The Witch and the Doll Swear

Tap, tap, tap.

At first glance, this is a huge theater, and down the stairs between the auditorium and the auditorium, it is the stage of the theater.

The shape is a regular and perfect circle, which is not often seen in opera houses of this era.

The material is gold, and fine runes are engraved on it, almost carving pieces of relief on the smooth surface.

No, that's the relief. Following the golden ratio, the relief is made of sunken runes. The shapes cut out by these runes are tangent to each other, interlacing with patterns that are difficult to recognize but have a wonderful geometric beauty.

In place, gold is embedded with delicate emeralds.

This is really amazing, Mingming emerald green is not even one-tenth of the bright golden yellow, and from the perspective of constantly going down the stairs, the two colors maintain a complete balance.

The curtain surrounds the stage, and there are lights all around, but they cannot illuminate the shadows on the stage. In the deep shadows, there is only a shadowy "something" about one meter high.

Tap, tap, tap.

Vision flickers with footsteps.

When I realized that the rattling sound was actually just an auditory hallucination caused by the rhythm of the scenery in front of me as I walked down the stairs, and that there was actually no sound in this grand theater at an unknown location, Somebody has reached the end of the ladder.

The field of vision then froze, and looking back, groups of people in pure-color robes walked down the steps to every seat in the opera house. They were busy and moved the silent audience.

Some are black stone statues covered with thorns, some are round and smooth giant eggs, some are giant swords as sharp as moonlight, but most of them are small clusters of crystals blooming all over their bodies—just like those utensils, silent people.

When the auditorium of the theater is filled, the scenery here seems to be frozen forever. The distance seen through the gap between the curtain and the stone pillars has completely turned into silence after the lights have been extinguished more than a hundred times, leaving only those who are like dead stars. The light was on alone.

Only the ivy slowly crawling over the stone pillars announces the passage of time.

And when the ivy also covered the stone pillars, all of these were solidified, and there was no change.

Until the seventh cluster of flames lit up among the six cold-colored lampposts.

Warm, bright, yet so fleeting.

The lights went out.

"..."

Liliana opened her eyes abruptly.

For a moment, the girl's eyes were filled with hope and expectation.

She herself could not say exactly what she was hoping for and what she was looking forward to.

Maybe, she wanted to open her eyes and find that she was waking up from the soft bed prepared for them by the Wizards Association and the Church of the Holy Church. Everything here was just a ridiculous dream.

Or maybe, what Liliana herself hoped for was that when she opened her eyes, there would be a knight of the temple in full armor standing beside her and saying to herself: Don't worry anymore, I will send you back to Emerald immediately.

But when the girl opened her eyes, she saw the platform carved with strange runes, the funnel-like pool, the six surrounding lampposts, and the gurgling sea water... nothing changed, even the green blood of the human-faced bat was still there. Dry up on another platform not far away.

The strange moonlight shines on the strange world, and on the distant horizon, the dim lights are dotted with sleeping shadows, like giant sleeping beasts.

Only the wind is more violent, like its roaring in sleep.

Only the fire went out.

"...That's right, if no one keeps watch at night, the bonfire will go out..."

The charcoal had been completely burned, and the fine ashes were blown onto the girl's body in the wind. The back of the expensive dress was covered with burnt black holes. Before the flames were extinguished, I was afraid that my face would be burned by the dust with sparks blown by the wind.

Although it is not impossible to have your hair burned or your clothes burned if you are unlucky even if your back is facing you, fortunately, your luck is not that bad.

...But in other words, if my luck hadn't been so bad, I wouldn't have fallen to this point from the very beginning.

Looking at the small pile of embers that didn't even have sparks, Liliana took the sapphire necklace from her collar, stared at it, and stared blankly for a while.

Then she remembered her dream.

A strange dream.

The eerie silent theater, the extravagant stage, and most importantly, the flickering and extinguishing fires seen through the gaps in the stone pillars...

The girl raised her head and looked around silently.

Is it a coincidence?

There are exactly 6 lampposts around this pool.

And after that, including his bonfire, in the darkness, he could indeed see seven lights.

"...This is really..."

Ting Na couldn't help shrinking her neck, and even her voice became much softer.

"...Yeah, this is really..."

The expressionless witch seemed to be unable to find a suitable adjective for a while, but Tingna still noticed that when talking about the scene at that time, Liliana's voice still fluctuated.

Alice must have noticed it too, the little puppet floated onto the witch's shoulders, and gently hugged Liliana, just like a mother comforting a child having a nightmare, stroking her blond hair.

"...Thank you, Alice."

So the voice of the witch gradually returned to calm.

For Liliana, it was the first time she fell into such a predicament, and the fear and hesitation she felt will never be forgotten until now.

