A hazy drizzle shrouded the entire world.
The fine threads of rain acted like a curtain, obscuring vision and making it difficult for even sunlight to pierce through.
The clouds overhead were heavy and somber.
Suddenly, a figure flashed past with the sound of breaking wind.
"Whoosh!"
The howling wind roared past her ears, and her long hair whipped in the gale, pulling at Luo Li's scalp until it ached.
But now was not the time to worry about such things!
Although the griffin units behind her still couldn't keep up, she couldn't seem to shake them off either.
Those griffin units were biting hard at her heels.
They refused to let go no matter what.
Seeing this, Luo Li's brow furrowed.
Judging by the situation, had the Demon Emperor... already recognized who she was?
He probably wasn't certain, but he must have suspected something.
At this point, there seemed to be no other choice but to leave this region as quickly as possible.
Fortunately, this griffin was the best among them all.
Otherwise, she would have been caught long ago.
Faint sounds seemed to drift from behind.
It sounded like someone was shouting, "Stop! Stop!"
Stop? Like hell I will! If I stop, will I even have a life left?
Hearing the shouting, Luo Li urged the griffin beneath her even harder, her reins waving so fast they left afterimages.
This griffin was quite capable as well, seeing its new master in such a desperate hurry.
It let out a sharp eagle-like screech!
Spreading its wings, its speed increased by another thirty percent.
In this manner, the chase continued for two hours, and the griffins behind had clearly begun to show signs of exhaustion.
Their speed gradually began to slow, but the speed of the griffin Luo Li rode did not falter.
It wasn't until the griffins in the rear began to slowly decelerate and ceased their pursuit that Luo Li finally breathed a sigh of relief and patted the griffin's neck.
"I didn't think you could fly so fast."
The griffin looked back at Luo Li, then glanced at the dark shadows behind them, snorting a puff of air through its nostrils with apparent disdain.
"Psh!"
That human-like expression of contempt and satisfaction suddenly made Luo Li realize how much this fellow usually had to hold back.
After all, in an army, the entire force was required to maintain the same speed.
Otherwise, the formation would fall into chaos.
And this also limited certain individuals with particularly outstanding abilities.
Like this griffin.
Clearly, this griffin had been suppressing its natural temperament on a daily basis.
Today's sudden high-speed flight finally allowed it to vent its frustrations and enjoy itself.
Sitting on the griffin's back, she glanced behind her.
Those griffins had indeed stopped chasing.
Flying continuously at speeds exceeding three hundred and fifty kilometers per hour...
Those griffin units had likely reached the limit of their physical endurance.
After all, even the dragon race generally wouldn't exceed a hundred kilometers per hour during long-distance flights.
Speeds over three hundred kilometers were clearly in the sprinting category.
Being able to maintain that chase for over an hour was already quite impressive.
One must realize that the entire Demon Island Strait was less than a hundred kilometers long.
At the griffin's speed, it could reach the Great Wall within an hour.
If a griffin unit were to launch a surprise attack, the first line of the Great Wall would be almost impossible to defend and would be breached instantly.
As expected, flying units were terrifyingly powerful.
At the thought of this, Luo Li's scalp felt numb.
The previous Great Wall indeed had very few anti-aircraft facilities.
Most of them were designed for the sea and the ground.
Especially those mana cannons; almost all of them were direct-fire weapons that only exploded upon impact.
Such mana cannons had vastly different effects on aerial armies compared to ground forces.
It seemed she would have to research how to defend against the sky once she returned.
Air superiority must be held in one's own hands at all times.
That was the most crucial point!
To defend the land, sea, and air, one had to protect both the land and the sky.
As for naval power, it was essential for when an offensive was needed.
Hm... she wondered what the shipbuilding capabilities of this era were like.
So far, Luo Li had only seen ships reinforced with iron plates; she hadn't seen any all-iron vessels yet.
If an all-iron ship could be built, it would surely be an invincible existence at sea.
Currently, most ships were made of wood, and they relied on that weak sea wood.
Encountering an iron ship, they would be smashed to pieces in a single collision.
But those were matters for later.
One should know that from the first iron barge built by Wilkinson in 1787...
