Gray didn't say much. He knew Qi Yan was very powerful, having even slaughtered a Giant Dragon. However, he hadn't personally witnessed how strong a Giant Dragon was, but he had seen how terrifying Deliora was, so he wasn't sure if Qi Yan was more powerful than Deliora.
The most crucial thing was, why did those guys bring Deliora here?
"Damn it! I can't figure it out at all. Who moved Deliora here, and why did they move it here?"
Natsu pointed to the stairs leading up not far away and said, "It's simple. We just need to chase after those people we saw earlier."
As long as they caught those people, they could force them to reveal their reasons for doing this.
"No, wait here until the moon comes out!"
Natsu was stunned when he heard this: "The moon... It's still daytime now. No, no, I'll die of boredom!! And Qi Yan gave us until night to complete the mission. If we haven't completed it by then, we'll never be able to."
"Both the island's curse and Deliora are related to the moon. The villagers said that there would be a purple light here at night. Those people just now also said that they would soon collect the moonlight. This place must be the key to the curse. As soon as night falls, we'll clearly understand the cause of all this."
Gray said, his gaze turning to Qi Yan, as if seeking his opinion.
Qi Yan spread his hands: "I told you, I'm leaving this matter for you all to decide."
Lucy, hearing Gray's analysis, also nodded in agreement: "That's right, I'm also very curious about what's going on here and what those guys are planning to do."
"Then it's decided."
Natsu retorted: "No!! I'm going to chase them!!"
"Two to one, objection overruled."
"What about Happy!"
Happy stood next to Lucy, shyly raising his little paw and saying, "I agree too!"
"Traitor cat!!"
Natsu never expected that his partner, whom he had raised since he was little, would also betray him.
But since things had come to this, he could only wait here.
Qi Yan sat down cross-legged to the side and began practicing Sun Breathing. He had only been practicing Sun Breathing for half a year, and it wasn't long ago that he had barely managed to master Total Concentration: Constant. He still needed to continuously refine it.
Lucy, seeing Qi Yan in this posture, couldn't help but be a little curious: "Qi Yan, what are you doing?"
"I'm practicing breathing techniques."
"Breathing techniques?"
"It's a method of improving physical fitness through breathing."
"Really? Can you teach me?"
"No! You can't learn it."
"Stingy!"
Happy explained from the side: "It's true that she can't learn it. Qi Yan taught everyone before, but no one could learn it."
"What if I'm that one in a million who can learn it?"
Happy retorted: "Sometimes I find, Lucy, you're really shameless."
"What did you say, you stinky cat?"
Lucy grabbed Happy and pinched his cheeks.
The person and the cat played and laughed for a while, and soon a wave of sleepiness came over them. Several people lay down and fell asleep.
Time passed silently. The sun set into the sea, night fell, and the moon slowly rose from the horizon.
Rumble!!
A sound of something moving appeared, startling the sleeping people awake.
"What's that sound?"
"Is it night already?"
"Look at the ceiling!!"
At this moment, everyone looked up at the ceiling and saw that a hole had suddenly opened up. A beam of purple light shone directly from the hole onto Deliora below.
"Purple light? Moonlight? This must be the purple light pillar the villagers spoke of!"
"Why is the moonlight shining on Deliora? This is definitely not a coincidence!"
"Come on, let's find the source of the light."
"Okay!!"
Qi Yan slowly opened his eyes at this moment and glanced at Deliora.
Then he stood up and slowly walked up the stairs. Since he had already accepted the mission, he might as well do it perfectly.
Natsu and the others quickly ran up the stairs. When they reached the next floor, they found that the light was shining from an even higher floor. They went up floor by floor, finally reaching the very top of the ruins.
"What is that?!"
The few people looked ahead and saw a group of mysterious people in robes, chanting unknown incantations, performing some ritual. The moonlight in the sky was continuously drawn down as the ritual progressed, forming a purple light pillar, which then passed through layers of ruin rooms and shone onto Deliora at the very bottom of the ruins.
"What are they trying to do by shining the light on Deliora? Are they planning to revive the demon underground?" Lucy guessed.
"Impossible! Absolute Zero will not melt."
Gray immediately denied it. He had inquired with the guild master, and Absolute Zero would not melt.
"Then what are they doing?"
"Wait! Someone's coming."
The few people crouched down and saw the three people who appeared during the day walking towards them. Besides the three from the daytime, there was also a man wearing a horned helmet.
"Damn it, I didn't sleep during the day, and now I'm so sleepy. And I still haven't found the intruders."
Yuka and the other two had searched all day, going through the ruins and the surrounding area, but they couldn't find where the intruders were.
"Are there really intruders?!"
Sherry said to the man in the horned helmet, "This is a sad thing, Lord Zero. We found intruders during the day, but they seem to have escaped, unable to show my love."
"Intruders, huh..."
"Lord Zero!"
A short man wearing a mask greeted Lord Zero.
"Zalty, you've shown up too!"
"After all, I'm here to witness this historic moment. I don't want to miss it."
"Hmph! How are the preparations for Deliora's revival coming along?"
This Zalty fellow was mysterious. Three years ago, he actively approached him and told him that he could revive Deliora using the Moon Drip. Although he didn't know what the other party wanted, it was good that Deliora could be revived.
Zalty replied, "At this rate, Deliora will be fully revived either today or tomorrow."
"It'll be ready soon! Although I don't particularly like bloodshed, at such a crucial moment, I don't want intruders to cause trouble here. Besides the village on the edge, there shouldn't be anyone else on this island. Go and destroy that village for me." Lord Zero gave the order to the three.
"Yes!!"
Sherry and the other two received the order and immediately took action.
"What?"
"It has nothing to do with the people in the village."
Natsu and Lucy immediately became anxious when they heard this.
Gray's expression also changed drastically: "That sound... No... It can't be."
"I can't hide anymore!!"
"The intruders you're looking for are right here!!"
Natsu finally couldn't hold back, jumped out, and shouted, while simultaneously spewing a dazzling flame into the sky, drawing everyone's attention to him.