In a clearing in the woods illuminated by the sun, Nina and Morris stopped and looked at the tall figure who seemed to have suddenly emerged from the air and was standing in front of the fork in the woods with a surprised expression.
"Didn't you receive the order to retreat?" After a moment of surprise, the elf girl in light hunting clothes and holding a strange long-handled weapon spoke, her voice as sweet as a spring in the forest, "Why are you still wandering outside the Silence Wall?"
Nina and Morris looked at each other quietly, then nodded to each other.
"Uncle Duncan," Nina said in the back of her mind, "We have a third 'Shireen' here... Yes, she mentioned the Wall of Silence, too."
Morris quickly adjusted his expression, nodded to the elf girl who suddenly appeared at the edge of the clearing, and said calmly: "We haven't received any news... May I ask what's the situation now?"
The elf girl frowned, as if she was a little surprised by Morris's "ignorance", but soon the surprise faded from her face: "The situation is very bad, the erosion phenomenon is spreading outside the Silent Wall. At present, only the Silent Wall is safe in the kingdom - we still haven't found the whereabouts of the Creator. All elves must return to the Silent Wall immediately and accept the protection of Silantis."
Still haven't found the whereabouts of the Creator? !
Morris immediately noticed this extremely informative sentence, but he quickly controlled his expression and nodded seriously: "Then can you take us to the 'Wall of Silence'?"
"Of course, you are lucky to meet a 'Forest Ranger' like me," the elf girl nodded immediately, "I may be the last group of forest rangers patrolling outside the wall - follow me, while there is no sign of erosion here."
As she spoke, she turned and walked deeper into the forest, but she stopped abruptly after taking a few steps and looked back slightly: "By the way, my name is Shilin... Please remember this name."
Morris and Nina exchanged glances quickly, then nodded in unison.
The elf girl named "Shirin" turned around and continued to lead the two uninvited guests behind her into the depths of the forest, towards... the "wall of silence" she kept mentioning.
…
After trekking in the forest for an unknown amount of time, Shirley even began to doubt one thing: Does that place called "The Wall of Silence" really exist
She could no longer remember how long she had been following the elf in front of her, nor could she judge how far she had moved in the forest. In her eyes, the forest was the same everywhere, with nothing but trees. Occasionally, she could see tree trunks fallen among the dead branches and leaves, stones blocking the road, and streams, which were considered rare "scenery" on the road.
The scenery was dull and the road was even more difficult to walk on. The forest floor covered with rotten leaves was soft and rugged. The vines, thorns and roots that appeared from time to time could easily trip people. She used to think that the narrow potholes in the slums in the downtown area and the alleys cut into pieces by steam and gas pipes were the most difficult roads in the world. But now she realized that for humans, even the most dilapidated corners of the town were far more friendly than this purest "nature".
What did the captain say... This is called the "transformative power of civilization"
Shirley's mind was full of random thoughts, and she even miraculously recalled what she had learned in class. Then she raised her head and looked at the elf who was leading the way.
Shilin, on the other hand, kept walking very fast. This rugged forest was like a part of her body. She walked among the annoying trees and vines as easily as the wind blowing through the courtyard.
Shirley finally stopped.
Shireen also stopped instantly—the elf girl didn't even look back, but she seemed to sense it the moment Shirley stopped.
"How far is it from here to the 'Wall of Silence'?" Shirley asked before the other party spoke.
"It's still far away. The Wall of Silence is very far away," Shireen answered seriously, but her answer was as good as nothing. "We can't rest for too long. We have to return to the protection of Silantis as soon as possible, before the erosion catches up with us."
"What exactly is that 'erosion phenomenon'?" Shirley thought about it and finally asked the question that had been making her curious all the way.
She had not asked because she was worried that this overly "basic" question would irritate the elf girl in front of her. According to Miss Lucrecia, "Shireen" was an "original mind" that operated in dreams. Shirley did not quite understand what a native mind was, but she roughly understood that it was a very difficult thing to deal with. Inadvertently mentioning knowledge beyond the "boundaries", bringing up information outside of dreams, or even just asking a few more questions could cause problems with this mind.
