Originally, Ellie was worried that the excuse she fabricated to cover up the magic ring on her hand would make Bell, the simple-minded big sister who knew the truth, act unnaturally.
However, Bell still looked like she had been saved, clinging tightly to Ellie, showing no signs of abnormality, which relieved Ellie considerably.
Although Ellie could secretly take off the ring, she wouldn't lower her combat power when the opponent's situation was unknown.
"Item appraisal..." Then, Ligurit, the Old Hag, directly took Ellie's left hand, which was equipped with the Champion Armor, and used Item Appraisal.
Ellie was not pleased with this; she agreed to let her look, but not to appraise it! Wouldn't an appraisal expose everything?
You know, Ainz's high-level Item Appraisal could even appraise the performance of native equipment like the Crown of Intellect. What if this Old Hag appraised the Champion Armor and found out it wasn't equipment that should exist in this world? Should she just turn hostile?
"Like the iron ingot your father gave Ged earlier, it cannot be appraised... It seems that appraising these items requires even higher-level appraisal magic." Ligurit shook her head, indicating her regret. Seeing Ligurit's regretful expression, Ellie immediately felt much more at ease, saving her the trouble of thinking up another excuse to fool her.
"Me! Can I take a look too!" Uncle Ged also got excited and scurried over. Seeing Uncle Ged's expectant face, Ellie couldn't refuse him, so she could only nod in agreement.
After it was Uncle Ged's turn, he also observed it carefully for a long time and even asked Ellie if he could scratch it with a knife. What else could Ellie say? She let him do it anyway, since the Champion Armor couldn't even be scratched by Zesshi Zetsumei's scythe.
So, after getting Ellie's permission, Uncle Ged took out his knife and made a few scratches on Ellie's gauntlet. Ellie could feel that the first two scratches were light, and the later ones became heavier and heavier.
Naturally... the Champion Armor had no scratches at all, just like new, which made Uncle Ged overjoyed. This time, he didn't even ask Ellie's opinion. He directly took out an iron ingot and rubbed the edges of that ingot on Ellie's gauntlet. The result was still no scratches.
"This... this... this is even harder than this iron ingot. I wonder what its resistance to magic is like? Can I attack it with magic and see!" Uncle Ged made another request.
This time, Ellie naturally would not satisfy his request. She just gave the dwarf uncle a silent, displeased glare.
"That's enough, Ged. Besides, you don't even know magic, do you? Do you really want me to use magic to attack my junior? I won't do such a thing. Furthermore, my magic can't even harm the iron ingot in your hand by a hair, let alone what should be a higher-grade armor." Ligurit also noticed Ellie's displeased expression and, quite helplessly, spoke up to stop the dwarf uncle's rampage.
After Uncle Ged apologized to Ellie, the group continued to walk forward for a while. This time, with the blessing of Ellie's Ice Aura, their speed was much faster than before.
However, Ellie's mood was a bit subtle. Originally, only Bell was clinging tightly to Ellie. Later, Ligurit, who was walking in front, also subconsciously slowed down and moved closer to Ellie... Finally, even Uncle Ged deliberately ran to Ellie's side.
Logically, the temperature within the range of her Ice Aura should be the same, right? Why were they all crowding around her? Was she just a walking air conditioner?
However, this situation did not last too long. Soon, Ligurit told Ellie to turn off her magic because they had arrived.
Next, they had to pass through the Sky City's barrier, so it was best not to use magic. That's what she said, but all Ellie saw was an endless desert, with no signs of reaching their destination.
It was called Sky City, so it should be floating in the air, right? However, this desert didn't even have a large rock, let alone a Sky City. Or was it hidden by the barrier Ligurit mentioned?
Since the barrier was brought up, Ellie deliberately activated her senses. Sure enough, there was something ahead, although she didn't know what it was, because what Ellie sensed was nothing at all, just like a blocked space.
A very large area ahead could not be sensed at all. Under normal circumstances, it would be impossible to sense nothing. It was as if there was a large blank area in the middle of this desert, which clearly told others, "There's definitely something wrong with this area, come and see!"
After turning off the Ice Aura, Ligurit continued to lead everyone forward. After a few steps, Ligurit stopped again and muttered something to the empty area in front of them. Of course, Ellie, with her super-sensitive hearing, heard it.
"Ligurit, who once visited years ago, has returned... Please grant passage." This was what Ligurit whispered. After saying it, Ligurit stretched her hand towards the barrier, which resembled an air wall. They saw Ligurit's hand disappear into it. Then, Ligurit turned back and nodded to Ellie and the others, signaling that they could enter together.
It seemed this barrier was quite advanced. If they walked through without permission, they would probably just pass through this vacuum area. Anyway, it's easy to get lost in the desert, and a sudden missing section of the road wouldn't be noticed by normal people. If they got permission, then they could directly pass through this air wall, right?
Afterward, the group followed Ligurit through the air wall. Although an endless desert was in front of them, after passing through the air wall, the true form of the Sky City finally revealed itself.
Although Ellie had seen many grand scenes and had visited several countries, even staying or being a guest in their royal palaces, she was still astonished by the sight before her.
The Eight Greed Kings were truly too playful, weren't they? It was called Sky City, and the city before her was indeed floating in mid-air, but it wasn't too high. The reason was that the Sky City before her was floating above a rather deep basin.
Moreover, below this basin was a large oasis. Although the surrounding environment was still desert, a large area after descending into the basin was a vibrant green landscape, and there were also lakes. The Sky City floated directly above the lake, and from the surroundings of the Sky City, several waterfalls flowed directly into the lake below, looking exceptionally spectacular.
After entering the barrier, the previous stuffy heat completely disappeared. They no longer felt like they were in the desert, and she didn't have to be an air conditioner anymore.
