NoGift

Chapter 109: breaking through the enchantment

"ARGENT!" shouted a familiar voice behind Argent.

That shout actually woke her up from her reverie. She turned around and saw Lei Feng, Viper, and the dark guards running towards her direction.

"Are you alright?" - Lei Feng.

"Are you hurt?" - Viper.

The two said almost at the same time.

"I'm fine," Argent simply said.

"The Apostle?" - Lei Feng.

"The bastard?" - Viper.

Lei Feng finally couldn't help but frown when he and Viper spoke again at the same time.

Viper was also annoyed. Why did this guy have to talk over him?

The both were clearly annoyed and on the verged of having another bout of verbal argument. But to the three dark guard's surprised, the two didn't bicker like they expected. It seemed like they finally found some semblance of maturity and decided to no longer bicker. For the time being, at least.

"Gone," Argent answered.

"What happened when we disappeared?" Lei Feng asked, worry filling his obsidian black eyes. He could tell just by looking that Argent's mood was very bad right now.

"We talked and eventually came to a compromise. I'll get the sword in exchange for my mother," Argent said, no emotion shown on her face.

"And you agreed?" Viper said, unbelieving.

"Why wouldn't I? It's a fairly good deal," Argent shrugged. Although she said that, based on her monotonous voice and the intense killing intent spilling from her, anyone could see that she hated that deal.

The three dark guard shivered. Yes. The young duke really was scary.

Viper, on the other hand, grinned. Seven years ago, Argent wouldn't be able to release a killing intense this strong. But now, it was totally different. It just showed how much change he underwent. Looked like that swordsman Argent chose for a master did a good job training him.

"Let's not talk about that anymore. I will deal with them sooner or later," Argent said, changing the subject. "But right now, what I need to do is get that damn sword."

She couldn't possibly fix everything all at once. What she could do though was to get things done one step at a time.

"Then what we need to do now is to break the enchantment that surrounds the Temple of Tian Long. We won't even be able to see it if we don't break that enchantment," Lei Feng said. He still didn't like the idea of Argent compromising with those people. But he also understood why she did. What he could do right now was to help her and make things easier for her.

"An Si, you couldn't go through that particular part of the sea, right?" Argent asked the dark guard, pointing at the direction where the enchantment was supposed to be.

"Yes, there seems to be some kind of barrier preventing me from going forward," the dark guard answered.

Then Argent looked at Viper. "Did your master tell you the location of the Temple of Tian Long?"

"I discovered the location all by myself. When I told Master, he said that I got the location right. If he knew where it was, why not just tell it to me straight up? Sometimes, he could really be so frustrating," Viper complained.

Somehow, from what Viper said, Argent got a small glimpse of the personality of the mysterious leader of Dreich Gallere. "How did you come here then? Was it by boat?" Viper nodded. "Then, were you able to pass over the enchantment?"

"No. I tried to. But when I did, the boat just passed over it and went straight to the other side. Like it somehow teleported or something."

Argent fell into deep thought after she heard that. If you tried to go underwater, there's a barrier preventing you from moving forward. If you tried to ride a vessel abovewater, like a boat for example, it would just automatically transfer you to the other end of the enchantment. Then what if you travelled above the sky?

Argent remembered that when they were in her her flying car, the car was able to go smoothly over the enchantment. If she wanted to break it, then the best way was to jump from the sky above it. Of course, she could also just swim to get there. But why would she, when there's a perfectly better and easier way other than that?

"You, did your master not mention a way to enter the Temple of Tian Long?" Lei Feng reluctantly asked Viper.

"No," Viper grumbled. He really didn't want to talk to this guy. But he also knew that being stubborn at a time like this wouldn't be useful to anyone. Especially Argent. "My task is just to prevent the Apostles from getting their hands on that old treasure. I'm not supposed to get the treasure myself. And did you not even hear the legend about this artifact? Only that child of something could enter the Temple of Tian Long and take the sword. Even if we do break the enchantment, how could we--" Viper stopped and slowly turned to Argent. Those bastard Apostles used Argent's mother so he would get the sword for them. They wouldn't do that unless they were sure that Argent could get it. If that was the case, then that only meant...? "Are you that child of something?"

