The sky was exceptionally clear, with only a few thin white clouds floating, and the red sun wheel hung low, pouring surging heat waves into the golden desert.

At this time, an irregular oval-shaped portal appeared on the land filled with yellow sand. With the rainbow-colored light from the portal, two figures came out.

"How did we come to the desert? With Taring's assistance, it's impossible to go wrong?" Anderina stood on the soft yellow sand surface, looking at the disappearing portal, she asked nervously and doubtfully.

"It's not wrong, this is near the west gate of Winter City." Thorne shook his head, after adjusting to the dizziness, he carefully looked at the surrounding environment, and finally said with great certainty.

Since the failed teleportation spell last night, something very embarrassing happened. After they returned to the wizard tower, they did not rush to set off, but decided to set off early the next morning.

Seeing that the second teleportation spell with the help of the tower's teleportation array and Taring's assistance did not fail, Thorne's heart finally fell.

After all, he had heard of many sorcerers who had the first half of their body passed over due to a teleportation error, and the other half could never be found. Some people even entered the door and never came out again.

Just thinking about it makes me nervous.

"Oh, I remembered." After hearing Thorne's answer, Andrina thought about it carefully, and finally breathed a sigh of relief, recalling: "Six months ago, when we escaped from Winter City, we saw in the wilderness After a dark blue meteor shower fell on this land.

This meteor shower is the light emitted by the magic crystal superconducting pulse cannon in order to clear the huge gnoll army from the Wizard Tower of Winter City. This destructive force that converts elemental energy into dark matter energy is highly radiative, and will destroy all living things and soil in the surrounding area, resulting in no grass. "

"Then do you feel that the surrounding magic energy is a little confusing?" Thorne nodded to Andrina, stretched out his hand to feel the yellow sand rolled up by the wind, and found that a violent energy was interfering with the energy of Qi in his body. run.

"I really feel that casting spells here will greatly affect my performance." Andrina's fingertips flashed a dim magic light, then looked up at the red sun wheel, and couldn't help but wonder: "It's strange, the morning sun Obviously not so intense, why is the temperature here so high."

"Look there." Thorne took Andrina to a pile of stones the size of grinding discs and said, "I think the heat should be emanating from these hot stones."

When the two approached the stone piles, they immediately noticed that the surrounding temperature had increased significantly, and there was a more violent energy escaping. The root of all this was pointing to the problems with these stone piles.

"It turns out that these stones are some extremely special magic items that were deliberately placed here to absorb radiant energy." Andrina bowed and observed it carefully, showing a sudden look, and then frowned: " Let's get out of here quickly, staying in a place like this for a long time will be affected by the radiation energy."

After speaking, she looked up at Thorne, just to find that the other party was also staring at her.

"What are you... looking at?" Andrina, who was suddenly a little embarrassed by the stare, looked away.

"It's okay, I just think you look cute sometimes." Thorne reached out and touched Anderina's smooth and white face, wiped the sweat from her forehead, and said inexplicably.

"Let's go." Then he took her little hand and walked in the direction of Winter City.

cute?

Andrina, who let Thorne pull her forward, heard a cold comment about herself, which made her a little depressed. Because she didn't want to associate herself with the word cute, that would be too childish.

Relatively speaking, she wants to be a mature and intellectual woman.

Does Thorne like cute girls, Andrina thought.

Immediately afterwards, a sly look flashed in her bright beautiful eyes, and then she quickened her pace and walked side by side with Thorne, and then asked with a smile on her face: "Son, then you say I'm cute, or a fluffy little one. Animals are cute, or some half-elf is cute."

Hearing a certain half-elf mentioned, Thorne's body seemed to have been immobilized, obviously stiffened, and then recovered instantly.

Did the old troll housekeeper tell her all that? Thorne thought for a moment uncertainly.

After thinking about it carefully, I think it shouldn't. If he really wants to tell Anderina, he won't meaningfully imply that he will pay attention in the future.

So he stopped, turned to look at Andrina calmly, and found that she was smiling at him, the smile in her eyes was showing on her lips, showing her white teeth, she looked gentle, kind, and beautiful.

"Does it have anything to do with being cute when I like you?" What a joke, no matter how slow his reaction is, he knows that this kind of multiple-choice question can't be answered directly.

So Thorne thought about it very quickly in his mind and asked an ambiguous rhetorical question.

The question he answered seemed to have many meanings, depending on what the smart sorceress in front of him could come up with.

However, Thorne also knew that it was not a solution to keep it secret. He felt that he had to make it clear when he had a chance.

Andrina snorted, so that Thorne couldn't guess what she was thinking, but the next sentence put his heart down.

"Thinking about it carefully, in fact, I think it's pretty cool that you scolded the fat butler at the prom last night." The two walked forward slowly, and Andrina joked with a smile.

"Between the two of us, don't talk to each other about business here, I sound embarrassed." Thorne coughed and replied slightly embarrassed.

In fact, he seldom speaks foul language. Last night, because of the transmission error and Andrina falling into a semi-consciousness, he was in a state of anxiety.

It was hard to see that she woke up, but the fat housekeeper pointed at him like a fly and kept chattering there, so he couldn't help but curse.

In the final analysis, it was the two of them who were at fault first, not only overturning the drinks and food at these noble gatherings, but also ruining their interest.

"But I don't feel embarrassed at all. If I can hear you compliment me in different ways every day, I'll be too happy. What's the embarrassment?" Andrina looked at Thorne's unnatural smile. , the smile on the corner of his mouth became a little thicker.

Thorne rolled his eyes at her without saying a word, grabbed her little hand, and involuntarily quickened his pace.

In the small desert where the sun wheel was low and the yellow sand was filled, the two quickly came to the vicinity of Winter City.

