Chapter 9: The Fire of Istria (Part I)
"What!?The Red Monster of Retreat to Eastria?"
At the Happy Boar Tavern where the Wings of Liberty meet, when Shaw informed him of the commission he had received, he was incredulous and asked, "Eastria...... Isn't that an island at the mouth of the sea northeast of Sharpster, and why would anyone come all the way to Zenda and entrust us with ......?"
Xiao Yi also explained uncertainly: "This is the most bizarre task we have ever received, the client is the elder of Sharpster Village, and he specially sent a young man to deliver a letter here. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info"
"What do you think?" he asked Mirror, who was smiling.
Jing also shook his head and said, "There must be something strange about this task, I am willing to listen to everyone's opinions~"
Xiao Yi sighed: "Ah Jing, you didn't say it...... I felt the need to take a look and solve it sooner...... Because Trevor and Rolf, those two stupid big guys, still have a mission entrusted to us!"
"Why don't you accept the work of the Holy Church first?" asked Mo Mocha.
She suddenly remembered something, the smile on her face disappeared, and she only said, "Because they are going to form some church guard team now...... We'll be back and we'll be on the next mission in about a week. ”
White, who was serving them food behind the counter, saw that Shoy had something on his mind, and said, "Although it is October, the edge of the Virginia snowfield is still like a harsh winter, and the past is ......."
"I don't want to mention that person's name anymore!!I don't care about the past!Now I'm going my own way!" she replied emphatically.
Nabal took some drawings from his luggage and asked, "I remember that a few years ago I approached the Istrian island because of the damage of the Goshawk, and I am familiar with the situation there!
A red apple slammed into Nabal's mouth, and the crumbs fell to the ground, and Shoey suddenly lost control, and yelled, "Fly boss! I knew you couldn't be trusted!
Nabal swallowed the apple fragment in his mouth, looked aggrieved, and replied, "Captain...... Can you stop smashing my mouth, I don't know anything about land routes, so I can only be a guide at sea. ”
“...... Then let's go!Why tea, you lead the way, let's go together this time! The new joiners should behave well~" She forced a smile and prepared to go.
White and Lemuel watched as Shaw left the tavern with the Wings of Liberty, and as soon as the five of them came out of Zenda, they mounted their fast horses and galloped away at full speed towards the border of Vegia......
Three days later, in an almost forgotten snow village in the northeast of the Virginia Snow Field, the group learned from the local villagers that this was the impoverished snow village of Sharpster, and that the elders who entrusted them that day lived in a corner of the snow village......
"Excuse me, anyone?" Shoey knocked on a snow-covered wooden house on the high ground in the northwest corner of the village, and it wasn't long before footsteps were heard behind the door, and a white-haired old man with a wrinkled face opened the door for them, and the old man led them into the house after self-identification.
In the small hut there were some fine wooden furniture, and the red wood in the stove in the middle of the room was burning vigorously, and the many furs on the walls kept the snow-covered wooden house at a comfortable temperature, and the old man brought some wooden chairs and sat down with the five of them by the fire, as if he had seen a savior, and quickly began to describe the troubles of the village.
"Young man, you have come all the way to my village, and I am so grateful as the village head!"
A few people took off their cotton coats that were wet with ice and snow, and warmed their cold hands with a fire, and Xiao Yi hurriedly replied: "We are very dedicated! Can the village chief tell me more about the commission?"
"Okay...... This was a month ago, and the island of Istria, which was originally outside the snowfield, was also covered in snow and ice, but one night, somehow there was a huge fire in Istria, and a few days later some daring hunters crossed the river to land on the island, only to find that the island had been burned away by the fire, and the land was full of dark wasteland...... At night, some monsters surrounded by flames would emerge from the ground out of thin air, and the hunters fled in panic and reported the situation to me......"
Kagami felt a little strange and asked, "Is that island valuable?" and doesn't look like it's worth using...... In that case, why not lose it?"
The village chief sighed and said helplessly: "Istria is of great importance to us, who are almost out of the protection of the Kingdom of Vegia...... It was where we grew our crops and domesticated our livestock, but now it's a blank field. ”
"Then what we need to do is to destroy these flame monsters? Doesn't that sound difficult!Just leave it to us~" She nodded with ten percent certainty, and was ready to go.
