Chapter 60: The Uncrossable Final Layer

"Your Imperial Highness, why don't you go and investigate the Castle in the Sky yourself?"

Bane took a deep breath, his expression extremely grim. At this point, he had no way to break through Seighart's blockade to reach the Castle in the Sky. His only option was to ask Isabella to go alone, hoping to secure some reward or useful information.

Otherwise, this trip to the Floating Castle would render Bane's efforts practically useless. The empire's nobles would not care about the Lord of Light or the Lord of Darkness; they would only seize upon his inaction to relentlessly criticize him before the Emperor.

And for the person who had given him that ring, it certainly would not be a satisfying answer.

Isabella nodded. She was simply very interested in Bakal's Castle in the Sky. As for the deep, scheming thoughts Bane harbored in secret, she hadn't bothered to ponder them at all.

Would the Imperial Princess care about a viscount's anxiety regarding her own safety?

A ring was quietly slipped into Isabella's pocket. Then, Bane put on a dejected, crestfallen expression, sat down on a patch of ground, and mournfully stroked the notched blade of his short sword.

"Heh..."

The old man suddenly let out an ambiguous chuckle.

Bane's steadily beating heart instantly leapt into his throat, and his face turned even darker...

Pulling petty tricks in front of G.S.D was practically equivalent to cursing Bakal as a fool right in front of Seighart.

"It's cold..."

Yulina's teeth were chattering. Above the clouds, completely exposed, the howling gale was far from something a mere clerical uniform could block.

"If you're cold, hold on tighter."

Night Lin's heart was also somewhat unsettled. On such a dangerous suspension ladder without guardrails, who knew if two of them might suddenly lose their floating ability due to age and disrepair?

His heart pounded violently. Shiat and Mayu had already reached the top ahead, and Princess Isabella had also run up at lightning speed.

"I'm a bit shaken. The clouds actually drifted right over..."

Night Lin swallowed hard, though he was merely pretending. Yulina, however, had gone completely limp, draped over his back like a boneless creature, soft and tender.

"Stop talking. If I get distracted and fall, it'll entirely be your fault."

Yulina froze, and then gnashed her teeth in fury. Shouldn't carrying someone involve clasping their knees? What kind of madness was it to grab her thighs?

Even more infuriatingly, she had been hit with an order to remain silent!

"We only have an hour. Well, theoretically, the Princess and I have an hour—your protective amulets haven't shattered yet."

Having reached the Castle in the Sky, Night Lin calmly ignored Yulina's murderous glare and pulled out an amulet that had already turned into a pile of debris.

There are two Eyes of Sin, respectively the left and right eyes. When he found Bane, he had been stared at by one of them once. Shortly after the old man and Seighart began fighting, the other eye had also awakened.

"Are these armors the Exorcists?"

Shiat gazed at the ancient gray armor before her. As they approached, the surface of the armor lit up with a layer of fluorescent light, rapidly shifting from gray to blue, wielding longswords or great axes as weapons of attack.

Night Lin tried using the Fifth Element to directly distort these resurrected suits of armor. Perhaps because the armor was imbued with magic, turning a single Exorcist into a clump of scrap metal required consuming a third of his magical energy.

***

"Let's move."

Unlike the Exorcists in the Dark Corridor, the Exorcists of the Castle in the Sky possessed greater coordination. They often formed battle arrays and charged together, posing an extreme threat.

Moreover, what surprised Night Lin was Isabella. Despite her noble status as an imperial princess, every single one of her attacks was fierce and decisive. Her powerful legs could even kick a dented footprint into an Exorcist's metal breastplate.

What a pair of legs!

"This is Bakal's trial? Nothing special, really."

Isabella crushed the charred skull of a goblin underfoot, her tone somewhat dismissive.

This goblin had claimed to be "General Iae," hoarding a bunch of incendiary bombs and darts, hiding in a high vantage point to launch surprise attacks with hidden weapons, only to be blown half to death by Night Lin's accurately placed grenade.

Throughout the entire upward climb, aside from "Akeshon," a red-armored Exorcist who was rather troublesome—requiring the combined, full-strength efforts of Shiat, Mayu, Isabella, and Night Lin's Fifth Element to barely overcome—the rest of the monsters seemed hardly worthy of being called a trial.

