The Lorthic entry bridge is uniformly wide throughout.

It is a stone bridge capable of accommodating ten horses walking side by side.

Starting from the gates of Lorthic City, it ends at the gates of the Undead Settlement, passing through Fort Fran in the middle.

This bridge can almost be called the most important ’highway’ in this region.

Therefore, Lann can also see that Lorthic has excellent protective measures for this bridge.

Every so often, the bridge will establish a small gatehouse on the bridge deck.

Like city gates, if anyone wants to violently rush onto Lorthic from the bridge, then these small gatehouses would likely take on a similar role to city gates at the right time.

Segmenting the invaders, depleting their living strength.

From the moment Lann led the Qilin out of the Undead Settlement gates, he saw a giant creature on the bridge in the distance.

It was a gray-white creature, with a texture like stone.

A massive and powerful demon-like body, with a small pair of disproportionately small wings on its back, and holding a giant hammer in its hand seemingly carved directly from stone.

It was about the height of a giant slave, but with an even more imposing presence.

Was it a local creature, or a product of Lorthic’s magic technology?

Lann didn’t know, but he only wanted to cross the bridge peacefully and swiftly to reach Lorthic. Therefore, he didn’t want to provoke this fierce-looking Bridge Guard at all.

Lann walked with others towards Lorthic.

The ’others’ here, were the ’pilgrims’ that the Sun Knight talked about earlier.

These people came from the south, wanting to personally advise Prince Lorthic with their own ascetic practices, hoping he would embrace the fire transmission.

In fact, Lann wasn’t even sure if these guys were ’human’.

They were entirely wrapped in layers of black cloth, which occasionally revealed thin legs and arms that resembled withered branches.

The black cloth wrapped all over them extended to their heads, revealing a black hole of a face, making it impossible to see their features.

Most noticeable was the stone tortoise shell on their backs.

Despite their frail bodies, they still used iron chains to strap a stone tortoise shell to their backs, like a giant shield.

The shell looked like it was solid!

This caused the pilgrims to walk unsteadily, unable to stand on their own, each supported by a long staff with an incense burner hanging from it, stumbling forward.

Each of them involuntarily let out wheezes and low whines as if on death’s door.

Suffering indescribable pain and despair but still moving continuously forward – perhaps this is the true meaning of a ’pilgrimage’?

Displaying devotion through personal suffering, then continuously advancing towards a sacred place, seeking mercy.

Lann couldn’t understand this mentality, but he wouldn’t interfere either.

There were many pilgrims, heading towards Lorthic long before Lann.

According to the Sun Knight, the recent batch was on the bridge half an hour earlier than Lann.

But because they moved so slowly, even the Demon Hunter could see many pilgrims collapsing after a few steps, unable and powerless to rise, dying where they fell.

So after walking a short distance, Lann found himself among the pilgrims.

This painful, despairing yet determined march carried a silent shock and fear.

Walking among them, Lann managed to maintain his expression.

However, the Qilin kept nervously avoiding the pilgrims’ path, its furry companion anxiously glancing around, restless.

Both were warriors capable of calmly facing danger in battle, but among the nearly dead pilgrims, the atmosphere was unsettling.

The low moans of the dying filled the air, bearing a heavier scent of death than any tomb.

Their agony was such that even onlookers might think... they would be better off dead.

Lann, leading the Qilin, instinctively wanted to pass through the unsettling crowd quickly.

Seeing others self-harm was psychologically distressing even for a bystander.

Even though Lann stood out among the pilgrims, he didn’t ride the Qilin to avoid drawing more attention since he didn’t know Lorthic’s customs.

What if riding wasn’t allowed on the bridge?

So the Demon Hunter simply led the Qilin and walked quickly.

There were so many pilgrims that nearly every section of the massive bridge had a group moving forward.

After walking for a while, Lann finally reached the ’Bridge Guard.’

It was a living creature, not some magical construct.

As Lann passed by, he could sense the creature’s breathing and the movement of its muscles with his keen senses.

From a distance earlier, now Lann noticed that the demon-like creature also had plant-like roots growing all over, making it hard to tell what exactly it was.

However, it was certain: this creature was indeed a proper ’Bridge Guard.’

