The black cat suddenly spoke, causing Skinorse to jump in fright. However, Skinorse had experienced things from all over the world and had seen many unbelievable things himself. Therefore he was quickly able to regain his composure.
He gazed at the black cat perched on Nana's shoulder unmoving and laughed. "This cat is cute."
The black cat rolled its eyes at Skinorse and said indifferently, "When I'm talking to Link, mortals like you shouldn't butt in."
Its voice was very clear and bright. Coupled with its round face and eyes that were half closed as though asleep, it gave off an impression that it couldn't care less. Seeing it would make one want to grab it and give it a hug.
Skinorse laughed once more and said, "Hehe, how interesting. You talk really big. Could you possibly be the cat god?"
The black cat's eyes were half opened, and it said lazily to Link," Are you going to listen to me, or let this mortal continue interrupting me?"
"Alright, go ahead," Link said. He smiled apologetically to Skinorse, thinking of the confrontation between him and the black cat. "Let's go with the bad news first."
"The bad news is, Isendilan used two other divine spells, causing the rift to expand greatly. Because of that, the energy from the Sea of Void is entering into Firuman and causing the density of Mana to increase rapidly. In one year, it will be double from now, and in two years, quadruple. The Mana would build up to a point where Firuman can no longer handle the Mana and Boom! This place will become a great big firework."
Skinorse was stunned. He swallowed his saliva, saying to Link, "Lord, this cat is talking nonsense right? Isn't Firuman doing fine?"
Link didn't answer Skinorse. He had been prepared for the black cat's news. "How long do we have?"
"About 15 years. Unless something unexpected happens, there's no way to undo it. Anyway, I've got no ideas."
"What about the good news?"
"Good news is, I've figured out the rule of the Dark Serpent, and I know the way to defend against the dark magic. If you want to learn it, it'll take about half a month…But this magic will require huge amounts of Mana. You won't be able to handle it alone and will need to construct a large magic seal."
"No problem, you can begin teaching me now," Link said. His current Maximum Mana was 18500 points. After slaying Isendilan, he had about 700 Omni Points. This enabled him to raise his maximum Mana to 25500 points.
It seemed like a lot, but if he were to consume all his Mana completely, it would only be enough to cast one Level-11 Legendary Attack magic spell. He definitely wouldn't be able to deal with the dark magic alone.
As for the collapse of Firuman, it sounded very serious, but it actually wasn't. They still had 15 years which was a pretty long time. The most important danger right now was the Dark Serpent, and they could decide what to do with the rift after getting past this obstacle.
Meanwhile, Skinorse could feel his heart thumping. He had no idea how true the black cat's words were, but judging from Link's serious expression, he was sure that it was 90 percent true.
"Sir, you're joking… Right?" Skinorse asked once more. He was holding on to the thin thread of hope.
The black cat turned to look disdainfully at him. "Pitiful mortal, do I look like the type to joke?"
Link nodded his head. "It's true. Regarding the rift, it's good enough that you know about it. Don't spread it."
Skinorse suddenly felt like there was no more hope in life. "Sir, is there any way to repair it?"
Looking at Skinorse, Link didn't continue giving him extra pressure and stress. "Yes, there is."
Skinorse let out a sigh of relief and pat his chest. "That's good, that's good. Gave me a shock."
The black cat disdainfully rolled its eyes again before it began to lick its paw.
They hit the road again, and along the way, the black cat began to teach Link how to resist the Dark Serpent's dark magic. It was very deep and obscure. Out of curiosity, Skinorse attempted to listen in on the conversation. Within three minutes, his head already felt like exploding.
Compared to this, he'd much rather play with the pretty magic puppet girl. The other party's reactions were very interesting, and it kept him entertained to no end.
Three days later, Link arrived on the border between the Golden Plains and Norton Kingdom.
This time, Link headed directly north, so they were traveling towards the northeast. After exiting the Golden Plains, they arrived at the perilous Hengduan Mountain Range.
This was the continent's biggest mountain range, spanning over 600 miles. Within it lived the Yabbas, Dwarves, and other Barbarian tribes.
The majority of the mountain range was covered in perilous terrain, with narrow paths that only mountain goats could traverse. Link and his party slowed down their pace by a lot.
At this point, Link no longer recognized the way. Fortunately, Skinorse was very familiar with the geography of the continent. He explained, "From here, we will pass through the Hengduan Mountain Range, about 800 miles long. After exiting the mountain range, we will need to walk for another 130 miles. There's a region there that would bring us straight through a corner of the Dark Forest. It could be dangerous."
