Chapter 588 – Sand and Forest
Chapter 588: Sand and Forest
As planned, Vanna continued to take steps towards the hazy silhouette in the distance, trekking through the seemingly never-ending wind and sand.
“…… Right now I still don’t know why I’m the only one who’s been ‘sent’ to this weird desert, but it’s clear that this place doesn’t correspond at all to the ‘forest’ described by Nina or Ms. Lucrecia ‘ It doesn’t correspond at all, and right now I’m trying to walk towards the ‘Stonehenge’ in the distance that looks suspiciously like the ruins of a city, and so far haven’t found any traces of civilized activity here ……”
Duncan’s words sounded deep within Vanna’s mind, “…… Be aware of any phenomena around you that do not correspond to common sense or sudden changes in your environment, the kind of ‘erosion’ mentioned by Shirley may also be around you, be careful. ”
“Understood, Captain,” Vanna nodded slightly, looking up in the wind to the end of the horizon and stepping deeper into the sands, “I’m going to move on.”
……
“Rabbi doesn’t like this place …… Rabbi likes lively places with lots of people …… This isn’t even the kind of ‘dreamland’ Rabbi is familiar with, even the no one can be seen ……”
Rabbi’s chittering voice came from beside him as the giant rabbit doll clumsily trudged through a pile of bushes and dead branches and leaves, complaining endlessly since a moment ago.
But Lucrecia paid no attention to the rabbit, she simply walked ahead of herself and stopped at the edge of a clearing, cautiously observing her surroundings.
After entering this “dreamland” for the second time, she didn’t see the elf girl who called herself “Shireen”, nor did she find the traces she had left behind in the forest.
Everywhere is almost the same huge trees, the forest can not see any reference landmarks or trails, although very reluctant to admit ……, but Lucrecia knows that she has lost the way in this boundless jungle.
“…… Rabbi,” Lucrecia suddenly turned her head to look at the rabbit doll that was trying to burrow its way through a clump of bushes not far away, “Can you sense any other mind entities?”
The rabbit instantly stopped chattering and complaining the whole way, and hurriedly trotted a few steps to its mistress’ side, making a gesture of leaning sideways to listen to the surrounding movement – two long ears sewn from strips of cloth drooped down from either side of its head, the edges of the cloth quietly taking on a hazy texture.
After a few moments, the rabbit shook its head, “No, Rabbi didn’t hear any other thinking.”
“Hmm.” Lucrecia nodded, then looked around her surroundings once more, trying to determine a direction to move in next.
It was then that a small reflection in her field of vision caught the “witch’s” eye.
Lucrecia immediately looked towards the direction where the reflection appeared – it was a giant tree more than ten meters away, and at the foot of the giant tree, between a patch of dead branches and leaves, there seemed to be something.
Her figure suddenly transformed into a pile of spinning and flying pieces of colored paper, and in the blink of an eye, she flew to the bottom of that tree and re-coalesced into shape.
Looking at the slightly familiar thing in front of her, Lucrecia slightly opened her eyes wide, “This is ……”
An oddly styled long-handled weapon that seemed to be a combination of a spear and a chopping axe was lying quietly between the fallen leaves, like a speechless and frozen symbol.
Unlike in memory, the long handle of this weapon was now broken, as if it was completely destroyed after enduring a violent impact, while its axe blade was littered with jagged scars, seemingly after a long period of grueling combat, and at this moment, there were still many dark-colored traces remaining on top of the scarred axe blade.
It seemed to have snapped a long, long time ago – after a forgotten, long overdue fight.
Lucrecia quietly gazed at the long-handled axe that was broken on the ground, gazing at it with an unknown amount of contemplation in her eyes, while the rabbit rabbit’s footsteps came from behind her, and after probing and surveying her mistress for a while, the doll rabbit finally couldn’t help but ask curiously, “What’s this thing, Mistress?”
Lucrecia did not respond to the rabbit, but only cautiously bent down and hesitated a little before reaching out her hand and probing the broken long-handled axe.
Her fingers touched the cool metal, and a touch that seemed to transcend illusion and reality suddenly traveled along her fingertips, and before she could carefully confirm this instantaneous sensation, a sharp, whistling noise violently interrupted her movements!
In the next instant, a shrill whistling noise came from all directions, as if the entire forest was burning and collapsing in a roar, the earth shook, heat waves rose, the sky was shrouded in chaotic phantasmagoric light, and countless shouts, cries, hisses, and the mournful roars that seemed to come from the forest itself flooded Lucrecia’s perceptions – –
The “Witch of the Sea” looked up sharply, and saw that the whole forest around her had begun to burn, and the huge trees were pouring down as if they were melting in the flames, and the distant earth began to bulge upwards as if it were being swept up by an unseen force of immense proportions, and with fearful breaks and surges of lava the whole earth was gradually rolling upwards towards the sky, and then the whole earth began to rise up into the sky. A vast shadow of unfathomable human intellect and misplaced light continued to crush down from the sky, as if the whole sky were burning in light and falling toward the whole world!
