In a forest clearing illuminated by sunlight, Nina and Morris halted their steps, gazing together at the tall figure who seed to have erged suddenly from thin air, now standing with a surprised expression at the fork in the path.
"Haven’t you received the order to retreat?" After a mont’s surprise, the slender elven girl clad in light hunting attire and holding a strange long-handled weapon spoke up, her voice as pleasant as a stream in the woods, "Why are you still lingering outside the Silent Wall?"
Nina and Morris exchanged a quiet glance before nodding to each other.
"Uncle Duncan," Nina communicated in the depths of her mind, "we have encountered the third ’Xilin’... Yes, she also ntioned the Silent Wall."
Morris quickly composed himself and nodded towards the elven girl who had appeared at the edge of the clearing, saying discreetly, "We haven’t received any news... May I ask what the current situation is?"
The elven girl furrowed her brow, seemingly surprised by Morris’s "ignorance," but soon, the surprise faded from her face: "The situation is dire, Corrosion is spreading outside the Silent Wall, and currently only within the Silent Wall is safe — we still haven’t found the creator’s whereabouts, and all elves must return to the safety inside the Silent Wall, to seek refuge in Silantis."
They still hadn’t found the creator’s whereabouts?!
Morris instantly took note of the highly significant ssage, but he quickly controlled his expressions and nodded solemnly, "Then can you lead us to the ’Silent Wall’?"
"Of course, you are fortunate to have co across a ’Ranger’ like ," the elven girl imdiately nodded, "I might be the last of the Rangers patrolling outside the wall — follow , while there are still no signs of Corrosion here."
As she spoke, she turned her head and walked towards the depths of the forest, but after only a few steps, she suddenly stopped and turned back slightly: "By the way, I am called Xilin... Rember this na."
Morris and Nina quickly exchanged looks and then nodded in unison.
The elf girl nad "Xilin" turned back around, continuing to lead the two unexpected guests deeper into the forest, towards... the Silent Wall she kept ntioning.
...
After trekking through the forest for what seed like an endless duration, Sherry even began to doubt sothing: Did the place called the "Silent Wall" actually exist?
She could no longer rember how long she had been following the elf in front of her, nor could she judge how far she had traveled in this vast woodland — to her, everywhere in the forest looked the sa, with only trees upon trees, and the occasional fallen tree trunks amidst the dead branches and leaves, rocks, and streams that constituted a rare "scenery" on the way.
The view was dull, and the path was even harder to traverse, with the forest floor covered in rotting leaves being soft and uneven. Vines, brambles, and protruding roots frequently made an easy trip, and she had thought that the narrow and pitted alleys of the Lower City District, cut up by steam and gas pipes, were the hardest paths in the world, but now she realized that even the most rundown parts of a town were far friendlier to humans than this purest "nature."
What’s the saying the captain had... sothing about "the transformative power of civilization"?
Sherry’s thoughts wandered aimlessly in her head, even miraculously recalling things learned in class, and then she lifted her head, looking towards the elf leading the way.
Xilin, though, traversed the rugged, difficult woodland as if it were part of her own body. She weaved through the annoying trees and vines as easily as the wind passing through a courtyard.
Sherry finally stopped.
Xilin ca to a halt instantaneously — the elven girl hadn’t even turned around, but as soon as Sherry stopped moving, she seed to sense it.
"How much further is it to the ’Silent Wall’?" Sherry asked before the other could speak.
"It’s still far, the Silent Wall is at a great distance," Xilin answered seriously, though her response was as good as none, "We can’t rest for too long, we must quickly return to the shelter of Silantis, to... beat the spread of the Corrosion."
"What exactly is this ’Corrosion’ phenonon?" Sherry thought for a mont before finally asking the question that had kept her curious all this way.
She had refrained from asking because she feared that this overly "basic" question might provoke the elf before her — according to Miss Lucrescia, "Xilin" was a "primitive mind" active in the Dreamscape, and Sherry didn’t really understand what a primitive mind ant, but she roughly grasped that it was a complicated matter, and carelessly touching upon knowledge beyond the "boundary," ntioning information outside the Dreamscape, or even asking too many questions, all risked causing trouble for this mind.
Sherry was no stranger to this kind of "trouble," she had experienced confusion whenever she heard knowledge beyond her comprehension while attending supplentary lessons with Alice — the main symptom was breaking off of thought.