Link asked, "Is that the fastest route?"
"Probably. Based on our current speed, we'll get there in about half a month," Skinorse replied.
"Half a month? That's quite a long time. Do you know where the Yabba city is?" Link's idea was to use the flying spell Storm Eagle to fly a short distance to reach the nearest Yabba city. Once there, they could use a flying ship to get to Orida Fortress. This way would save them a lot of time.
Skinorse waved his hand, saying helplessly, "The Yabba city is hidden deep within the mountains. There are also many hidden barriers surrounding their city. I'm not a Magician, and I don't really know their location."
Link only had a rough idea on where it was, and that was only from his experience in the game. Now, in reality, there would definitely be some differences. If he just went there without being able to find it, they would waste even more time.
Link also could not do anything. "Then let's pick up the pace."
He decided that he would use the Storm Eagle to help them travel the last part of the journey. That would help them save a lot of time.
Hengduan Mountain Range's trails were difficult to traverse. They were many steep cliffs around, and Skinorse's warhorse had fallen, breaking its leg. The wolf from the Beastman tribe was more adapted to this terrain and carried Link forward, bounding from rock to cliff agilely.
However, Skinorse was the one leading the way. Link had no choice but to let him use Nana's wolf while Nana herself had to walk.
In this manner, they rushed forward for two days when they suddenly saw black smoke coming from a forest in a valley up ahead. Every once in a while, there would even be sounds of explosions. They could vaguely make out flames in the distance. Clearly, there was a huge fire up ahead.
"What's going on?" Skinorse's curiosity was piqued.
Link immediately cast a Traceless spell on the group. "Come, let's go take a look."
The three of them increased their pace, climbing up onto the mountain cliff. Then, they descended down into the valley where they entered the thick forest. After walking for another three miles, they finally found the source of the flames.
"It's the wreckage of an airship! It just crash-landed!" Skinorse carefully approached the airship to inspect it.
"Wait, come back! There's a demon in the sky!" Link warned.
Through the dense canopy, he could see ten black figures with black wings circling in the sky. Each of these figures was about 13 feet long, with a wingspan of over 16 feet. They held weapons that emanated black gas.
Based on the aura, these demons were at least Level-6 or Level-7. There was even a level-8 Warrior among them. Looking closely, there were many corpses around the area. Some of them were Yabbas, while others were demons. There was also a dark elf and his mount, a black winged condor.
"Those are Winged Howlers, a high tier demon. They're very hard to deal with and will let out ear-piercing shrieks. They can also reach high speeds of 600 km/h," Link said, carefully observing the situation.
The airship was already covered in the sea of flames, and the flames were reaching tens of feet high. Even where they were standing, 160 feet away, Link could feel the heat from the flames.
Obviously, the airship was no longer serviceable.
Skinorse said skeptically, "This place is 300 miles from the Black Forest. Why would these elves and demons come here, and why are they attacking the Yabbas? Based on what I know, the Yabba cities have heavy fortifications and numerous magic cannons on their walls. They also have many high-level magic guns. It's not wise to attack them."
Link kept his silence. Based on his memories of the game, the Yabbas were exterminated by the combined force of the Dark Elves and the demons. It wasn't because the Yabbas were weak. No, they just had too few people, and even fewer Warriors, less than twenty thousand. These Warriors were all spread out among the various cities.
At the same time, they were also overconfident in their military superiority based on their magic abilities and magic cannons, airships and high-grade magic guns. Besides using rune stones to hide their cities, they had few other defenses.
Ultimately, there was a traitor within their clan.
Because of the collusion between the internal spy and aggressors, the Dark Army paid a huge price in order to successfully destroy the Lariel, the capital of the Yabbas. Following that, the surrounding cities were sequentially destroyed, and all their populations killed. It was very cruel.
Now, the situation was happening again, and furthermore, one year earlier than in the game.
Link had no way to know if the airship was unexpectedly attacked or if the Dark Army had mobilized their forces. He needed more information.
In the game, after the Dark Elves conquered the Yabba cities, they gained huge benefits, including the mighty magic cannons. They also gained the magic airships that could transport huge amounts of troops, and this gave the allied forces no small amount of trouble.
It was important for them to figure out the situation.
"Lord, are we attacking?" Skinorse asked softly.
Link shook his head. "No, these Winged Howlers fly very quickly and are now quite dispersed. If we let even one escape, it would bring us a lot of trouble. We'll wait for them to go before searching the surroundings for survivors. We can ask them what happened."