In the midst of this mind-blowing “fall of the sky”, a dark red light appeared, like a blood-soaked wound, an ominous red light filled the clouds, almost instantly replacing all the light of the sky, and horrible cracks began to touch the earth little by little, the towering trees, and the upturned and curling horizon in the distance. The world was torn apart by this fatal “touch”, and countless dark horrors swarmed out – they came out of the forests, out of the forests, out of the forests, out of the forests, out of the forests, out of the forests, out of the forests.
They came out of the forest, out of the red light of the sky, out of the fissures of the world, one moment as if they were animals fleeing in terror from the forest fire, the next moment as clawing, unnameable shadows, the rocks revitalizing, the forests writhing, everything transforming into something incomprehensible to the human mind, the horrible scurrying aberrations coming from every direction, and some of the men roaring close by, as if fighting against the swarming, the swarming, the swarming, the swarming of the dark things. It was as if they were fighting against the swarming monsters, yet all that could be seen when following the sound was monsters tearing at monsters and shadows devouring shadows. Lucrecia rose violently, and even though the incomprehensible and shocking changes in front of her made her a bit confused for a moment, she still subconsciously made a fighting stance – however, in the very next second, all of these horrifying changes suddenly disappeared from her vision.
She had let go of the broken long-handled axe – and along with the disengagement of contact, all the horrifying sights of the gigantic changes also disappeared like a phantom.
The forest returned to its original state, and everything that had just happened seemed like a brief and bizarre dream.
Lucrecia was unable to regain her senses for a long time, and it was only after several seconds that she suddenly came to her senses and subconsciously looked at the foot of the giant tree.
The broken long-handled axe was gone, and there was only a pile of withered branches and leaves left on the spot, of which no traces could be seen.
Lucrecia slowly frowned, but her mind was still subconsciously recalling the scene she had just seen, and just then, a footstep suddenly appeared nearby, instantly interrupting her thoughts.
She immediately raised her head and looked in the direction from which the footsteps came.
The elf girl named “Shireen” was standing there at an unknown time, still wearing the light armor of an unknown city-state, and holding the oddly shaped long-handled battle axe in her hand.
Lucrecia suddenly turned her head to look at the rabbit Rabbi, but she saw that Rabbi was also turning his head to look at himself, and even though he only had button-studded eyes and an abstractly painted mouth, he still revealed a clear apology and surprise in his movements—.
The rabbi did not notice the approach of “Shireen” – which meant that the mental entity had appeared suddenly in the neighborhood.
“Shireen?” Lucrecia calmed herself, and while signaling Rabi not to act casually, she turned her head towards the elf maiden and tentatively greeted the other party.
The elf maiden named Shireen revealed a small smile as she looked at Lucrecia with an expression on her face as if the two had never been separated.
She nodded, “We have been resting for a long time, it is time to continue on our way – it is still a long way from the Wall of Silence.”
As she said this, she looked over to Rabbi the rabbit, who was staying honestly where he was.
Shireen’s face didn’t show the slightest sign of dissent, and she naturally said to Lucrecia, “Is this your friend? Take her and let’s go together.”
……
Vanna had no idea how long she had been trekking through this endless desert – the monotonous, sprawling landscape in her field of vision and the never-ending wind and sand around her seemed to be interfering with her judgment of time, and it even felt as if she’d been walking through this desert for a century, or even trekking through it since the day the world was born.
Of course, she knew very well that this was all an illusion she had created in her annoyance, and that it was this harsh environment that was testing her mind.
Fortunately, the prayers to the goddess were still valid, which would keep her faith strong, and the connection with the captain soothed the uneasiness in her mind while allowing her a chance to stabilize her mind.
The icy greatsword in her hand radiated a slight coolness that brought a sense of security while dissipating the heat that this desert had brought upon her.
Another gust of sand came, and Vanna sensed a change in the direction of the wind – she raised her greatsword in front of her eyes, and turned her head sideways to avoid the onslaught of sand.
But just then, a strange aura popped into perception, causing Vanna’s movements to snap to a halt.
In the next second, this battle-hardened Inquisitor instantly tensed her entire body, and she violently placed her greatsword across her body in a guarded manner, while looking in a certain direction in the sand.
The chaotic wind stopped at some point, and in the sand and dust that gradually subsided, an exceptionally tall figure slowly emerged from the dust and fog, and appeared more and more clear.
It was a …… giant.
(End of chapter)