Spirit Pact Hundred Scenes Record

Chapter 9 The Night of Escape

The alley is like a maze.

Karen followed the black cat, weaving through the narrow alleyways of the eastern district of Dustlight Town. Some of these alleyways were gaps between two houses, while others were abandoned passageways left over from early expansions. Most of them were unknown even to the town's long-time residents. The moonlight was cut into fragments of silver by the towering rooftops, spreading across the bluestone pavement, only to be crushed by their hurried footsteps.

His lungs burned, each breath carrying the metallic taste of metal. The impact of jumping from the third floor had been cushioned by the pile of goods, but his internal organs had still been shaken, and his lower ribs throbbed with pain. Worse still was the weakness from the depletion of his psionic energy—a feeling not of fatigue, but a deeper, hollow emptiness, as if a part of his very life had been ripped away. His steps were unsteady, his vision blurred at the edges, and he was sustained only by sheer willpower.

Xiguang ran at his feet.

The cub wasn't doing well either. Although the burns on its abdomen had scabbed over, running still caused pain with every step. The tears at the base of its wings were particularly sensitive; even the slightest exertion would trigger a spasm. But it didn't stop. A stubborn light shone in its amber eyes, and despite its limp, it struggled to keep up with Karen's pace.

The black cat led the way.

It wasn't fast, but its route was incredibly precise. It always turned at seemingly dead ends, slipped through gaps in the collapsed wall, and crept along the dried-up ditch. Its movements were light and silent; its dark fur was almost invisible in the shadows, with only the occasional flashes of silver in its eyes like road signs in the dark.

"Turn left." The black cat's voice rang directly in Karen's mind. "Avoid the main street; the patrol has set up a checkpoint there."

Karen nodded, panting, and turned into a narrower alley. The walls here were almost touching, and he had to squeeze through sideways. The smell of rotting garbage was overwhelming, and he stepped on something soft and slippery—perhaps moss, or something else. He didn't dare look down.

A voice came from behind me.

It wasn't footsteps, but a sharper, metallic whistling through the air. Karen glanced back—above the alleyway, the silhouettes of three black iron airships were descending. Their pale flame emblems on their prows resembled three enormous eyes, shooting out beams of light like pale fingers groping back and forth across the town's rooftops and alleyways.

A beam of light swept across the alleyway they had just left.

Karen's heart nearly stopped. He pressed himself against the wall, holding his breath. Xiguang froze too; the cub's body trembled slightly, radiating fear. The black cat crouched in the shadows, its deep black eyes fixed on the beam of light, the silver speck in its pupils shrinking to pinpoints.

The beam of light slowly moved away.

"They're using their lives to detect the magic circle." The black cat's voice was eerily calm. "Ordinary hiding won't work; we must leave the town's borders. Keep going."

They continued on their way.

I walked through an abandoned vegetable garden, the fence long since collapsed, the plots overgrown with weeds. I jumped across a half-dried stream, its water murky and strangely oily. I climbed a steep slope, the top of which stood the old city wall on the east side of the town—long since incomplete, with only a few sections of earthen walls and stone foundations remaining.

The black cat stopped in front of a collapsed stone slab.

"Here." It pointed with its paw below the stone slab—there was an irregularly shaped opening, half-hidden by dense vines, just big enough for one person to climb through. "Beyond the city wall, there's a cliffside path. Walk north along the path for two miles, and there's a hidden cave where you can temporarily—"

Its words came to an abrupt end.

The black cat suddenly raised its head, its ears perked up, and a rare hint of wariness flashed in its deep black eyes.

Karen heard it too.

It wasn't the sound of an airship, nor the footsteps of soldiers, but a lower, more ominous hum—like a groan from the depths of the earth, or the tremors of some massive machine starting up. The sound came from all directions, permeating the air and causing the ground beneath their feet to tremble slightly.

Then, the night sky outside the city walls lit up.

It wasn't moonlight, nor the searchlight of an airship, but a strange, dark red halo. The halo rose from the ground like an inverted bowl, enveloping the entire Dustlight Town. The edges of the halo flowed continuously, and complex runes appeared on its surface, twisting and rotating, radiating a suffocating, oppressive psionic energy.

"Sealing barrier." The black cat's voice deepened. "Roland activated the airship's combined magic array... He wants to seal off the entire town."

Karen stared at the dark red light shield. It resembled an inverted giant bowl, its rim less than ten meters above the ground, but its top extended upwards, eventually converging hundreds of meters in the air to form a complete hemisphere. Occasionally, pale arcs of electricity crackled and popped across the surface of the shield.

