Whispering Poems

Chapter 3801 The Holy Ring of Destiny
Wandering aimlessly ahead will only lead her back to this place. If the witch or Shad were around, they might be able to help her think of a solution. Ellie admits that she is not the kind of unicorn who is very good at thinking.

Seeing little Leanna shiver, Ellie offered to move the cat from her head to Leanna's. But little Leanna was clearly more afraid of the cat than the cold, so she refused Ellie's offer.

"Uh~" (Let's go around one more time.)
After continuing her journey, Ellie diligently searched for the right path through the curtain of wind and snow. She had discovered that her inspiration wasn't very useful in this area; even summoning the semi-solid, pure white apple again couldn't make it work properly.

So Ellie followed her inspiration and went in the opposite direction, but soon she saw the huge piece of ice with the unicorn's poke mark again.

At this moment, little Leona was leaning against Ellie to keep warm. Given the physical abilities of the unicorns, this behavior was enough to illustrate the harshness of the current environment.

Ellie felt extremely guilty:
"Ugh~" (Let's take a break for now and think of something later)

"Uh~" (No need, isn't time tight right now?)

"Ugh~" (Take good care of yourself and the cat, take a rest first)

"Ugh~" (No, Emilia and your master are still waiting for us.)

Little Leona insisted on not resting, which made Ellie feel even more guilty. She nuzzled against her young kin again, and little Leona nuzzled back in response.

"Okay~" (Let's keep going then, but you need to take care of yourself.)

"Okay~" (You must take good care of yourself. Even if we can't get out of here, I will always be with you.)

"Ah~" (Leona~)

"Ugh~" (Ellie~)

"Only by stabilizing the wind and snow can we find the way."

"Huh?" (Is that so?)
Ellie asked in surprise, looking at little Leona, whose big, bright blue eyes also met hers:
"Uh~" (That wasn't me, I can't speak properly.)

Ellie then shook her head again:
"Uh~" (It wasn't me either, I never said that.)
The nervous little unicorns immediately huddled together and looked around, but no scary witch appeared. Finally, little Leona glanced at the top of Ellie's head. The cat, huddled there, was idly wagging its fiery tail. When little Leona looked over, it meowed.

Although no one could understand Mia's cat language, little Leona thought it might mean "Is something wrong?"

Leona, who was always afraid of the cat, dared not look at it. Ellie, who still couldn't find out who had been speaking, saw Leona shivering again—this time probably not because of the cold—and prepared to cast a spell according to the advice given by the voice.

The fourth ring of fate appeared, and the ice and snow runes shone brightly, working in conjunction with the unicorns' unique talents to calm the surrounding weather with a pure flow of spirit. The blizzard hadn't completely stopped, so Ellie activated the newly acquired [Time] rune.

The little unicorn that has traveled through time possesses some time-related talents, though not many, but enough to cope with the current situation.

She couldn't freeze time like Chloe or Shad, but after a series of spells were completed, although the blizzard continued, at least around the two little unicorns, an unusual time anomaly appeared where no snowflakes fell and no wind blew.

Only after the wind and snow stopped blowing against her did Ellie clearly perceive the power that had been affecting her inspiration. This power was like a worm hidden in a delicious fruit, or a thorn lurking beneath soft grass, or even a piranha in a clear, sweet stream.

This power originated from higher up in the mountain. Although it was very powerful, once Ellie sensed it, she knew how to avoid its influence.

So the little unicorns continued their journey, and this time they finally saw a different view than before. Little Leona was still sneaking peeks at the cat above Ellie's head from time to time, while Ellie had already put aside the strange voice from before. After all, the voice sounded very warm, and Ellie thought it probably wasn't a bad person.

Although they were still within the storm zone after leaving that strange area, the path ahead was much easier. The sounds of battle seemed to come from a great distance, but Ellie and Leona just kept moving forward.

After defeating the beasts blocking their path and ignoring the humanoid relics with whispering elements that tried to sell them some terrible flesh and blood creations, the unicorns finally arrived at the location of the new seal.

This is the fourth seal Ellie has encountered. The twelfth seal was destroyed by Katrin Schwartz of the Order of Doom when they got lost. This is actually the last seal.

