Chapter 568: Shangri-La

A black ancient city stretched under a burning sky. A single, beautiful red light danced on its streets.

“Looks like no knights are following us,” Lily muttered.

“Maybe we’ve passed beyond their patrol area,” replied another Lily – the real Lily in her true form, and the Envy Ray mimicking Lily’s appearance.

They were enveloped in the ominous red orb field. As Lily walked gracefully in her Ancient Velour dress, the Envy Ray drifted through the barrier like a jellyfish, a semi-transparent red glow.

It had only been a few days since Lily had begun calling this evil spirit monster “Ray,” but she had become so accustomed to its presence that it no longer bothered her.

“I was hoping to test this power a little more,” Lily said.

Her pale face showed not the slightest sign of fatigue or even a drop of sweat. Sounding rather bored, she gently touched her left eye, which had turned black.

“There’ll be plenty more soon enough!” Ray piped up.

After all, they were in the heart of the rank 5 dungeon, Godslaying Domain: Avalon. Thousands, even tens of thousands of ancient knights and their specialized monstrous allies lurked within. They would never be short of enemies.

“That’s true,” Lily replied in a flat tone, without the slightest tension. She gave a small flutter of the wings on her back. As a fairy, she had two pairs of glowing wings, but their shape had changed considerably.

In a word, they resembled the wings of a butterfly.

Originally, Lily’s fairy wings were slender and leaf-like, but now they spread wide like a magnificent blooming flower. Flowing, inky black lines formed a pattern like that of a black swallowtail butterfly, vividly accented with deep crimson light.

This terribly beautiful fairy-butterfly glow had manifested when Lily harbored the monster Envy Ray and accepted its power.

In this worst of all dungeons, where all Blessings were sealed, it displayed tremendous power-exactly because it was the power of a monster, not a Blessing, it was free of any restriction.

Perhaps Lily – who, while remaining human, could wield a monster’s power as her own – had already gone beyond what a mere mortal could be.

“Mm…” she murmured, suddenly stopping in her tracks and turning with a sharp look.

“What’s wrong?” Ray asked in her relaxed, childish voice.

“Nothing,” Lily said.

Her eyes were fixed on the huge defense tower that connected to the city walls. Several such towers dotted the great wall that served as the last line of defense for the Imperial Capital, and this was one of them. The number “21”, still recognizable by modern standards, was boldly written on it.

“Huh,” Ray replied disinterestedly, and Lily continued walking.

She walked openly along the alley, but encountered no enemies before reaching her next destination.

“Are we going through an underground area from here?” Lily wondered aloud.

She had stopped in front of a building that looked like a gate.

Looking into the wide open stone gate – where there was no actual door – she could only see a descending staircase winding down into the depths. Dim red lights embedded in the ceiling lit the way at intervals, but whatever lay below was shrouded in darkness.

“There was an underground city too, but this place…um, I think it’s where the metro thing is,” Ray explained.

“A…vehicle?”

“Uh-huh! It runs underground.”

“I see… I don’t really get it,” Lily said flatly.

She had no idea how something could move underground, but she decided there was no point in pressing Ray – who spoke like a child – for a clearer explanation.

Still, Ray, who had been born from Queen Beryl’s Red Crystal Sphere, which had been personally created by the Fairy Queen in ancient times, seemed to possess a vague store of ancient knowledge. Traveling alone through Avalon, this knowledge was at least somewhat useful.

“Oh, oh! These stairs move, see?” Ray chirped. “If you just apply magic power from over there-”

“Here?”

Next to the stairs was a panel like the cockpit hatch controls on Taurus’s back. Lily stretched a fingertip toward it.

“Eiii!”

At Ray’s shrill cry, a red bolt of lightning suddenly shot from Lily’s fingertip and struck the panel. With a crackling flash – like a small lightning spell hitting home – the panel blew apart.

“Didn’t that just break?” Lily asked.

“I-It’s fine, really!”

Ray’s childish protest was soon justified. Immediately, the stairs began to rumble and move.

“They’re really moving… So it just carries you down automatically,” Lily mused, watching the stairs descend at a comfortable pace. She quickly realized the convenience.

An automatically moving staircase – one might call it a lazy convenience. But such marvels were proof of how far advanced the magic technology of ancient times was compared to the modern era.

With that in mind, Lily stepped onto the Metro’s magic stairs. She let them carry her deep into the underground.

“…Finally, an exit,” she murmured to herself.

She now understood that this “underground vehicle” was not some mole-like contraption that tunneled through the ground, but rather a massive transport that ran through a large underground tunnel. Nevertheless, Lily ended up walking the entire length of the passageway, where in ancient times a ride faster than any horse would have carried passengers.

The tunnel was dark and free of patrolling knights, but it was a warren of disembodied undead – mostly ghostly apparitions. It was a tedious trek, fending off their mournful groans and half-hearted attacks in the dim corridors.

When Ray finally shouted, “Here it is!” and pointed to the exit, Lily was freed from the dreary darkness of the underground.

“Are we…actually outside now?” Lily asked.

She wasn’t just referring to climbing another long flight of stairs – this one automatically ascending – and coming up to the surface.

