Blade and Poetry

The feather coat is actually more like a gown-like coat made of feathers, with long and wide cuffs, which resemble the spread wings of a bird when waving.I remembered my speculation about the "king's feather coat" and put it on carefully.

"Send me to the outside of the swamp." I was wary of the changes around me, but I didn't see anything happening after a while, and I couldn't help feeling vaguely amused.

When I spoke again, I changed to a more detailed and practical order: "Open the path to the outside of the swamp for me."

The transparent ceiling was drawn to the sides.The vines originally clinging to it formed a dense cylindrical net, keeping the mud out.I hooked it with a knife and jumped onto the passage made of vines.This operation was much easier than I thought; I suspect that Hagoromo temporarily enhanced my physical fitness.

This point was also confirmed on the way up later.I am full of energy, and I don't seem to feel tired.

Not counting the chaotic state when I sank, I estimate that I spent at least half an hour under the swamp.However, when I came out of the swamp, I found that Coleman was still sitting on the edge of the swamp.He was covered in blood and his face was extremely pale.

Hearing the movement from me, he stood up abruptly, raised his knife in a defensive posture, but his body shook slightly when he saw me, and the movement of raising the blade changed direction, changing to Dig into the dirt.

"I'm not waiting for you," he said.

I looked at the messy scene around him, but I didn't see anyone collapsed nearby, so I understood something immediately.

"You've finished four of them?"

He responded: "Before they were teleported, I captured the leader's pocket."

"This can be regarded as revenge." I teased, took the waist bag he threw, and checked it.

It was a waist bag filled with water, embroidered with waves, and I suspected that it was a spoil that Bo Wei had plundered from Huai Sang—it seemed that Huai Sang's vanguard had arrived.It doesn't look strange from the outside, but the water in the bag seems to never be completely emptied, as long as you pour out the pockets, water will gush out from the mouth of the bag.

With the mentality that talking is better than nothing, I sent a butterfly letter to those who guarded the city, informing them of Huaisang's situation.Coleman seemed to notice my attire just now, and asked:

"On you?"

"The feather coat obtained by coincidence. It is the one in the riddle. I have verified that wearing it can improve some body functions." I took off the feather coat and threw it on his shoulder, "You use it first."

He grabbed the feather coat, put it in his hand to look at it, and raised one corner of his mouth imperceptibly.

"This is—" he said, "a gift from the West Court?"

"The customary measure of drag reduction in the West Court," I said.

He didn't refuse any more, and put it on directly.

I have a hunch that we are getting closer and closer to the other end of the maze, which is the wall of the city of the earth.The road gets harder and harder.Coleman was seriously injured, but thanks to Yuromo's extra support, he was still able to keep pace with me.We tried a lot of ways to use the feather coat - the basic and practical commands based on the place itself worked, but some others, such as "open the city gate" and "remove the defenses of the city of the earth", did not work to the effect.

"The king shouldn't be giving these orders." I hid with him in a corner outside the city wall and whispered to him, "If the reason of 'role identity' gives the king such broad rights, then the king should stay in the role .It is obviously not feasible for the king to personally issue orders that are obviously not good for the city-state."

The city wall was about three people high. Coleman took risks to climb up to investigate, but quickly fell down again.

"One piece of good news, one piece of bad news," he said quietly.

I suddenly felt helpless, "Do you want to ask me which one to listen to first?"

"No." He said calmly. "The good news is that we have a way to avoid Bowei's patrols."

I nodded: "After all, all the colleges are short of manpower at this time."

"The bad news is that four of their city lights have been lit. It belongs to their green."

I was speechless, and my mood was indeed gloomy for a moment.

"I think the situation on Hoftas' side is similar to that of Bowei, and we don't need our kindling at the moment." Coleman continued.

"The puzzle doesn't mention whether the lit lamp can be changed to another color." I clenched my fist and said after a while, "Let's go! You have to try anyway. Over the city wall, slip into the inner city, and then try to smash their city lights."

Coleman looked up at the spiers of the Acropolis Tower protruding from the city wall, showing no emotion.

"That's right," he said, "our battlefield can only belong here."

As Coleman had detected, Bower was loosely guarded.But unlike the broad outer city walls, I don't know how many pairs of eyes locked on the towers of Bowei, waiting for the intruders to attack when they are halfway up and unable to get off.Although Bowei is a martial arts academy with only swordsmen, it is also famous for a special kind of martial arts - bow and arrow.

