See if He Dares to Chase

"Your Highness, the coastline is already in sight."

Black's voice interrupted the young girl's train of thought.

Luo Li gazed into the distance where the sky met the earth. Though it was merely a sliver, the azure sea was finally visible on the horizon.

"Black, notify the entire army to be on alert. All units, prepare to increase altitude!"

"Saintess, we are surrounded by endless plains. Why the need for such high alert?" Black asked curiously, his voice remaining flat.

He wasn't trying to defy her orders.

It was just that... an altitude of a thousand meters already brought temperatures difficult for this human Saintess to endure.

If they went any higher, combined with their current speed, a human wouldn't be able to withstand it.

"Follow my orders."

"...As you command."

Black hesitated for a moment, but ultimately chose to execute Luo Li's command.

With a long, thunderous roar, his dragon cry instantly spread through the entire group.

In the next second, the dragon's head beneath her feet tilted sharply upward.

His massive body soared toward the sky.

Black was nearly six hundred meters long, with a wingspan reaching nearly one thousand three hundred meters.

As this sun-blocking dragon suddenly changed course, the gale behind them instantly became turbulent.

However, the skysoar dragons seemed accustomed to this, tilting their heads and following Black's ascent directly!

Moreover, the skysoar dragons hardly needed to flap their wings; they simply rode the wind vortices created by the dark dragon to soar upward.

Seeing this, I couldn't help but feel immensely envious of the dragon race's flying capabilities.

Lost in thought, Luo Li instinctively wrapped her left hand around her right arm, standing on the dragon's head in a very feminine posture.

It wasn't that she was trying to act dainty; it was just... it was so damn cold.

"Sss... hu..."

She couldn't help but take a sharp breath, only to feel the biting wind become even more piercing.

The current speed of their ascent had reached the limit of what a human could endure. Luo Li even felt that if her Saintess's robe hadn't activated its self-protection function, she would have passed out by now.

A Saintess's robe was truly a Saintess's robe; the quality was top-notch.

With one hand gripping a dragon horn and the other clutching her arm, the cold wind sliced past her cheeks, whipping her long silver hair into the air.

"Saintess, we have reached five thousand meters. Shall we level off?"

"Don't stop. Keep climbing."

At the moment, the ground temperature was likely in the twenties, typical for late summer, but in the sky... the temperature dropped six degrees for every thousand meters of ascent.

In an instant, it was below freezing. Luo Li felt as though her nose was being filled with frozen air, and the corners of her mouth began to chap.

But she couldn't worry about that now.

"Keep climbing. Stop when we reach about twelve thousand meters."

"With all due respect, Saintess, that altitude is not something a human can withstand."

"Ignore me and keep climbing."

As the distant sea level gradually came into view, the unease in Luo Li's heart grew.

First, it was certain that the Demon Emperor wasn't dead. Although he had lost his human shell, she was sure he hadn't lost his life force when he fell to the ground.

It would be truly strange if a level seventy powerhouse didn't have at least one life-saving measure.

But this brought another danger.

If the Demon Emperor was alive, he would surely guess what she intended to do.

Yet, half the night had passed, and the demon race still hadn't made a move. Was this normal?

Of course it wasn't.

Since it wasn't normal, how could she approach the coastline without any precautions?

And in the air, the best precaution was to climb!

At the limit of their altitude, even if something on the ground wanted to launch a sneak attack, they would need the capability to hit a target over ten thousand meters high in an instant.

Ascending to twelve thousand meters allowed them to reach the level of high-altitude clouds.

If they truly encountered danger, they could temporarily hide in the clouds, using the mist to obscure the enemy's vision.

After all, her current force wasn't large—exactly two thousand and three dragons. No matter how large these dragons were, they would still be invisible within the clouds.

Luo Li had no other choice.

This was the only optimal solution she could think of.

However... while the dragon race and beastmen could barely endure it, she couldn't.

By the time they reached eight thousand meters, she was shivering uncontrollably from the cold.

The temperature had dropped to minus twenty-six degrees. Although her Saintess's robe could retain heat, her legs weren't wearing winter-specific stockings, so the thermal measures couldn't activate there.

This made her pair of long, fair legs look even paler—purely from the cold.

