Chapter 32: Flight Journey
Lady Ember listened to these words but didn't respond immediately. Instead, she pulled out a map and began to study it carefully. In the end, she didn't respond to the crew member but directly started talking with the manager of the nest.
The two of them communicated for about ten minutes, and finally, Lady Ember turned around and said to the group, "Alright, we'll head to Aurelia Pinehold first. We can discuss other matters on the way."
As she spoke, the nest manager brought out ten Double-Headed Vultures, leading them one by one to Leon and the others.
Each time he handed over a mount, the manager would say, "Be cautious when using them. Please do not use any skills during the flight."
Leon had heard about flying mounts before but had never used one. Generally, flying mounts at flight points were larger local flying beasts. If the map was large, the flight point might even offer transfer services.
In some dangerous areas, armed flying mounts would be dispatched for escort.
Of course, all of this required money. Without real gold or silver, the flight point's managers wouldn't even give you a glance. Trying to rob them was futile as well. As locals, their combat power wasn't inferior to that of players. Fighting with them wouldn't just make the flying beasts your enemies; the entire flight system on the map would blacklist you.
Therefore, most players, unless in urgent situations, would choose to travel on foot or ride ordinary mounts, carriages, or similar transport to their destination.
If it weren't for Lady Ember being a wealthy individual and the time being so tight, Leon wouldn't have had the chance to ride a flying mount.
When Leon mounted the Double-Headed Vulture, he realized the advantages of the flying mount. This creature wasn't very large, with a total length of about 1.5 meters and a wingspan of just over 2 meters. Initially, Leon worried that his weight might be too much for the creature, causing it to collapse.
To his surprise, once he got on, he found that the flight manager had everything under control. All he needed to do was hold tightly to the saddle and keep his balance.
Once he was seated properly, the Double-Headed Vulture flapped its wings effortlessly, ascending steadily into the sky.
At first, Leon turned his head, looking around. When he realized that no matter how he moved, it wouldn't affect the vulture's balance, he started to observe his surroundings more closely.
On the airship earlier, due to the rapid descent, Leon hadn't had a chance to clearly see the overall situation of the Storm Isles.
Now, sitting on the back of the flying mount, he noticed what was happening below. Although he couldn't see far, he realized that the area below had completely turned into a desolate desert. Even the small forest to the southwest had withered away.
Further out, all he could see was endless yellow sand and dust, stretching as far as the eye could see, a vast wasteland without any respite.
After the Double-Headed Vulture reached a certain height, it circled once in the air, chose a direction, and then flew straight ahead.
The vulture's flying speed wasn't very fast, but it was stable. While flying, it even blocked the wind coming toward Leon.
This allowed Leon to carefully observe the scene below. After about ten minutes of flight, Leon noticed that the desolation below hadn't always been this barren. There were traces of many buildings destroyed by the wind and sand.
From the aerial view, the remnants of the city seemed enormous. Given the vulture's flight speed of 60 kilometers per hour, it would take almost an hour to fly from one end of the city to the other.
However, now this city had completely vanished. If it weren't for the small groups of people walking through the sandstorms or the half-buried landmarks still visible, Leon wouldn't have realized that this used to be a large city.
Heading northwest, the Double-Headed Vulture flew for nearly three hours before the group entered a sandstorm.
This sandstorm looked particularly strange, as if it was locked in place. No matter how strong the winds in the center were, they couldn't blow the sand beyond a certain boundary.
Because of this, the storm within the sandstorm was even more chaotic. Before they even got close, Leon could see heavy objects tumbling in the wind.
Yet, the Double-Headed Vultures didn't seem to care about the sandstorm ahead. Without hesitation, they flew directly into it.
In an instant, Leon's vision went black. He could no longer see anything clearly. All around him was an endless swirl of sand. Though the vulture's wings shielded him from the sand, he couldn't make out the surroundings at all.
They flew in the sandstorm for about an hour before Leon heard a strange screech coming from within the storm.
The sound was odd, like the cry of a goat submerged in water—muffled yet piercing.
Upon hearing the screech, the Double-Headed Vultures hesitated briefly before beginning to circle in the air, eventually locking onto the direction of the sound and flying toward it.
Leon finally understood that this was how the flying mounts navigated through the sandstorm. Otherwise, even if the vultures could sense direction in the storm, they wouldn't have been able to precisely find their destination.
With the sound as a guide, the vultures flew for another half-hour before Leon felt the vulture dip downward, signaling that they had exited the sandstorm's range.
Once they burst through the sandstorm, Leon saw a small valley before them, with pale golden pine trees growing on either side.
These pine trees didn't seem to grow tall, with the tallest being only about one and a half meters high. But their branches were long, often interweaving with those of neighboring trees to form a massive net of branches and needles covering the valley.
It was thanks to this pine tree net that the sand was blocked from entering. Without it, the valley below would have been buried in sand.
Flying along the path created by the pine trees, Leon saw about thirty people walking within the valley. At the center of the valley, a bonfire was lit, and several individuals who appeared to be leaders were engaged in discussion.
The landing point for the flying mounts was at the outer edge of the valley. Compared to the previous airship landing site, this place was clearly in much worse condition.
There wasn't even a proper nest prepared. They had simply nailed together a few wooden racks made from pinewood to serve as a flight point.
After the vultures landed, a flight manager came up to help the players dismount and then led the vultures over to the wooden racks.