The fiery red sunset is setting on the horizon.We hid in the shadow cast by the tower, planning our next move.The walls of the Acropolis are too flat to have a single superfluous bump or cartouche.We slowly moved upwards, which is like adding black letters on white paper under the lamp, and people can see at a glance where there is a little extra.

"Your paper bird," Coleman said, "how about that?"

"Not very good. First, its structure is not perfect now, and there is no guarantee of success once, and there is only one chance to preempt it; second, it cannot resist any slight external magic attack, and if it gets a little bit of it, it will self-destruct; third , you can’t ride together, and you can’t use a paper bird alone.” I glanced at his waist pocket and suddenly remembered something. "Coleman, judging from your Soul Blade, do you have the ability to temporarily freeze water?"

"You can try it," he replied.

Bags captured from the Bowats came in handy at this time.We circled to a foothold that the patrol had just passed, hoping they would notice the anomaly later.I was carrying the waist bag, and splashed a stream of water upward against the tower, trying to adjust and maintain its shape with magic power; at this moment, Coleman inserted his knife into the water, and the water flow gradually spread out around his knife. A solid ice sculpture formed on the ground.

"Looks like a slide." I feel a little funny.

"An angle is enough. Step on it."

I also knew that the situation was urgent, so I jumped up as fast as I could on the ice, my fingers penetrated into the traces of the magic pattern all the way.When I was about to reach the top, the ice under my feet had already started to crack. It was a bit worse than I expected, but it was barely enough for me to open the magic circle in one fell swoop; Hanging on the top of the tower, the magic pattern was lit up along the place where my palm was pressed.The reinforcement formation, one of the three defensive formations, exerted its short-term power on this slope.Coleman was no longer cautious and reserved, and came up faster than me.The ice cracked into pieces along with his front and rear feet, and finally completely opened up in pieces after he also climbed to the top of the building, scattered in the air.

"It's too much noise." Coleman crouched and said.

"Someone will notice this place in a while, there is no place to hide."

We were on the top of the city tower, and five city lamps were lined up and hung on the wall not far below, so we could easily get it.

"Strike it?"

"Racing against the clock."

We gave each other a wink and rolled over at the same time.The feather coat was still on Coleman.He murmured "Open the lampshade for me", and those seemingly indestructible transparent lampshades were opened to both sides, and the wicks of the five lamps were immediately exposed to the air.

It seems that this is a neutral command, which is the so-called "find the mechanism" in the puzzle.As soon as I breathed a sigh of relief, I heard a piercing sound in the air below, like a horn, accompanied by a person's shout:

"Enemy attack—!"

Coleman and I looked at each other, took out the kindling in his pocket, jumped a few times to the city wall on the right, and stuffed the kindling into the empty lamp on the far right first.I stayed here, casting a spell with difficulty with one free hand, pressing hard against the green flames, trying to extinguish them.

The voices below gradually grew louder.They don't seem to have a better way to go directly to the top of the building, they can only climb up like us.Apart from this, I can't even imagine how many arrows are pointing at our backs. I can only focus more on the operation of the magic power in my hands, hoping that one of them will have an effect.

"None of them worked?" I heard Coleman's breathing near me.

"It doesn't work," I said, but my hands didn't stop. "Try destroying them directly."

In fact, after so many attempts, I vaguely guessed that this result might be due to the restrictions of the rules - "When all the city lights are lit or destroyed, the Battle of Feather is declared over", which is not mentioned here City lamps can change to another color after being lit.Destroying is undoubtedly the worst policy, but there is no better choice at this time.

Coleman didn't answer, all I could hear was a ding-ding-dong-dong sound from his side.

I don't know what material the wick is made of, but it's even more indestructible than the lampshade.I barely cracked the one in front of me, and Coleman wasn't much faster than me.The hand I was holding on the top of the building was sore, and the shouts of killing had already appeared from below.In an instant, I heard the whizzing sound of arrows piercing through the air, and I had to stop and twist my body to dodge.Those arrows were bounced off the wall one after another, popping up arcs and falling behind us.

"They're gathering a crowd." Coleman turned around and looked under the tower. "They don't plan to slowly climb up to catch us. As long as there are enough archers, we can't escape being crucified here no matter what."

"There is no way." I gritted my teeth, "Before we are nailed, we can destroy one by one."

He and I continued to tap the lamp in silence.Obviously, "destroying the city lamp" is a more tricky choice than "filling the lamp". The energy required to find the fire by bypassing it all has to be transformed into the strength of hitting it at this time.

"It's—no," I murmured annoyedly. "Couldn't the breaking be considered the end, and I have to cut off the entire wick before it's over?"