"Wuwuwu~"

The sudden sound of crying made Isabella's heart tighten. Wasn't the Castle in the Sky just recently opened? Why would there be the miserable, pathetic crying of a human?

"Stop crying, you're useless!"

"Sister, I haven't eaten in days. And this isn't Elvengard—if we were hungry there, we could catch a Minotaur to eat. Here, there's just cold armor everywhere; you can't even bite through it."

"It seems like there was a fight below the Castle in the Sky. If we beat the enemy, we can get out of here. If you're really that hungry, go down and drag that goblin up here so I can roast it for you."

"I won't eat it. It stinks all over, and it's all bones."

"Then just endure it!"

"But I'm so hungry..."

Night Lin and Shiat exchanged glances, then looked at Mayu, spreading their hands in helpless resignation.

There was no mistaking it—Binoche and Kraflus, and they seemed to have starved to the point of desperation.

"Your Imperial Highness, don't attack the two humans up ahead. Those are our missing friends."

Compared to Kraflus and Binoche, whose eyes were glowing green with starvation, Night Lin was far more relaxed and leisurely, holding a bottle of milk in his left hand and two pieces of bread in his right, strolling gracefully up to the next level.

"Intruders, die... Huh... Huh... Huh?"

Seeing the intruders, Kraflus grabbed her wand, intending to attack, only to be greeted by Night Lin's expression of exasperated amusement, followed by several familiar faces trailing behind...

Instantly, her eyes welled up with tears. She tossed her wand aside, staggered forward, and cried out eagerly, "Is there food? Bread, milk, cake, anything will do! I'm about to starve to death."

"Right, two portions! Make it two! No, three! I'll eat two!"

...

"Ugh, why are you guys here? This is the Castle in the Sky, you know! We were tricked into coming here by an adventuring party that claimed dragon scales were valuable, but as soon as that party entered the Sky Tower, they vanished."

Kraflus's mouth was stuffed to the brim, her eyes rolling back. Night Lin had to force a cup of milk down her throat just to help her catch her breath. She hadn't eaten in days; she was simply too starved.

***

"We're here to drag the two of you troublemakers back. Fortunately, the place where you originally went mad was Elvengard; given your intelligence, you're only qualified to fight goblins and catgirls."

Night Lin sighed impatiently. Thank goodness this idiot had Binoche sticking by her side through thick and thin, otherwise she would have been skewered to death by the Exorcists long ago.

"What's up there?" Shiat pointed toward the higher level, which seemed to be the final one.

"Two giant eyes. Very creepy. I went up there once, got stared at by one of them, and instantly passed out."

Isabella's eyes lit up. She rushed past the others toward the suspension ladder, remembering Seighart saying that the evil gaze occurred once every hour, and there was still time to spare.

In adventuring, there are no formalities; who goes first and who goes last depends entirely on speed and skill. As for the rewards, they are determined by ability and destiny.

One minute later...

An Exorcist grabbed Isabella by the ankle and tossed her right back down to the bottom of the suspension ladder. The princess's pretty face was scraped and bloodied, and she herself appeared to have passed out...

"See? That's how it is. Aside from Exorcists, nobody can reach the top floor."

Kraflus pointed at Isabella with an innocent look. She had already warned that people would pass out, so why wouldn't they believe her?

"I'll try. God will protect me!"

Yulina cast buffs on herself, clutched her crucifix amulet, and slowly stepped onto the suspension ladder.

Her goal was right there. As long as she could see what the entity looked like, it would be much easier to consult ancient texts or ask a bishop afterward, thus completing her mission.

One minute later...

The Exorcist dragged Yulina back and casually tossed her down as well. Her amulet remained completely intact.

Uh...

"The Exorcists are fine. Could it be the effect of their armor?"

The revived princess touched her face. Minor scratches like this would heal with a bit of ointment; what mattered was what she had caught a glimpse of in that single instant!

A glowing golden book, and a horn radiating immense energy—a dragon horn!

It was floating right above the two Eyes of Sin.

The excited princess found a set of shattered Exorcist armor, clumsily pieced together a full suit, and charged up again.

Half a minute later...

The princess was tossed down once more. This time, the speed seemed even faster, and this time, she was completely knocked out cold.