"I can extract the memory of this land, and the best location is here."
Miss Lathers stood in the diagram of the sun, moon and stars and gestured.
"When can the ceremony be held? Does it require any additional preparation?"
Xia De asked again, and the young girl thought for a moment:
"This place is really suitable for extracting the memory of the earth, as if someone deliberately left a memory here. I have brought all the ritual materials with me. I just need to prepare a little and let Vanessa assist me. Probably..."
She turned her head to look at the sun that was already setting above the cedar forest:
"After dinner, the ceremony is still a bit complicated. Besides, I didn't expect that I could go through the ceremony right away this time."
"Let's help too."
Luvia suggested:
“Although I don’t know what exactly Xia De is trying to do in such a mysterious way, I think if it succeeds this time, it will be of great help to him.”
So the four of them got busy again. Miss Lathers didn't mind sharing the knowledge of the cult with Shade and Luvia, but Luvia didn't let Shade help. Instead, she asked him to continue looking for the statue of the ancient god of space.
Xia De thought that made sense. If he couldn't find it this time, he would have to waste the whole morning riding on horseback next time.
So he temporarily said goodbye to the three ladies and returned to the dark cave again with the cat who had woken up from his nap. However, it seemed useless to continue searching, so he simply left the cave, wondering if the entrance was somewhere outside the cave, such as the hole of an ancient tree or the basement of a hunter's cabin.
The cat, which had just woken up from a good sleep, seemed to be more lively than usual. In the forest, Shade tried to put it in the snow and let it run around by itself, which could satisfy Shade's wish of having a cat for so long but never chasing it around outdoors. But Mia only took two steps on the snow, then immediately turned around and jumped onto Shade's shoes, meowing to express her dissatisfaction.
So the cat continued to stand on Shad's shoulder and followed Shad into the cedar forest. Shad first went to see the three horses and fed them the hay that he had prepared in advance, then headed towards the direction of the Ailon River, planning to conduct a more thorough search from the river to the entrance of the cave.
There was nothing beautiful in the vast white forest. After getting used to the scenery here, he began to miss the life in the city. When he stepped on the snow and looked around, Xia De actually had a little expectation in his heart, hoping that the cultists would suddenly appear to prove that this place was really very important.
But then I felt that my idea was stupid. Perhaps it was because the first confrontation with the devil went relatively smoothly that I really became overly arrogant.
Xia De was criticizing his recent thoughts and actions in his heart. Suddenly, his ears moved and he turned to look at the bushes behind him. He heard the faint sound of something stepping on the snow, and the sound was near them.
"Meow~"
Mia also made a threatening cry, obviously she had heard the sound. However, when Shade was alert and ready to draw the Moonlight Greatsword, a Mia that was enlarged in some sense appeared from the snowy forest.
The fur is light yellow with black horizontal stripes all over the body, the head is round, the ears are short, there is a very obvious white spot in the middle, the eyes are bright and energetic, the limbs are strong and powerful, the tail is thick and long, with black rings and a black tail tip. No matter from which aspect, it should be judged as a tiger, and a tiger that is starving at the end of winter.
The animal had obviously come for Shade, and Shade didn't lower his footsteps, so it discovered him. And just as Shade thought, a second after the two looked at each other, the tiger had already made obvious attacking moves in the snow.
"Is the natural ecology around here so good? Last time I encountered a wild bear, and this time I encountered a tiger."
Xia De thought in surprise and raised his hand to swing forward, but he didn't expect Mia to be more excited than him.
This cat has never been afraid of anything smaller than itself, and besides that, it is also very good at bullying and intimidating other cats. The cats at Carina Manor, Three Cats Inn, and the Blackstone Security Company have all been "persecuted". This time, the originally very smart cat obviously made a wrong judgment and mistook the big tiger in front of it for a cat, so it actually jumped off Shade's shoulder, and then stood in front of Shade, "roaring" at the tiger:
"Meow~"
Seeing the tiger protecting itself, Xia De was very moved. Also because he noticed Mia's action, he did not throw the Moonlight Wheel that had already formed in his hand out immediately. The tiger was even more embarrassed than Xia De thought. After hearing Mia's cry, it was stunned for a moment and turned around and rushed into the cedar forest again.
"You're doing great... Oh, Mia, don't chase after her!"
