After Jean finished speaking, Frostnova fell silent, lowering her head as if lost in thought.
Jean, currently locked in a bitter struggle, had no energy to spare for anything else. He simply continued to move while dodging attacks.
The ground was covered in dust of unknown composition, and walls of fire surrounded him. The traces of the original city had been mostly burned away, and Jean, disoriented by the encirclement, faced his greatest problem yet.
'Is getting lost truly the destiny of a swordsman? I only learned one move from Zoro and I'm already like this.'
Ironically, the only signpost right now was the direction in which the Flame Spirits were blocking his path.
But charging in was a gamble. It wasn't difficult to disperse a group of Flame Spirits once, but if he guessed wrong, he would inevitably fall into an even greater predicament.
Feeling Frostnova's weak breathing in his arms, his mind raced. The urgent priority was a reliable beacon, a passage that would definitely lead out of the city.
'!!' Suddenly, Jean thought of another location mentioned in the original Lungmen plot: the sewers!
He directed his focus downward while observing the positioning of the Flame Spirits more carefully. Finally, not far away, behind the encirclement of Flame Spirits, he discovered something resembling an underground tunnel.
Since he had a direction, he naturally had to give it his all.
Taking a deep breath, he concentrated the Stardust Wind in front of his body, transforming it into a hard drill, spinning continuously to knock away the incoming Flame Spirits.
At the same time, ordinary wind element gathered behind him to provide thrust.
Because the ordinary elemental wind lacked Stardust crystals, it immediately ignited, resulting in a sensation like flame-jet propulsion. Borrowing this thrust, Jean began to charge forward rapidly.
At this moment, the Flame Spirits also began to concentrate, intercepting Jean's path.
Firelight and the drill collided continuously, emitting creaking sounds. The resistance gradually increased, even though every Flame Spirit that rushed up was sent flying by the drill. However, each collision consumed kinetic energy.
After a bout of struggling, Jean—with his bizarre configuration of a drill in front and fire-jetting behind—emerged victorious, quickly breaking through the formation of Flame Spirits and rushing into the sewer entrance.
The immense destructive power of the drill also damaged the surroundings of the entrance, and various debris directly sealed it off.
Skillfully creating multiple air cushions to cushion the landing, after finally steadying himself, Jean immediately began to use the wind element to scout the path. Fortunately, the airflow indicated that this was not a dead end.
Next, he took a blanket from his spatial pouch and spread it on the ground. This blanket was a reward for reaching the 50th floor of the tower, and it even had that detestable wind Slime drawn on it.
Carefully leaning Frostnova against the wall, Jean could finally catch his breath.
---
Sitting casually beside Frostnova, he took the opportunity to hold her small hand and continue infusing life force. Her hand, which should have been fair and smooth, was full of calluses and scars, making her even more pitiful.
At this moment, the battered white rabbit was like a leaking balloon, her life force constantly draining away, and the moment the life force in her body completely dried up would naturally signify death.
Since he no longer had to maintain the astonishing consumption of the Stardust Wind, Jean now had the spare capacity to increase the flow of life force transmission to Frostnova.
Looking at Frostnova, whose complexion had slightly improved, Jean asked, "How is it, do you feel better?"
"Thank you, I feel much better."
"That's good. Once I rest for a moment, we will follow the sewer and rush out of the city."
"Really, is there really still hope!" Frostnova appeared somewhat uneasy; having just experienced despair and then encountering a turning point, she was afraid that everything at this moment was nothing but a bubble in a dream.
"Of course it's real. I will not give up on you, so you must not let go of me either." Jean leaned his head toward Frostnova's side and said with a smile.
"I know. This time, I will not let go; I won't miss the chance again." Frostnova said earnestly.
Neither of them spoke again. In the dim and silent sewer, Jean and Frostnova rested together. With the help of Jean's wind element, there was no foul odor, giving a feeling of peaceful, quiet time.
It was a pity that there were always unromantic things to ruin this beauty. In Jean's perception, the presence of Flame Spirits appeared once again.
He hurriedly stood up to prepare, only to see a large number of light spots gathering along various branches of the sewer, simultaneously igniting everything around them.
Metal pipes, concrete outer walls, and even the water in the sewer were burning.
He carried Frostnova on his back and tore the blanket he had just been using into strips to secure her.
He drew his blade and condensed the wind. This wasn't like being in the sea of fire just now; it was time to let these guys witness the true Gale Sword Technique!
At this moment, Frostnova's weak voice came from his back:
"Jean..."
"..." He waited for her to finish.
"Good luck."
"Oh!"
The corners of his mouth turned up. Having received Frostnova's support, Jean's spirits soared, and the emerald-green wind tide caused the surroundings to hum.
Then, anticipating the movement, he swung his blade down, and the suddenly accelerating Flame Spirits were severed in two just like that.
He swung his blade continuously again, and the others who launched attacks together also tasted the same bitter fruit.
After freeing his hands, he regained his usual sense of balance and could finally fight with abandon.
However, in order not to hurt Frostnova, he still maintained the overall stability of his body, fighting while waiting for the results of the wind element he had sent out earlier to scout the path.
The entire slum area was not that huge. Following the terrain, excluding dead ends and forks, the road leading to the outside was discovered after a few minutes.
He put his blade back into his spatial pouch, while simultaneously cupping Frostnova's thighs with his hands. In a starting posture, he reconstructed the drill-shaped wind shield from earlier and pushed forward through the sewer.
The perception of the wind was keen. Jean, mapping the area in his mind, sharply discovered that at the center of all the roads, there was a huge Flame Spirit, and all other passable roads had been destroyed.
'Since someone is inviting me, I shall accept the challenge.' That was what Jean originally thought, but after feeling Frostnova's presence on his back, he held back and rushed toward one of the dead ends closest to the outer wall.
Because of Jean's choice, these Flame Spirits also stopped their offensive and turned to prepare an encirclement, seemingly intending to trap the two of them here.
But Jean revealed a confident smile and charged straight toward the wall. The high-hardness drill created by the Stardust Wind bored a hole right through the concrete outer wall, and he drilled his way out.
---
Finally breaking through the dark and miserable sewer, he saw the night sky of this Terra World and breathed in the fresh air, along with the fragrance of soil in the air.
Just at this moment, a voice suddenly rang out:
"I believed that you would certainly appear here."
A young man wearing a British-style cloak, with blue hair combed back, walked up.
"Who are you?" Looking at the man's familiar face, Jean felt a sense of absurdity.
"My name is Sherlock Holmes, and I am a consulting detective."
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