Rather, she was struck by the sight before her, so different from the ancient cityscape she’d been navigating.

“No, we’re still inside,” Ray said. She pointed cheerfully to the sky. Sure enough, the ominous red sky was unchanged. They were clearly still within the walls of Avalon.

Using the metro tunnel, they had circled the Demon King’s castle in the center and ended up on the side opposite the main gate.

Normally, adventurers would start their forays at the main gate and head straight for the center of the city. As a result, they were blocked by the walls of the Noble Quarter, so naturally, almost no one had explored the area behind the castle.

So Lily had just discovered a relatively safe new route to the back of the city. But what was more important to her right now was the scenery that was unfolding before her eyes.

“This place is more than just a ruin – it is a battlefield.”

Unlike the rest of the walled city, which still retained its ancient form, most of the buildings here had been reduced to rubble. It was a ruined streetscape, destroyed by war, not simply weathered by time like the ancient ruins found across the continent. Anyone who walked through these desolate remains would immediately notice that the destruction had been wrought by battle.

Not only were the buildings reduced to rubble, but the ground was pockmarked with craters here and there. Upon closer inspection, the remains of massive mechanical constructs could be seen, clearly distinguishable from the rubble of ordinary buildings.

These scattered chunks, which retained faint traces of their original shape, suggested giant humanoid limbs. It was enough to conclude that this must once have been a colossal battlefield where humanoid war machines – much like Taurus – had clashed.

Looking at these hollow ruins, Lily thought of the great magical wars of ancient times, so far beyond modern standards. She walked on until Ray suddenly shouted,

“There it is! Over there, Lily!”

They had arrived. The destination Ray called “paradise.

Lily hadn’t asked Ray what it was. She had nowhere else to go, and more importantly, she was sure that wherever Ray was taking her, it would be the right place for the trial of love she had undertaken.

Indeed, her intuition proved to be correct.

“It looks like a fun place… I can feel it – so much joy and excitement from so many people,” Lily murmured.

In a word, it was a “castle.” A tall iron fence stretched on and on, so wide that its end was out of sight, drawing a clear line between it and the ruined city outside.

Beyond that fence lay a space that seemed to be from another world, its buildings bearing unfamiliar designs. But inside the fenced area, everything seemed as it once had been, untouched by the devastation outside.

On the wide avenue where Lily stood, a straight line of sight led directly to a pure white castle in the center – its radiant presence standing out in this black and red dungeon.

Compared to the royal castle of Spada or Fort Galahad, it was rather small. But what was striking was that, while it was a “castle,” it wasn’t built with defense in mind. Rather, its ornate facade seemed to be designed purely for show, like a royal display of splendor. It didn’t look crass, perhaps due to the refined aesthetic sense of its ancient builders.

Its pristine white walls were without a single stain; the tall spires of its roof shone a vivid blue. And the brilliant lights that bathed the castle in every possible hue gave it a strangely heart-stopping appeal.

“Come on, let’s go!” Ray urged, tugging at Lily’s arm.

Like the castle itself, the main gate seemed more for show than security, hardly a barrier against intruders. Like the automatic stairs in the Metro, following Ray’s instructions to apply magical power caused the gate to open effortlessly.

Stepping through, Lily found herself in a vast open garden – one so vast that “garden” seemed an understatement.

“The flowers are all dead. What a shame,” she said.

“We can make them bloom again!” Ray replied.

A huge fountain stood in the center, surrounded by flower beds and ornaments. Not a single blossom remained, but it was easy to imagine how magnificent it must have been in its heyday.

Flanking the castle on either side were several other buildings – palatial structures like first-class hotels or temples. There was even a circular building that looked like an arena.

However, there were also many bizarre things scattered around the area, such as a towering disk that was set on its side, or an extremely tall tower with a pendulum attached to it. There was a puzzling installation of giant teacups, seemingly large enough for people to sit in, arranged in a row. A ring of horse and carriage figures reminiscent of a modern-day carousel. Even a single dilapidated mansion that looked haunted amidst all the immaculately maintained buildings.

Lily could only guess at the tastes of the old noble or Elrod royal family that had built this place.

Still, somehow it felt delightful. Even leaving aside the hopeful vision of making this place a private paradise for herself and Kurono, Lily found her heart fluttering with excitement.

Indeed, the ancient people who had once come here had laughed and rejoiced without exception. As Lily walked these grounds, she felt their lingering feelings seep through the land itself, brushing her telepathy with faint but clear echoes of happiness and exhilaration. There was no hint of the bitterness or resentment that so often stained remnants of the past – no curse to be found here. It was the kind of place that would be well suited for a temple.

“This is a beautiful place. I can definitely see a wonderful paradise being built here,” Lily mused.

“Yes! The Fairy Queen also came here with someone she really loved. It’s a place full of memories!” Ray said brightly.

No doubt, the women whose lives ended as raw material for this Queen Beryl’s Red Crystal Orb had witnessed this scene through tears of blood.

It seemed that only those who had triumphed in a fierce war of love could enter – this was a celestial realm of romance.

Indeed, it was fitting.

“But the real reason you brought me here… is this,” Lily said.

