Ark, after I died, the operators started to love me.

Maria, who also had blonde hair, yawned as she passed by, waved, and hurried back to her room to sleep.

32. What are you afraid of? I'm here.

"Thanks for your hard work……"

Margaret had barely finished speaking when she realized her sister had already disappeared around the corner.

Since returning to her home in the Grand Knights' Territory, the once diligent Maria has become lazy, or perhaps this is how Maria was meant to be, and her previous diligence was out of necessity.

I'd rather be an engineer than a racing rider.

“Ann, you’re right. Maria can only unleash her full potential when I’m not around. It’s actually me who’s limiting her growth.”

Margaret knew early on that her sister was more talented and better suited to be a powerful warrior, but this was not Maria's ideal. She also neglected to train, and her ranking in the tournament a few years ago was largely due to luck.

The incarnations of the sages of the Nearl family were only mastered by Cyril, who had passed away, and Maria, who was not highly regarded. The other three living members, Margaret, Marna, and Zofia, had never comprehended them.

It is said that the incarnation of a sage can allow ancestors to transcend the river of time and space, temporarily descend upon the user, and unleash power that can be described as a miracle.

Margaret's grandfather, Cyril, was appointed to this critical mission and repelled the Ursus army that had penetrated deep into the heart of Qazimir, saving the country from annihilation in a single battle and buying enough breathing time to win the brutal U-Kazimir War.

However, even without the incarnation of the sages, Margaret does not believe that she cannot shoulder the responsibility of the Linguang family.

Allowing Maria the freedom to choose her own path in life is one of her responsibilities as her older sister.

“Margaret, you’re off work today, why are you wearing this? I thought I was seeing things.”

Zofia rushed over and, upon seeing Margaret standing at the courtyard gate, couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

"It's nothing, I'm used to it. Aunt... Zofia, are you here to find Maria for morning exercise again?"

Margaret almost let slip the secret, and quickly corrected herself to make the elder, who was unwilling to acknowledge her seniority, look a little better.

Zofia snorted, expressing her earlier dissatisfaction, and sighed, "Maria worked all night to modify your armor, and I couldn't bear to let her continue her morning training. But you, you're just like that guy Marna, all you think about is work. When will you learn to take care of your family?"

"I don't know, maybe... well, I really do..."

Margaret looked embarrassed, but before she could finish speaking, her phone rang. Looking down, she saw it was Grand Knight Commander Ioleta.

Seeing that her niece had official business to attend to, Zofia left on her own to help Maria prepare breakfast.

Margaret, who is extremely self-disciplined, has definitely eaten it; there's no doubt about it.

"Grand Knight Commander, it is I."

“Margaret, I’m sorry to bother you now, but I have to tell you that your vacation is temporarily over. You need to come to my office immediately; there’s an emergency.”

"Okay, I'll come right away."

Ioleta's tone was urgent, and Margaret vaguely sensed something unusual. She went back to her room and immediately saw the armor on the shelf, putting it on with almost no effort.

It is very lightweight, with a significant reduction in weight. Correspondingly, its defensive capabilities have also decreased, but this is a great improvement compared to the previous ratio.

Compared to its protective features, the silver armor has several additional slots on the inside for loading pure Originium into etched arrays that activate various auxiliary functions.

Great.

Margaret prefers offense to defense.

Maria studied under a Yan Kingdom forging craftsman on Rhodes Island for several months. While she couldn't say she had mastered his skills, she had at least learned a significant portion of them.

Stepping quickly out of the room, the Radiant Knight arrived in the courtyard, glanced at his sister's room, then casually bent his legs slightly and launched himself out like a cannonball. A pair of golden wings materialized on his back, and with a gentle flap, he soared into the sky.

Maria, still half-asleep, slightly opened her eyes and saw only a flash of golden light. She murmured in her sleep, "Sister is so busy, she's gone on another mission..."

……

"This place is getting increasingly strange, let's leave immediately."

Mike and the others didn't wait for the snow to stop completely; they packed their bags and forcibly left the deserted village.

Before leaving, everyone hurriedly pasted notes with various mathematical formulas written by Adele and Astronomical on different corners of the three cars. Mike said that this would help resist the distortion, and although he didn't know how reliable it was, it was better than nothing.

After Chongyue examined them, he couldn't help but take a second look, because these numerical symbols had many similarities with the paper talismans used by the Great Yan in the north. The difference was that even he didn't know the meaning of some of the formulas.

In fact, not only Chongyue didn't know, but several of the team's top students were also completely unfamiliar with Mike. Just how much profound knowledge did Mike possess?

It's worth mentioning that while writing the formula, Astro accidentally learned Mike's true identity from Adele...

Mike had considered how he might be exposed, but he never imagined that the problem would stem from Adele's use of the word "senior."

When the little lamb called him "senior," it was so sweet that Mike looked over and his eyes met Xingji's.

"I've only ever heard Adele call one person 'senior,' and she really likes that person."

Now that things have come to this, there's no point in Mike pretending anymore.

The only person in the group who didn't know his identity was...

"Chongyue, Puppet Shadow, Andorn, Frostnova, Adele, Stardust, Horhaia, Destreet, and that other person, get in the car and let's go."