Shirley was no stranger to this kind of "problem". When she was taking extra lessons with Alice, she would have problems when she heard knowledge that was beyond her understanding - the main symptom was fragmented thinking.
She understood the concepts that Lucrecia explained to her in her own way, and believed that if she asked questions that should not be asked, it would also cause the elf girl named "Shirin" to black out.
She had been trying to avoid this.
But after getting to know her for a while, Shirley discovered that this "Shireen" was not as "unstable" as she had initially imagined.
Or to put it another way—this elf is a little too stable.
Even if she mentioned some weird questions, Shireen would just ignore them. Apart from the matter of "taking the lost people to the Wall of Silence", this elf seemed not to be affected by anything else.
So after traveling for a while, Shirley began to boldly ask the elf all kinds of questions. Most of the questions did not get any nutritious answers, but sometimes... casual questions would bring pleasant surprises.
"Erosion... happened after the Maker disappeared," Shireen paused. Unlike most of the times she ignored it before, she answered Shirley's question seriously this time. "We don't know what it is, but it will devour and distort things in the forest, turning them into... incomprehensible things. It's very dangerous."
"After the creator disappeared? The creator disappeared?!" Shirley's eyes widened instantly. Although she didn't listen carefully in class, she usually listened carefully when the captain chatted with others. Of course, she also knew what the legend of the elves was. "Is the creator you are talking about... Sasloka?"
As soon as Shirley said this, she felt something was wrong. She shouldn't call the "Great Demon" by his name directly, as this might irritate the elf in front of her - but she soon realized that she was overthinking it.
Shirin didn't seem to notice that Shirley was calling the Lord's name directly. She was just immersed in some inexplicable sadness with her eyes lowered. "The Creator will come back. He is just patrolling the border, but this time He went a little further... Before He returns, Silantis will use the Wall of Silence to protect all the elves... Silantis will wait until He comes back."
For some reason, Shirley always felt that Shireen's last sentence had a kind of self-hypnosis meaning.
But before she could ask anything else, she saw Shireen, who was still immersed in sentimentality and in a trance a second ago, suddenly raised her head. The eyes of this elf girl suddenly became sharp. She tightly grasped the long-handled battle axe in her hand and looked up in a certain direction deep in the forest.
Shirley also became nervous in an instant: "Ah? What happened?"
"Hush!" Shirin lowered her voice, "Something dirty has entered the forest..."
Dirty
Shirley was stunned for a moment, and then she heard rustling sounds coming from the nearby bushes, deep in the earth, deep in the shadows of the trees, and even from the air.
It was as if many strange and vicious things crawling in the shadows were gradually gathering, and a real malice and a skin-numbing sense of voyeurism suddenly appeared in the dense forest. Shirley felt that Agou instantly sent her a huge amount of perception sharing information - and in the powerful perception provided by the Deep Hound, she saw those things that were constantly "infiltrating" the forest.
Tentacles formed by pure shadow are gathering from all directions!
It's the remnants of the Sun's descendants... not the Annihilation Cultists!
Shirley was stunned for a moment. She still clearly remembered that when she first entered the forest, Agou clearly said that he felt the remaining breath of the Annihilation Cultists, but why did she first encounter these monsters following the Black Sun
However, this surprise only lasted for a moment. Shirley reacted immediately and entered combat mode. She tensed her muscles and paid attention to the direction where the dark tentacles gathered. She whispered to Shilin, "Be careful. These guys can move with the help of shadows and are very durable. They are not easy to kill!"
Before she finished her words, she saw ripples begin to appear under the shade of a tree not far away. The tentacles hidden in the shadows began to quickly condense into tall and thin human figures, and then appeared one after another.
However, what Shirley was waiting for was the moment when they condensed into human form.
The next second, the chain tightened, the wind whistled, and Shirley took a few steps towards the figure closest to her, swung her arm with all her strength and created a meteor dog!
Agou flew out like a giant meteor hammer, smashing the first sun remnant that appeared without reservation. With a dull sound as if hammering meat, the tall and thin figure was smashed into a large piece of exploding and flying rotten flesh and blood before he had time to observe the environment in the dream world.
At almost the same time, around Shirley and Shireen, in the dense forests and bushes filled with shadows, tall and thin figures began to emerge one after another...
(End of this chapter)