Chapter 280: The Fall of the Eclipse

[Aria’s POV]

Aria hummed in satisfaction as she finished the last of her paintings, which, to no one’s surprise, was a reinforced wall.

Though it’s not that reinforced since it’s pretty hollow… but at least it looks fancy,

she thought, giggling.

Rael had put her on building duty, and while she wanted to refuse, she sort of caved in the heat of the moment.

Still, it wasn’t all bad.

She could paint as she wished, and the only thing she needed to do was get people to carry the walls over and place them down around the palace.

Though I don’t understand why he wanted those walls in the first place,

Aria thought with a sigh.

They’re hollow, and they’d break if even a bit of wind crashed against them.

Even so, that was not for her to worry about.

She stood up, took a quick shower, and stepped outside the palace.

There was someone she had planned to meet, and as it so happened, that person had been waiting by the exit of the palace.

“Linlin!” Aria called out with a wave.

And of course, Linlin met her with a wave as well.

“Glad you could make it. So are you sure you want to do this?” Linlin asked, narrowing her eyes. “Because I’ve already gone through this with Evelyn.”

Aria rolled her eyes.

“Why do you make training sound as if I’m going to die?”

Linlin shrugged.

“Maybe that’s because you’re weak? What are you going to do? Hit me with your brush?”

Without waiting for another sly remark from Linlin, Aria pulled her brush out and drew a construct in the air.

Immediately, a goblin construct appeared, looking as realistic as the real thing.

A confident smile appeared on her face as she sent it toward Linlin.

But that smile quickly faded when Linlin effortlessly flicked the goblin to the ground, killing it.

“O-Oh…” Aria scratched her cheek. “Maybe… this is a bit unfair, no?”

“Are you going to say the same thing when an opponent is in front of your face, ready to kill you?” Linlin mused. “But don’t worry, I hired some of Rael’s travelers to help you.”

She did what…?

Aria’s eyes widened. “H-His wanderers?”

The moment she uttered those words, Linlin nodded and snapped her fingers.

Immediately, a few people came into view, each of whom she recognized right away.

—Karina (Traveler) [Level 82] [49,200/6,200 HP]

—Asimov (Traveler) [Level 102] [99,520/99,520 HP]

—Milf_GattlingGun (Traveler) [Level 99] [69,040/69,040 HP]

But there was one surprise visitor, a child.

—Elise_GattlingGun (Traveler) [Level 11] [3,000/3,000 HP]

She’s so cute…

Despite the cuteness overload, Aria maintained her composure.

“Greetings, I’m Aria Virelorn, it’s a pleasure to formally meet you.”

The travelers exchanged looks of awkwardness, then turned back to her.

“Erm… yeah,” Milf_GattlingGun mumbled. “It’s nice to meet you too… but what are we here for again?”

“She wanted to toughen up,” Linlin chimed in. “So I want you to beat her senseless without killing her. Just make sure she has the experience necessary to take a punch, you know?”

A shiver ran down Aria’s spine.

“Hey… we can talk about this—”

—BOOOOOM

The ground suddenly shook, as in the faraway distance, a large mushroom cloud appeared.

It wasn’t directed at Celestara itself. Instead, it seemed pretty far away, perhaps even the next country over.

She barely had time to breathe before another explosion resounded.

—BOOOOOOOM

This one was much louder and stronger.

It seemed like the explosions were getting closer.

And at the same time, something peculiar happened.

The moon, which had covered the sun, began to crack, its miniature pieces falling to the ground and colliding.

Only then did Aria realize what was happening.

The eclipse was disappearing, and the debris was causing these powerful explosions.

So out of instinct, Aria picked up her brush and began drawing a giant dome.

Since her creations tended to be hollow, she made several layers to compensate.

And that was when one of the moon’s pieces fell onto her dome, cracking it but failing to break through.

—BOOOM

A much quieter explosion resounded, and following that, a couple more.

But even so, no debris went past her barrier, meaning she had succeeded in blocking it off.

Yet as she turned toward the people beside her, she noticed worried expressions on their faces.

And that was when a pop-up appeared in front of her.

<Ding!>

<Description: The Spatial crack containing the remnant forces of the Blazing Sun faction has been destroyed.>

<Objective: Every time you clear a dungeon (Kill every single monster inside), you will receive the item: Sun Core (Rare). Collect Sun Cores and take them to the marked area on your map. Sun Cores needed for the Blazing Sun faction to return: 10,000,000 (Current: 0 / 10,000,000)>

With that, the pop-ups finished, and once again, a wave of calmness washed over the continent.

She didn’t know anything about the Blazing Sun faction, but her instinct told her it wasn’t any good.

“Is this the one?” Karina muttered.

“Yep,” Asimov replied with a sigh. “I guess he’s like a prophet or something.”

“Well… he did tell us pretty vaguely,” Milf_GattlingGun chimed in. “The Blazing Sun faction can’t be trusted? I mean, there are degrees to subtleness, you know?”

“…You already know about this faction?” Aria asked, puzzled.

“We do.” Asimov nodded. “Rael’s wife passed along a message about the Blazing Sun faction. Apparently, they’re the evil ones, and since we kind of want to get on Rael’s good side, then we’ll listen to him.”

Karina bonked her over the head.

“What she means to say is that we trust his judgment,” Karina corrected.

Aria’s brows furrowed.

Am I really that unimportant to anyone that nobody tells me anything…?

With those thoughts, she turned to Linlin.

“And you? You know as well?”

“Of course,” Linlin replied flatly. “I’m very close friends with the Queen. She tells me everything.”

A faint smirk appeared on her face.

“And by everything… I mean everything.”

Another shiver ran down Aria’s spine as she clenched her fists.

Naturally, she worried not only about her own safety, but also the safety of her family back in Yrgon.

If the Blazing Sun faction was truly as bad as these people said, then she needed to be more proactive.

And by proactive, she wanted to actually be involved instead of sitting on the sidelines.

But to do that, she needed to prove to Rael and the Queen that she was actually worth having around.

Because as it stands… they think I’m a pushover who can’t do anything aside from paint stuff into existence,

Aria thought, determined.

“So what now?” Aria asked. “How do we deal with this faction…?”

Linlin shrugged, then pointed toward the sky where two people were slowly descending, their golden fairy wings shining brightly.

“Why don’t we ask the man himself?”

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