Once the Nun had fallen into a deep sleep, lina turned to Bai Shi.
She pursed her lips and asked,
"Bai Shi, did you find any other Nun?"
"I want to try and care for them."
Bai Shi nodded and replied,
"Yes, I found a gaol used for the horned people."
"That's where I found her."
"I suspect there are quite a few other Nun survivors there, but they're all in a terrible state of mind. So of them attacked
on sight."
"I couldn't attend to any other potential survivors at the ti, so I brought her back first."
Bai Shi pointed to the faint pink mist still lingering around the Nun's body.
lina recognized the mist's origin, realizing Bai Shi must have used a Bewitching Branch to calm the Nun and bring her here.
Seeing that her small, spectral Erdtree could soothe the Nun’s spirit, Bai Shi also felt a asure of relief.
"Since the power of the little Erdtree can calm them, then we should be able to bring them out."
lina nodded, though her spectral Erdtree wasn't supposed to have this effect.
With the lives of her kin at stake, lina dared not be careless. She quickly explained the situation to Bai Shi:
"The little Erdtree doesn't actually have this ability. I just felt I had to do sothing for her."
"So... I don't know if it can truly soothe all the survivors."
Bai Shi thought for a mont, then decided to take lina there to try anyway.
Even if it couldn't reliably calm the Nun, it was still better than doing nothing at all.
"It's alright. Once they feel the tenderness of their own kin, they will surely be put at ease."
"As for their treatnt after that... I'll figure sothing out."
The first step was to get the Nun out of the gaol.
He didn't have any clear ideas for how to help them just yet.
But once they returned to the Lands Between, he could call upon his connections. There might be hope.
lina nodded, then reached out and infused more of her power into the spectral tree.
Under the flow of her magic, the phantom Erdtree grew more substantial.
lina touched its trunk, confirming its stability.
She had left a considerable amount of magic behind; the spectral Erdtree could now sustain itself here for a very long ti.
lina turned to Torrent, who had followed them out.
"Torrent, please stay here and help
look after her."
Torrent shook his head and walked over to the side of the small Erdtree.
lina turned back and took Bai Shi's hand.
Bai Shi nodded to her, and in an instant, flew her swiftly toward the gaol.
——
Standing on one of the great jars suspended by iron chains, Bai Shi used his sword spear to pry open the lid, which had been sealed tight with root resin.
A putrid stench imdiately assaulted them.
Bai Shi used a gust of wind to disperse the thick odor of decay, his heart sinking as he already knew the outco.
As expected, the sight within the great jar was nauseating.
Body parts were haphazardly piled up, and a viscous fluid had seeped out in large quantities, filling the jar before its top layer froze over in the cold.
Within the layer of frozen corpse-fluid, the decaying head of a Nun was preserved in an expression of absolute despair.
Bai Shi sighed and replaced the lid.
lina, standing beside another great jar, closed its lid with a pale face.
Bai Shi looked up at the countless great jars that filled the gaol and abandoned his unrealistic hopes.
This was not the first jar they had opened.
Since the jars were used for torture, they had thought there might still be Nun trapped inside.
Unfortunately, every great jar Bai Shi and lina had opened so far contained only corpses.
Not all the jars held the remains of Nun.
Most were filled with the jumbled corpses of horned people, their bodies intact and not fused with any Nun.
These jars were simply containers for the dead.
The state of the Nun corpses varied greatly. So were nothing but dried bones, while others were in advanced stages of decay.
So even looked as though they had only recently died.
That being the case, it was indeed possible that there were still living Nun inside so of the jars.
However, the chances were infinitesimally small.
At the very least, all the tightly sealed jars they had opened contained Nun who were already dead.
Were they sealed because the Nun had died and were no longer of any use?
Or perhaps the Nun's death was the goal all along, and their bodies were ant to be placed inside the jars?
Perhaps the "ritual was complete" only when a Nun died, and their body, ant for reincarnation, instead brought "salvation" to the corpses of the horned people inside the great jar.
Bai Shi sighed and took the hand of a still-unwilling-to-give-up lina.
