Dangross was both somewhat pleased and slightly disappointed to see that Angel had actually forgotten. Pleased because Angelâs demeanor suggested he didnât expect anything in return; disappointed because, in Angelâs heart, Dangross seemed to carry little weight.
Well, if he carries little weight, so be it; Dangross has never really cared much for Angel⌠it thought to itself, trying to shake off these thoughts, but not only did they persist, the sense of disappointment started to grow.
Angel noticed Dangross hanging its head in silence, displaying an unhappy demeanor, which filled his mind with questions.
The incident at Malaya Ice Mountain? What happened anyway?
Angel quickly reviewed all the events following his arrival at Malaya Ice Mountain and seemed to recall something: âDo you mean what happened at Meina Glacier?â
Upon hearing Angelâs voice, Dangross quickly looked up, its eyes slightly brightened: âYou remembered?â
Angel nodded, âIf you mean the incident with Troysha, then yes, I remembered.â
âYour memory is even worse than my little brotherâs,â Dangross remarked, with a slightly curved smile, but the words it spoke carried a hint of complaint: âI just wanted to thank you for not handing me over to Troysha, that big demon, otherwise I might as wellâŚâ
Angel: âIn fact, you donât need to thank me for this, even if you were handed over to Troysha, it wouldnât do anything to you. Didnât it say it just wanted to see if you were qualified to inherit the name of Kalomchis.â
Dangross sneered, âDo you believe its reasoning?â
Angel nodded, âI believe it.â
Dangross skeptically eyed Angel, âAnyway, I donât believe it; if it took me away, it would definitely lock me in a dark ice prison and constantly drip icy water to wear down my flames⌠It would sneer as it tied me to an ice column, whip me with a spike-covered ice whip, and relentlessly torture my tender bodyâŚâ
The more Dangross imagined that scenario, the greater its trembles became.
Angel: ââŚâ
Angel: âI think you might be overthinking it? Paranoid delusions?â
âI am not overthinking; Troysha is a big demon, all ice system creatures are demons!â
âBut Troysha is a water system creature.â
â⌠As long as theyâre elemental creatures from Malaya Ice Mountain, whether theyâre ice system creatures or water system creatures, theyâre big demons, big villains,â Dangross said hatefully.
Angel saw Dangrossâs expression both filled with resentment and showing some relief from surviving a previous ordeal. He understood that this was indeed Dangrossâs genuine belief.
Essentially, it stemmed from the historical legacy between the Region of Fire and Malaya Ice Mountain.
He recalled that when he first arrived at the Region of Fire, Earl Mi had only exhibited ice system powers, and Dangross had unhesitatingly engaged him in battle. Clearly, to Dangross, ice system creatures are its lifelong foes.
However, Mr. Magu didnât show such resentment when discussing Malaya Ice Mountain; why has Dangross become such a staunch ice adversary?
Angel shook his head, not knowing what to say about this.
From his standpoint, the elemental creatures at Malaya Ice Mountain generally werenât bad, which was precisely why he was willing to believe that Troysha didnât intend to harm Dangross.
But from the standpoint of fire element creatures, Dangrossâs caution seemed reasonable, after all, ice and fire are incompatible, itâs just that Dangrossâs reaction is somewhat excessive.
âAlright then, I accept your reasoning. Thereâs no need to thank me, since Mr. Magu entrusted you to my care, I couldnât possibly let you come to harm, thatâs simply what I should do,â Angel said with a smiling face, gently patting Dangrossâs hand.
The affectionate gesture made Dangross slightly bashful, but quickly, it regained its composure, with a slightly disappointed expression: âOnly because of Mr. Magu?â
Looking at Dangrossâs disappointed face, Angel gently laughed: âOf course not, even without Mr. Maguâs instructions, I wouldnât have handed you over.â
Dangross was momentarily stunned, no longer asking why, but lowering its eyebrows and murmuring: âNevertheless, I still want to thank youâŚâ
After a pause, Dangross lifted its head again: âOf course, Iâm only thanking you for not handing me over to Troysha, I wonât thank you for pushing me down!â
With that, Dangross turned its head awkwardly, pretending to look at the scenery outside.
