Yuan Tong
Chapter 587 Sand and Forest
"...I still don't know why I'm the only one who was 'sent' to this bizarre desert, but it's clear that this place doesn't correspond at all to the 'forest' described by Nina or Miss Lucretia. I'm currently trying to head towards the 'stonehenge' that appears to be city ruins in the distance. So far, I haven't found any traces of civilization here..."
Duncan's voice echoed in Vanna's mind, "...Pay attention to any phenomena that defy common sense or sudden changes in the environment. The 'erosion' that Shirley mentioned may also appear around you. Be careful."
"Understood, Captain," Vanna nodded slightly, looked up at the horizon in the wind, and strode into the deeper sandstorm, "I will continue to move forward."
...
"Labi doesn't like this place... Labi likes crowded, lively places... This is not the kind of 'dream' Labi is familiar with at all. You can't even see a single person..."
Labi's chattering voice came from beside her. The giant rabbit doll was clumsily walking through a pile of bushes and withered leaves, complaining incessantly since just now.
But Lucretia didn't pay any attention to the rabbit. She just walked ahead on her own and stopped at the edge of an open space, cautiously observing the surrounding environment.
After entering this "dream" for the second time, she did not see the elven girl who called herself "Shirley", nor did she find any traces she had left in the forest before.
Everywhere were towering trees that looked almost the same, and there were no landmarks or trails to be seen in the forest that could be used as reference. Although she was reluctant to admit it... Lucretia knew that she had already lost her way in this boundless jungle.
"...Labi," Lucretia suddenly turned her head, looking at the rabbit doll struggling to crawl out of a bush not far away, "Can you sense any other sentient entities?"
Labi instantly stopped his incessant complaining and quickly trotted a few steps to his mistress's side, posing as if he were listening intently to the surrounding movements—two long ears made of sewn cloth strips drooped from either side of his head, and the edges of the cloth strips quietly showed a hazy texture.
After a moment, the rabbit shook his head, "No, Labi didn't hear any other thinking voices."
"Hmm." Lucretia nodded, then looked around again, trying to determine a direction to move forward.
Just then, a glint of reflection in her vision caught the "witch's" attention.
Lucretia immediately looked in the direction of the reflection—it was a towering tree a dozen meters away, and at the foot of the tree, among the withered branches and fallen leaves, there seemed to be something.
Her figure suddenly turned into a pile of swirling, dancing colored paper, and in the blink of an eye, she flew to the foot of the tree and reformed.
Looking at the slightly familiar object in front of her, Lucretia's eyes widened slightly, "This is..."
A bizarre long-handled weapon that seemed to be a combination of a spear and an axe lay quietly among the fallen leaves, like a silent and solidified symbol.
Unlike what she remembered, the long handle of this weapon was now broken, as if it had been completely destroyed after withstanding a violent impact. Its axe blade was covered in jagged scars, as if it had experienced a long and fierce battle, and many dark-colored marks still remained on the scarred axe blade.
It seemed to have been broken a long, long time ago—after a forgotten battle that had long since ended.
Lucretia quietly stared at the broken long-handled axe, her gaze filled with contemplation. The sound of the rabbit Labi's footsteps came from behind. After craning his neck to look at his mistress, the toy rabbit finally couldn't help but ask curiously, "Mistress, what is this thing?"
Lucretia did not respond to Labi, but cautiously bent down. After hesitating slightly, she reached out and probed towards the broken long-handled axe.
Her fingers touched the cold metal, and a sensation that seemed to transcend illusion and reality suddenly surged along her fingertips. Before she could carefully confirm this momentary feeling, a sharp whistling noise suddenly interrupted her movements!
In the next second, ear-piercing howls came from all directions, as if the entire forest was collapsing in a burst of explosions. A deafening roar arrived, the earth was shaking, heat waves were rising, and the sky was shrouded in chaotic illusory light. Countless cries of fighting, screaming, roaring, and the mournful roars that seemed to be emitted by the forest itself poured into Lucretia's senses—
The "Sea Witch" suddenly raised her head and saw that the entire forest around her had begun to burn. The towering trees were collapsing and flowing like molten wax in the flames. The distant earth seemed to be rolled up by an invisible, immense force and began to rise upwards, accompanied by terrifying cracks and surging magma. The entire earth was gradually curling towards the sky, while incomprehensible, vast shadows and chaotic light continuously rolled down from the sky, as if the entire sky was burning in light and falling towards the entire world!
