Kiana and the Captain's Bizarre Adventure

Chapter 108 The Tale of the Stepping Stones (2)

The calculations showed that, just as Xavier had predicted, the problem did indeed lie in the area related to the Mikage's heart and the evil spirit.

That place is currently operating at an extremely high frequency and cannot shut down on its own, which has led to the current situation. Therefore, the solution is simple: manually shut down the entire Mikage Furnace Core.

Xavier had already explained the method for shutting it down to Bronya in detail. As for why Kiana wasn't included, it was mainly because Kiana had no interest in these theoretical concepts and wisely left after hearing only half of it.

However, Bronya soon completely shut down the Mikage Furnace, but according to Xavier's observations, the influence of the evil spirit did not seem to disappear or even weaken. Logically speaking, at the moment the Mikage Furnace was shut down, even if there was no immediate attempt to eliminate the leakage of evil spirits, the influence should have gradually weakened.

However, the data displayed on Xavier's device showed that the high concentration of lightning element erosion caused by the leakage of the evil god had not decreased; in fact, the concentration of lightning element in the air was still rising!

Faint wisps of lightning generated by the interaction of highly reactive lightning elements could already be seen in the air. All signs indicated that the activity of the evil spirit within the Mikage Furnace had reached its peak, and it was in a state where it could be activated at any moment. If any assistance were given at this moment, there would be no doubt that the entire Kannazuka would be blown to smithereens!

"What on earth is going on?!" Mei exclaimed.

Kiana, who was standing nearby, grabbed Xavier by the collar and began to question him. Bronya was still near the control panel of the Herrscher's Furnace. If she were to be hit by the blast at such close range, even with her Herrscher body, she wouldn't be able to withstand the power of the explosion!

Fu Hua was trying to calm Kiana down. After all, although the power of the explosion of the Shadow Furnace was indeed extraordinary and could injure a regular Herrscher, Bronya was, after all, the Herrscher of Truth who had ascended to immortality. She still had time to create a protective shield at the moment of the explosion.

Besides, Kiana has the abilities of the Herrscher of the Void, so if all else fails, Kiana can teleport in right now and rescue Bronya.

After listening to Fu Hua's words, Kiana gradually calmed down. Indeed, she had worried too much just now. According to Bronya's Herrscher of Truth ability, she could indeed create a protective shield of sufficient strength before the explosion reached Bronya. After all, since that ascension, Bronya no longer needed to analyze and understand before using her construction ability.

She can instantly understand and create anything she needs, as long as she wants. This is the limit of human narrative ability: creation. And creation is the principle behind the Herrscher of Truth's constructive abilities. Although Bronya briefly lost her Herrscher powers after the Final War, Herrscher powers are like instincts. Once you have them, you can use them instinctively. The only difference is the level of proficiency.

However, Fu Hua was wrong about one thing: Kiana's Herrscher of the Void ability is still restricted. She can only teleport within a hundred miles of the places she has been, and there can't be anything in the vicinity that can interfere with the stability of space, otherwise the accuracy of teleportation will decrease. The worse the stability, the worse the accuracy of teleportation.

Unfortunately, the forging factory's high concentration of lightning element has severely disrupted spatial stability. While teleporting inside is possible, there's no guarantee the desired landing point. Furthermore, entering also means difficulty in teleporting out; relying solely on the Herrscher of the Void's abilities to rescue Bronya is virtually impossible.

So the best course of action now is to wait, to wait for Bronya to come out safely on her own, or to wait for Xavier to provide a solution that will completely resolve this crisis.

Fortunately, Xavier did not disappoint; he quickly found the cause of the problem and provided his own solution.

It turns out that all of this was because the extremely high frequency of the evil spirits processed inside the Mikage Furnace Core caused the leaked evil spirits to damage part of the Mikage Furnace Core's devices. The final result was that when the furnace core was shut down by normal means, those evil spirits lost their restraint and were completely activated.

The solution is simple: just take out the fully activated evil spirits and neutralize them. However, this method will inevitably cause severe corruption to those who carry it out, ranging from burning their fingers and causing extensive burns to losing their lives.

This would undoubtedly be heavy news for most people, but it wasn't necessarily bad news for those present.

