Deep Sea Embers

According to the original plan, Fanna continued to take steps towards the hazy silhouette in the distance, trudging through the seemingly endless wind and sand.

"...I still don't know why I was the only one who was 'sent' to this weird desert, but obviously, this place doesn't correspond to the 'forest' described by Nina or Miss Lucretia at all. Now I am trying to walk towards the 'Stonehenge' in the distance that is suspected to be a city ruins. So far, I have not found any traces of civilized activities here..."

Duncan's words rang deep in Vanna's mind: "... Pay attention to any phenomena around you that are not in line with common sense or sudden changes in the environment. The kind of 'erosion' that Shirley mentioned may also appear around you, so be careful. .”

"Understood, Captain," Vanna nodded slightly, looked up at the end of the horizon in the wind, and walked deeper into the sand, "I'm going to move on."

…

"Rabbi doesn't like this place... Rabbi likes lively places with a lot of people... This is not the kind of 'dream' that Rabbi is familiar with at all. You can't even see anyone..."

The rabbi's chirping voice came from beside him. This huge rabbit doll was awkwardly walking among a bunch of bushes and dead leaves. It had been complaining endlessly since just now.

But Lucretia didn't pay any attention to the rabbit's intention. She just walked ahead and stopped at the edge of an open space, carefully observing the surrounding environment.

After entering this "dream" for the second time, she did not see the elf girl who called herself "Shireen", nor did she find any traces she had left in the forest before.

There are towering trees that look the same everywhere, and there are no landmarks or trails for reference in the forest. Although she hates to admit it... Lucretia knows that she is already in this boundless jungle. Lost the way.

"...Rabbi," Lucretia suddenly turned her head and looked at the rabbit doll that was trying to get through a bush not far away, "Can you feel other mental entities?"

The rabbi instantly stopped complaining all the way, trotted a few steps to the hostess, and made a gesture of listening to the surroundings - two long ears sewn with strips of cloth hung down from both sides of its head. , the edge of the cloth quietly showed a hazy texture.

After a moment, Rabbit shook his head: "No, Rabbi didn't hear other thoughts."

"Yeah." Lucretia nodded, and then looked around the surroundings again, trying to determine a direction to move forward.

At this moment, a sudden flash of light in the field of vision caught the "witch"'s attention.

Lucretia immediately looked in the direction where the reflection appeared - it was a towering giant tree more than ten meters away. There seemed to be something at the foot of the giant tree among the dead branches and leaves.

Her figure suddenly turned into a pile of spinning and flying colored papers, and flew to the tree in the blink of an eye, where it re-condensed into shape.

Looking at the slightly familiar thing in front of her, Lucretia opened her eyes slightly: "This is..."

A strange-style long-handled weapon that looks like a combination of a spear and an axe is lying quietly among the fallen leaves, like a silent and solid symbol.

What is different from the memory is that the long handle of this weapon has been broken now, as if it was completely destroyed after enduring a violent impact, and its ax blade is covered with jagged scars, as if it has experienced a long and brutal fight. , at this moment there are still many dark traces remaining on the scarred ax blade.

It seemed to have been broken a long time ago - after a forgotten battle that was long over.

Lucretia quietly stared at the long-handled ax that was broken on the ground. There was a lot of contemplation in her gaze. The footsteps of Rabbit Rabbit came from behind. After looking at the hostess carefully, , the doll rabbit finally couldn't help but asked out of curiosity: "Mistress, what is this?"

Lucretia did not respond to the rabbi, but carefully bent down. After a moment of hesitation, she stretched out her hand and reached for the broken long-handled axe.

Her fingers touched the cold metal, and a touch that seemed to transcend illusion and reality suddenly came along her fingertips. Before she could carefully confirm the feeling at this moment, a sharp whistling noise suddenly interrupted her. Her actions!

The next second, piercing roars came from all directions, as if the entire forest was burning and collapsing in the explosion. The earth was shaking, heat waves were rising, the sky was shrouded in chaotic phantom light, and countless shouts of death were heard. , cries, roars, and screams and howls that seemed to come from the forest itself flooded into Lucretia's perception——

"The Witch of the Sea" suddenly raised her head and saw that the entire forest around her had begun to burn. The towering giant trees seemed to be melting in the flames, and the ground in the distance began to rise upwards as if rolled up by an invisible force. Along with the frightening fractures and magma surges, the entire land is gradually rolling towards the sky, and huge shadows and chaotic lights that are difficult for human intelligence to understand are constantly crushing down from the sky, as if the entire sky is Burning in the light and falling towards the whole world!

