkened, the fierce wind showed no sign of subsiding.
In this dim sea of clouds, the wind seemed to take on a tangible form, with scattered wisps of cloud swirling around like tentacles, enveloping the Gondola in layers.
Dangros, originally sitting beside the yellow sand cage, shivered and quietly moved next to Angel’s hand. Although the interior of the Gondola was unaffected by the wind, the ghostly howls outside, combined with the dark sky and the encircling fog, made Dangros feel timid.
In contrast, Arnoldo, the little whirlwind, felt completely unaffected and even enjoyed listening to the howling wind, with the moisture at the corners of his eyes completely evaporated.
“Is such a strong wind common on the way to Wind Island?” Dangros asked curiously.
After thinking, Arnoldo responded, “Yes, the entire White Cloud Sea contains numerous hurricanes, and Wind Island is at the eye of the storm. It will be much better once we reach Wind Island.”
“And when will we arrive at Wind Island?”
Arnoldo looked up, gazing through the yellow sand cage at the invisible, turbulent wind outside, “The wind here is actually quite mild. Once we reach an area where the wind is ten times stronger and pass through it, we will be able to see Wind Island.”
Ten times stronger wind? Dangros trembled at the thought. The current wind was already terrifying, so how could the Gondola withstand wind ten times stronger?
Angel, looking ahead, suddenly felt a wave of warmth around his fingers and turned to see Dangros looking at him with a timid gaze.
Although Dangros didn’t speak, Angel understood its concerns from their conversation and replied, “Currently, the Gondola can still maintain balance, but if the wind strength increases even two to three times, it will be challenging for the Gondola to maintain its current state.” Seeing Dangros’s fear intensify, Angel added, “However, you don’t need to worry too much. There will always be other solutions when the time comes.”
Before Dangros could inquire about other solutions, the Gondola suddenly jolted, startling Dangros into climbing up Angel’s arm and onto the Blood Night Sanctuary.
Angel remained calm; the Gondola had jolted simply because the wind outside had intensified, requiring an adjustment to its wind resistance mode.
Now, the Gondola had regained its stability.
However, Angel also knew that this stability wouldn’t last long.
According to Arnoldo’s statement, if the wind strength only increased and they encountered two to three more power levels of wind without external intervention, the Gondola would soon be unable to maintain its current stability.
After flying for another ten minutes, the howling wind grew louder, resembling the grating scream of metal, echoing persistently by their ears.
It was then that Angel spotted the first wind elemental creature in the “turbulent cloud sea,” a Silver-White Flying Fish “swimming” through the hurricane.
With the hurricane carrying a swirling suction, it seemed not to pose a hindrance to the silver-white flying fish; instead, it became its joyful playground, swimming excitedly around the hurricane.
Due to the terrifying force of the wind outside, Angel didn’t initially notice it; it was only when the flying fish approached the airship along with the hurricane that Angel became aware of its presence.
Observing the approach of the silver-white flying fish, Angel’s brows furrowed slightly.
This silver-white flying fish wasn’t a problem per se, as it was clear at a glance that it was an elemental sprite. What Angel cared about was its apparent ability to control the movement of the hurricane.
The silver-white flying fish likely bore no malice towards the Gondola, merely driven by curiosity to come closer; however, its arrival brought the most formidable storm the Gondola had faced since entering the cloud sea.
The Gondola could no longer maintain stability and began to pitch and shake continuously.
This caused the Dangros, hanging from the Blood Night Sanctuary, to deepen its fear, secretly wondering if the ship was about to capsize immediately.
As items on the Gondola began to tumble and even the sand prison and the dove struggled to stand steady, Angel softly called out, “Eremy.”
At his word, the blue lantern flower appeared at the bow, releasing a bubble that transformed into a cyan light barrier, enveloping the entire Gondola.
Outside the barrier, the hurricane raged on, but inside, calm was restored.
“Is this the power of wind?” Arnoldo’s voice emerged, sensing the stable wind barrier around the Gondola, flashing with confusion. Such power, which he had only sensed in mature wind elemental creatures, was now present here? Could there be other wind elemental creatures nearby?
While Arnoldo was puzzled, Angel lightly tapped his foot and gently leaped from the Gondola.
Although Eremy had stabilized the Gondola, the silver-white flying fish outside still needed to be dealt with. Its curiosity seemed exceedingly strong, continually following the Gondola. The hurricane’s power surrounding it was currently negligible, but as they ventured deeper, if it continued to follow, the hurricanes would grow larger, and it would undoubtedly become a focal point for hurricane formation, posing a danger to the Gondola.
With Eremy now stabilizing the Gondola, Angel decided to personally address the silver-white flying fish.
Upon leaving the wind barrier, the fierce wind outside immediately swept over, and even though the flying fish did not direct the hurricane to attack, the winds felt like blades, cutting towards Angel.
Although the fierce wind did not cause him much harm, he had no intention of lingering outside.
With a flash beneath his feet, his figure appeared near the silver-white flying fish.
Before the flying fish could react, the illusion spell nodes prepared at his fingertips had already woven into a net of illusion, enveloping it within.
Being merely an elemental sprite, the silver-white flying fish had no awareness or resistance against the illusion, allowing Angel to capture it effortlessly.
Upon returning to the Gondola, he casually placed the silver-white flying fish next to the dove; both elemental sprites were unstable elements, so he let them rest in the illusion. When they reached Wind Island, they would be handed over to Gentle Wind Uranos together.
The Gondola set sail again, now with Eremy’s protection, stabilizing and speeding up the voyage.
Feeling the Gondola regaining stability, Dangros, still shaken, jumped onto the table to calm its nerves and paced to the silver-white flying fish’s side.