"Does Kiana have a way to contact Bronya inside?" Fu Hua asked.

Kiana first looked up at the Shadow Furnace in the cliff, then shook her head.

"No, the concentration of lightning element inside is too high. Even if I use my consciousness, I can only barely communicate with Bronya. It will be difficult to fully inform Bronya of the entire plan."

"Is that so... Mr. Xavier, could you please tell me how to neutralize the evil spirits? I will personally go to the interior of the Mikage Furnace to handle it."

"You? No way! You don't have the Eye of God, going in there would be suicide! I don't want to see another person die because of this!"

It was clear that Xavier had completely lost hope of Bronya's survival, and he was now only thinking about how to minimize the harm.

"Alright, Kiana, Fu Hua, and this... Mei, you two leave first and inform the nearby Kujou Jinya and the rebel stronghold on Hachiman Island to evacuate quickly. I'll stay here and try to delay the explosion of Mikage's furnace core!"

“Mr. Xavier, we appreciate your kindness,” Fu Hua said. “But please don’t give up. Even though I don’t have the Eye of God, I’m still confident that I can withstand this level of corruption.”

"No, no, no! There's no way we can withstand this! In the current situation, even someone with the Eye of God wearing professional equipment wouldn't last more than a few minutes inside, let alone being in close contact with the source of the contamination, the evil spirit!"

"Time is of the essence. If Mr. Xavier trusts me as a Liyue hermit, then entrust me with the method to neutralize the evil spirits so that I can resolve this crisis!"

"Miss Fu Hua is a celestial being from Liyue?! This…"

Xavier was in a dilemma. He had indeed heard the legends of the Liyue immortals, but most of them were about the so-called Three-Eyed, Five-Manifestation immortals. He hadn't heard much about immortals without the title of Three-Eyed, Five-Manifestation. But what if? What if Fu Hua's immortal identity was real, and she truly had the ability to resolve this crisis?

If possible, Xavier would certainly like to resolve this undeserved disaster completely, but the current situation is that he cannot be sure whether Fu Hua's identity is real or fake. If it is fake, wouldn't he have wasted his life for nothing, and might even miss the best time to evacuate?

Finally, Xavier gritted his teeth, looked at Fu Hua, and said, "Miss Fu Hua, I can trust you, right?"

Fu Hua nodded, and Xavier took a deep breath and handed Fu Hua the "Mikage Furnace Heart: Emergency Response Procedure Guide (Trial Version)".

"Time is of the essence, and I don't have time to say much more. The methods for harmlessly disposing of evil spirits are all written on page 568, section 3 of this book, 'Mikage Furnace Heart: Emergency Response Procedure Guide (Trial Version).' Please read it while you travel."

Fu Hua took the book from Xavier and set off, encountering Bronya on her way back. After briefly explaining the situation, Bronya also decided to go back to help.

Led by Bronya, the two quickly arrived near the control panel of the Shadow Furnace. After a few simple operations by Bronya, a gap opened in the Shadow Furnace above, and Fu Hua leaped lightly through the gap into the interior of the Shadow Furnace.

Upon entering, Fu Hua first felt a tightness in his chest, followed by a severe headache. The intense heat around him made him feel as if he were on the surface of the sun, his clothes quickly igniting and his skin burning.

But these pains are nothing compared to the pain he endured when he learned that his captain had become the Herrscher of Flame and was killed by Kevin, when he went berserk due to the torment of Shenyin after the collapse of his body, when he returned from his trip and learned that all his friends had died at the hands of Chiyou, and when he was betrayed and killed by his own apprentice.

Before long, Fu Hua saw crystals radiating brilliant purple gradient light. These were undoubtedly the so-called evil spirits, which also had another name: crystallized bone marrow.

Fu Hua's task was simple: first, place the crystallized bone marrow into a specific container, then place the container into a specially designed stabilizing device and activate it. After that, she simply had to wait for the crystallized bone marrow inside the device to stabilize completely.

