Chapter 71: The Cause and Effect of Omoland and the Abyss

Although Miss Vilyric and Xiao Guang both possessed flying abilities, considering that the latter’s dragon wings would be quite conspicuous in public, and the Priestess’s 【Divine Wings】 might attract unnecessary trouble in this race-based country, they chose not to reveal their wings. Instead, they decided to share a Cloud Soaring Falcon with Philena and Edwina.

Leila and Renée, like other Winged People, flew directly in the air. This time, Sigrid only brought over three hundred elite Winged warriors, including nearly one-sixth rare and powerful White Feather Clan members—these were the direct members of 【Free Wings】 who had always accompanied her on missions.

The rest mainly consisted of Red Feather warriors and a few Silver Wing Sky Mages. As the elite chosen to combat Abyss Beasts, these Winged warriors were mostly above level 20, close to the strength of the Shadow Guards under Liliya before she became queen.

Of course, with Her Majesty the Queen ascending the throne and gaining countless resources and the loyalty of strong individuals, her power naturally swelled. The Shadow Guards organization was no longer at its previous level.

For instance, the envoy group that had come to the Kingdom of Azure now included a dozen or so strong individuals riding other Cloud Soaring Falcons to support the Winged warriors, all of whom were former Shadow Guards now dispatched under the command of the queen, known as the 【Shadow People】 organization.

Each member was at least of high-level Earth class, and one-third had even reached Sky class.

This was the reason Liliya had previously mentioned to Vilyric that she would arrange sufficient elite protection for the envoy group, and under normal circumstances, it was unnecessary for the Priestess to intervene.

A total of fifty elite experts from 【Shadow People】 accompanied the group, consisting of ten Sky-level and forty Earth-level, all with rich combat experience. Such a terrifying lineup could only be assembled by Liliya, who had truly become the ruler of a nation.

Philena led the envoy to the Kingdom of Azure, primarily to investigate information related to the Abyss, and she certainly couldn’t miss this opportunity.

Sitting on the broad back of the Cloud Soaring Falcon, Sigrid didn’t chat while flying like Hilda had before but instead gathered everyone to recapitulate the situation for the latecomers, such as Vilyric.

The floating island currently under attack, named Omoland, was one of the smallest islands at just over one hundred square kilometers within the Kingdom of Azure. It was famed for producing a special magical crystal mine called 【Omolan Stone】.

According to Sigrid, while Omoland was small, it was one of the largest producers of Omolan Stones in the country, accounting for at least thirty percent of the annual total output. The products refined from Omolan Stone were high-quality and widely used rank 4 magic crystals.

These crystals had extremely strong and extensive elemental adaptability and capacity, along with excellent magical conductivity.

To put it simply, ordinary metals could not directly connect to magical power; to manufacture equipment above the level of magical weapons, the powdered form of Omolan Crystal was usually essential or offered the best cost-effectiveness.

Additionally, there was something else to note.

Though Omoland appeared to be part of the Kingdom of Azure to outsiders, the beings residing and governing this place were not Winged People.

As previously mentioned, the civilization of the one hundred thousand floating islands in the Kingdom of Azure was composed of two parts—Winged People led by the Wing Emperor and winged magical beasts ruled by the Sky King.

Unlike common human countries, the powers of the Wing Emperor and the Sky King were entirely intertwined in the Kingdom of Azure, each managing their own affairs without much conflict or close interaction, resulting in a rather loose coexistence.

However, overall, the Winged People were somewhat stronger; at least, the Wing Emperor was confirmed to be a Transcendent Level Expert, while the Sky King rarely made public appearances or displayed power and had not constructed a regular army like the Winged People, suggesting a tendency for independent action.

After all, the intelligence of magical beasts varied greatly, making management less convenient compared to the intelligent Winged beings.

Among all the habitable floating islands in the Kingdom of Azure, the Winged People occupied forty percent, the magical beasts ruled by the Sky King also occupied forty percent, with the remaining area being relatively sparsely populated for various reasons.

This was what Miss Sigrid claimed.

Their journey was to provide support to the attacked Omoland, which had sent out a distress signal.

Under normal circumstances, the Wing Emperor’s forces wouldn’t be suited to intervene so boldly in lands governed by the Sky King, but based on reports from Winged scouts scattered around the Son of Leviathan, Sigrid concluded that this attack was orchestrated by Abyss Beasts.

Logically, Abyss Beasts shouldn’t appear in internal regions like Omoland, as their main emergence points had long been firmly sealed off by the Kingdom of Azure.

This was quite strange.

Tracing back, the Abyss Beasts had begun appearing several years ago.

On that day, several massive blood-red beams of light had risen from the pitch-black Abyss, piercing through several floating islands scattered throughout the Kingdom of Azure.

These islands varied in size and were of differing functions, and Sigrid was unclear what had emitted those red lights or the purpose behind the unknown enemy from the Abyss shattering these floating islands.

However, this disaster undoubtedly had a tremendous impact on the nation at that time.

After the event, everyone lived in fear, worried that their own floating island would be next. The Wing Emperor urgently summoned high-level officials and the Four Wings to discuss this matter repeatedly and even reportedly held a private meeting with the current Sky King, who had not been in contact for quite a while.

The beings living within the Kingdom of Azure basically all had flying abilities, and typically even if they left the floating islands, they could temporarily ensure their survival.

But the beams of light were just too powerful and terrifying; smaller floating islands had reportedly been pierced through and shattered into debris, while even larger ones fell apart for unknown reasons and lost their ability to float, plunging into the Abyss below.

If the islands themselves were in such dire straits, one could only imagine the fate of the creatures living on them.

Just those few strikes had resulted in over a million deaths and disappearances across the forces of the Kingdom of Azure, with countless injuries. Cleanup efforts continued even today and had yet to be fully resolved; people like Leila and Renée were mere reflections of disaster victims.

Just as the authorities of the Kingdom of Azure were frantically dealing with the aftermath of the disaster, the Abyss Beasts appeared too.

They did not crawl randomly out from the entire Abyss but were mainly concentrated around the locations where those red lights had first appeared, allowing the Kingdom of Azure to react quickly amidst the initial confusion, dispatching troops to seal off the surrounding areas and build defenses.

However, Omoland was not in proximity to those locations, and the defenses had not been urgently breached during this period, making the large presence of Abyss Beasts there quite bizarre.

As they spoke, they had already reached the skies above Omoland, where black smoke billowed and magical lights flickered amidst various furious roars.

From a higher vantage point, Vilyric could easily see the entire small island, governed by the Sky King and inhabited by magical beasts.

The main part was a forest, interspersed with a few simple houses scattered within it, alongside some areas with very few plants, abruptly growing red stones. If things went as expected, this would be the so-called Omolan Stone mining area.

The island slightly dipped inward, with a small lake in the center, resembling… a floating iron pot?

The places with especially dense black smoke and roaring sounds were in the wooded areas surrounding that small lake.