It wasn't until sixty or seventy years later, in 1860, that iron-hulled warships capable of carrying cannons appeared.
And this was inseparable from one most crucial issue.
That was machine tools.
Without machine tools, it was impossible to manufacture standardized parts.
The number of master craftsmen required for a hand-built iron ship was on a completely different level.
Moreover, the number of such elite craftsmen was extremely small; building one would require a massive investment.
Furthermore, subsequent maintenance would become a massive problem.
One had to master machine tool technology before taking the next step.
And the steam engine was only the first step.
Fortunately, Luo Li possessed memories from a technological era.
While she couldn't draw anything professional, she could still sketch the general principles of tools.
As long as they could develop step by step, the first iron ship should be able to debut within a few decades!
Of course, the prerequisite was to first liberate the labor force and have a worker's revolution.
Otherwise, with slaves dominating the mainstream and stripping away the living space of workers, the workers naturally wouldn't be able to do their best.
Productivity would naturally decline.
The first thing to do was to face the noble circles and the slave system.
The more she thought... the more her blood boiled, and the more she felt a surge of energy throughout her body.
She wanted to do something big.
But thinking was one thing; these things had to be done slowly.
Nothing could be achieved overnight.
Especially when it involved the survival of an entire nation and hundreds of millions of people.
One could not afford to be careless.
Thinking of this, the image of Lola couldn't help but surface in Luo Li's mind.
She wondered how she was doing now.
Had she been alright during the half-month she was gone?
She should be fine; after all, she had sent a message to Augus before leaving.
With his intelligence, stabilizing the overall situation shouldn't be a problem.
As long as the Pope kept his promise, the Kingdom of the Moon wouldn't face any problems in the short term.
Of course, it was undeniable that some nobles might cause trouble.
After all, this storm had been far too dangerous, lasting for nearly a month.
She had never heard of such a massive typhoon in her previous life.
A typical typhoon would pass in two or three days, or five or six at most.
This one had been extended sixfold.
One could imagine how large this world was.
I just don't know how much damage there is. I need to get back quickly; the more I think about it, the more worried I get.
Seeing the coastline come into view in the distance, the heart Luo Li had been holding in her throat finally settled down.
Just as Luo Li was filled with joy, a dark shadow suddenly flashed across the distant sky.
In the next second, accompanied by a long dragon's roar...
Luo Li's entire body broke out in goosebumps.
A powerful sense of crisis surged from afar!
The moment she felt this crisis, Luo Li pulled the reins without hesitation.
Instantly, with an eagle-like screech, the griffin's body jerked upward, heading straight for the clouds.
In the next second, just a few meters behind the griffin...
A streak of blue roared past!
The pillar of icy blue light radiated a dazzling glow.
The sound of crackling, like breaking glass, rang in her ears.
That was the sound of the air itself freezing!
Dragon Breath!
Feeling the source of this crisis and seeing that familiar pillar of ice!
There was no doubt—this was Dragon Breath!
The dragon race?
And it was a frost dragon!
One capable of exhaling such a massive Dragon Breath had to be of the true dragon rank.
In other words... was she now a target of the dragon race's attack?
Why?
Luo Li's gaze fell upon the griffin.
It was it! It was it! It was it!
Our hero... Mr. Griffin.
Griffins were the flying units of the demon army, and anyone sitting on a griffin would undoubtedly be assumed to be a demon.
Meaning... this frost dragon had mistaken her for a demon!
The thought flashed through her mind, and Luo Li instinctively wanted to turn back and greet them.
To her surprise, that Dragon Breath began to turn toward her position without the slightest pause!
"Shit!!"
Luo Li cursed harshly.
The range of Dragon Breath could reach over a thousand meters.
No matter how loud her voice was, it was impossible to shout across several kilometers.
If she wanted to fly the griffin near that dragon, it was also nearly impossible to achieve.
After all, that was a dragon; the closer she got, the more means of attack it would have.
She didn't want to be blasted into dust before even making contact!
That would truly be a massive joke.
The dignified human Saintess being blasted into dust by her own allies.
What kind of cosmic joke was that?
"Demons! How dare you leave the demon island! Today, I will have your life!!"
This voice... sounded a bit familiar.
Could it be?
