Three people crossed Cage Mountain and turned west, heading towards the Endless Mountains.

In less than half an hour, Maisie was the first to fall behind.

At an altitude of 1,500 meters, the Phoenix, with its two engines, easily reached a speed of 400 kilometers per hour. Although Maisie's swallow form could also reach this speed, it could only maintain it for a short while. Facing the tireless new fourteen-cylinder engine, it was only a matter of time before she was left behind.

"How is it?" Tilly said, covering her mouth.

"...I, I can still fly... Tweet!" Maisie was already panting.

"You've done your best, let me take over."

Lightning embraced her partner, who was full of unwillingness, and took over the second stage of the competition.

The two, one person and one machine, unfolded a new chase in the gray sky.

The scenery underfoot shrank smaller and smaller, and the mountains separating the human kingdoms gradually became a winding line of ink. Tilly could see the red mist slowly flowing down from the direction of the Continental Spine above the Everwinter and Wolfheart, like a layer of turbid barrier. The land within the barrier had undoubtedly been filled with scarlet, but as long as one could soar into the sky, one could see the world's true appearance again.

"Is this your limit?" Lightning's voice rang out, "I can fly much faster than this!"

In terms of flight speed alone, no one could match her ability. Even the Lord of the Sky, who possessed the power of teleportation, had suffered at her hands.

However, for Tilly, victory or defeat was never the most important thing.

Driving this large but agile machine and pushing its performance to the limit was a kind of enjoyment.

She retracted her overlooking gaze, smiled slightly, and pulled up the nose, flying towards a higher altitude.

Lightning followed, always staying about a hundred meters ahead of the plane.

According to the introduction in the instruction manual, the Phoenix had undergone technical optimization from the Dream World, and the key parts were also personally processed by Anna. It possessed basic qualities far exceeding the Skyfire – its maximum level flight speed could reach 550 kilometers per hour, its maximum range exceeded 1,500 kilometers, and the double-row star engine was also equipped with a turbine system, so that its performance would not decay significantly when flying at an altitude of more than 3,000 meters. These were things that mass-produced models could not achieve.

But this was not the biggest feature of the Phoenix.

Its fuselage structure had been strengthened by Candle and Doris, and its strength and durability could be said to be above the materials themselves. It could be regarded as the first aircraft combining industrial technology and magic.

Tilly knew that propellers were most efficient at low speeds, but as the speed increased, their propulsion efficiency would rapidly decrease. Therefore, it was almost impossible to touch Lightning's back relying solely on its own power.

She had to use the help of other forces.

After rising to a high altitude away from the clouds in one breath, Tilly suddenly pushed the throttle to the maximum and pressed down on the control stick with force.

The engine suddenly let out a high-pitched roar!

The Phoenix plummeted and entered a dive.

In order to keep herself in the lead, Lightning also adjusted her direction and fell rapidly. However, in order to avoid mutual interference, she pulled the horizontal distance to about one kilometer, with the vertical distance remaining unchanged at a hundred meters – at this altitude and speed, the magic-tuned "light film" was very obvious. Shimmering ripples formed around her to protect her from the cold wind and low pressure.

Undoubtedly, in this state, Lightning's magic consumption speed was much faster than during normal flight.

Even Roland had mentioned when testing her ability that the reason why Lightning could not stay in supersonic flight for a long time was likely not because the flight itself required too much magic, but because the consumption of magic synchronization increased significantly when the body was in extreme environmental conditions.

Therefore, she rarely entered supersonic speed during normal patrols.

For witches, it was a very dangerous thing to exhaust their magic at will.

Of course, Tilly was not feeling well at the moment. The thin air at high altitude made it difficult for her to breathe, and the full-speed operation of the engine and the oncoming gale made the noise and vibration in the cockpit rise sharply. Without the protection of magic synchronization, she could only rely on her body to hold on.

According to the airspeed indicator, the Phoenix was already approaching a speed of 800 kilometers per hour.

This greatly exceeded its maximum speed limit.

Although Lightning still maintained a stable position in front of the nose, she no longer had time to talk to her using the Listening Talisman.

That's right, what Tilly wanted to borrow was gravity.

When she was driving a biplane before, she discovered that when she converted the accumulated altitude into speed in one breath, she could easily break the plane's limit.

However, the risks of this kind of overspeed could not be ignored. At best, she would not be able to pull up again, and at worst, the plane would disintegrate in the air.

If she could not perceive that critical point with her ability, she would never have boldly used diving to accelerate during the test flight.

But even so, the chances of catching up with Lightning were slim.

She remembered Roland saying that due to the limitations of the propeller principle, it would take a great price for a piston aircraft to exceed the speed of sound. In other words, it would not be worth the loss, so that the jet engine quickly replaced the propeller after it came out. Lightning could break the sound barrier at any time, and the difference between the two was not on the same level.

So she still needed the help of other things.

As the altitude dropped rapidly, the dense dark clouds entrenched in the 2,500-meter altitude slammed into the two of them like the earth.

The Phoenix roared into the clouds, splashing a "mist column" on the clouds!

At this time, the plane's speed had exceeded 900 kilometers per hour, and the vibration began to spread from the fuselage to the wings. She could feel the wing surface cutting through the viscous airflow in front like a blade. This high-speed friction made the air no longer an ethereal thing, but like a thick and solid wall.

Lightning disappeared from view.

Tilly knew her chance had come.

She focused all her attention on the plane's controls – at this speed, the thrust provided by the propeller was almost the same as the resistance. What ordinary people should consider was how to pull the plane up again, instead of making it dive faster. Only Tilly could maintain precise control in such a violent vibration and use rudder adjustments to further increase speed.

Although the acceleration was not great, it was enough to close the distance with the leader.

When the Phoenix's own limit was approaching, she launched the plane out of the clouds!

The wide and boundless earth reappeared in her eyes.

Also appearing at the same time was Lightning – compared to the previous stable lead of a hundred meters, she was now on the same level as the new plane. The latter, realizing this, instantly entered supersonic speed, but soon slowed down again and turned to approach the plane's cockpit.

"Worthy of being Her Royal Highness the Princess," Lightning's expression did not show much frustration, but rather admiration, "I can't believe you even considered the clouds."

"If it were a little thinner, I wouldn't have caught up with you." Tilly said with a smile as she leveled the aircraft.

From the beginning, her plan was to use natural diving to allow Lightning to adapt to stable acceleration, and finally complete the reversal under the cover of the clouds – although it was only for a moment, the Phoenix did close the gap.

"Wait, where did we fly to, gu?" Maisie poked her head out of Lightning's arms.

"Uh..." Tilly looked to the side and realized that the scenery below was all unfamiliar, and the Endless Mountains had been left far behind. The chase just now was too focused, and she didn't notice how far they had flown to the northwest, "Maybe this is also part of the Fertile Plains?"

"It shouldn't be wrong," Lightning took out a telescope, "but it is a part of the Fertile Plains that we have never set foot in before. If we deduce according to the route, our east should be the border between Wolfheart and the Everwinter Kingdom, and the front is the Continental Spine –"

She suddenly stopped speaking.

"What's wrong?"

Tilly looked in the direction she mentioned and was stunned.

The mountains hidden in the clouds in the distance were vaguely visible, much taller and more magnificent than the Endless Mountains, but since she had already learned about its existence from Agatha and the expedition, she would not be too surprised to see it for the first time.

What shocked her was above the mountains.

A gloomy and dull dark red cloud layer was entrenched on the top of the mountain, with countless flashes of lightning flashing in it, like a storm made of blood.

Undoubtedly, that was not a natural phenomenon.

That red cloud gave her an extremely uneasy feeling.