It had witnessed how this tiny flying fish could control such a powerful hurricane.
Its eyes slightly lit up, pondering whether to secretly infuse some of its own fire while it was incapacitated.
However, recalling Angel’s previous admonition, Dangros thought that using one’s own strength to subdue others, rather than forcing them into subservience, offered a greater sense of achievement. Thus, it ultimately restrained its desire to acquire a new little brother.
Forcing itself to turn away, Dangros returned to Angel’s side.
While passing by the yellow sand cage, Angel noticed that Arnoldo was also looking at the silver-white flying fish, his gaze never shifting, as if he was very curious about it.
“Do you look like you know it?”
Arnoldo shook his head: “I don’t know it, I’ve never seen it before, just…”
Arnoldo’s voice suddenly stopped, and he turned his head to look at Angel: “Can I take a closer look at it?”
Angel nodded and placed the silver-white flying fish right next to the yellow sand cage.
Arnoldo carefully observed the silver-white flying fish, silent for a long time.
“Is there something wrong with it?” Angel also looked at the silver-white flying fish. In his eyes, this flying fish, along with the nearby dove, and Arnoldo, didn’t seem too different. They were all made of wind elements, just with slightly different internal structures.
After pondering for a moment, Arnoldo still shook his head.
Angel didn’t know what Arnoldo was thinking, but since he didn’t want to say, he didn’t ask any further.
The Gondola continued to travel, and as time passed, the wind around them grew stronger, but under the protection of Eremy’s wind barrier, the Gondola remained stable.
During this time, Angel encountered several wind sprites. They had various forms and flew freely in the hurricane.
Some wind sprites would actively avoid the Gondola when they saw it, while others would curiously approach. For those that approached, he would collect them into the Gondola and control them with illusions; for those that avoided, Angel did not bother with them. They were already close to Wind Island, and once the problems on Wind Island were resolved, these wind sprites would naturally be protected by the returning wind elemental creatures.
There were now six wind sprites collected on the Gondola, but Angel noticed that Arnoldo wasn’t much interested in the other wind sprites, only that silver-white flying fish caught his gaze from time to time, showing an unusual concern.
About half an hour later.
Arnoldo suddenly said, “We are already very close to Wind Island… Also, I feel it, there’s very active wind energy around here.”
When they stepped into the sea of clouds, the wind energy had always been active. Arnoldo’s specific emphasis now was not that the wind around them had become stronger but to inform them that there were wind elemental creatures nearby.
Ordinary wind sprites, Arnoldo certainly wouldn’t specifically remind about. Therefore, what appeared nearby could only be mature wind elemental creatures.
As Angel thought this, a vast shadowy silhouette appeared in the gray mist ahead, looking like a mountain.
They were thousands of meters above the ground, and Angel hadn’t heard of such high mountains in Green Wilderness, so upon seeing the huge silhouette, he immediately realized that it might be the wind elemental creature Arnoldo mentioned.
Angel controlled the Gondola to stop.
Although he had Arnoldo, the “noble cause,” and had heard that Gentle Wind Uranos was a gentle monarch, he still didn’t know exactly what had happened on Wind Island. To avoid any accidents or conflicts, he chose not to rush in. Instead, he decided to stop and see the situation, to see if they could make contact with the other party.
The Gondola stopped, but the shadowy silhouette in the mist grew larger, indicating that the other party was also approaching them.
Seconds later, the huge shadowy silhouette burst out of the mist.
Its form was too vast, even after leaving the mist, it was difficult to see what it specifically was. However, Angel saw its eyes.
Blue pupils, like copper bells.
A tremendous oppressive force, at the moment it opened its eyes, followed.
Under this oppressive force, nearly all the elemental sprites on the Gondola showed discomfort, especially the wind sprites, including Arnoldo, and even those caught in illusions were trembling slightly.
Angel frowned slightly, tapped the table lightly with his knuckles, and a ripple that was invisible to the naked eye instantly enveloped the Gondola, dispersing the oppressive feeling from the other elemental sprites.
Jack, hanging on the curtain, took a breath and said to Angel, “This wind elemental creature is a bit strange.”
Angel didn’t respond, his gaze fixed on a huge shadow in the distance. He felt something was wrong when the other party released the oppressive force.
In Angel’s view, directly releasing pressure was already a sign of hostility.
It is worth noting that whether in the Wild Stone Wilderness or the Toothpull Desert, when first encountering those guardians, they never intentionally released oppression.
Yet, upon arriving at the rumored most gentle Wind Island, this situation occurred.
Angel didn’t understand the other’s intentions, but he was there to seek an audience with Gentle Wind Uranos, so even if the other party released a hostile signal, Angel still decided to try a gentle approach first.
He extended his index finger, and a sphere of light appeared in front of him, floating gently towards the distance. The sphere was very gentle, containing his greeting message.
This was Angel’s communication signal to the shadow.
However, as the sphere of light approached the mountain-like shadow, a green hurricane suddenly spewed from the other’s mouth, tearing the sphere into specks of light.
At the same time, it opened its mouth again, and a terrifying wind pressure rapidly formed. A flash of violent light flickered in its green eyes.
“Be careful! The wind inside it is very wrong!” Arnoldo, from within a sand prison, seemed to sense something and yelled at Angel.
The moment the words fell, a small tornado was expelled from the shadow’s mouth.
Though small, the energy contained within was terrifying. As soon as it appeared, it swept up the surrounding remnants of clouds, rapidly absorbing all the wind energy in the vicinity into itself.
In the blink of an eye, the tornado turned into a terrifying cyclone that could blot out the sun.
Numerous wind blades sliced out from within the cyclone.
And this tornado charged straight towards the Gondola!