Angel leaned forward: âSo, earlier when you were silent, you were pondering how to thank me?â
Dangross continued pretending to gaze at the scenery, almost to the point of reciting poetry.
Angel understood this brat was surely feeling embarrassed and decided not to probe any further about the thanks, instead changing the subject: âBy the way, the Region of Fire and MalayaâŚâ
Angel abruptly paused, stopping his words, looking around in puzzlement.
The surroundings were a bright blue sky, with only occasional gentle breezes, nothing else, not even clouds close by.
Angelâs sudden pause and alert expression also caught the attention of Lobal beside him.
Lobal said, âLord, is something wrong?â
Angel pondered for a moment, âDid you sense anything unusual around us?â
âUnusual?â Lobal shook his head, âIâve been vigilant, but havenât noticed anything.â
After Lobal spoke, he also checked with Speedy, who likewise provided a negative answer.
Lobal and Speedyâs answer didnât surprise Angel, because he had already covertly contacted Earl Mi before asking Lobal. Earl Miâs answer was also negative.
Earl Miâs answer practically confirmed it.
Itâs important to know that Earl Mi is genuinely a working machine; once assigned reconnaissance and alert duties, it never relaxed. Coupled with its strong power and higher danger perception ability than Lobal and Speedy, it hadnât sensed anything, others certainly would not be able to sense anything.
Hence, Angel trusted Earl Miâs judgement.
But this time, Angel harbored slight uncertainty. While speaking with Dangross earlier, his spiritual sense slightly stirred, vaguely sensing a feeling of being watched, and the sense of observation wasnât distant, as if right beside him. Yet when he regained awareness, the feeling vanished.
âCould it really be my illusion?â
Angel pondered for a moment but couldnât figure out what was happening, so he chose to remain silent for now, looking up at Lobal: âWhere are we now? How much further to the destination coast?â
Lobal: âWeâve already left Malaya Ice Mountainâs area, currently at the midsection of Gentle Wave Sea. The nearby coast is past Flashing Mountains, and further along the coast is Black Thunder Pool.â
âAs for our destination coast, as itâs in a non-governed zone, we need to proceed further. At our current speed, itâll still take another two days to arrive.â
Angel nodded: âAre there any formidable beings in the nearby elemental territories? Especially those with concealment abilities.â
Lobal thought for a moment, then said, âThere are indeed some powerful thunder creatures in the Flashing Mountains and Black Thunder Pool, but as for concealment abilities⌠none.â
âEven if they had them, with their energy fluctuations, it would be almost impossible to escape the surveillance of âWindâ.â
Angel nodded again, believing what Lobal had said. For an elemental creature like Lobal, he was very sensitive to elemental energy fluctuations.
Since Lobal said so, it should be the truth.
However, Angel always felt that his spiritual sense shouldnât be wrong either.
Unable to figure it out, Angel could only temporarily set it aside.
He glanced at the clear sky around him, then refocused his attention on Dangross.
Dangross looked around suspiciously: âMr. Pat, is everything alright?â
Angel shook his head: âItâs fine now, letâs continue with the previous topic. By the way, Iâve always wondered why there is enmity between the Region of Fire and the Malaya Ice Mountain. Malaya Ice Mountain drifts on the sea, while the Region of Fire is far inland. How did you two end up fighting?â
Dangross: âWell, thatâsâŚâ
Dangross began to babble on, and as it spoke, the Gondola slowly left the area.
Long after the Gondola departed, a breeze swept through.
The wind came and went, silent and unnoticed.
âŚ
On the Gondola, Dangrossâs voice continued.
âStop. I already know, you donât need to repeat it,â Angel interjected during a pause, quickly interrupting Dangrossâs babble.
âDid I repeat myself?â Dangross, who had been speaking with righteous indignation and fervor, asked somewhat confusedly after being interrupted by Angel.