Of course, Fu Hua had already obtained the aforementioned equipment from Xavier before entering the country. On the way, Bronya modified it, achieving a significant improvement in the ability to simultaneously stabilize five crystallized marrow fragments. The original device could only stabilize one at a time, and could only be used twice consecutively before becoming unusable. Bronya's modifications not only increased the number of crystallized marrow fragments that could be stabilized simultaneously, but also dramatically increased the number of uses. While it couldn't be guaranteed to be used indefinitely, using it ten or twenty times in a short period was certainly feasible.

Looking at the crystallized bone marrow that was almost piled up into a mountain, Fu Hua knew that without Bronya's modification, even if the Kamizuka was blown to the sky, it would still be impossible to stabilize all of this crystallized bone marrow.

Fu Hua reached out and picked up a piece of crystallized bone marrow. Her first sensation upon touching it was the burning pain from the intense heat. Without hesitation, she quickly placed the crystallized bone marrow into a container. Opening her hand, Fu Hua saw that her palm was completely carbonized. However, this didn't matter; with Garuda's regenerative abilities, this level of injury would heal quickly.

Picking them up one by one is too slow. Since the concentration of lightning element in the air is high enough, let her make some use of it.

Fu Hua, wielding the Tai Xu Sword Qi, manipulated the lightning element in the air to levitate crystallized marrow fragments in mid-air. She then placed these fragments into containers also floating in mid-air, sealed them, and finally transferred the containers to a stabilizing device.

After repeating the above steps several times, half of the crystallized marrow on the ground had been placed into the stabilizing devices. However, the stabilizing devices they brought were all used up, and the remaining half could only be dealt with after all the crystallized marrow on hand was processed. Unless Bronya made more stabilizing devices, the problem could be solved all at once.

Thinking of this, Fu Hua got up and walked out of the Shadow Furnace to Bronya's side. However, she was currently naked, and Bronya didn't know where to look.

"Class monitor, why did you come out without putting on any clothes?!"

"Clothes?" Fu Hua looked at her current appearance and subconsciously covered her private parts with her hand. "There was no way around it, the internal temperature was too high, and the clothes burned away the moment they went in."

During the conversation, the Garuda factor within Fu Hua's body had completely healed all of Fu Hua's burns.

"Enough with the small talk. I'm out now because I don't have enough stabilization devices." Fu Hua put the clothes Bronya had conjured aside. "So I'm hoping you can use your powers to make some more stabilization devices for me, so I can deal with all the crystallized bone marrow inside at once. As for the number... just make two or three more than the number I brought in earlier."

"I understand."

After saying that, Bronya manufactured the stabilizing devices according to the quantity provided by Fu Hua. Fu Hua didn't say anything more and picked up the stabilizing devices to go inside the Mikage Furnace again.

Before long, Fu Hua put all the crystallized marrow inside the Mikage Furnace into the stabilizing device, and the temperature inside the Mikage Furnace gradually decreased because it lost all the activated crystallized marrow.

Meanwhile, outside, Xavier cheered as he watched the data on the equipment drop at a visible rate. Not long after, Fu Hua, dressed and recovered from her injuries, appeared before everyone with Bronya, carrying all the stabilizing devices.

With that, the crisis at Tasha was officially over, and after a brief farewell to Xavier, the group set off for Bayun Island.

According to Yae no Miko, a disaster caused by a demon god is breaking out there, and Kiana and the others' goal is to reseal the demon god that has escaped from its seal back into the shrine.

As for why the seal was broken, some speculate that it was destroyed by extremists within the resistance, but the resistance's base is also on Bayun Island. Logically, no one would mess up their own base, so some speculate that the seal was accidentally broken during a battle between the resistance and the Heavenly Commander's army. Some even speculate that the Heavenly Commander himself broke the seal in order to completely drive the resistance out of Bayun Island.

In any case, whatever the truth is, it is a fact that Bayun Island is no longer suitable for living due to the evil spirits. Most of the residents have already evacuated, and the only place on the entire Bayun Island that still has human activity is the resistance army's base.

However, this also made it easier for Kiana and the others to visit Sora. After all, Sora is the protagonist of this world, and the simplest way to complete their mission is to participate in Sora's actions.

However, before that, Kiana and her friends had to resolve the request to seal the evil spirits causing trouble on Hachiman Island.