"Can it be broken?" Karen asked hoarsely.

"You might have been able to in your prime," the black cat turned to look at him, her eyes serious, "but now? You're struggling to even stand. And breaking the barrier takes time—we don't have time."

As if to confirm its words, the airship's searchlight suddenly changed its scanning mode. No longer a random search, it began to comb through the town, starting from the city walls. Wherever the beam swept, pale white runes briefly appeared on the ground—record points for life responses.

A beam of light was sweeping towards their location.

"Let's go!" The black cat was the first to crawl into the hole under the stone slab.

Karen picked up Xiguang and crawled inside. The entrance led to a narrow, sloping passage, clearly a drainage tunnel left over from the construction of the city wall. The passage was filled with shallow water and emitted a musty, damp smell. He crawled forward on all fours, his knees and hands scraping against the rough stone walls, quickly drawing blood.

The passage was not long; the exit appeared after about twenty meters.

Karen crawled out and found herself standing on the edge of a cliff.

Dustlight Town is built on the edge of a floating island, with a sheer cliff to its east. Looking down from here, a rolling sea of ​​clouds appears like a silvery-gray ocean, flowing slowly under the moonlight. A night breeze blows up from below the cliff, carrying the unique dampness and chill of the sea of ​​clouds, instantly drying the cold sweat on Karen's body.

There was indeed a path along the cliff edge—if it could be called a "path." It was merely a series of uneven footholds on the rock face, less than a foot wide at its widest point, and in some places, one had to hold onto the cracks in the rocks to get through. The path wound its way north along the cliff face, disappearing into the depths of the clouds.

The dark red barrier rose vertically less than ten meters outside the cliff, like an endless wall, blocking all paths.

The sound of the airship's engines was approaching.

Karen turned around and saw three black iron airships hovering above the town in a triangular formation. The dark red patterns on their hulls were all lit up, their energy connected in some way, maintaining the sealing barrier. The hatch of the largest airship opened, and a squad of soldiers was descending along a rope ladder, their target clear—a breach in the city wall.

They don't have much time left.

"Follow the path." The black cat crouched on a rock, its tail pointing north. "The cave is—"

It suddenly stopped, its deep black eyes gazing at the sea of ​​clouds outside the barrier.

Karen saw it too.

Deep within the sea of ​​clouds, something was moving. It wasn't an airship, nor a bird, but a massive, slow-moving shadow. The shadow's outline was indistinct, but it was enormous, at least a hundred meters long. It traversed the clouds like a whale swimming on the surface of the sea, occasionally revealing parts of its body—which looked like…bones?

The skeleton of a giant whale.

Karen recalled the emblem on the pile of goods she had seen earlier in the alley: a giant whale skeleton wrapped in chains and a flag. That was the "Cloud Whale," a trading ship converted from the skeleton of an ancient giant whale, which sailed between various floating zones year-round, known for its unruly behavior and willingness to transport any kind of cargo.

Right now, the Cloud Whale is slowly rising from the sea of ​​clouds below Dustlight Town, seemingly heading north along the outer edge of the sealing barrier.

The black cat's eyes lit up.

"An opportunity," it said, then turned to Karen, "to change plans. We're not going to the cave."

"Where to?" Karen asked breathlessly, as the soldiers' shouts came from the breach in the city wall.

The black cat raised its paw and pointed down the cliff, towards the passing Narwhal.

"Jump down."

Karen's eyes widened. "What? That's a sea of ​​clouds! Jumping in will—"

"You'll land on the Narwhal's cargo pile," the black cat interrupted him. "That ship's deck is piled high with cushioning cargo, mostly cotton, wool, and hay. And it's rising, so your fall will be shorter. Most importantly—"

It turned to look at Karen, a strange light flashing in its deep black eyes.

"Although your spirit runes are overdrawn, the resonance connection remains. Dawn will help you."

Karen looked down at Xiguang. The cub was looking up at him, its amber eyes filled with trust, not fear. It conveyed a clear message: together.

Let's jump together. Let's live together.

The shouts behind her grew closer. Karen turned around and saw several black-armored soldiers climbing out of the breach in the city wall, their staff-shaped weapons charging, the pale light particularly dazzling in the darkness.

There is no time.

no choice.

Karen picked up Xiguang and walked to the edge of the cliff. Below them was a rolling sea of ​​clouds, and the enormous shadow of the Narwhal was slowly rising, about fifty or sixty meters from the bottom of the cliff—jumping from this height without cushioning would be certain death.

But he had to believe it.

Trust the black cat's judgment. Trust the connection of the dawn. Trust that the miracle of "landing on a soft place" just now can happen again.