âYouâve repeated it three times already,â Angel said. âI know the specifics now, thereâs no need to keep saying it.â
Dangross opened its mouth for a while, and finally muttered, âAlright, I get it.â
Dangross put on a pouty face, but Angel ignored it. He wasnât making things up earlier; Dangross had indeed repeated the same thing three times over.
The reason it didnât realize it was purely because it got carried away. When speaking of the grudge with Malaya Ice Mountain, Dangross couldnât wait to berate every single ice creature. By the time it got to the end, it forgot what it had said earlier, resulting in continuous repetition.
However, Angel did extract some key information from what it said.
The hatred between the Region of Fire and Malaya Ice Mountain had been accumulating for thousands of years. Although Dangross wasnât sure of the specifics, the trigger for the enmity seemed to be Kalomchis.
Because Dangross repeatedly mentioned afterwards that Malaya Ice Mountain had sneaked to the Region of Fire multiple times, intending to snatch Kalomchisâs remains.
And it was precisely because it involved Kalomchis that, as the âself-proclaimedâ successor of Kalomchis, Dangross harbored deep resentment towards all elemental creatures from Malaya Ice Mountain.
This was also why Dangross had imagined how the captors would punish it, even before Trilisha caught it. Because if it were in its place, capturing the ice creatures, it would treat them the same way.
Overall, itâs quite a cliched story. Angel only listened casually, having no intention to involve himself in the feud between ice and fire, for it seemed more like a petty squabble in a miniature war to him.
When humans enter the Tidal World, all old grudges have to be set aside.
Day and night alternated, and soon two days had passed.
During this period, they did not encounter any danger, arriving smoothly at the coast they intended to land on.
This coastline had no name, or rather, the coasts along the route were all nearly nameless. After all, elemental creatures, unlike humans, did not have a strong desire to name every place.
Only elemental territories or very special places had unique names, while other areas were mostly untitled.
Such unnamed areas were everywhere on the main continent of the Tidal World.
The coast Angel chose to land on was unnamed. The path they were set to take onward was unnamed.
They would cross many unnamed rivers, go over unnamed mountains, and eventually reach the destination: the Green Forest Domain.
The reason for choosing this route was because it was full of âunnamedâ areas. According to Lobalâs travel experiences, although not every elemental territory in the Tidal World was as harsh as the Baya Desert, there were still certain restrictions. Instead of wasting time figuring out these restrictions, it was more convenient and faster to choose an unregulated unnamed area.
Moreover, elemental territories generally had extreme environments, making entering them quite dangerous even without restrictions. For instance, wood creatures could never enter a fire territory.
It could be said that the vast majority of travelers and adventurers, traversing the Tidal World, nearly always chose the unnamed paths.
Angel also didnât wish to waste time in various elemental territories. Even for delivering the Shadow Box, there were messengers from the Region of Fire who could do that. Hence, he chose to take the unnamed road straight to the Green Forest Domain, to quickly resolve the matter of Fengâs treasure. Then he planned to return to the Region of Fire to coax⌠or rather, sincerely invite Kelonkcro to become his elemental partner.
Re-entering the continent from the Gentle Wave Sea, under Lobalâs guidance, they moved forward, stepping from the unnamed coast into the unnamed mountains.
After flying approximately half an hour over the unnamed mountains, suddenly, a huge rumbling sounded from somewhere in the mountain range.
As the sound echoed, black smoke began to rise from the source of the noise.
âHuh, whatâs happening over there?â Lobalâs main head looked over curiously.
Lobalâs tail head glanced at the rising smoke, then turned to Angel: âMaster, should we go over and take a look?â
âNo need to court unnecessary trouble.â Angel shook his head.
Lobal nodded, preparing to instruct Speedy to move on when Dangross suddenly said beside him: âMr. Pat, how about, how about we go take a look?â
Dangross looked at Angel with pleading eyes.
âAre you curious?â Angel glanced at Dangross and slowly said, âYou know, curiosity killed the cat.â
Dangross didnât understand why curiosity would kill a cat, but now wasnât the time to ask: âIâm not curious, itâs just that I seem to see sparks floating in that black smoke.â
âSince thereâs fire⌠Iâm thinking, could it be a fire elemental creature?â