"I'm not quite sure about that." Argent was still not certain what was a 'child of all', though she already had a vague idea of what it meant. But one thing was for sure, it had something to do with the Blackbourne bloodline. "But regardless if I am or not, those people believed that I could get the sword. We wouldn't want to disappoint them, right?" she added, her voice full of sarcasm.

Then she turned to An Si. "How many animals could you control at the same time?"

"Five, milord," An Si answered, a bit confused why the young duke suddenly asked him that.

Five? Could five birds lift her up? No, with her weight and height that's impossible. And there's also the problem of her special constitution. Once those birds touched her, An Si's conciousness might just return back to him and those birds would be just normal birds.

Then could she only use her flying car? But what would happen once she jumped off? None of this guys could drive it after all. True, she could just put the car on auto-pilot mode. But then what would happen if the moment she broke the enchantment, it produced a strong magical energy and that energy hit the car? It wouldn't be good if the car was destroyed. It's the only one she got on hand after all. Though there's still that flying shuttle.

Argent sighed. Looked like she had no choice but to just use the flying car in the end. Then she remembered something. She turned to Lei Feng. "Can you fly?"

Lei Feng was a wind Gift user. His Mana was probably more than strong enough to allow him fly. It would probably be less troublesome if Lei Feng would just fly her over the enchantment.

Lei Feng already had an idea of what Argent wanted to do when she asked that question. "I can."

"Hah? How can you fly? Aren't you a lightning Gift user? Don't tell me you're some kind of mutated being that could sprout wings?" Viper said incredulously.

Lei Feng only ignored him and continued talking to Argent. "Do you want me to bring you above the enchantment?" Argent nodded. "If I do, then what would you do after?"

"I will break it."

Lei Feng wanted to ask how would she be able to do that. But when he saw the unwavering determination in those pair of purple eyes, he knew there's just no way he could refuse her. "I understand."

Lei Feng suddenly grabbed Argent's waist and princess-carried her. Argent was shocked and could only stupidly stare at Lei Feng. The three dark guards should feel some kind of violation seeing their stern master holding another man in a princess-carry style. But somehow, all they could think of was 'ah, their master must really like the young duke'.

Viper was the one who became spitting mad. "What the hell do you think you're doing? Put him down!"

Lei Feng ignored him once again.

Argent finally returned to her senses once she noticed that Lei Feng's ear tips were already as red as a ripe tomato. He's probably also embarrassed doing this. "Wait- Lei Feng, put me down first," she said because she's really not comfortable in this position.

"Sorry," Lei Feng apologized and then immediately put her down.

"Nevermind that. I have a question, which part of your body do you circulate your Mana when you fly?" Because if he needed to circulate Mana in his whole body, then even if he could fly, he wouldn't be able to once he touched her.

"My legs."

Argent nodded, it wouldn't be a problem then. "You fly first and then just grab my hand and fly me over."

Lei Feng nodded and slowly began to float. When he gained altitude, he immediately took Argent's raised hand. And the two flew towards the direction of the enchantment.

Viper stared after the two unbelievingly. The guy didn't sprout wings as he thought he would. But Viper seriously wished that he did. Because seeing what just happened meant that the bastard not only had a lightning Gift but another type of Gift as well. From the looks of it, it was as powerful as the lightning one. A double Gift user? Shit. Aren't you just Gaia's favorite. Viper's dislike towards the general just increased even further.

When Argent and Lei Feng were finally above the enchantment, Argent said, "Let me go."

After hearing that, instead of letting go, Lei Feng only tightened his hold over Argent's hand. "Are you sure?"

Argent looked up at him. "Yes."

Lei Feng closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them, he finally loosened his hold. Then Argent started falling towards the sea. Seeing her fall, Lei Feng could only clenched both fists. If Argent believed that she could break the enchantment, then he would believe her.

The moment Argent touched the sea water, some kind of golden seal appeared. She didn't have time to check how big the area it encompassed was because she heard a cracking sound. Then the seal started to grow brighter and brighter. To the point that Argent needed to close her eyes if she didn't want to become blind. She wasn't sure how long it took, but when she opened her eyes, she was already submerged underwater.

And directly below her was a temple made of jade.