The cat, which was unwilling to even take two steps on the snow, actually trotted after it. Shade wanted to stop it, but then he thought that it was just a tiger and he was fully capable of protecting Mia, so he decided to let the cat run on the snow.
Of course, for safety reasons, even though Shad had two fewer legs than Mia, he still ran quickly ahead of Mia, one step ahead of her, and caught up with the tiger that seemed to be fleeing:
"Help me keep an eye on Mia to see if she's following me."
OK
she said softly.
So in the snow-covered forest, the tiger ran in front, Shade chased behind, and Mia ran very fast behind him. The man, the cat, and the tiger chased each other in the cedar forest. The tiger didn't know what was going on. Once it started running, it had no intention of stopping. In order to give Mia more exercise, Shade kept chasing.
After only running for five minutes, Mia's continuous exercise time had already exceeded the maximum since Shad first saw it in the middle of last summer, but the cat seemed to be running very happily.
For Mia's health, Shade originally did not plan to run for too long, in order to prevent the sudden large amount of exercise from harming the cat's health. But unexpectedly, it was the tiger that stopped first. It went south through the cedar forest and crossed the frozen Ailon River. It probably felt that it was not a good idea to keep running like this, or it realized that it was not a cat but a human chasing it, so it suddenly stopped, turned around and pounced on Shade.
A serious look appeared on Xia De's face, but he did not use any magic. Instead, after confirming that it would take Xiaomia half a minute to catch up, he pounced on the tiger.
A man and a tiger collided with each other. The tiger probably had no experience fighting with a human with bare hands, and was knocked down by Shade who used the spell "Power of the Red Dragon". They tore each other and rolled in the snow. Although fighting a tiger in close combat was quite dangerous, for Shade, the opponent's claws would not be a problem as long as they did not tear his chest and throat.
When Mia showed up, she saw Shad wearing the "Mind Crystal Ring", riding on the tiger and punching the tiger's head. His strength was not a big deal, but the thaumaturgy mind blast was used at such a close distance, not to mention the tiger, even a ring magician with strong mental power might not be able to withstand this blow.
"Look, Mia, this isn't your kind."
After subduing the tiger without killing it, Xia De stood up panting. There were many scratches on his clothes from the tiger's claws, and his body was covered with snow from rolling on the ground:
"You see, this is more than your little paws can handle."
Shad held his cat in one hand, then showed it the tiger's paw. Then he showed Mia the tiger's thick tail, powerful limbs, and terrifying and sharp teeth.
This tiger probably has indigestion recently, and has a strong taste in his mouth:
"You see, this is not one of your kind. No matter how bold you are, you can never provoke a tiger in the future. Do you understand?"
The cat held by Shade didn't make any expression, so Shade didn't know whether it didn't understand or was just playing dumb. But Shade thought that his "dangerous creature education" today should be quite useful. At least the next time Mia saw a tiger, she would know that it was not something she could afford to provoke.
Because he thought the cat had enough exercise today, Shade did not let it touch the ground again. After letting the cat stand on his shoulders, he thought about how to deal with the tiger.
The wild bear he encountered last week was killed by him directly. But this time, Shade did not do it again. Instead, he thought about it and took out his Rhodes deck from his pocket.
Of course, he was not crazy and wanted to play cards with a tiger, but he wanted to try his luck:
"I'll pick a random card. If it's greater than 7, I'll let you go."
I thought about it and turned over the top card, and saw that it was Flower 12.
"You're lucky."
Shade shook his head, moved the tiger under a tree, and fed it a few drops of holy water. He patted the tiger's face, and the tiger soon woke up, but this time it was obviously afraid. Even though this wild animal was not as smart as Xiaomia, it could still sense Shade's terror.
Xia De stood up and took a step back:
"You can go now."
The tiger stood up by rubbing its way against the tree trunk, stared at Xia De and took a few tentative steps. After making sure that Xia De had no intention of chasing it, it quickly ran away.
"The clothes are ruined."
Xia De looked down at his clothes, thinking about finding a place to change them.
He turned and walked back in the direction he came from, thinking about what else he might encounter in the forest. He wanted to catch a few rabbits and let Xiaomia race with them, but after walking along the way for less than five minutes with his messy thoughts, he raised his eyebrows in surprise again and turned to look behind him.