Mike recited names one by one, but towards the end, there seemed to be one person he couldn't remember who was.

He watched as his companions boarded the bus one by one. When it was the last person's turn, the person was completely black, with only a human shape and no human characteristics. In his subconscious, the person seemed to be a companion as well, standing at the bus door and hesitating to move.

Why aren't you getting on the bus?

The shadowy figure pointed and gestured, seemingly speaking with a non-existent mouth.

Mike grunted, then suddenly sprang into action, kicking the dark figure away instantly, sending it crashing into a dead tree.

"Get in the car... What car are you getting in? You even dared to nod. I knew something was wrong..."

He gathered his strength and roared, "Everyone, get on the bus and count off! Driver, start the car!!"

The mathematical formulas pasted all over the vehicle emitted a faint golden light, connecting them together. Only then did everyone see that the deserted village was full of dark figures, and many of them were even surrounding the vehicle, blocked by the formulas and unable to get close.

So, they've been living with these things day and night all this time?

"What are you afraid of? I'm here!"

Mike climbed onto the roof of the car, kicked away the snow with his boots, and urged the driver, "Drive faster!"

Compared to the faint glow of mathematical formulas, the man standing on the roof of the car is truly dazzling.

He is the source of the golden light.

Wuwuwuwuwu...

The wind howled, as if mixed with the cries of countless people.

33. Is this always so exciting for you guys?

Destreet, being an office worker, had never seen such a scene before and was immediately terrified.

"Are all your missions this exciting?!"

"That's nothing!"

The driver of the first van was Chong Yue. The Grandmaster took the lead, quickly turning the steering wheel. A lot of snow was splashed out from under the wheels with snow chains. As he turned the van around, the dark figures surrounding the vehicle were all pushed to the ground, or even run over.

Holding the steering wheel, Chongyue, who felt the impact most acutely, shouted into his headset: "These things have no physical form. If the front of the car hits them, it can easily run them over!"

Because he was the lead car clearing the way, the two cars following behind experienced much less pressure. Moreover, the mathematical formula paper talismans pasted on the cars were more effective than expected, and no dark figure was able to break through the golden light's protection.

"What can we do?!" Xingji shouted, unwilling to give up.

"You don't need to do anything, or take out your crystal ball to divine our future. I don't want to become one of these monsters."

As Astronauts shouted, Adele had already taken out the staff that could launch fireballs and fired an explosive fireball out of the car window. However, the power of her Originium Arts was too great, not only creating a deep crater, but also causing considerable damage to the car beneath her.

The driver of the second car, Phantom, didn't care about anything else and hurriedly reminded her, "Adele, if you keep throwing fireballs like that, we'll all be stuck here!"

Adele was also startled: "I'm sorry, Mr. Phantom, I didn't think of that."

The car was in complete chaos, but Mike on the roof seemed oblivious, his legs rooted to the spot, unaffected by any sudden turns or brakes.

His entire attention was focused on the deserted village behind him.

When did they discover the deserted village on this snowfield, and how did they live here for several days?

The good news is that Mike left a mark on everyone present, and if the shadowy vision replaced any of them, he could sense it in advance, so he was certain that all the team members were the real people.

These shadowy figures waited until they left before coming out to stop them; no wonder he'd been so uneasy these past few days.

What's even stranger is that this distortion and pollution has spread to Kazimierz, and it's hard to imagine what it looks like in Ursus.

Or was it just an accident?

The howling wind was mixed with the shouts of countless people, men, women, young and old, uttering all sorts of languages ​​that were indistinguishable, but when the general meaning reached people's ears, it became the same.

Stay, stay, stay...

Finally, the three vehicles left the deserted village and drove back onto the road they had come from.

In the wilderness north of Kazimierz, the primeval forest-like trees almost completely obscured the road. Coupled with the sparse snowflakes falling from the sky, even during the day, the light was much dimmer. Under the shade of these trees, midday felt like three or four in the afternoon.

Adele stopped her explosive fireballs and replaced them with a double shot, much less powerful. Several dark figures were knocked to the ground and then left far behind.

Unable to offer any help, Xingji also took out her crystal ball and began to divine, but no matter how she divined, the results were never ideal.

"What does your crystal ball say?"

"They say the chances of us escaping here are very low, and a terrible monster is waiting for us."

"How is this possible? We've already escaped the area of ​​the deserted village. Where did that monster come from?"

Chongyue, who was driving ahead, warned, "The road ahead is getting narrower, and the trees are growing wildly, squeezing out our space to move forward."

"How is this possible? Even the trees have been twisted by these evil spirits?"

At this point, the mathematical formulas pasted on the three cars began to peel off one by one because they were being eroded by those dark shadows.

Mike, standing on the roof of the car, remained motionless like a sculpture, the golden light emanating from his body flowing like water, enveloping the three cars as they moved forward.

"Keep driving, don't worry about anything."

Suddenly, the earth trembled violently, and the snow-covered branches sparsely fell, as if a heavy snow had fallen. In the distant deserted village, the ground cracked, and soil and rocks tumbled, undergoing a dramatic change. A huge black image, like a giant, rose from the earth.

"What's this?!"

"My goodness!"

"I've never seen such a monster before!"