"For now, let's focus on finding the Nun who have already escaped."
"First, we need to see if we can soothe their minds. That will determine our next course of action."
lina glanced at the closed jar, silent, and allowed Bai Shi to lead her away.
——
Following the path from before, Bai Shi and lina soon returned to the point where he had last stopped exploring.
Below them was a Warrior Jar and several smaller Jar-Bairns.
Perhaps they had been forgotten for too long, but they showed no intention of fighting.
For the living jars, simply having an unknown place to exist was enough.
Bai Shi and lina soon found other Nun.
Perhaps fearing the cold, this ti two of them were hiding inside the very jars that had once imprisoned them.
Sensing the approach of living beings, they slowly crawled out from the great jars lying on their sides.
lina looked at her two kin, their bodies fused with raw flesh, and the tips of her fingers began to tremble uncontrollably.
Seeing lina’s state, Bai Shi stepped forward and took her hand.
"Try using the little Erdtree."
Feeling the warmth from Bai Shi’s palm, lina’s trembling subsided.
She took a deep breath.
The frigid air of the gaol filled her lungs, focusing her mind.
‘Queen Marika... Mother, I beg of you...’
‘Let my power bring comfort to my kin...’
lina opened her arms, and the phantom of a small Erdtree, radiating a soft brilliance, materialized within the gaol.
A gentle, golden radiance illuminated the cold prison, making it incredibly bright.
This was a gold of pure gentleness, devoid of law.
As the light of the spectral Erdtree washed over them, both Nun felt the gentle power within it.
A gentle gold, from one of their own.
Watching the two Nun gradually grow calm, the heavy weight in lina's heart finally lifted.
lina looked at the spectral Erdtree before her, her fingers interlaced before her chest.
"I did it... Thank goodness..."
"Mother... Your vengeance is over. My healing will now finish what you could not."
"I will do everything in my power to heal my kin. I swear it on the Erdtree..."
Bai Shi, seeing the Nun's state under control, also breathed a sigh of relief.
The little Erdtree had proven useful in an unexpected way, a most welco surprise. Since the spectral tree could indeed soothe the minds of the Nun survivors, they could now gather them all.
Once they found all the Nun in the gaol, he would take them away, back to the surface to be cared for.
The atmosphere in the gaol was oppressive and far too cold, which would certainly affect the survivors.
Bai Shi glanced at the large, open space ahead within the gaol, thought for a mont, and said to lina,
"lina, just maintain this one spectral Erdtree for now."
"There are surely more survivors up ahead, and it would be a hassle to summon a new tree every ti we et one."
"Let's use this spot as a temporary base camp and bring the Nun we find back here."
"Once we've found all the survivors, we'll take them all to the church."
lina nodded.
The two then continued deeper into the gaol, searching for and rescuing Nun survivors along the way.
Soon, they arrived before an altar with a great jar.
This jar was enormous, standing atop the altar. Whether it held corpses or not was unknown.
The path leading to the altar was broken, though that posed no problem for either of them.
Just then, however, lina suddenly spotted a large number of great jars below the broken path.
lina blinked and said to Bai Shi,
"Bai Shi, I'm going to take a look down there."
With that, she leaped down without a second thought.
Bai Shi considered for a mont and decided not to follow.
There were no real dangers in the gaol, and he had no need to worry about lina's strength.
Splitting up would also make their search for survivors more efficient.
"Alright, I'll search up here then,"
Bai Shi called down. After getting a response from lina, he continued deeper into the structure.
Rescuing Nun survivors along the way, Bai Shi unknowingly found himself before a peculiar prison.
He stepped into the strange cell and looked around.
Suddenly, a short figure lunged at him, its blade swinging fiercely.
Bai Shi casually summoned his heavy Ruins Greatsword and brought it up to block, easily deflecting the sudden slash.
Seeing its attack fail, the figure imdiately backflipped, putting distance between them.
Bai Shi focused his gaze and finally identified his assailant.
The attacker was a Demi-human.
He was clad in a tattered cloak, his face wizened. He was clearly an elder of his kind.