"Then please, there's one more thing...... We don't have much to pay for the commission, only some local ......," said the village chief, out of concern.
"It's okay!!!Then we're on our way!" She didn't care about the return, with the current situation of Freedom Wings, whose prestige was far greater than capital, under her leadership, the team pushed open the gate and returned to the cold snow, heading towards the island of the destination.
At dusk, in the light of the setting sun, the five men crossed the cold stream in waterproof animal skin boots, and some of the hunters who lived in the woods heard of their origins and volunteered to take them to the island of Istria at the mouth of the sea, leaving a dinghy as their means of return, after which the hunters rowed out of Eastria......
Shaw jumped out of the dinghy and stood on top of the Istrian wasteland, where there was not the slightest vegetation or snow in sight, only the surface of the ground toasted by fire and the foul smoke.
"Commander...... What are we going to do now?" asked Mo Cha, who quickly followed with the others.
"You'll find out when it's dark...... Let's find a place to wait!
As she led the group into the depths, the wolf on Sieg's waist suddenly resonated and said, "...... The flame element in the atmosphere is very disordered...... It looks like a fire could break out in this vicinity at any time...... It seems that there is another powerful force influencing them......"
"Ahh......h This is ventriloquism...... There's no need to exaggerate......"
"Hey, Sieg, do you feel something? Fire elemental in the atmosphere?"
Xiao Yi's question made him scramble, although the knowledge field of the Sky Wolf was extremely high, but Sieg himself didn't know anything about it, so he could only say perfunctorily: "Uh...... This one...... We'll get the results of this soon, so let's talk about it after dark!"
Under Sieg's resignation, everyone was not interested in continuing to ask, and the group led by Nabal and Shoy advanced towards the center of the plain island, which was less than ten hectares in area, and ten minutes later, the last glimmer of light in the sky also sank into the sea, and the bright full moon rose into the night sky, and the faint light of the stars shone on the earth......
Istria was unusually quiet at night, except for the footsteps of the five men, there was not the slightest sound around it, but the dead silence was broken in an instant, and every other distance on the entire island, pillars of fire erupted from the surface, instantly enveloping the entire island in flames.
"Everyone, be careful, watch your step!!" Xiao Yi walked back and forth through the raging fire, and the others followed in her footsteps, until they had passed dozens of meters between the pillars of fire, and a shocking scene appeared in the eyes of the group.
It was a few dozen meters away from them, two tall men were talking, and since both of them were lit by firelight, Xiao Yi easily recognized one of the red-haired men as Isaac who had appeared, and the other gray-haired man was very peculiar, he was wearing a black high-necked tunic with crow feathers on the neckline, and his body was tightly tied with belts at all joints, and half of his face was covered by an iron mask, giving people a very dangerous feeling.
"One last reminder!Hand over the Fire Elemental Gem!!!
"I remember you saying that to me a week ago...... I'm even beginning to wonder if you're capable of defeating me!!!" The Man in the Iron Mask was able to face the tough Isaac so calmly, and he also mocked Isaac's strength, which made Shaw, who had seen Isaac's terrifying strength, feel very uncomfortable, but she could only continue to watch.
Isaac clenched his fists, became angry, and threatened: "If you hadn't occupied the territory, you would have become a ghost of Uncle Ben's gun! I will kill you today!!"
An entrance to the Atlas suddenly appeared in the air nearby, and the magic spear of Hades, Devil'svein, flew out of the entrance and landed in his hand, Isaac turned his spear and aimed the tip of the spear at the face of the Man in the Iron Mask, and said, "Bastard!
"I just stumbled upon this place for me to practice, so let's practice your hands!" The man in the iron mask jumped on the spot, his body suspended above the ground, and a huge spherical flame appeared from his body, instantly causing a large explosion, and triggered an upward jet of flames from the nearby surface, and everything around the two of them was instantly enveloped in a huge fireball due to the explosion......
There was a loud bang in the fireball, and countless gun blades whistling, Isaac's magic spear spun and flew out of the flames, stuck in the ground, and when the fire gradually receded, I saw Isaac surrounded by dozens of gas-like monsters surrounded by flames, and the man in the iron mask sneered and watched Isaac and the fire monsters fight......
“