CHAPTER 631: CHAPTER 424: ORNSTEIN’S RELICS

Fingerley had finally understood the temperament of this Princess.

She was very fond of Ornstein... and everything that radiates outward from him and those connected to him.

For example, the Nameless King, or Smough.

However, she didn’t seem to show much interest in Gwendolin.

Moreover, Selene’s "fondness" was difficult for him to define directly.

It’s not entirely accurate to say she’s only a superficial admirer, because her admiration goes deeper and is more resilient than that, like when she is willing to venture into the Painting World multiple times or climb the treacherous Ancient Dragon Peak just to see her idol.

But to say she is an obsessed fan would also be misleading; sometimes, she behaves in an erratic manner, comparable to the extremes of a Dark Moon Sword.

Yet she handles these erratic emotions well, manipulating them skillfully. Unlike those who embrace their feelings deeply, she is more like an audience member.

Fingerley suddenly wished to see how she would react at the end when she eventually meets her idol.

Although the real Ornstein might have already passed away, if there were a re-enactment of his passing, it would be impossible for Selene not to have an emotional response!

If Sain were to create a branch ending for Ornstein, like the Warrior Pot that changes based on the adventurer’s choices, surely the Princess would have an emotional upheaval.

This was Fingerley’s thought.

The Princess had always carried herself with an air of nonchalance, so he was curious to see her expression when her defenses broke. That expression would be quite exquisite, he imagined.

Selene suddenly shivered, feeling uncomfortable all over, as if an evil ghost was thinking about her.

The Hasavi Team set out once again. Their revived bonfire was located at the place they were teleported to after defeating the Ancient Flying Dragon. In the adjacent two-story room were the Snake-man Summoners who call forth Dragon Blood Knights and Havier Warriors.

There were several branching paths to take from here, over half of which they hadn’t explored yet.

Currently, they only knew that one main path led to the Snake-man legion and the Nameless King’s Great Bell, while another path heading upward led to a Flying Dragon’s corpse and Havier Warriors, where Hawkwood’s Summoning Rune was also located.

Why did Sain Dungeon place the Summoning Rune in such an out-of-the-way corner anyway? Was it purely to make adventurers who wanted to summon help run further and suffer more?

This time, they decided not to take the longer route to summon Hawkwood.

"How dare he ditch us and escape on his own, that wretched guy!"

"Doesn’t Hawkwood’s departure remind you of someone?"

"Ah, now that you mention it, it does seem similar."

Selene didn’t quite understand who they were talking about. Whom were they referring to?

Fingerley gestured towards his head a couple of times, seemingly trying to indicate a bald head.

The Princess understood then.

"Oh, it’s Patch. Why didn’t you say so directly instead of playing riddles?"

For some reason, the topic shifted from denouncing Hawkwood to discussing Patch, unveiling various rumors about adventurers who were scammed by Patch, making the air feel lively.

Even when battling the blocking Snake-men and stone worms, the conversation about Patch never ceased.

Besides hatred towards Patch, everyone was rather intrigued by what tricks he might pull next and marveled at the tolerance of the ancients to allow him to continue his antics alive.

Purposely quickening their pace, the team soon reached the location of the Great Bell.

Clouds surged and gathered at this side of Ancient Dragon Peak ever since the bell was rung, and hadn’t dissipated since.

From the bonfire’s perspective, everything seemed normal; the sky as usual. However, approaching this area revealed storms and thunder, as if something had changed with the ringing of the bell.

"What are you looking at?" Matilda suddenly noticed her captain gazing towards the other side, towards the altar where Hawkwood mentioned obtaining the Radiant Dragon Stone.

"Look, we are at the Great Bell now, and this location is much higher than that of the altar, isn’t it?" Fingerley analyzed, "There’s only one access route leading up here. If we block it, couldn’t we use this elevated position to attack the Snake-men guarding the altar? As the saying goes, fighting downhill is for fools, isn’t it?"

"Makes sense."

Matilda nodded but shook her head, "But we’re running out of time; the Dungeon’s about to close, right? Let’s discuss it tomorrow."

"Yeah, there’s no rush for this matter."

He then turned to look at Selene, who should be running to ring the bell at this moment.

Then, he saw Selene treading the clouds towards the battlefield’s other end; the Great Bell stood still, without a sound.

"Huh?"

Fingerley was taken aback. The bell wasn’t rung... but the cloud remained? And the area was still accessible?

"What are you doing?" he shouted loudly, "Slow down, what if there’s danger?"

He shouted as he followed, stepping on the sky-high clouds, feeling quite surreal.

"Aren’t you curious what’s beyond the clouds?"

Selene’s voice sounded exceptionally lively, a vitality never heard in the Royal Palace, like an adventurer purely satisfying their curiosity.

She hopped on the clouds as if liberated from beneath the Five Elements Mountain, her silvery bell-like laughter faintly heard.

The Nameless King adhered to a principle; he truly wouldn’t appear unless the bell was rung, and even the battlefield was openly accessible, without any Fog Gate blocking it.