Wandering around here is merely fulfilling the duty of defense, posing no threat to the pedestrians on the bridge.

Lann walked past this creature; its massive body, even at a slow pace, created a heavy sound of wind.

And with each step those stout, recurved legs took, the bridge surface trembled with vibration.

The sturdy and thick stone bricks emitted a faint collision sound at the joints.

The weight was undeniably substantial.

This giant and heavy creature mainly paced and guarded according to a small gatehouse.

And when Lann passed beneath the entrance of this gatehouse, along with the bustling pilgrims, the majestic outline of Losric City had already been revealed in the distance.

"It seems like there’s nothing unexpected, we’ll be there soon."

Lann whispered to the Qilin and Rong Buqiu, looking at the colossal mountain city occupying nearly half the mountain range in the distance.

The more one lacks something, the more they emphasize it.

Although Lann said ’there’s nothing unexpected’ at this moment, in his heart, he felt an inexplicable unease.

Perhaps it was the despairing and stubborn atmosphere of the pilgrims, or perhaps it was the heavy footsteps and vibrations of the giant creature behind him...

In any case, he felt something was amiss, but couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was wrong.

"Flutter~"

A strong wind and the sound of large wings swaying in the air came from the sky.

Lann subtly raised his head, his brows unconsciously furrowing.

The Losric Dragon Knights had arrived.

-----------------

With Losric standing as the Fire Transmission Kingdom atop the world, its sphere of influence extended to every corner of this Fire Apocalypse, the Profound Church, Undead Settlement, and the Fort Fran that he had only heard about but never visited...

Every place Lann had been to or heard of in this world seemed to bear traces of Losric’s involvement.

Yet, this was Lann’s first time witnessing the direct power of Losric.

Rumor had it that Losric was initially a dragon-hunting kingdom, aligning with the Divine Race’s campaign to eradicate Ancient Dragons during the early Fire Age.

However, later on, the Losric Knights began to accompany dragons, fighting side by side.

Even within the national emblem sequence of Losric appeared the twin dragon banner symbol.

How this complete reversal occurred, Lann didn’t know.

The history of the Losric royal family spanned tens of thousands of years, with historians capable of unraveling the secrets and reasons in this kingdom’s history being rare worldwide, let alone Lann, a foreigner.

But Lann could be sure that the ’dragons’ the Losric Knights called companions were merely descendants who inherited thin bloodlines of Ancient Dragons—just wyverns.

Ancient Dragons in this world also had a standard quadrupedal, dual-winged skeletal framework.

Moreover, according to the descriptions in the Profound Church’s library, they were more like inorganic stone-like lifeforms, thus eternally imperishable.

They lived before the Fire Age, thus had no concept of ’souls’ that emerged with the First Flame.

And the gigantic wyvern present: bipedal, dual-winged, eyes revealing a lively savagery.

This indicated its bloodline was diluted and it now possessed a soul.

At this point in time, where even the Fire Age was ending, creatures from the previous era were unequivocally legends.

The wyvern in the sky bore the Losric Knights, circling above the bridge.

Simultaneously, they seemed to employ some means of amplification, shouting downwards.

"Enough pilgrims have entered the city today."

As always, the voice of knights was muffled while wearing helmets.

And with the Losric Knights, this voice naturally carried an undeniable authority.

"All pilgrims must halt and wait for tomorrow’s quota."

Losric reigning atop the world’s pinnacle, Losric Knights undefeated, this was their accustomed reality for millennia.

Thus, even with the bridge crowded with pilgrims who looked as if they might drop dead any second without surprise,

The Losric Knights could still command them with a tone of certainty: wait here for a day to see if tomorrow’s quota includes them.

Being granted the opportunity to set foot in the Holy City, which governed the Fire Transmission Ceremony, was already enough for gratitude.

The ’Bleeding Eclipse’ in the sky had long persisted, leaving no one able to discern which day was which.

And a blurred sense of time could bring deeper despair.

"Crunch" sound.

The wyvern, having flown back and forth several times on the bridge, finally landed on a small gatehouse not far from the ’Bridge Guard’.

Its claws gripped the observatory tower on the gatehouse.

The entire dragon lay atop, its long neck extending downwards, flame faintly escaping from its teeth with a ’gurgle’ from its throat.