Moreover, as they walked deeper, the fog underfoot also grew thicker. Although the mist was still at that height, everyone except Lynch could not see what they were stepping on. The dwarf simply refused to lift his feet, his thick boots sliding across the ground, making a "rustling" sound.
"Master, this place feels a bit like the Grey Ruins." Eryies gently flew above everyone's heads, hooking his sharp claws onto tall tree trunks to rest. "Including these trees, everything seems to be falling from a peak of prosperity into endless decay. Besides, I always feel like sothing is watching us."
"That shouldn't be the case. I've been keeping an eye on the spell situation around us, and there's no peeping going on." Lynch used his wand to push aside a branch, clearing the path for those behind him. "It's precisely because of this effect that I'm sure we're on the right track."
"Lynch, what exactly are we looking for?" Morgan shouted, "I always feel like ahead of us is the Demon Temple of the God of Death, and my hamr is just right to give it so good knocks."
"I don't think there's anything alive there for you to knock on, but you're sowhat correct regarding the temple part." Lynch spoke while walking without turning his head: "After the Magic God died, mages couldn't use any spells for a while, so they had no idea where the Magic God's body went. But the elves docunted one thing, which was that a team led by the Elf Prince hid the body of the God of Flas in this forest. But the elves don't worship the Fla God, let alone send a prince to bury him. Recently, I found a scroll recording the ancient nas the Elf Priest used for other deities around the world, and the Magic God was referred to as the God of Primordial Fire."
"So we're grave robbing?" Morgan said, "I thought so. Only elves would like to use these woods as a cetery. If it were us dwarves, we'd go for stones that won't change for a billion years. Just the thought of planting trees on a body is enough to make sick..."
Morgan's incessant complaints drifted away with the fog, but no sound responded to his irritation. Lynch, with his head down, focused solely on the way ahead. There were no signs, nor any inhabitants to inquire. The mage had to rely on the subtle fluctuations of magic power in the air to move in the probable direction.
The surrounding scenery looked unchanging, always that grey forest landscape surrounded by big trees. Zilvra tried several tis to ask if they were going in circles and had already gotten lost. But then she would see so different scenery, like increasingly bizarre stones.
Soka volunteered to fly up to guide everyone. Although Morgan agreed with the plan, Lynch rely asked the angel to stay obediently by his side. Even though there were no traces of activity from any creatures, Lynch always felt an inexplicable threat lurking around them. His words kept everyone on edge — except the dwarf, who always got extrely excited hearing enemies were nearby.
Suddenly, as if soone blew out a candle, all sunlight between the leaves vanished, and the surroundings instantly beca very dark. Lynch lit up his powerful wand, and the gentle light imdiately illuminated the space around them, casting each person's shadow long, forming twisted, grotesque images on the ever-present fog.
Although the group had the ability to see in the dark, they didn't reject the light from the wand, as it gradually cald their minds, avoiding the constant feeling of solitude in the air. Even Lynch hoped for so life to appear on this journey, even if it was an obstacle. Such a clueless, aimless state made them more tired than usual.
"Wait!" Lynch raised his hand and stopped at the front of the group. "I've discovered sothing, but I'm not sure what it is yet."
Everyone imdiately gathered around, and the mage conjured a gust of wind to blow away the thick fog in front of them, revealing a small patch of ground.
However, Zilvra found nothing but a relatively solid, flat piece of ground. She looked at the mage's face questioningly. But Lynch just signaled her to keep watching.
As the wind blew stronger, the revealed patch of land began to expand. On this roughly 7-ter-square open space, a giant footprint with four toes appeared. Despite its astonishing size, the pit made by this foot was very shallow, only as deep as a finger. Without seeing it in full, even stepping on it wouldn't reveal any clue.
"A thousand rocks, what kind of monster is this? Looks big enough!" Morgan whistled, observing it with great interest. "I've never seen anything this big!"
Lynch looked around and finally raised his head, completely ignoring the obvious mark on the ground. Soka followed suit, lifting her little head, trying to find the enemy in the sky.
"From now on, everyone should be careful. We might have encountered a previously undiscovered creature." Lynch began to explain his odd behavior: "Around us, there's only this singular footprint, not a series of them. And judging by its size, this thing is really enormous. The footprint isn't deep, which ans either it's very light, or it didn't fully press into the soft mud." He raised his wand to shine light on so trees: "On that tree, there's a large patch of moss stripped away, and underneath, a few thick branches are broken; also, you can see so claw-like marks."
"It moves through the trees!" Zilvra said, "And likely leaps between them, right?"
"Very likely. And this footprint happened when it inadvertently fell and lightly stepped on the ground." Lynch nodded and continued: "From the various marks, its movents must be incredibly agile."
"What should we do then?" The little angel no longer dared to ntion flying up; she quickly looked around, "Do we keep going?"
"No reason to stop. There's no sign of that unknown creature stopping nearby." Eryies, with hands on hips, said to Soka, "Or is our little girl too scared to proceed in the dark?"
"Who, who says... not at all." Soka stubbornly said, tightly gripping her bow and arrow.
"Alright, Eryies is right. It's not to the point where we need to stop." Lynch said, "The longer I stay in this dense forest, the stranger it feels. It's like even my spells are becoming unstable." He shook his head, seemingly unsure why. At this mont, the light on the powerful wand flickered, as if affirming his words. "None forced into this place would want this situation. But what changes lie ahead cannot be decided by . What we can decide is how to make the best use of the precious ti we've got to prepare."
"In short, various signs show that at least the direction we're heading is correct." Lynch pointed ahead: "Let's try to push forward a bit more."
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