In this earth-shattering "skyfall," dark red light appeared, like blood-soaked scars, the ominous red light permeated the clouds, and almost instantly replaced all the light of the sky. Terrible cracks began to touch the ground bit by bit, touching the towering trees, touching the upturned and curled horizon in the distance. The world gradually fell apart in this deadly "touch," and countless dark and terrifying things swarmed out—
They poured out of the forest, out of the red light in the sky, out of the cracks in the world. One moment they seemed to be just animals fleeing in terror from the forest fire, the next they had transformed into bared fangs and claws, indescribable shadows. Rocks were being animated, the forest was wriggling, and everything was turning into forms incomprehensible to human intelligence. Terrifying, rampaging, and distorted things surged from all directions. Someone roared nearby, as if struggling to fight against the swarming monsters, but looking in the direction of the sound, she could only see monsters biting monsters, shadows devouring shadows.
Lucretia suddenly stood up. Although she was a little caught off guard by the incomprehensible, earth-shattering change before her, she subconsciously assumed a fighting stance—but in the next second, all these terrifying anomalies suddenly disappeared from her sight.
She had released the broken long-handled axe—with the release of contact, all the terrifying and gigantic scenes disappeared like phantoms.
The forest returned to its original state, and everything that had just happened seemed like a brief and bizarre nightmare.
Lucretia couldn't recover for a long time. After several seconds, she suddenly woke up and subconsciously looked at the foot of the giant tree.
The broken long-handled axe was gone, leaving only a pile of withered branches and fallen leaves that showed no traces of anything.
Lucretia slowly frowned, her mind still subconsciously recalling the scene she had just seen. Just then, a footstep suddenly appeared nearby, instantly interrupting her thoughts.
She immediately raised her head and looked in the direction of the footsteps.
The elven girl named "Shirley" stood there at some point, still wearing the light armor of unknown origin, holding the strangely shaped long-handled battle axe in her hand.
Lucretia suddenly turned her head to look at the rabbit Labi, but saw that Labi was also turning to look at her. Although it only had button-stitched eyes and an abstractly painted mouth, its movements still revealed obvious apology and surprise—
Labi had not noticed "Shirley's" approach—which meant that this sentient entity had suddenly appeared nearby.
"Shirley?" Lucretia calmed herself, signaled Labi not to act rashly, and turned to look at the elven girl, tentatively greeting her.
The elven girl named Shirley smiled. She looked at Lucretia, and the expression on her face was as if the two had never been apart.
She nodded, "We've rested for a long time, it's time to continue on our way—it's still a long way from the Silent Wall."
As she spoke, she looked at the rabbit Labi, who was staying obediently in place.
Shirley didn't show any strangeness on her face and said to Lucretia very naturally, "Is this your friend? Bring her along, let's go together."
...
Vanna didn't know how long she had been walking in this endless desert—the monotonous and boundless scenery in her field of vision and the constant wind and sand around her seemed to be interfering with her judgment of time. She even felt that she had been walking in this desert for a century, even since the day the world was born.
Of course, she knew very well that these were all illusions generated in her irritability, and that this harsh environment was testing her character.
Fortunately, the prayers to the goddess were still effective, which allowed her to strengthen her faith, and the connection with the captain soothed the anxiety in her heart, while also giving her the opportunity to stabilize her mentality.
The icy greatsword in her hand exuded a trace of coolness, bringing a sense of security and dispelling the heat of this desert.
Another gust of wind and sand came, and Vanna sensed the change in the wind direction—she raised her greatsword in front of her eyes and turned her head to avoid the disturbance of the sand.
But at that moment, a strange aura suddenly appeared in her perception, causing Vanna's movements to suddenly stop.
In the next second, this battle-hardened inquisitor instantly tensed all the muscles in her body. She suddenly placed the greatsword horizontally beside her, assuming a defensive posture, and looked in a certain direction in the wind and sand.
The chaotic wind stopped at some point. In the gradually calming sand and dust, an exceptionally tall figure slowly emerged from the dust mist and became increasingly clear.
It was a... giant.
Yuan Tong