135: Chapter 135 Vulcan! The Warm ClockAfter a while, the carriage suddenly came to a slow stop.
Natsu immediately shouted excitedly, "Have we arrived?Is this our stop?"
Quick!Happy!Tell me to get off the bus!
I don't want to stay a single second longer in this invisible, constantly shifting time!
Just then, the coachman's voice came from the front: "Excuse me, sir, the carriage can only go this far, it cannot go any further."
Lucy's heart skipped a beat; she had a bad feeling.
"Huh?No way?"
She suddenly pushed open the carriage door, and a gust of biting cold wind rushed in.Outside, everything was white, with wind and snow raging!
"Ahhh?How could this happen?"
Lucy shivered from the cold and stared in shock at the scene outside, which was clearly the dead of winter.
Feeling the freedom of the outside air, Natsu felt as if he had been reborn.With a nimble leap, he jumped out of the carriage, greedily inhaling the cold air, and excitedly shouted as he opened his eyes:
"Wow!That feels so good!I'm finally alive!"
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Walking along the icy mountain path shrouded in blizzard, Lucy hugged her thin shoulders tightly, her teeth chattering from the cold, and complained in despair:
"It's so cold!Even though we're in the mountains.but isn't it summer?What's wrong with this weather?"
Natsu, walking ahead, was only wearing a sleeveless vest, his chest even exposed, yet he seemed oblivious to the cold.He turned back and gave Lucy a strange look:
"Who told you to wear so little?"
Lucy was furious and pointed at Natsu's equally "revealing" outfit: "You're the same way!How dare you say that about me!"
She looked at the warm-looking brown blanket behind Natsu, as if she had found a lifeline, and tugged at it, shouting:
"Please lend me your blanket!I'm freezing!"
Natsu continued walking forward nonchalantly, muttering to himself, "You're such a hassle."
Happy leaned on Natsu's shoulder and nodded, "Love~!"
Just then, Lucy seemed to suddenly remember something and quickly and precisely took a key from the keychain—the key head was an exquisite clock shape.
She held the key forward and shouted, "Open!The Gate of the Clock Tower—Horolochim!"
A dazzling golden magic circle lit up in front of her!
With the "click" of gears turning, a clock spirit with a classic wooden shell, slender arms and legs, and a round head appeared in the snowstorm.
"It's so cold!So cold!So cold!"
Shivering, Lucy wrapped herself in Natsu's blanket, unhesitatingly pulled open the clock cabinet door, and slipped inside.Her words were cut off by the glass door:
"Ah.I'm saved.It's so warm inside."
Seeing Lucy still shivering and seemingly muttering to herself inside the clock face, Natsu leaned closer to the clock and called out:
"Hey!Lucy!What are you saying in there?I can't hear you!"
The hands of the antique clock clicked away, a resigned expression appearing on its face, conveying a message in its flat tone:
"'I.I'll just stay here.' that's what she said."
Natsu, speechless, retorted, "So what are you even doing here?Sightseeing?"
Watch Star Spirit continued to dutifully relay the message:
"'I…I already want to go back…' that's what she said." Her voice still carried a hint of Lucy's sobs.
Natsu sighed and rubbed his forehead in exasperation: "I just can't do anything with you."
He formed hand seals, "Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!"
With a bang, a clone of Natsu appeared beside him.
"You just stay here and watch over Lucy," Natsu instructed.
Then, looking at the white, snow-covered mountain road ahead, he frowned: "Searching aimlessly like this isn't a solution."
He formed hand seals again: "Multiple Shadow Clone Technique—!"
Bang bang bang bang.
Instantly, more than a dozen Natsu clones appeared around.
"Spread out!Divide up and search!The key is to find traces of Macao's battle!" Natsu's main body ordered.
"Understood!" the clones responded in unison, and then shot off in all directions like arrows released from a bow.
Suddenly, faint calls of "Macao—" echoed from all directions throughout Mount Hakbei.
A while later, a loud "boom" suddenly came from a direction near where Lucy and her clone were, as if something had jumped down from a height.
The nearest shadow clone rushed over and saw a monster that looked like a hybrid of a giant monkey and a Yeti, covered in white fur—Vulcan.
Navaken seemed to have been drawn to the commotion.It sniffed the air intently, and then its face lit up with an expression of extreme excitement.
With her eyes shining, she raced towards Lucy and her other clone, muttering incoherently, "She's a human woman.I like her."
The arriving shadow clone exclaimed in surprise, "Oh?So you can speak human language?That makes things much easier!"
He accelerated instantly, caught up with Vulcan, and his rubber arms suddenly extended!
"Rubber-pistol!"
A precise, powerful punch landed squarely on the back of Vulcan's head!
"Ouch!" Vulcan cried out in pain, his massive body swaying as he collapsed forward.
At the same time, Natsu's clone, who had been guarding the clock tower, also acted in perfect unison!
Several golden chains instantly extended from his back!
"Splash—"
The chains, like living snakes, quickly coiled around Vulcan, who had just been stunned and was trying to get up, binding him tightly!
The previous shadow clone that had completed its mission exploded with a "bang".It vanished in the form of white smoke, instantly transmitting its information and location back to its original body.
Upon receiving the message, Natsu's eyes narrowed, and his legs compressed violently as if they were made of rubber!
"Rubber-Rocket!"
He shot off in that direction like a cannonball, instantly landing in front of Vulcan, who was bound by chains.
He nodded to the clone that had used the Vajra Chains, and the clone dissipated.
Natsu's main body then extended more and thicker Adamantine Chains, binding the struggling and roaring Vulcan tightly to ensure it could not move, and then released all the other shadow clones in the mountain.
Natsu stared at the Vulcan, who was still struggling and baring its teeth, and asked sharply:
"You should be able to understand human speech, right?Where is Macao?Hand him over!"
The monkey Vulcan wriggled in protest, grumbling, "Human men.I don't like them!Human women.I do!"
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