Holy crap! It's her!
Shalin Noah, the younger of the sisters from the frost dragon and Red Flame Great Dragon tribes, the frost dragon Shalin?
Hearing this voice, Luo Li felt as if she had found her own people.
Joy made her instinctively turn back and shout at the top of her lungs:
"Shalin, it's me! It's me!!"
Luo Li practically stood on the griffin's back, waving her arms toward the rear.
Meanwhile, after seeing this scene, a surge of fury erupted within Shalin's massive eyes.
Although the distance between them was nearly two thousand meters, the vision of the dragon race allowed them to easily see things tens or even hundreds of kilometers away.
"Damned demon, how dare you mock me! The Saintess is missing, His Majesty is furious, and he's already blamed my sister! Now even a single demon dares to mock me? Do you really think my frost dragon tribe is easy to bully!"
As soon as she finished speaking, Shalin jerked her dragon head up, holding a breath of Dragon Breath in her mouth.
Feeling the threat of that Dragon Breath from afar, Luo Li's scalp went numb!
In her Witch form, her Mind's Eye allowed her to detect danger in advance.
And this Dragon Breath was a literal disaster for her current self!
Even a slight graze would be enough to instantly vaporize her body!
Though this was Dragon Breath exhaled by a frost dragon, it was still enough to be fatal to a level thirty amateur like her!
There was no time to hesitate; at this distance, Shalin couldn't hear what she was shouting at all.
"I... Dammit!!"
With no time for nonsense, Luo Li suddenly turned around!
She grabbed the reins and yanked them to the side!
The Dragon Breath behind her passed by, just missing her!
"Boom!"
The gale kicked up by the Dragon Breath caused the griffin to sway back and forth, and the mana elements in the air were completely thrown into chaos.
The griffin couldn't even maintain its balance, and its entire body went flying.
A large flying creature like a griffin could not reach high speeds relying solely on its physical body.
They often required the assistance of mana elements.
Even the dragon race was the same, especially the giant dragons.
Their bodies had already exceeded the limits of normal organisms; they were able to stand because the abundant mana elements in the air allowed them to move freely.
Mana elements were like energy contained in the air.
It made the entire world permeate with energy.
And a dragon's body was even more saturated with mana elements, to the point where every muscle could serve as top-tier material for an alchemist.
And this... also gave the dragon race powerful explosive capabilities and lasting endurance.
But Luo Li never expected that her previous efforts to understand the dragon race so she could better command them would now become her life-saving straw!
Once Dragon Breath was exhaled, its speed would begin to drop.
Therefore, Luo Li had to force the reins, making the griffin begin a downward dive.
Every time Dragon Breath condensed, it required a process, which could take more than a minute at most.
At least ten seconds at minimum.
This time was enough for a nimble griffin to evade.
Just like that, Luo Li pulled the reins and shouted back to Mochizuki Shingen.
"Hold on to the griffin!!"
After saying that, she pressed herself flat against the griffin and began to coordinate with it.
In this situation, she had to grip the griffin tightly, or she would be thrown off if she wasn't careful.
She didn't have the ability to fly; she could only use a floating skill, and its maximum height was only a dozen centimeters above the ground.
In other words, once she fell, it would be no different from hitting the ground.
They were currently over the ocean, and Luo Li glanced left and right.
There were essentially no obstacles to hide behind in the vicinity.
That was the nature of aerial combat; in the sky, one could only use nimble techniques to dodge enemy attacks.
And most crucially, during the entire aerial battle, it was impossible to find obstacles to use for a counterattack.
One could only fly away as quickly as possible.
However... the griffin had already exhausted its stamina for over an hour, and Luo Li didn't know how much energy it had left.
Gritting her teeth, Luo Li looked up at the clouds.
Although lightning would occasionally flash within the clouds, she had no choice now.
If she didn't enter the clouds, she could only wait for death!
The endurance and explosive power of the dragon race far exceeded that of a griffin unit.
Even an elite griffin couldn't outlast a dragon!
Only the clouds could allow her to escape the pursuit behind her!
Shalin, you just wait.
I'm remembering this grudge!
Luo Li yanked the reins.
The griffin let out an eagle-like screech and charged into the clouds!
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