"Hold on tight," he said to Xiguang.

The cub hooked its claws onto his coat and pressed its whole body against his chest.

Karen closed her eyes and took a deep breath of the cold air, which was damp with the scent of the sea of ​​clouds.

Then take a step forward.

I missed a step.

come down.

This time, there was no buffer of weightlessness; gravity, like an invisible hand, violently dragged him towards the abyss. The wind whistled in his ears, moving at a breathtaking speed. A sea of ​​clouds rushed towards him, the swirling mist like gray cotton wool, instantly engulfing his vision.

But the dark silver pattern on his wrist suddenly became slightly hot.

It wasn't the explosive heat of before, but a gentler temperature, like a cup of hot water on a winter's day. At the same time, the Radiant Light in her arms also began to glow—not because the cub was actively releasing its spiritual energy, but because the light spiritual energy within its body flowed out naturally, flowing through the connection between them and into Karen's spiritual runes.

Gold and silver blend together.

A picture flashed through Karen's mind: not clouds, but wind. A gentle breeze lifted him from below, slowing his descent, like an invisible hand catching him.

The image was blurry and fragile, far less clear and firm than the previous image of "falling on the clouds." But his spirit patterns still caught it and responded.

The speed of the descent did slow down a bit.

It was only a tiny bit, perhaps only a tenth of the reduction. But that was enough to change the outcome.

The deck of the Narwhal rapidly magnified in our view.

It was a ship modified from the skeleton of some enormous creature—indeed, the skeleton of a giant whale. The main skeleton was over a hundred meters long, with ribs bent into the arched structure of the hull, and the surface covered with thick planks and metal reinforcements. The deck was spacious and piled high with cargo: bundles of cotton covered with tarpaulins, sacks stacked into small mountains, and wooden crates secured with ropes.

Karen adjusted his body position—he instinctively curled up during the fall, shielding Xiguang in his arms, his back facing down.

boom!

He fell heavily onto a pile of sacks.

The impact was still tremendous, but much better than falling directly onto the deck. The contents of the sacks appeared to be some kind of grain, fluffy and elastic, absorbing most of the force. He tumbled and slid off the pile of sacks, crashed onto the deck, and rolled several more times before coming to a stop.

The whole world is spinning.

His ears were ringing, and he was seeing stars. He could feel a burning pain in his back, and several scrapes on his arms and legs. The cub in his arms let out a painful whimper; it was clear that it had also been badly injured.

But they are all still alive.

Karen struggled to sit up, gasping for breath, each breath carrying the stench of blood. He looked up—the cliffs of Dustlight Town were dozens of meters above, the dark red barrier standing like a blood-red wall in the night sky. Searchlight beams from several black iron airships were frantically searching within the barrier, but they clearly hadn't discovered that they had already jumped out and landed on the ship outside.

We're safe for now.

The sound of hurried footsteps came from the deck.

"What was that sound?!"

"Over there, by the pile of goods!"

"Did someone fall? Or was it an illegal immigrant?"

Several figures ran from the direction of the cabin. Karen barely managed to lift her head and, through her swaying vision, saw: a red-haired girl, about sixteen or seventeen years old, wearing a practical leather vest and trousers, with a short knife and tool bag hanging from her waist; a dwarf with a braided beard, carrying a heavy wrench; and two human sailors carrying lanterns.

The red-haired girl was the first to rush forward. She crouched down, and the light from the windproof lamp illuminated Karen's pale face and the golden, trembling cub in his arms.

Her eyes widened.

"This is..." She reached out to touch Xiguang, but the cub immediately bared its teeth and let out a low growl of warning.

"Don't touch it," Karen hissed, pulling the light even tighter around her.

The red-haired girl withdrew her hand, but her eyes remained fixed on Xiguang. Her gaze held surprise, curiosity, and a hint of something Karen couldn't decipher… resonance?

The dwarf approached, wrench slung over his shoulder. He looked down at Karen, then at Xiguang, his thick eyebrows furrowing.

"Boy," the dwarf's voice was hoarse, "do you know whose ship you've landed on? The Cloud Whale isn't an almshouse. And that thing you're carrying—" he pointed at Dawn, "—looks like it's in big trouble."

Karen opened his mouth, as if to say something, but a violent wave of dizziness washed over him. The exhaustion of his psychic energy, combined with the impact of the fall, blurred his consciousness. His vision grew dimmer, and sounds faded into the distance.

The last thing you see is the red-haired girl's face as she leans closer, and her clear, green eyes.

"He's passed out," he heard her say.

Then darkness completely engulfed him.