Chapter 211 ·There Was an Older Sister

After eating and drinking their fill, this group that looked no matter how you saw it like a makeshift troupe—the “Black Sea Expedition Team”—finally set off once again.

With Dora, this humanoid bulldozer, clearing the way, whether it was rock giants or highly venomous flying snakes, as long as they dared to show themselves, their fates were basically only two.

Either they were smashed into the ground by Dora’s punch and turned into fertilizer, or they were skinned, deboned, and tossed into a pot as rations.

Lilia walked in the middle of the group.

Aside from traveling every day, this life was even more comfortable than staying in the Demon King’s Castle.

“Leader.”

Walking at the very back, Bulara suddenly spoke, her voice still that flat, mechanical tone. “We have already exited the Sighing Mountains. Ahead is the buffer zone leading to the far northern Black Sea—the Permafrost Wasteland.”

Lilia stopped and raised her hand to her brow to look ahead.

Sure enough, the towering black cliffs on both sides that once pierced the clouds were gradually lowering, replaced by an endless expanse of gray-white frozen soil.

The temperature in the air had dropped sharply. Even with the Seed of Life inside her acting like a furnace, Lilia still couldn’t help but tighten her cloak.

The wind carried fine ice shards, stinging painfully as they struck her face.

“Finally out.”

Lilia exhaled a breath of white mist, feeling as if her whole body had come back to life.

After staying in that oppressive canyon for so long, she had almost felt like she was turning into an underground rat.

Dora, on the other hand, had no reaction.

The dragon was currently walking while stuffing half a charred lizard tail into her mouth.

Wearing that somewhat worn black leather cloak, her two short legs moved quickly, and even barefoot on the ice-strewn frozen ground, she didn’t seem to feel cold at all.

Lilia glanced at her enviously, then her eyes rolled as she quickly moved closer.

“Um, Dora.”

“Mm?”

Lilia smiled. “I have a question I want to ask you.”

“Ask.”

“Have you been to the Black Sea?”

“No.” Dora answered bluntly.

“Huh? You’ve never been?” Lilia widened her eyes.

“Not recently.” Dora corrected. “It’s cold there, and there’s nothing to eat. Why would I go? Even sleeping there freezes your butt.”

Lilia let out a sigh of relief.

Good, good. At least she had been there before.

“Then when you went before, what was it like there?” Lilia hurriedly asked.

Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated.

Dora tilted her head and thought for a long time, as if digging through memories from who knew how many years ago.

“Black.”

After holding it in for a while, Dora spat out a single word.

“Of course it’s black—it’s called the Black Sea, how could it not be?” Lilia couldn’t help but complain. “I’m asking for specifics, like terrain, monster distribution, whether there are any landmark structures or something.”

Dora irritably flicked her tail, nearly sending Xiao Hong flying when she leaned in.

“It’s just black.” Dora gestured. “There’s no sun in the sky, and the ground is all black water. You can’t see the bottom no matter how you look. And the water there is annoying—sticky. It clings to your scales and feels awful, like snot.”

Lilia shuddered.

“Besides the black water? Did you see any people?” Lilia guided the conversation. “Or rather, are there any powerful beings living there?”

This time, Dora thought for even longer.

After a while, she finally spoke uncertainly, “A long time ago… probably when I wasn’t this tall yet…”

As she spoke, she gestured at her waist.

Lilia took a glance.

Mm, that was probably about the size of a freshly hatched dragon.

“I snuck in once, trying to find some deep-sea giant octopus to eat.” Dora licked her lips, as if savoring the taste. “Didn’t find any octopus, but I ran into a strange older sister.”

Lilia’s ears perked up.

An older sister?

“What did that sister look like?” Lilia asked tentatively, already sketching out the image of a muscle-bound woman in her mind.

“She looked…” Dora frowned, trying hard to organize her words. “Very pale, with long hair, floating in the water like seaweed. Her face… was okay, I guess, but she didn’t have horns, so not pretty.”

No horns means not pretty?

Lilia automatically filtered out Dora’s subjective judgment and grasped the key point. “Very pale? Long hair?”

That actually sounded pretty normal?

Could it be a reclusive human powerhouse? Or some kind of high-level undead?

“What was she doing at the time?” Lilia continued, coaxing like a kidnapper.

“Singing.” Dora covered her ears, showing a look of disgust. “The sound was terrible, all babbling nonsense. It made me want to sleep. And as soon as she opened her mouth, the surrounding water started swirling, and a lot of fish floated up belly-up.”

Lilia mentally made a note.

“And then? Did you greet her?”

“I did.” Dora nodded as if it were obvious. “I asked if I could take a bite of her tail. It looked pretty fatty.”

Lilia: “……”

As expected of you.

Asking if you can eat someone the moment you meet them—getting killed on the spot would’ve been a miracle.

“And then?”

“Then she got unhappy and splashed water at me.” Dora pouted, looking disdainful. “I thought she smelled too fishy, so I left. Mainly because the water was too cold—it made me sneeze.”

“Tail?” Lilia interrupted Dora’s complaints. “You mean, that older sister had a tail?”

“Yeah.” Dora gestured a big arc behind herself. “This long. Covered in scales, shiny. Looks really chewy.”

Isn’t that just a mermaid?!

Lilia didn’t have time to deal with this foodie.

She was rapidly analyzing the information.

“Bulara.” Lilia turned back and called out.

Bulara, who had been floating behind like a ghost, turned her head with a click. “Present.”

“Do you have any information about merfolk in the Black Sea?”

A few seconds later, she shook her head.

“Sigh.”

Without even a guide or strategy, how was this dungeon supposed to be cleared?

However, since Dora had seen one before, that meant there were at least intelligent beings there.

“Alright, stop thinking about eating.” Lilia patted Dora’s head. “Once we get there, if you can catch that fish sister—cough, invite her out—I’ll make you a full fish feast.”

Dora’s eyes lit up. “Is it tasty?”

“Tasty. Especially braised.” Lilia spoke nonsense confidently. “You can also steam it, deep-fry it, make sashimi…”

Dora’s drool was already overflowing.

“Let’s go!”

With a roar, the violent loli grabbed Xiao Hong, who was still dazed, slung her over her shoulder like a sack, and with her other hand grabbed Lilia by the collar.

“Hold tight! Accelerating!”

Boom!

Two large craters exploded into the ground.

Lilia felt the scenery in front of her rapidly retreating. The powerful wind pressure made her face flap wildly, and the “slow down” in her mouth was stuffed back into her stomach by the cold wind rushing in.

……

Two hours later.

Just as Lilia felt like her breakfast was about to be shaken out, Dora finally stopped.

The surrounding wind ceased.

Not a calm stillness, but a deathly stagnation.

No insect sounds, no wind, even the flow of air seemed frozen.

Lilia struggled free from Dora’s grip, slid down, supported herself on her knees and dry-heaved twice, then raised her head.

The sight before her made her swallow the rest of her words.

The land ahead looked as if it had been cut off by a single slash.

Below the cliff was a vast ocean as black as ink.

The surface was as still as a massive black mirror, without a single ripple, reflecting the dim gray sky, exuding a suffocating sense of oppression.

And in the center of that Black Sea, there floated a gigantic iceberg.

Lilia narrowed her eyes and activated the special vision granted by the Seed of the Undead within her.

That was a palace.

And at the very top of that bone palace, a faint figure could be seen sitting there.

“We’re here.”

Dora sniffed, an excited expression appearing on her face.