The little unicorns were unaware of the terrifying scenes on Fatumunst Island and Falling Star Bay, as they encountered a new problem. Before the final seal, there were no strange enemies or obstacles in their path, but the rock walls inscribed with enormous golden serpentine runes were blocked by a semi-transparent purple barrier.

Two horns tried to poke the barrier, and then, unwilling to give up, little Leona ran wildly through the snow a few more times before crashing into the barrier. But apart from being bounced back and rolling around in the snow like a cotton ball with tears in her eyes, she didn't get any positive feedback.

Ellie then nuzzled little Leona again, and the little beasts began searching around. The seal was located in a mountain hollow, and they found three ancient shrines embedded in the mountainside among the crevices of the surrounding rock walls.

Each of the three shrines housed a golden holy ring, all three shaped like an ouroboros, but the engravings on the inside of each ring were different. Ellie, lacking Shad's "literacy," naturally couldn't decipher the engravings on the three rings as "All things are impermanent," "There are three destinies," and "Everything comes at a price."

It seemed that the three holy rings were powering the barrier, so Ellie thought that taking them would remove the barrier. However, when she actually took the holy rings in human form, the barrier remained.

The cat on her head wagged its tail, looking listlessly at the shrine in front of her. Ellie tapped her chin with her right index finger, thinking for a while before finding a similar situation in her memories of following Chloe:
"So there's a price to pay?"

To take one item, one must leave one behind; this often occurs in gifts related to the gods of fate. Just as the gifts from the ancient gods of knowledge and wisdom, the Guardians of Secrets, involve tests of wisdom, the gifts from the god of death concern the value of life and soul.

But Ellie's clothes didn't even have pockets, and little Leona couldn't possibly be carrying any treasures with her. As for the cat, Mia's size meant it wouldn't have anything suitable to take out right now.

Finally, Ellie shook her body to release the [Painful] Apple that Adele had given her from her fur—a unique storage method for unicorns. She then reluctantly touched the silver dragon scale hanging on her chest, but that was all she had; her [Star Dewdrop] had been used up a few hours earlier during her advancement.

Little Leona still had dewdrops and dragon scales on her neck, but Ellie would never ask Leona for anything. This time, Mia didn't swat her head with her tail, and Ellie remembered that she still had beautiful fur.

As she reached for her hair, she felt something warm brushing against her from behind. Turning around, she saw little Leanna standing behind her, gesturing for her to retrieve her dewdrop.

"Ang~"

This was a gift between friends, and in the traditional culture of unicorns, such a gift cannot be refused. Ellie then tiptoed and hugged little Leona, and then exchanged a dragon scale, an apple, and a dewdrop for a holy ring.

The three items disappeared as if absorbed by the shrine, which then closed and remained ineffective until it became just an ordinary stone. The barrier protecting the final seal flickered twice before vanishing, and the final seal officially opened for the little unicorns.

But the three holy rings remained in Ellie's hands. She handed one of the rings to little Leona, but the little unicorn didn't like metal objects, and it had nowhere to wear it. So Ellie then passed the ring to the cat on her head, but her hand was immediately pried open by the cat's tail; the cat didn't like these kinds of rings.

Ellie had no choice but to temporarily wear the ring on her own hand, and when she transformed back into a unicorn in the pure white light, three dark gold patterns appeared on her horn:

This is the fourth one.

She charged forward, leaping into the air before transforming into a silvery blur, hopping lightly a few times before crashing headfirst into the stone wall.

Click!

As Ellie completed her low-ring ascension and officially entered the middle ring, all the ring sorcerers with divination talents in the Falling Star Bay area heard a clear sound of chains breaking.

"It's over? No, it's just beginning!"

The rumbling earthquake silenced the commotion in the Drowned Ghost Tavern, and the people in the only safe building in the night finally realized the danger that had already been lurking in the darkness.

On the card table, the thirteenth gold coin had already landed. With the clatter of the coin, Shad put down the teacup he had just picked up, Lady Reinhardt retrieved her hand from the table, Prince Samuel Anjou rubbed his face, Lady Erfurt sighed regretfully, and Baron Gerald Rogers placed his hand face down on the table.

Although nearly four hours have passed in real time, for the people sitting here, the card game has only been going on for a little over half an hour.

PS: Ellie's Central Ascension Words will be obtained later; they are not mentioned here because I forgot.

The low ring signifies the beginning of an adventure, where unicorns dance under the silver moon.