Alice understood the concept that Lucresia had explained to her in her own way; she thought that if she asked questions that she shouldn’t, it might cause the elf girl nad "Xilin" to fragnt.
She had been trying to avoid this.
But after spending so ti with her, Sherry found that this "Xilin" didn’t seem as "unstable" as she had initially thought.
Or to put it another way—the elf was a bit too stable.
Even if Sherry asked so bizarre questions, Xilin would simply ignore them. Apart from "guiding lost people to the Silent Wall," it seed that nothing else could affect the elf.
So, after they had been on the road for a while, Sherry began to boldly ask the elf various questions. Most of these didn’t elicit any substantial answers, but sotis... a casual question would yield a surprise.
"Corrosion... It started after the creator disappeared," Xilin stopped walking. Unlike the usual disregard, this ti she seriously answered Sherry’s question, "We don’t know what it is exactly, but it devours and twists the things in the forest, turning them into... sothing incomprehensible, and very dangerous."
"After the creator disappeared? The creator disappeared?!" Sherry’s eyes widened in shock. Although she didn’t pay much attention in class, she listened intently when the captain and others chatted; of course, she also knew the legends of the elves, "The creator you ntioned, isn’t it... Saslouka?"
No sooner had Sherry spoken than she felt it might not be appropriate to directly call out the na of the "Great Demon God"; it might provoke the elf before her—but she quickly realized she was overthinking.
Xilin didn’t seem to notice Sherry directly invoking the na of the creator god. Instead, she was imrsed in an indescribable lancholy, her eyes cast down: "The creator will return. He is rely patrolling the borders. It’s just that this ti He has gone a bit too far... Before His return, Silantis will protect all elves with the Silent Wall... Silantis will wait until He cos back."
For so reason, Sherry felt that Xilin’s last sentence seed to imply self-hypnosis.
But before she had ti to ask anything more, she saw Xilin—who had been imrsed in sorrow, appearing sowhat absentminded—suddenly lift her head. The elf girl’s gaze had sharply changed, and she gripped the handle of her battle-axe tightly while looking intently in a particular direction deep within the forest.
Sherry imdiately beca tense as well: "Huh? What happened?"
"Shh!" Xilin lowered her voice, "Impurities have entered the forest..."
Impurities?
Sherry paused for a mont, and then, she heard rustling sounds coming from the nearby bushes, deep within the earth, the shadows of the underbrush, even from the air.
It was as if many sinister and malevolent beings were writhing in the shadows, slowly gathering. A tangible malice and a prickling sense of being watched appeared suddenly in the dense forest. Sherry felt a massive influx of sensory information shared by A-Gou—within the powerful perception provided by the Abyssal Hound, she saw those beings that were continuously "seeping" into the forest.
Tentacles ford from pure shadows were converging from all directions!
The remnants of the Scions of the Sun... Not the Annihilation Cultists!?
Sherry was montarily stunned; she vividly rembered that A-Gou had distinctly sensed the presence of Annihilation Cultists when they first entered the forest, but why were they encountering these monsters loyal to the Black Sun first?
However, her bewildernt lasted only briefly in her mind, and Sherry quickly regained composure, entering into battle mode. While tensing her muscles and focusing on where the dark tentacles were gathering, she quietly warned Xilin beside her: "Be careful, these things can move through shadows, and they’re very hardy, especially difficult to kill!"
Before she could finish speaking, she saw ripples starting to undulate under a patch of shade nearby. Those tentacles hidden in shadow were rapidly coalescing into tall, thin humanoid figures, which one by one began to solidify.
However, Sherry was waiting for the mont they took on human shape.
The next second, the chains tightened, and the wind howled as Sherry took several strides towards the figure closest to her, and with all her strength, she swung her arm in a teor Dog!
A-Gou, like a giant teor hamr, flew out, smashing unreservedly onto the first visible remnant of the Sun, accompanied by a thud like a hamr crushing flesh. The tall, thin figure hadn’t even had the chance to observe the Dreamscape around it before it was smashed into a large plu of bursting, corrupt flesh.
And almost at the sa ti, around Sherry and Xilin, more tall, thin figures began to erge incessantly from the interlacing shadows of the dense forest and underbrush...
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