“Huh?” Ray blinked in confusion.

Lily was pointing – not at the symbolic white castle, but behind it. Rising like a mountain and lying in dark repose was something enormous…unimaginably enormous.

At a distance, its silhouette was so vast that Lily could only guess at its size. But up close, there was no doubt.

It was, without question, a gigantic ship.

“How strange. This was never an ocean in ancient times, yet this massive ship is here,” Lily observed.

Its massive hull plunged deep into the ground like a keel, almost vertical but still upright. Its total length probably approached five hundred meters. The bridge-like structure was as large and tall as an entire castle. A particularly tall spire that seemed to pierce the sky must have been at least a hundred meters high, even measured from the deck.

Having grown up in the forest and never seen the sea, Lily could only think, “What a big ship. But for someone from a modern seafaring nation, even that country’s mightiest battleships wouldn’t come close to its size – ten times as big still wouldn’t be enough.

It was a stark demonstration of how advanced ancient magical technology had been compared to modern times. Lily looked up at the colossal black hull that seemed to merge with the darkness with obvious satisfaction.

“Oh, it’s called a ‘Sky Battleship,'” Ray chimed in, as if recalling some distant memory.

“A ship that… flies?” Lily asked, her eyebrows raised.

“Uh-huh, it flies! Although I bet this one can’t anymore.”

“What a shame. It would be nice if I could fly it away to pick up Kurono,” Lily mused.

With the same power source as Taurus, it almost seemed possible.

But from its silent form, resting in the shadows with nothing but darkness inside, it was all too easy to guess that its systems were dead. If they could find even one usable part, that would be a stroke of luck.

“But I didn’t know this was here either,” Ray said. “It must have fallen here a long time ago.”

“Did it?”

“Yes.”

“Then is there anything else you know about it?”

“Well, it’s the ship the Fairy Queen used! At least I know its name!” Ray replied with a cheerful smile.

“Shangri-La. I see. So you don’t know any other details,” Lily repeated with a nod.

“Uh-huh, sorry,” Ray said sheepishly.

“It’s okay. Just knowing her name is enough. And if the Fairy Queen herself rode this ship… heehee, then it’s surely a gift she sent to me,” Lily said.

Thank you for the wonderful gift. I’ll be sure to make good use of it, Lily silently prayed to the fairy goddess, though she knew the gesture would never go that far.

“Well then,” she said, “first we’ll have to defeat the master of this place and convince him to surrender his domain – the Oracle Field, full power.”

In an instant, the Oracle Field glowed crimson, and at that moment, a lance of blue lightning shot through it. It looked less like lightning and more like the brilliant beam of Kurono’s plasma blaster. At first glance, its intensity and magical aura seemed to be at least equal to, if not greater than, Kurono’s own.

A blast of such power and speed would reduce most targets to ashes. Only high-level dragons or certain monsters with exceptional defense and resistance could withstand a direct hit.

Even Lily’s Oracle Field would be pierced by a direct hit – but it happened to be particularly well suited to this type of attack.

The bolt of blue lightning that rushed toward Lily twisted the moment it touched her crimson barrier. The spear of electricity veered skyward, scattering its tremendous destructive power uselessly across the red sky.

“What incredible firepower. Far beyond that of the Taurus – no surprise for a true ancient weapon: a knight’s frame,” Lily remarked. Her words aside, a satisfied grin tugged at her lips. She fixed her mismatched black and emerald eyes on a single massive figure.

Had it just appeared there? Or had it been there all along?

Either way, it stood openly and proudly on the deck of the mountainous Sky Battleship Shangri-La. He had a humanoid silhouette – unlike Taurus’ stocky, awkward frame, his limbs were long and slender, almost model-like. Yet he easily exceeded ten meters in height.

His white body served as a base, clad in armor that resembled a helmet and breastplate tinted a deep blue. The elegant two-tone of white and blue presented the image of a beautiful steel knight, wielding a formidable ranged weapon, silently aiming at Lily.

The weapon in his right hand was not a staff, but a pistol. Its shape was similar to the rifle Simon used, and Lily immediately sensed that it was an advanced form of firearm.

It dawned on her once again that Simon must indeed be a genius to have invented something that resembled the main weapon of an ancient civilization.

But the object in his left hand was unmistakably a shield – proof that the fundamentals of weaponry were similar in both modern and ancient times.

Still, it was not to be underestimated.

Mere heavy machinery-a work-oriented power loader-had made Taurus so difficult to defeat. This was a true battle golem, refined by advanced ancient magic technology, specialized solely for killing.

Its true power was anyone’s guess. Certainly it was not the kind of enemy a lone human should face.

Yet Lily felt neither fear nor hesitation.

“All the better. The more difficult my trial, the more worthwhile it is to overcome.”

The crimson oracle field suddenly flickered with a black, flame-like hue. Glowing red-black in ominous radiance, Lily drifted gently upward as if gravity no longer applied.

“Please, Kurono, lend me your strength… Let’s face this trial of love together.”

Wings as terrifying as they were beautiful sliced through the air, and Lily soared toward the ancient knight’s frame, resurrected from ages past.