Chapter 59: Chapter 16: The Pact 2
In the darkness.
The Winter Witch led Su Ziyu into the forest.
In fact, not entering the forest at night was a wise decision for Su Ziyu, because there were far more monsters inside the forest than outside. It seemed due to the presence of scarecrows and clay dolls, these monsters would not approach the town, and were more active deep within the forest.
"This is the array left by my sisters."
The Winter Witch walked with Su Ziyu for a long time in the dark. Along the way, he saw many peculiar creatures, like a three-eyed owl, dry and twisted treants that could move freely, and shadows slithering around like black goo. The Winter Witch seemingly had some kind of ability that made them invisible, as she led Su Ziyu deep into the forest before pointing to four special symbols on the ground and said, "The Black Forest is too dangerous now."
"There are many terrible snake monsters there, even I may not be able to get through."
"This array can help you leave the Dream Forest."
Su Ziyu recognized the symbols on the ground.
During the day, he saw identical symbols in the treehouse inside the forest, representing the elements of earth, water, wind, and fire. Unfortunately, Su Ziyu didn’t understand the writing on them.
"Stand on it," the Winter Witch said solemnly.
Today, she appeared to be more normal. The people in this world seemed to have unstable mental states, undergoing drastic changes due to external stimuli. If using a description from games Su Ziyu played before, it would be like the Winter Witch’s SAN value (sanity) dipped to the brink of collapse because of Dark Jack’s words, but due to Su Ziyu’s trust and affirmation, she regained part of her self, and her SAN value (sanity) recovered significantly.
What Dark Jack wanted to do was provoke the Winter Witch with words, pushing her sanity to completely collapse, sinking into chaos and madness.
It seemed like this was the way to destroy everything in the Dream Realm.
And what Su Ziyu needed to do now was to make the Winter Witch’s SAN value (sanity) return as much as possible, preventing her from falling into chaos due to the reality. The straightforward truth is — can you still fight? If you can still fight, then go for it!
As long as the Winter Witch does not go mad, there is still hope to turn the situation around.
Following the Winter Witch’s instructions, Su Ziyu stood at the center of the earth, water, wind, and fire symbols. She then placed her hand on these symbols, infusing them with magic power one after the other. The symbols gradually began to glow, with flames leaping, clear water flowing, hurricanes rotating, and heavy earth appearing.
Wooooo.
Strange winds suddenly came from all directions, accompanied by shadowy figures slowly closing in.
On the ground, numerous shadow-like figures resembling black goo started to approach, twisting into human forms, whispering eerily. Among these shadowy figures, Su Ziyu saw three extremely beautiful witches. The first one appeared gentle, the second fiery and passionate, and the third exuded intellectual grace. Their lips moved, seemingly speaking to the Winter Witch, but no sound came out.
Similarly.
The twisted shadows in front of Su Ziyu also turned into some familiar faces. At the forefront was Pasha in exoskeleton power armor, followed by a gentle-looking Zoe, and the already vanished Pick. Both of them had appeared in Su Ziyu’s dreams, as he didn’t see Lina and Ken’s figures.
"Don’t go."
"Stay with us."
"Don’t you like us, Su?"
The murmuring whispers echoed directly in Su Ziyu’s mind, making his entire spirit become restless.
"Alert! Alert!"
"Detected spiritual charm fluctuations! ... Detected mind suggestion fluctuations! ..."
The Spiritual Energy within Su Ziyu seemed agitated, and he couldn’t help but glare. Then he saw the shadow forms of Pasha and Zoe scream, quickly melting into a puddle of black goo.
After this sudden burst of Spiritual Energy, Su Ziyu’s spirit was slightly weakened.
Then he seemed to vaguely hear Pick’s words. Pick used a strange tone to say something to him, making Su Ziyu tremble all over.
——"Bon voyage! Take care!"
Pick’s words, when translated, meant this, and then his shadow dissolved and disappeared.
Pick didn’t die?
Just as Su Ziyu was puzzled, suddenly the shriek of the Winter Witch echoed: "Get away!"
A terrifying chill exploded.
The power of ice directly froze all nearby monsters, including the three shadowy witch figures. The Winter Witch raised her slender hand and clenched it, shattering all the ice sculptures into fragments in an instant.
"This power! So terrifying!"
"Luckily, she didn’t truly darken yesterday! Otherwise, I might have been dead!" Su Ziyu thought to himself.
Today’s power of the Winter Witch surpassed that of yesterday by an unknown margin.
Whether it was due to the return of reason or Su Ziyu’s encouragement, her battle intent was strong enough now to even tackle her three sisters’ phantoms. The Summer Witch from yesterday should have been fake, but even so, she tried to stop Su Ziyu back then.
At this moment, if another Summer Witch appeared, probably without Su Ziyu’s intervention, the Winter Witch herself would take care of her.
Very well.
This is what a true woman should be like!
After defeating these twisted monsters, the Winter Witch gently approached Su Ziyu, stood on her tiptoes, and lightly kissed his forehead, then held Su Ziyu’s hands and said: "Bless you."
A stream of magic, like a gentle river, adhered to Su Ziyu’s body, gradually fading away, forming into an invisible barrier.
Simultaneously.
A data stream in his mind also conveyed some information.
"Received the blessing of the Guardian Witch!"
"Received the blessing of the River Fairy!"
The system’s prompt made Su Ziyu’s expression change slightly, as he opened his mouth to ask something, but at this moment, the teleportation array had already been activated. He felt a sense of vertigo as his entire being seemed to plunge into a twisted passage, everything before him turning into bizarre hues like a palette of countless colors, with an eerie scenery painted haphazardly before his eyes.
It was unclear how much time had passed.
When Su Ziyu’s consciousness returned, he found himself standing amidst a cold, snowy landscape.
Outside, it appeared to be winter.
The entire world was wrapped in a silver cloak, with distant smoke rising, indicating a human-inhabited town.
Thump thump thump.
The sound of hooves came from behind. Two men wrapped in thick leather armor, covering their faces with cloth, rode past on horses, casting a glance at the oddly dressed Su Ziyu, muttering something quietly before quickly leaving.
Humans.
This is the Chessboard Realm.
.........