"Saintess, can you still endure?"

"K-K-Keep... going..."

Luo Li was shaking violently, but to ensure their safety, she could only push for more altitude.

Just then, a woman's voice suddenly came from beside her.

"Uncle Black, keep climbing. I will handle the Saintess's problem."

As she spoke, the red flame great dragon flying alongside Black suddenly flickered and transformed into a young girl with short, fiery-red hair.

She stood firmly beside Luo Li.

"Flame Shield."

With a soft chant, the dragon girl Aigie lightly tapped the air in front of Luo Li.

A fiery-red, semi-circular barrier slowly emerged before her eyes.

The freezing wind that had been relentlessly buffeting Luo Li suddenly turned warm.

To the naked eye, the fiery-red shield looked as if flames had been compressed into a transparent shell. The fire inside burned fiercely, yet not a single spark escaped.

However, every gust of gale that passed through this flame shield was instantly heated.

By the time the wind hit Luo Li's face, the icy chill had been transformed into a warmth like a spring breeze.

Luo Li turned to look at Aigie in surprise, only to see a flush of red cross Aigie's face.

"D-Don't misunderstand. I am only under His Majesty's orders to bring you back. If you suffer frostbite, His Majesty will blame me."

Luo Li blinked.

She hadn't... said anything, had she?

Regardless, this was a lifesaver.

"Thank you."

Aigie's brow furrowed slightly, but she said no more. Seeing this, Black continued to climb with peace of mind.

In just a few minutes, the dragon flight had reached an altitude of twelve thousand meters.

After passing through several layers of clouds, the bright light of early morning appeared in the sky.

Above them was an endless, mirror-clear blue sky; beneath them was a sea of clouds layered like cotton candy.

Standing atop Black's head and witnessing this exquisite scene, Luo Li felt her heart could melt. She hadn't been this sentimental before—at least, when she was a man, she had been quite rational.

Though she hadn't seemed that 'smart' before her reincarnation, she had always been rational in her life choices.

But at this moment, she suddenly felt herself becoming emotional.

Was this... also a change brought about by her body?

Gazing at this rare, beautiful sight, Luo Li felt as if her mood had drifted into the clouds—weightless yet incredibly comfortable.

"I really envy your dragon race. You don't need anything; you survive just by eating and drinking every day. And you get to see such beauty every day."

However, facing Luo Li's lament, Aigie merely glanced at the sea of clouds and the blue sky.

"Is it beautiful? I don't see it."

"Mm, that's because you dragons can see it whenever you want. But for us humans, it's different."

Luo Li pointed to their surroundings.

"How many humans can reach this height to see the world before them?"

Aigie didn't seem to quite understand that feeling, merely nodding.

"I suppose what you say makes sense. For us dragons, this scenery is available whenever we wish."

Having said that, Aigie suddenly added another comment.

"But I advise you not to look too much."

"Why?"

Luo Li paused, instinctively turning to look at Aigie.

Aigie pointed toward the frost dragon, Shalin, who was flying nearby.

"Look at Shalin's eyes, then look at Uncle Black's eyes."

As she spoke, she pointed to her own eyes as well.

Luo Li followed her direction and looked closely. A thin, film-like layer suddenly flickered across the inner part of Aigie's eye, sliding over the eyeball before quickly retracting into the inner corner.

"Is that... a third eyelid?"

"It seems your knowledge is decent."

Aigie nodded and continued her explanation, "We dragons have a third eyelid to protect our eyes. We aren't afraid of the sun at high altitudes, but you humans are different. Except for the beastmen, the third eyelid has disappeared from other humanoid races. That is why you cannot live at high altitudes."

She pointed toward the distant sunlight and the clouds that were beginning to reflect its brilliance.

"It is early morning now, so the sun isn't particularly blinding. In a while, once the sun rises, the light reflected off the clouds will be enough to blind you."

She turned back to Luo Li.

"Now, do you still think it's beautiful?"

"Of course."

Luo Li smiled, feeling a bit of regret for not bringing sunglasses.

"Beautiful things are beautiful regardless. But... indeed, this place isn't suited for humans."