"Stop coming! Winter City is under martial law. Only going out! No entry! Adventurers from afar, please come back, no one is welcome here."

Just as Thorne and Andrina were about to approach the city wall, a human soldier in black armor appeared on the battlement and scolded the two of them.

Winter City is actually closed?

"Is there a way to teleport in directly?" Thorne patted the sand on his body, looked at Anderina, and asked.

"No, there is a wizard's tower in this city, and all the different-dimensional space passages are closed, otherwise the two of us would not be able to appear directly outside the city." Anderina shook her head slightly and said truthfully.

"Why are you only allowed to go out, not to enter? We come to Winter City to do a very important thing. We will leave as soon as we finish it, and it won't take a long time." Thorne looked up at the black armored soldiers on the battlements and said. .

"Only allowed out! Not allowed in!" The black armored soldier did not answer Thorne's question, but repeated it again. When he saw that the two people under the tower had no plans to leave at all, he waved his hand and said coldly: " Hurry back and don't stay here!"

As soon as the voice fell, rows of heavy crossbows that had already been loaded appeared on the battlements to lock Thorne and the two of them. The sharp crossbows flickered in the morning light with a cold and persuasive light.

"What's going on?" In the stalemate between the two sides, a young man in civilian clothes on the tower came over and asked the black armored soldier.

"Young City Lord!" Seeing the young man walking over, the black armored soldier was startled, not understanding why the other party suddenly appeared here, so he bowed respectfully and said truthfully: "There are two adventurers outside the city Entering the city, I was stopped by me."

The young man called Young City Lord heard the words, walked to the battlement and glanced at it, and then instructed the black armored soldiers beside him: "These two are my friends, let them in."

"However, on the city owner's side..." The black armored soldier hesitated.

"Don't worry, I'll explain." The young man smiled indifferently, but his tone seemed unquestionable.

The black armored soldiers immediately signaled their subordinates to put away their weapons and open the city gate to let the two men in.

"Boom!"

The heavy city gate was opened, Thorne and Andrina looked at each other suspiciously, and they walked in together without any hesitation.

"We meet again, ranger from the wild, and this beautiful Lady Andrina, welcome to Winterfell."

In the dim corridor, a young man with long brown hair came out of the shadows, smiled and said hello.

It's him!

Young Lord Brant Ironhand of Winterfell, a fallen paladin.

"Long time no see, thank you for your help." Thorne, who recognized his identity, stepped forward and shook hands with Jian Du.

Andrina, who was behind her, also walked to Thorne's side, nodded slightly to him, and continued to remain silent.

"Then... farewell." Thorne felt that there was nothing to chat with the other party, he didn't want to waste time here, and was going to take Anderina to leave directly.

"Please wait a moment." The young city master of Winter City reached out to stop the two from leaving, smiled apologetically to the two, and then showed a contemplative look.

Seeing this, Thorne understood that the young city lord should have something to say to him.

So he patted the back of Anderina's hand lightly, waited quietly, and then took advantage of this time to look around.

Unfortunately, it is a pity that he did not see the drow swordsman master from the Underdark.

However, he found a scene that surprised him. Looking into the city of Winter through the dim corridor, he found that the entire city seemed to be showing depression.

If it was half a year ago, after he entered the city from here, he could go straight to the busiest business district.

But at this time, there was not a single person, not even the sound of shouting and shouting.

Thorne was relieved when he thought that the city of Winter had been closed at this time. After all, the closure of the city meant that something major happened, and anyone with a little brain could understand the reason.

Moreover, the Winter City almost fell six months ago.

"I want to ask you to do me a favor." After a while, Brandt said straight to the point.

"Please speak." Thorne didn't directly nod in agreement, but wanted to figure out what he needed to do first.

"Help me send this holy emblem representing the God of Suffering Ilmat to Deep Rock City in the Silver Pine Plain and hand it over to the archbishop of the temple." The young city lord of Winter City struggled inwardly, and reached out and took out the close-fitting storage. A dull silver holy emblem: pale hands bound by red cords.

"Why?" Thorne didn't reach out to pick it up, but was silent for a moment, staring at the other party, and spoke slowly.

"I made you laugh, because I failed the God of Suffering's expectations for me. Every time I saw this holy emblem in my hand, it was as if I saw the disappointed eyes of the God of Suffering from the distant kingdom of God. Facts have proved that I It really didn't give it the hope of the Holy King again. So I think it's better to send it back to the Temple of the Suffering God, I don't deserve it anymore."

The fallen paladin sighed, looking at the dull silver holy emblem, his eyes filled with nostalgia.

"You are giving up on yourself. Ilmater will not give you two chances, and the timing will not stay for long. People's talents will not be perfect when they do things, so the success of things is mainly at the right time. time, not persistence."

After listening to the other party's words, Thorne was unmoved, but he comforted him earnestly: "As long as people are still alive, there will be hope, give yourself a little confidence. I'm very sorry, I may not be able to help you with this task, If you really want to return it, you must go there yourself."

After he finished speaking, he left with Anderina.

It's not that he doesn't want to help, he just thinks that this fallen paladin may still have hope of regaining his strength. If he chooses to agree, he will undoubtedly directly smother the other party's last obsession.

This kind of thing about the paladins, let them solve it by themselves, he didn't want to get involved.

"hope?"

The fallen paladin stared at the back of the half-elf ranger leaving and gave a wry smile.

"The sky is no longer with you, and the time will stay there soon. If you can work or not, the matter is up to you."

Immediately afterwards, he suddenly recalled a strange sigh of Ward, the drow swordsman master who had left on his own initiative, before he left. He shook his head inexplicably, put away the holy emblem again, and turned to leave.