The Demi-human wielded a peculiar sword. Its blade was slender and curved, inlaid with tiny, fragnted glintstone crystals of various sizes.
These minuscule glintstone fragnts ford a continuous line that snaked along the blade.
Bai Shi studied the strange sword and noticed sothing odd.
The curvature of the blade seed intentional.
The glintstones were arranged in a line, with several slightly larger stones set at the bends of the blade.
It looked... just like a constellation that almost forms a straight line in the night sky.
As he pondered this, the Demi-human in the tattered cloak attacked again.
His blade flashed, and a brilliant gleam of light shot toward Bai Shi.
Bai Shi sidestepped with ease, dodging the slash of light.
But the old Demi-human's form instantly dissolved into starlight, only to reappear above the arc of his own attack.
After using this special technique, he instantly closed the distance to Bai Shi, bringing his sword down in a sharp, overhead strike.
Bai Shi watched the swift, vicious attack and raised an eyebrow.
He hadn't expected a Demi-human to possess such skill.
The powerful slash descended, yet it failed to even touch the hem of Bai Shi's clothes.
The sword ultimately struck the ground with force, leaving a deep gash.
Bai Shi spoke to the old Demi-human before him.
"Are you a prisoner in this gaol?"
"Or are you one of the guards?"
The old Demi-human silently retreated.
The 'Demi-human Sword Saint' Ongyl remained silent, focused only on finding an opening in Bai Shi's defense.
Yet no matter how hard he tried, he could find no opportunity.
It wasn't that Bai Shi had no openings.
On the contrary, his casual stance was riddled with them, as if he didn't even consider him an enemy.
But his swordsman's intuition scread that if he attacked any of those openings, he would be the one to end up injured.
Seeing that his opponent had no intention of answering, Bai Shi's usual patience wore thin.
"Attacking
without a word, and now refusing to answer my questions. That makes you an enemy."
"And as it happens, I'm quite irritated..."
From the depths of the prison, Ongyl's apprentice, Yocci, lost his patience and decided to attack the enemy who was so full of openings.
Yocci had remained hidden until this mont, his presence unrevealed.
He rushed Bai Shi from behind, his small fra granting him unparalleled agility.
His figure vanished without a sound, reappearing in an instant directly behind Bai Shi.
Seeing Bai Shi's undefended back, Yocci didn't hesitate, unleashing a decisive slash.
But in the next mont, an arm composed of silver mist suddenly extended from Bai Shi's body and seized Yocci by the neck.
Yocci was stunned by this incomprehensible sight, but his reaction was swift, and he imdiately slashed at the hand.
Ashmi's body had not yet fully ford and was still in a gaseous state, which allowed Yocci to break free.
Yocci leaped back several tis, clutching his neck in disbelief.
Ongyl frowned, his gaze shifting to the figure that was slowly taking shape.
Bit by bit, Ashmi's body erged from Bai Shi's, gradually solidifying.
"A two-on-one sneak attack? That's not very sporting of you."
"Host, I'd like to stretch my legs, too."
Bai Shi nodded. Ashmi imdiately materialized her weapons and charged toward Yocci.
Not to be outdone, Yocci brandished his sword and engaged Ashmi in a fierce clash.
Bai Shi glanced over, saw the vast difference in their power, and paid their battle no further mind.
His gaze returned to Ongyl, and he began to walk toward him step by step.
The old Demi-human seed to be the stronger of the two.
Seeing Bai Shi advance, Ongyl rushed forward, the blade of his sword glowing with a deep blue light.
As he neared Bai Shi, he abruptly spun around, unleashing a rapid two-hit spinning slash.
The light from the Star-Lined Sword left a beautiful yet lethal trail of starlight in the air, engulfing Bai Shi's figure.
"BOOM—"
The 'Demi-human Sword Saint' Ongyl was sent flying backward, shattering a row of stone pillars in the prison.
His small body was thrown by Bai Shi's attack in an instant, a look of utter shock still etched on his face.
The flourish of his Star-Lined Sword had been utterly crushed by this human in a single mont!
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