——Just like when I first entered Liliana and Alice's castle, that "haunted house".

thought Tina.

"...When I realized this, I also shivered like Miss Tina."

After sighing softly, Liliana continued to talk.

She knows that some magicians like to use magic that produces weird hallucinations as defenses for fortresses or mage towers. These plausible hallucinations will sometimes flood people's minds, and sometimes they will turn into absurd dreams. People are crazy.

So the girl closed her eyes and fell into meditation.

This is the basic skill of a magician. It can concentrate and fight against illusions. However, the most useful function is only during the apprentice period who has not yet gotten rid of the shackles of spell slots. It is used to confirm the spell slots of each day.

"...6, huh..."

The spell slot available this day was one more than half of her previous maximum spell slot. For the first time in her life, Liliana really didn't know what expression to use to face it.

"...Since you can't use sleep to escape, then you can only face the reality, Miss Tingna, if it were you, what would you do? At that time, I was actually as powerless as you, Miss Tingna."

"...I feel subtly told that it's useless... But how to do it... In my case, I probably can't do anything except stay where I am."

"...That's right."

Liliana nodded.

Even if she is a talented magic apprentice, survival in the wild is not what she is good at when she was young.

Staying in one place is no longer the top priority for survival - having said that, there is no guarantee that other places will be safer than here. I don't need to find food and drinking water, and the sanitary conditions here - at least Because it is at a high altitude, all defecation and defecation can be done directly on the edge, and the toilet conditions are better.

"...Except for using [Water Sculpture] to turn the sea water into a rope, and using [Feather Fall] to descend to the ground only once to collect some stones as a bonfire and my own windshield fence, I have never left that place. platform."

"It's very conservative, but it's also a very wise choice, because Lily's physical strength when she was still a human-well, although it hasn't increased much now, Lily's physical strength was really weak at that time, and an apprentice with ten magic positions is not enough. Possess the quality of survival in the wild, although waiting in a certain sense is just a slow death, but there was really no good way at that time."

Alice looked at Tina and smiled slightly.

"Is it surprising? Lily also has such weak and helpless moments."

"Eh, um, it was a surprise... But Miss Liliana finally started to explore the ruins, was it because she found some opportunity?"

Tina remembered that Liliana finally became a witch, and it was also in that ruins

The encounter with Alice is also the same. If you stay in one place all the time, it will not happen.

And that opportunity...

"...No, it's because I'm going crazy."

Holding Alice in her arms, Liliana's small chin rested on the top of the doll's head.

"……Eh?"

"...Is it strange? In an environment where everything seems to be frozen and you can only rely on your own biological clock to confirm the passage of time, after knowing that the possibility of being rescued is not high, it is easy for people to fall into restlessness .Especially when even my own biological clock starts to get out of order, and the passage of time starts to get away from me.”

Seeing Tingna who hastily covered her mouth with her hands to try to silence her screams, Liliana shook her head indifferently.

At first, in order to prolong the survival time as much as possible, she reduced her daily food intake. However, after a day or two, she had to eat less and more meals because of hunger, but she still ate less than usual.

Then came rest.

Going up and down from the platform supported by stone pillars to the ground, after collecting some stones to form a brazier and windshield for the bonfire, although the quality of sleep has not been greatly improved, the girl will not be in the middle of the night because of the extinguishing of the fire. Waking up to the bone-chilling wind and taking a bath before going to bed every day can also become a time scale.

But the problem is when you are awake.

If you don't leave here, it means that you have nothing to do, and you will be very idle if you have nothing to do.

Research the runes on the platform?

The runes of these arcane terms are completely in the blind zone of knowledge, and the few characters that can be barely recognized cannot deduce their meaning.

But apart from these, Liliana found that she didn't know what to do other than sleep.

Then go to sleep, this can also reduce physical exertion, and let yourself temporarily get rid of the predicament in front of you.

So, for several days, Liliana lived a life of eating and sleeping, sleeping and eating, and continuing to sleep after taking a bath.

There were no monsters, no danger, and that weird dream didn't strike again.

"...So, my biological clock is confused, which is also a matter of course, but at that time, academic research on biological clocks had not yet been carried out, and I did not know such harm. As a result, with the confusion of biological clocks, I am The passage of time has gradually become chaotic, I don't know how long I have spent here, days? Weeks? To judge the time, but once I found myself drinking sea water and splashing precious fresh water bottle by bottle to wash off the salt residue on the skin, and found my own food in the bag of food that I hadn't eaten. Feces, the windbreak wall made of stones was knocked down and built into strange things, and the western clothes on my body hadn’t been washed for an unknown amount of time, covered with urine and dirt... Seeing the extremely emaciated face on the water, I realized that I had a mental problem gone."