Coleman was still working on his lamp.But in fact, the rain of arrows is getting denser and denser. We already spend more time dodging and less time shooting.

If this trend continues, when we really lose our strength, we may not necessarily destroy two city lights.

"And there are traps in the rules. It's useless to fill the enemy city with fire, and you have to stay and guard it to prevent it from being destroyed by the opponent again." I breathed out. "I still have more magic power, but judging from the condition of my hands and body, I can last about another minute. What about you?"

"Not longer than you," he said. "My previous wounds have been torn."

I originally thought that Coleman, who possesses the body of a swordsman, might be able to stay longer than me until his lamp is completely destroyed, but this idea is also shattered now.

Maybe we are all silently counting down, counting our life in Yuzhen; maybe we don’t have any, what we are counting is only the lamp that is about to break in front of us.

I don't know when, the rain of arrows has thinned down, and it is no longer shooting like a net, but concentrated at the city lamp where we are, and suddenly released a few arrows, pointing at our vital points—whether magicians or For the swordsman, his heart and mouth are filled with the key to magic power.Once suffering such a serious penetrating injury, if you don't receive on-the-spot treatment, you will face death in all likelihood, so you can't even talk about insisting on attacking the city.

I glanced down, and there are dozens of Bowei people climbing up around the city wall. They are like a dense, black colony of ants climbing up circles along a cup full of honey. .

Perhaps the Bowas saw the speed of our destruction and couldn't wait to climb up and stop the two injured intruders with their own hands.

This is an inevitable encirclement and suppression.

I feel that my movements are getting slower and slower, and I am about to reach the limit.With such a gathering of elite troops, the two of them could not fight their way out.My brain is still spinning, my hands are still working out the last spell, but there is no new way for me.

"Have you ever read history?" Coleman said suddenly.

"More or less," I took a breath, and responded amidst the strong wind, "what's the matter?"

"Then can you feel that the death of a monarch who combines the hearts and powers of the people will often point to the demise of a dynasty when there are no successors?"

"Yes," an arrow flew past my head, almost cutting off half of my scalp, "what are you talking about at this time?"

"I want to test an idea," he said hoarsely. "Vicente, it's done! This time it's your turn."

I subconsciously looked in Coleman's direction, and reached out to grab it; a light-colored waist bag fell into the palm of my hand, not heavy, but very heavy.I saw that he concentrated all his weight on the hand that was holding the city wall, stopped all movements, then let go of his hand, and leaned back.The wide sleeves of his feather coat were filled with the wind, and he floated upwards, but he himself fell heavily.An arrow flying from below was not dodged by him this time, and inserted into his heart impartially.

With what appears to be a faint smile—the first time he's shown something sly—he mouths to me, "Goodbye."

The feather coat on Coleman's body became disintegrated after the arrow was inserted, and the pure black feathers bloomed randomly in midair, and finally disappeared gradually like his figure.I haven't even seen the moment when he fell to the ground - some splashed blood fell from mid-air without any attachment, beautiful and weird, like a misty red rain.

I froze there, fastened my waist bag firmly, looked through the city lamps that burst and fell, but for a moment I didn't know how to make the next move.Until the commotion below gradually increased one after another, accompanied by the call signs of some people and the loosening of the bricks and tiles under my hands.I don't know who is shouting hoarsely: "The city has collapsed! The city has collapsed!"

Almost in the next second, my hand loosened and I also fell down.The Bowei people were in a mess at this moment, they couldn't take care of themselves, don't mention shooting arrows at me, they couldn't even line up neatly.At this moment, I pulled out a piece of paper from my chest, and injected my most familiar rune into it.

The paper bird spread out under me, its wings fluttering in the wind, leading me stumbling into the maze outside the city wall.

Behind me, the tall tower in the center of the city of the earth is slowly collapsing like a sandcastle. The foundation is sinking, the original exquisite bricks and tiles are falling apart, and the air is full of flying dust. Buried deep in the ground.The city is filled with piles of ruins, but there are few people on the ruins, just like a mass burial ground left over from the ruins of a dynasty.

There are many hidden rules, which can only be truly reflected when you are on the front line.

—For example, I then pointed out the pitfalls of the rules concerning the filling of wicks.

——For example, Coleman's choice at the last moment.

The Bowei people who stayed behind may not have had time to change their minds, why did their city of the earth disappear in an instant.If it weren't for the few words Coleman said to me before letting go, I wouldn't have realized it so quickly.

The only king of the city of the earth is dead, and the city of the earth declares its own destruction.