But then, how to get up? Could it be that the path to Sky City was on the other side of the city? Would they have to go a long way around? That would be too mischievous, wouldn't it? Was this deliberately done to show off the Sky City?
"This is truly... astonishing." Although she was a bit displeased about this, seeing Uncle Ged and Bell's astonished, speechless expressions, Ellie still felt she should show a bit of a surprised look. Being too calm might make Ligurit suspect her again.
"The first time I came here, I was just like you all, stunned by the sight before me, but there's something even more amazing coming up," Ligurit said with a smile, then walked ahead again.
Initially, Ellie thought Ligurit would lead them around the perimeter of Sky City to the back, but Ligurit didn't take a detour. Instead, she walked straight between two very prominent large trees.
Although the basin was right ahead, walking further would mean falling down. While other parts of the basin had slopes that weren't too steep, the area between these two large trees went vertically downward, seemingly designed that way on purpose.
And Ellie, looking towards Sky City from between those two large trees, also saw a gate-like structure directly opposite. But... where was the bridge? Where was the road? There was nothing in front of her!
Afterward, Ligurit made Ellie understand what she meant by "even more amazing." They saw Ligurit walk directly and resolutely across.
Bell and Uncle Ged hadn't even had time to call out to Ligurit when Ligurit had already stepped on it. Then they saw Ligurit standing suspended in mid-air on the cliff, turning back to signal Ellie and the others to follow.
The Eight Greed Kings were truly mischievous. They actually created a transparent bridge. If one didn't know beforehand, who could find the way up? How did the Thirteen Heroes find their way up back then!
With Ligurit leading the way, Ellie had no problem walking onto this transparent bridge. Then Bell came again, tightly clutching Ellie's arm and crossing with her eyes closed.
Although the dwarf uncle Ged didn't show any signs of fear, judging by his cautious steps, he was also a bit nervous.
After all, this was too different from riding a dragon. One could see the scenery underfoot by just looking down, and the key was that it was quite high. If someone like Bell, who was afraid of heights, had to walk by herself, she would probably crawl across.
Ellie didn't feel anything special. If it were her old self, although that self didn't have acrophobia, given her courage at that time, crossing this transparent bridge alone would probably be quite difficult.
Now that she had obtained this new body, had her courage also grown? Probably so!
After all, she was no longer a normal human. Her old self would feel somewhat nauseated by bloody scenes in games, movies, or TV shows, but her current self was completely unaffected by such things.
In fact, the part of her True Ancestor bloodline would even feel more pleased in such situations. After all, she was no longer human, right!
Because... human abilities have limits. She learned one thing from her previous short life: being a weak human would only lead to being bullied... Unless she could transcend humanity... So, I'm not human anymore! JOJO!!
Uh... Okay, enough with the memes, let's focus on the present. Because Ellie's superhuman vision had already seen them: at the other end of the transparent bridge, which was the main gate of Sky City.
Two knights in silver heavy armor were already waiting. Although Ellie had seen their existence from the beginning, when they first got on the bridge, the distance was indeed too far. Ellie had thought those two huge Heavy Armor Knights were some kind of decoration. However, upon getting closer, she realized they were not decorations; they might be the Sky City guards Ligurit mentioned, NPCs, perhaps?
It was clear that there was someone among the Eight Greed Kings who enjoyed playing games. These Heavy Armor Knights were quite cool. The two knights themselves were huge, seemingly even taller than ordinary Ogres, and they wore armor that looked very heavy. They also carried long-handled halberds and large shields, giving Ellie the illusion that if these guys walked, the ground would probably shake.
As for how Ellie determined that these two were guards, it was because of the red eyes hidden beneath their armor. From a distance, she could see the red glow under their full-coverage helmets. If her own Death Knights could be made that cool, it would be great.
Sure enough, when Ligurit walked in front of the two Heavy Armor Knights, Ligurit stopped and bowed to them.
Standing in front of these two super-heavy armored knights, Ellie could only look up at them. Although Ligurit was standing in front, bowing to the two Heavy Armor Knights and kindly stating her purpose.
However, the red gaze of these two Heavy Armor Knights was constantly on Ellie, completely ignoring Ligurit. Ellie also noticed this; ever since Ellie entered their line of sight, their attention had been solely on her.
This made Ellie feel very uncomfortable. She hadn't dared to do anything else, had she? The ring that concealed her attributes was also worn properly. It shouldn't allow them to see through her, should it?
Or were these two Heavy Armor Knights so powerful that they could ignore the information ring Ainz gave her?
"Our visit this time is actually to..." Ligurit also noticed that the attention of the two knights was actually behind her. So, Ligurit turned back and glanced, finding no abnormalities in the three people behind her.
"These three are my companions on this trip. We have come this time to..." This time, Ligurit's words still could not be finished.
The two Heavy Armor Knights in front of them plunged their long-handled halberds into the ground, followed by their huge shields, which also struck the ground, making a considerable sound. Sure enough, just as Ellie had thought earlier, the ground shook.
But what was this strange action for? Were they going to fight? Ellie instantly became nervous. These two didn't look like easy opponents. She couldn't feel any killing intent or malice from them. Such enemies were the most terrifying.
But to start fighting just like that? She hadn't done anything out of line, had she? Or was her anomalous existence unforgivable in the eyes of these NPCs under the Eight Greed Kings?
It shouldn't be, right? Ellie at this moment was not thinking about how to fight them, but how to escape. After all, those two had been staring at her from the beginning, clearly targeting her.
Moreover, she currently had no information about these two knights. Who knew what their strength was? If they were truly max-level NPCs, crushing her would be incredibly easy, so she should quickly activate Ripple Dash and escape!
Ellie decided to find a way to get away. However, the next actions of the two Heavy Armor Knights were quite intriguing...
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