"Lily was just an ordinary girl at that time. Although she has the qualities of a magician, her spirit is still too fragile..."

Alice leaned against Liliana's chest, listening to the witch's heartbeat.

"It's not your fault, Lily, and it's all over."

"...Yeah, it's all over."

silence.

Tina didn't, and didn't dare to break the silence.

She began to imagine a girl who was abandoned by time in a world that seemed to be stagnant, and fell into madness without realizing it. Thinking about it, she couldn't help but stood up and sat down beside the sofa where Liliana was sitting. , embraced the witch and the doll in his arms.

"That must be terrible..."

How horrific would that be?

Is it better not to know...

"...Don't worry, Miss Tina, it was a long, long time ago. When I realized it, I remembered what absurd things I did. A lot of food and water were wasted needlessly. And that night, for the second time."

After silence, in the girl's arms, the witch curled up holding Alice like a cat, and continued to tell the next story.

Next... yes.

again.

The dream strikes.

After terrified, frantic, and howling that completely crushed his reason, he re-lit the bonfire and fell asleep, and saw the silent theater again.

"……Who are you?"

It was already certain that this wasn't some kind of protection for what seemed to be some sort of relic.

If that's the case, there is absolutely no reason for me to be sober after falling into madness as an 11-year-old girl.

In that case, is it some kind of will in this ruin?

"What do you want to tell me?"

The girl questioned, though it was more pleading than questioning.

——It doesn’t matter who it is, or what it is.

—Whether it’s a god or a demon.

——It doesn’t matter if you want to surrender yourself, or you want to kill yourself.

"As long as it gets me out of here, whatever you want, whatever you want—!!"

The girl just shouted hysterically.

Yet the dream remains silent.

It's just that, from that theater full of creepy "audiences," the picture starts to play backwards...yep.

Reverse.

From the frozen, curtain-covered center of the stage, back to the sea and empty theater, the shaking vision retreats from the stepped stage to the steps.

Then, through the gap between the marble columns, through a long corridor, on both sides of the road, dark green glass-like stone pillars are lined up to the starting point of the corridor. Under the moonlight, there are three consecutive torii gates.

...The elegant Inland Sea-style theater, but it started from the shrine building in the East Country?

Liliana was taken aback.

Immediately, these scenes began to move forward again until they were frozen in the center of the stage.

"...You, do you want me to find you?"

The dream is speechless.

He just silently stared at the clusters of uncertain fire lights in the dim cold light.

After that, even in a dream, the girl couldn't stand the tiredness after crying and fell asleep.

……………………………………………………………………………………

When I woke up again, there was still the same moon in front of me.

Her heart stopped for a few seconds. The girl who was lying on the ground sat up suddenly, and rushed into the pool next to her in horror. The sea water irritated her eyes and poured in from her nose. The coldness and saltiness made her last set clean. Her clothes got wet, which also woke her up.

No change.

Of course.

But a change had happened, and that dream was the sign.

"..."

He tightly held the sapphire on his chest and the ring on his hand.

Now, these are the only things that can give Liliana some comfort.

"Cough, cough, cough! Cough... ph... ph..."

She took a deep breath, then screamed hysterically.

"Want me to find you?"

The hoarse and broken shout echoed in the wilderness, causing a howl of unknown monsters.

But Liliana didn't care, she yelled over and over again, again and again.

Her spirit has really reached its limit, as long as she is given a goal now, whether it is to slay dragons or become a stripper, she doesn't care anymore, and that dream—that someone who is talking to her through the dream , or something gave her a purpose to find the creepy theater herself, then.

In Liliana's mind at the moment, the only thing in her mind was finding that place.

So the girl got into action.

The first thing she did was to use those stones to build three fires of different heights on the platform of the pool, then lay down and forced herself to fall asleep.

She wasn't sure if the guy understood what the three fires meant. But it doesn't matter if you don't understand, as long as you tell yourself what you see, you can find your way.

"From its perspective, the three fires decrease from right to left and are very close to each other. From my current perspective, the three fires also decrease from right to left, but the spacing is roughly equal. Its line of sight is the same as ours. Now the direction is the same, that is to say..."

In her sleep, the girl saw what she wanted to see.

So after waking up, Liliana silently turned her head and looked behind her.

This world shrouded in endless night and moonlight is a small city. Aside from the city center, which is like a behemoth dormant, with tall towers and majestic silhouettes, the number of ruins is gradually decreasing and sparse on the periphery.

The area of ​​the pool where I am located, which is propped up into the air by huge pillars, is also within this range, adjacent to the flowing river, and the seawater in the pool is drawn from the river channel by unknown magic.

On the outer circle, the land is barren, and even more sparse and scattered hemispherical black shadows can be seen from a distance. Those are much smaller, and what is inside is completely unclear.

