Under the ashen sky, a frantic dash all the way.
Finally, the trio arrived at the Suspended Ruins.
"The battles ahead can only rely on us now. As for Jianxin's side, we can only trust her."
Jiyan's expression was grave:
"I tried using the terminal to contact the rear, but there has been no response. It must be affected by the Threnodian's power."
This did not surprise Noah at all.
In the original Wuthering Waves storyline, Jiyan and the others could only rely on Rover's special terminal to communicate with the rear.
Now that Rover and his special terminal were not here, everything had to depend on them alone.
"We must resolve this quickly. The sooner we end this crisis, the safer the little Taoist and the soldiers of the Midnight Rangers will be."
Noah breathed slightly heavily, his expression serious as he looked up at the lunar phase in the sky that was gradually fading as the Retroact Rain stopped. His thoughts were extremely clear.
In the game, battles could be paused at any time, but in reality, every moment of rest allowed the enemy to grow stronger.
So, even though his body was already sending signals of fatigue and soreness from the constant running and fighting, he could not stop.
"The path ahead is blocked by a huge object. We can use..."
[Exploration Module - Grapple - Activated.]
Before Jiyan could finish his explanatory words, Noah had already skipped the introduction and used the Grapple to pull away the massive boulder.
Behind the boulder was a shattered path leading to the statue of Ovathrax.
Affected by the Threnodian's power, the roads and buildings along the way seemed to have lost gravity, quietly floating in mid-air, presenting a unique sense of fractured beauty.
This was how the Suspended Ruins got its name.
"Charge!"
Noah took the lead, stepping onto the floating section of the path and running straight toward the statue of Ovathrax.
"Be careful. The closer we get to the statue, the higher the level of the Tacet Discords might be..."
Before Jiyan could finish speaking, he saw a Giant Wave-class Abyss Guardian being thrown over the shoulder by Noah from a floating high-rise building.
Boom!
The bloated Abyss Guardian crashed heavily to the ground, tilting its head back and letting out a roar of helpless fury.
No matter how enraged it was, it wouldn't be able to climb back up for a while.
With time pressing, it wasn't necessary to kill every group of Tacet Discords—just ensure they didn't block the way.
Noah repeated the method, sending all the appearing Tacet Discords flying, clearing the area cleanly without expending much time or effort.
The three stepped onto a floating high platform. There was no road ahead, only a few massive floating boulders nearby:
"These floating fragments could perhaps be used to pave a path..."
Jiyan's words got stuck again, because Noah had already pulled out his Grapple, hooking onto a huge floating boulder in the distance. His right arm muscles suddenly tensed.
The boulder was yanked fiercely by the Grapple, and after a collision, it landed perfectly beneath the trio's feet.
"Get on board."
Noah stepped onto the boulder first, firmly planting his foot on a protrusion, while the Grapple tightly hooked a distant massive structure.
As Yangyang and Jiyan steadied themselves on the boulder, Noah pulled the Grapple again with force.
The floating boulder beneath their feet carried the trio flying toward the distant structure.
Once again sending the Tacet Discords in this structure flying, the trio passed through a massive opening in the building and continued forward.
However, Jiyan sensed the frequency on the opening they had just passed through and couldn't help but feel stunned.
This opening in the building... had been blasted open by a Disruptor!
According to his perception, this area should have been blocked by an immovable massive object, but it had been preemptively blasted open by Mortefi's Disruptor at Noah's prior instruction.
Hiss!
Jiyan drew in a sharp breath.
He didn't dare imagine—if Noah hadn't instructed Mortefi to fire, the three of them would never have passed through this structure so easily.
Moreover, having lost contact with the rear here, they couldn't even request Disruptor support.
In a worse case, this decapitation operation might have been severely impacted, and they could have failed amid the relentless attacks of the Tacet Discords.
Thank goodness...
"Hey, Jiyan, don't zone out!"
Noah called out while forcefully pulling his Grapple, causing the ceiling of the top floor to collapse and perfectly crush a group of Tacet Discords in the room.
The trio hurriedly climbed over the fallen ceiling and finally arrived at a new open platform.
They were getting closer and closer to the statue of Ovathrax.
Unknowingly, Jiyan stopped speaking frequently, and the core command of the small team subtly shifted to Noah.
"Careful—there's a very dangerous flying Tacet Discord approaching."
Yangyang's expression tensed: "It's an Overlord-class Tacet Discord, the Impermanence Heron!"
"What? Impermanence Heron! It's actually hiding in a place like this."
Jiyan gripped his spear tightly, staring intently at the figure swooping in with massive wings.
The Impermanence Heron was a bird-type Tacet Discord inhabiting the Desorock Highland. It was enormous, with three heads respectively responsible for feeding, attacking, and vigilance.
Flying Tacet Discords like this often possessed extremely high mobility and mostly wielded long-range attack capabilities... making them very difficult to deal with!
Sure enough, as the Impermanence Heron drew closer, the middle head spewed a scorching flame breath from its mouth.
"Dodge quickly!" Jiyan shouted.
"No need!"
A pair of dragon horns had already grown on Noah's head, with the Sentinel's phantom circling beside him. As he formed hand seals, a beam of white light shot from the Sentinel's mouth:
"Sacred light!"
The terrifying white energy surged upward, meeting the Impermanence Heron's flame breath head-on, easily piercing through it and striking the Heron.
The Impermanence Heron crashed onto the platform, its three heads letting out heart-wrenching wails of pain as it flapped its wings, trying to take flight again.
"Hm? It's not dead?"
Noah was surprised, but his hands didn't slow. He formed seals again:
"Sacred light!"
If one shot wasn't enough, then two!
After the white light, the Impermanence Heron finally vanished, leaving behind a golden Echo in its place.
The dragon horns on Noah's head slowly faded. He panted lightly, tossed out his terminal, and absorbed the Impermanence Heron Echo.
"Though it can fly, it was no match at all."
[Echo: Impermanence Heron (Moonlit Clouds).]
[Quality: 5-star Overlord-class.]
[Main Stats: Crit Rate 22%, ATK 150.]
[Substats: Crit Rate 8.1%, Crit DMG 16.2%, ATK 9.4%, Resonance Skill DMG Bonus 9.4%, Heavy Attack DMG Bonus 7.9%.]
Agility, power, defense—most Echoes below Overlord-class only possessed two of these three qualities.
"Noah, it's a good thing you're here!"
Jiyan stepped forward, excitement hard to conceal: "With so many ferocious Tacet Discords here, if it were just me, I absolutely couldn't progress this quickly."
Looking at the statue now close at hand, Noah relaxed slightly and began exchanging mutual praise with Jiyan.
"General Jiyan, no need to be modest. Even without us, you could smoothly reach the center of the statue."
"Perhaps, but it certainly wouldn't be this easy."
Jiyan gave a wry smile:
"The destination is right ahead. I can feel that the power emanating from the statue has grown stronger again. I wonder what kind of enemies await us."
He gripped his spear tightly, gazing at the statue, then turned back to look at Noah and Yangyang. His originally resolute heart unconsciously wavered:
"Noah, and... Yangyang, are you truly going to face the Threnodian with me? I hope you'll think it over one last time."
"Leave now, and no one will get hurt. Otherwise, you might both die."
"If you haven't resolved to give your lives for Jinzhou, there's no need... and I will never force you to join."