Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 153: Is the situation taking a turn for the worse?
Every stone brick in the circular plaza was shaking and groaning as if it could not bear the heavy burden, as if there was a sleeping beast hiding underneath it, which had just awakened and was turning over, trying to overturn all the weight on its head; the stone guardrails were broken and collapsed, smashing into pieces on the stones, and fine sand and dust drifted by with the sudden cold wind. At the very edge of the square, the flames in the copper brazier swayed violently, and the refracted shadows fell on the ground, like a terrifying monster with bared fangs and claws.

The ancient cold bricks are roaring, the dark and silent high walls are shaking, and the dark storm swept by without anyone noticing, shrouding everything in an atmosphere of oppressive silence. People who are here will feel an endless fear coming, which will strangle their breathing and swallow their heartbeats, so they are like a small boat in a storm, floating up and down.

"Gone?"

Olvera, who originally thought she had won, looked up at the surroundings, and a confused look gradually emerged in her eyes. She tried to find the giant wolf in such a terrifying storm, but found nothing, as if the wolf had merged into the depths of darkness and became part of the disaster of heaven and earth.

"Ovilla!" At this moment, Alice's anxious cry came into her mind: "Back off!"

The moment the voice fell, the ground beneath her feet shook more violently, as if the awakened beast had stretched out its claws and was about to tear open the cage above her head. The princess of Beman obeyed her companions and subconsciously stepped back, avoiding the place where the shaking was the most violent. Almost at the same time she dodged, the ground she was standing on suddenly sank, as if it was hit by a punch from an invisible giant in the void. The violent force immediately shattered these stone bricks that had remained cold and solid for thousands of years, leaving a circular sunken pit, and the accumulation of soil and rocks fell down, stirring up smoke and dust in the sky.

Olvera opened her eyes wide in disbelief. She saw that the solemn and majestic arena, with the sunken pit as its center, suddenly began to separate to the sides. A deep crack tore through the earth, splitting it apart like the abyss leading to Hades in ancient legends. In the extremely dark abyss that even the light of the flames could not reach, a rumbling sound came out, gradually approaching the ground, and it seemed that something was rising.

That's a pillar.

Grand, spectacular, majestic, shocking... the round arched stone pillars, which seemed to be described by all the words that showed the ultimate in the world, slowly rose from the ground like a steam engine and gear-driven elevator, and appeared in the girl's sight. They were all carved from a single piece of stone, and the surface should have been engraved with simple and solemn patterns to tell an ancient story passed down from the time of its birth to the present day. However, now they are all mottled by wind and frost, and a desolate and heavy atmosphere blows towards her.

There are twelve stone pillars in total, and their heights are not exactly the same. Some of them are only four or five meters above the ground at the top of the capital, while others are raised entirely, oppressing people's vision with their towering and majestic posture, as if ancient giants raised their arms to support the dome of the arena, making people in front of them not only be like ants, but also as small as dust and mayflies.

"Princess of Belman, are your anger, your impulse, and your strength all part of courage? Or are they cowardly escapes?"

The firelight flickered, lighting up two red stars in the depths of his scarlet eyes. He looked down at the confused and uneasy princess quietly, and suddenly spoke, his voice echoing in the shattered arena: "Do you want to prove your strength, or gain something through it?"

In the middle of the long steps of stone pillars, on the top of the tallest arched stone pillar, the guardian who had just disappeared had stood there without knowing when, with the silver-grey cloak fluttering around his neck, setting off the graceful and unhurried posture of the giant wolf like an oil painting reflected on a shadow curtain, with a dreamy and holy temperament. His body was not much bigger than the stone pillar under his feet, but the shadow cast on the ground seemed to extend endlessly to the end of the shattered dream.

"However, the proof of strength is meaningless. It will be attributed to reason and become an empty lie. And trying to gain something through strength is even more foolish, because what people gain must first have the blessing of courage before it can become real."

Although the heights are not consistent, in general, the stone columns are arranged from low to high and gradually upward, like a stairway to the sky, indicating that mortals can also step into the realm of God. This sense of extreme solemnity, sacredness and magnificence seems to indicate that they are not buildings built for the purpose of use, but from the beginning, they only consider how spectacular, how majestic, and how to shock people, so as to achieve the effect we see now.

"Just now you said that you wanted to find the answer yourself. So now——"

"It's my turn to test your courage."

He raised his head, and a long wolf howl echoed, penetrating the sky and earth, and perhaps also penetrating the girl's soul, making her suddenly dazed, and the palm holding the holy sword slightly loosened. The next moment, the giant wolf on the top of the stone pillar disappeared, or it should be said that he jumped up, but the speed was too fast to be captured by the naked eye, so it gave people an illusion, as if he was not moving at the two ends of the line of sight, but jumping between space and space. The previous second he was still on the stone pillar, maintaining the posture of howling to the sky, and the next second he had traveled in an instant and landed in front of Olvera, without disturbing the dust and gravel, only stirring up a faint and inaudible wind sound.

The giant wolf that suddenly attacked and the girl who had not yet reacted stared at each other at a distance of only one meter. The latter could clearly see her own reflection in his eyes, as well as a deep and calm thought. Then, a ball of blue flame passed by, and the sharp wolf claws ruthlessly tore open the girl's abdomen, throwing her thin body backwards.

"I am a phantom, a trace of existence, and a memory of the past."

The wolf passed by again at an extremely fast speed, as if drawing a straight black track in the dim world, and easily caught up with Olvera who was still flying upside down in the air. It opened its cold mouth and bit her left hand. It lightly kicked its feet on the broken stone bricks of the square, and its huge body spun nimbly and shook its head vigorously, throwing Olvera into the sky like a tattered rag doll.

"If you want to defeat a memory, the best way is not to forget it, but to remember it."

The giant wolf leaped up, arriving first and quickly surpassing the powerless Olvera in the sky. It exhaled a breath colder than the hurricane in the ice sea. Countless sharp tornadoes roared and rushed past, swallowing the girl's body, and slammed into the ground like an ice-blue meteorite carrying the stars in the sky. After a horrible roar, the frost and fog in the sky dissipated, and a deep pit appeared on the already dilapidated ground.

"Because forgetting does not necessarily mean cowardice, but remembering sad things must be supported by some kind of courage."

The giant wolf's body was slightly arched, accumulating strength like a beautiful crescent moon hanging upside down in the morning sky. When the brewing momentum reached its peak, it fell with it, using the force of falling to gracefully flip in the air, spinning rapidly in the air, and the blue flames on its four feet were boiling, completely covering its huge body. The meteor pushed the tail flame to roar, and the naked eye could see a high-speed rotating fire moon flying across the dark curtain, crashing into the ground with an astonishing momentum, and making an earth-shaking roar.

The entire arena was shaking, as if it was about to collapse.

The frost mist that gradually dispersed mixed with the thin firelight and drifted away, forming a hazy and shimmering thin snow. In the snowy scene, the shadow of the wolf stood calmly, and the cloak around its neck rose like silver-gray wings, flapping against the wind and snow, echoing.

“This is a test.”

A deep voice echoed in the snow: "Please prove your courage, or prove the significance of my existence here."

"..."

The girl pursed her lips, supported the holy sword with both hands, and stood up with difficulty.

Olvera, current HP: 131/750.

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)