In this shocking "fall from the sky", a dark red light appeared, like a scar soaked in blood. The ominous red light filled the clouds, replacing all the skylight almost instantly, but Terrifying cracks began to touch the earth little by little, touching those towering giant trees, touching the upturned and curling horizon in the distance. The world gradually fell apart in this fatal "touch", and countless darkness and terrifying Things swarm out——

They pour out of the forest, out of the red light of the sky, out of the cracks in the world. One second they seemed to be just animals fleeing in terror from the forest fire, and the next second they turned into snarling, helpless animals. Unknown shadows, rocks are activating, forests are creeping, everything is changing into a shape that is incomprehensible to human intelligence, terrifying running and deformed things are pouring in from all directions, and someone is roaring nearby, as if struggling to fight against the swarming However, following the sound of the approaching monster, you can only see the monster biting the monster, and the shadow devouring the shadow.

Lucretia stood up suddenly. Although the incomprehensible and shocking changes in front of her made her feel a little at a loss for a moment, she still subconsciously made a fighting posture - but in the next second, all these terrible changes happened again. Suddenly disappeared from her sight.

She had let go of the broken poleaxe—and with the disengagement, all the horrific scenes of change had disappeared like phantoms.

The forest returned to its original state, and everything that had just happened seemed like a short and bizarre dream.

Lucretia couldn't come back to her senses for a while. After several seconds, she suddenly woke up and subconsciously looked at the foot of the giant tree.

The broken long-handled ax disappeared, leaving only a pile of dead branches and leaves with no traces visible.

Lucretia slowly frowned, but she was still subconsciously recalling the scene she had just seen in her mind. At this moment, a footstep suddenly appeared nearby, instantly interrupting her thinking.

She immediately raised her head and looked in the direction where the footsteps came from.

The elf girl named "Shirin" stood there at some point, still wearing the light armor of an unknown city-state style, holding the strange-looking long-handled battle ax in her hand.

Lucretia suddenly turned her head to look at Rabbit Rabbit, only to see that Rabbit was also turning to look at her. Even though it only had button-nailed eyes and an abstract painted mouth, its movements still revealed obvious expressions. Apology and surprise——

The rabbi was unaware of Shireen's approach—suggesting that the mental entity suddenly appeared nearby.

"Shireen?" Lucretia calmed down, and while signaling the rabbi not to act arbitrarily, she turned to look at the elf girl and tentatively greeted her.

The elf girl named Shireen showed a smile. She looked at Lucretia with an expression on her face as if the two had never been separated.

She nodded: "We have rested for a long time, and it's time to continue on the road - we are still far from the Wall of Silence."

As she spoke, she looked at Rabbit Rabbit, who was staying where he was.

Shireen didn't show any strangeness on her face and said to Lucretia naturally: "Is this your friend? Take her with you and let's go together."

…

Fanna didn't know how long she had been trekking in this endless desert - the monotonous and endless scenery in her field of vision and the never-ending wind and sand around her seemed to interfere with her judgment of time. She even felt that she was already in this desert. I have been walking here for a century, even since the day the world was born.

Of course, she knew very well that this was all an illusion caused by her irritability, and that this harsh environment was testing her character.

Fortunately, prayers to the goddess are still effective, which can strengthen her faith, and the connection with the captain soothes her uneasiness, while also giving her a chance to stabilize her mentality.

The ice sword in his hand exudes a hint of coolness, which not only brings a sense of security, but also relieves the scorching heat brought to him by this desert.

Another gust of wind and sand hit, and Vanna felt the change in the wind direction - she raised her sword to block her eyes, and then turned her head to avoid the dust.

But at this moment, a strange aura suddenly appeared in her perception, causing Vanna's movements to stop suddenly.

The next second, the battle-hardened judge instantly tensed up her muscles. She suddenly placed her sword sideways, acting on guard, and at the same time looked in a certain direction in the wind and sand.

The chaotic wind stopped at some point, and in the dust that gradually subsided, an extraordinarily tall figure slowly emerged from the dust and mist, becoming increasingly clear.

That was a... giant.