"Doesn’t he worry we’ll set some traps here beforehand?"

Fingerley quipped, and at that moment, he saw buildings emerge on the other side of the foggy area, resembling a broken bridge, conveniently connected by clouds.

On the broken bridge sat several Dragon-men, who appeared different from the road-side Little Dragon People, with larger bodies and skin closer to that of rock; even their heads were more menacing.

Were these more advanced beings within the Dragon-men, transformed using the Radiant Dragon Stone?

Fingerley couldn’t help but glance a few more times. If they could become like this, he might find it acceptable, at least more appealing than ordinary Little Dragon People, if only slightly.

Besides the Dragon-men, a large amount of debris littered the ground. Upon closer inspection, these fragments contained some already weathered armor.

After enduring the erosion of long years, the surface of the armor no longer showed any discernible patterns, leaving only their general shape.

The size of the armor is considerably larger than that of a normal human, resembling something a giant would wear.

But why does he feel a sense of familiarity when looking at these?

Not far away, he saw Selene standing there and said:

"Why are you running so fast, did your sixth sense detect Ornstein again?"

He spoke this with a teasing tone, expecting Selene to retort if all went as usual.

However, this time the Princess didn’t respond but instead fell silent, completely different from her earlier lively self.

He sensed something unusual and walked over to inquire.

At this moment, Selene was holding a piece of Hand Armor, furrowing her brows and turning it over repeatedly with the sound of a gasp.

"What’s the matter?" Fingerley’s voice came through.

She shook her head, gently put down the Armor which could no longer be clearly seen, and displayed a tangled and puzzled expression, hitting her head twice.

It looked like a piece of performance art.

"Can you help me find these armors and collect them all?"

"It’s not a problem," Fingerley nodded, "but are we okay wasting time here? Don’t you want to have another look at the Nameless King?"

"No, this issue with the armor is most important right now!" she declared firmly.

What’s going on again...

Fingerley was confused about what the Princess was thinking, he signaled to his companions, and began rummaging through the rubble to find more armor.

The armors showed a tendency to fuse with the rocks at the Ancient Dragon Peak’s top, and many had fractured over time, making the search quite difficult.

Selene was searching too and was very serious about it, her gaze was different from usual.

Her demeanor sparked thoughts in Fingerley, not many things could make Selene show such an expression, he suddenly thought of Ornstein.

Once these weathered armors are linked to Ornstein, they really look more and more alike, even the size seems to match.

His mouth twitched slightly, thinking: No way, could I really have been right? Could we actually be witnessing the end of the Lion Knight here?

Perhaps it’s not Ornstein’s armor, there are so many similar things, maybe...

"Could you help me take that spear down?" Selene’s voice called out again, and as he turned back, he saw Matilda pulling down a spear stuck in the wall.

Perhaps the weapon could no longer withstand the passage of time, it broke, but its shape still retained the original form.

Fingerley’s expression changed instantly because he recognized the weapon, it was the spear used by Ornstein!

Then the owner of these scattered armors is—

Accompanied by Aleya finding a lion-shaped helmet from the rubble, all conjecture came to an end.

This is Ornstein’s armor!

A moment later, everyone gathered the scattered armor and placed it together, as they gazed at it, the atmosphere fell into silence.

Selene squatted in front of the armor, with her back to everyone, they didn’t know what her expression was now, nor what she was thinking.

The atmosphere became somewhat troublesome. Fingerley couldn’t help but feel a bit of a headache.

Though he jokingly wanted to see Selene crying, he didn’t expect the joke to come true.

He preferred seeing others’ smiles...

Aleya suddenly pushed Fingerley, and he sighed and walked over to gently say:

"Well, you see, even though the armor is here, it doesn’t necessarily mean Ornstein died here, right? You don’t have to be too sad."

"Also, you know, Ornstein and the Sun Elder Son were dragon-hunting companions, when friends meet it’s surely a scene of peace—"

Wait, I found a blind spot!

The word "peace" hadn’t yet been uttered when Fingerley suddenly realized something.

Ornstein was friends with the Sun Elder Son in dragon hunting, but the latter suddenly lived with dragons and was exiled, so what did the former come to the Ancient Dragon Peak for?

In an extreme scenario, could it be they fought each other?

Then Ornstein died by the hands of the Sun Elder Son!?

Thinking of this, he was at a loss for how to console Selene, for the first time feeling his eloquence failing.

If she ends up crying her eyes out, what should I do...

At this moment, Selene finally made a sound.

"Hehe..."

"?"

Every member of the Hasavi Team collectively expressed a question mark.

Did they hear "hehe" just now?

Not the sound of sadness "uu", but "hehe", even with a hint of mischievous joy?

Could the Princess be going mad!

Fingerley looked over with an odd expression, then his face became extremely animated.

Selene was hugging the lion helmet, her face displaying an indescribable smile, muttering to herself:

"I got Ornstein’s original flavor again..."

Are you sane!?