Luo Li nodded, and her mind drifted toward the dragon legion. It seemed necessary to enchant the armor of the dragon legion as well. Otherwise, if they suffered frostbite or lost their combat effectiveness after ascending, it would be a laughingstock.

She looked back at the skysoar dragons behind them.

Even with their fur, those beastmen were shivering in the minus forty or fifty-degree air above the clouds. If not for Aigie, she might have truly frozen solid.

Fortunately, it wasn't her own dragon knight army here; otherwise, they really would have lost their combat power at this altitude.

I'll note this down and have Lola research it later.

Just as she was thinking this, Black's voice deepened.

"Saintess, hold on tight."

"Eh?"

Luo Li blinked. Before she could react, the massive black dragon beneath her suddenly tilted, its entire body veering directly into a nearby cloud.

With a 'thump,' they dove straight in.

Luo Li didn't even have time to think about what was happening; she could only grab onto a dragon horn immediately.

"Careful, it's the feathered serpent tribe!"

Before her words could even land, a beam of light suddenly pierced through the mist beside the black dragon. Violent dark elements surged from below, slicing through the blue sky.

As expected, they had come. Her worries hadn't been in vain.

Luo Li wanted to look down, but they were currently surrounded by clouds, making it impossible to see the path ahead.

"Saintess, be careful. A feathered serpent has caught up from below, along with over two thousand griffins."

Black had only recently learned the term 'griffin,' but he used it quite naturally.

At the same time, Aigie couldn't help but glance at Luo Li.

"I hate to say it, but you are indeed impressive. At least you accurately predicted we would be ambushed."

Aigie turned her head, her fiery-red eyes staring downward.

"If you hadn't made us climb in advance, we would likely be facing that feathered serpent head-on right now."

"It was just a coincidence. I didn't know the demon race would actually ambush us."

"Mr. Black, can we escape smoothly?"

"I'm afraid it will be difficult. That feathered serpent is right below us, following closely, but it refuses to ascend."

Not ascending?

I see. It seems the Demon Emperor learned from the last encounter and understands the power brought by the difference in altitude. So, for this ambush, the Demon Emperor has likely prepared for a battle of attrition.

Perhaps there is a second wave, or even a third or fourth wave of ambushes ahead.

The Demon Emperor might even have a feathered serpent ascend further ahead to block their path directly. Then, the army below would slowly ascend, creating a pincer movement to force them down.

No, they couldn't just sit and wait for death. She had to think of something.

"Mr. Black... fly east immediately. We must bypass them no matter what!"

"As you command."

Black didn't hesitate for a second. Upon receiving the order, he let out a roar. His massive black wings tilted left, his head turned, and their course veered toward the east.

"Saintess, if we go east, won't we be heading away from the main army?"

Shalin had appeared on Black's head at some point, her blue eyes gazing downward as if she could see the feathered serpent through the clouds. She was the one who raised the question.

"We have no choice. We've been caught before even reaching the coastline, which means there will definitely be other units blocking the path ahead. If we keep going forward, we'll just end up in a pincer movement."

Crucially, Luo Li didn't know exactly how many forces the demon race had. As the saying goes, 'know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated.' But currently, she didn't know how many troops, feathered serpents, or tentacles the demon race possessed. In this situation, she could only prepare for the worst.

"If the demon race only has five feathered serpents, then this one cannot leave the elite army for too long, or Asfield will surely notice the opening. If they have six, then by drawing one away, we are reducing the pressure on the front lines. Regardless, our only choice is to go east. I only hope the troops at the front can maintain a steady progress and avoid a rout."

Once a rout began, the entire army would lose any effective defensive capability. That wouldn't be a retreat; it would be a total defeat.

They flew east for over a dozen kilometers, but the feathered serpent clearly had no intention of continuing the chase. Seeing this, Luo Li couldn't help but feel relieved.

The fact that the feathered serpent didn't follow proved that the Demon Emperor didn't dare let it stray too far from the main demon army. And while this delayed Luo Li's return to the central command, it allowed her to successfully deduce the general location of the main force.

Glancing at the demon race trailing behind them, the corner of Luo Li's mouth curled into a slight smirk.

"Black, take us out over the sea. Let's see if he dares to chase us there."

"As you command."