Liliana frowned, picked up a piece of charcoal beside the fire, and drew a horizontal line on the ground.

"...The line of sight from the building where it is located should form a relatively small angle with the straight line formed by the fire, but there is no reference in the darkness, so it is impossible to tell which side is the near point and which side is the far point ..."

But no further reference is needed.

Think of the side-by-side fire piles on this platform as a straight line, and the black hemispheres in the surrounding buildings that can form a smaller angle with it... There are two, in the same direction, and very close to each other.

"...over there..."

But Liliana was not in a hurry to move. She used charcoal to draw a straight line in that direction on the platform as a mark, then extinguished three piles of fire, moved them to that direction to relight, and then faced the fire from the left. To the right, the three piles of flames are increasing in height, trying to fall asleep again.

It's not easy. The girls are sleeping most of the time when they come here, and they don't feel tired physically at all, but the disorder of the biological clock also has the benefits of the disorder of the biological clock. When you clearly realize that you have nothing to do but lie down and sleep After what happened, Liliana soon fell asleep again.

The scene I got from the dream this time was three piles of flames descending from right to left in the middle of the black night sky with icy lights.

The spacing is approximately equal.

...as expected.

Liliana opened her eyes and rubbed her aching head from sleeping for too long.

There, is where this mysterious guy is.

That is the direction you are going.

"...So, I got the direction to go."

"Amazing……"

Tina sighed from the bottom of her heart.

"I don't know why, but I just feel that it's amazing..."

"...It's just a comprehensive application of simple mathematics and other knowledge. Except for the central area where the buildings are densely packed, the ruins are extraordinarily vast, and they can only be used in this way if they can get tangible feedback."

"As expected of Ms. Liliana...you can still think of such a method in such a mental state, and use it twice in a row with caution."

The refreshments had already been eaten, and the girl's admiration did not change the witch's expression in any way. She hugged Alice, her whole body curled up in the girl's arms, like a lazy cat.

"...After spending some more time and confirming through meditation that it was impossible to restore more than 7 spell slots in the resting state, I set off. Of course, this journey was not that smooth."

The witch nodded and let out a long sigh.

"...At that time, I almost died."

When Liliana used the old method—【Water Sculpture Method】to condense the water in the pool into a rope and hang herself safely to the ground, she looked at the two hemispherical shadows almost on the horizon, and endured I couldn't help but retreated.

When looking at it from the mid-air platform, the two buildings shrouded in shadows that are different from the night are far from touching the edge of the horizon, but that is just an illusion seen from a height.

Just like the stairs on this platform, the stairs all over the platforms seem to be up and down, but only these mid-air platforms are connected, neither connecting to other buildings upwards, nor connecting to the ground downwards, so that Liliana wasted a precious spell slot at the very beginning of her adventure.

"...Actually, I could have used the [Feather Fall] scroll stored in the space storage ring at that time, but because I was not so calm, I didn't think about it. There is no way. Compared with scrolls and alchemy props, magicians are more Believe in your own magic."

But if he shrinks back and returns to the platform, what can he do?

Eat all your supplies while doing nothing and wait to die? Or are you waiting in vain hope for rescue who may never find the entrance to this world?

There is simply no choice.

There is no time for people to think about the consequences of their choices.

Looking at the barren wilderness with only some low grass blades swaying in the night wind, Liliana hesitated for a long time, but still walked towards the horizon.

...Attention, control your physical strength...

This is a long trek comparable to a marathon. Looking at the goal of shortening, there is no time to use as a ruler for the trek. Liliana can only record the number of times she rests as a record of time.

Tired, stop, hungry, stop, need to go to the toilet, stop, and move on.

It just repeats monotonously.

She once looked back and saw that the building made of stone pillars and pools was also shrouded in some kind of dark shadow, and her attention was once attracted by this discovery.

Presumably there is some mechanism that shrouds these buildings in shadow, but the shadow cannot be seen when the shell is inside the building.

why?

Is this some kind of defense mechanism? Or does it have a special meaning?

Compared with the shadows in the center of the ruins, these are darker and can't see the outline of the interior at all. Is it because the shrouded range is reduced so the effect is better?

One question implicated another, which made Liliana start to think. Although this was a guess with no basis, no argument, and no conclusion, it made the boring trek less difficult.

Just on the way.

A strange beast howl sounded from the field.

"...?!"

The girl who was resting suddenly jumped up.

The voice was like a ferocious wolf, or like a roaring lion. It was occasionally heard from a distance, the howling of some kind of monster.

Probably in the age of the ancient magic empire, magicians brought monsters into this small world. Liliana knew this, and it was because of the monsters like man-faced bats that are also found on the mainland that she made this. A judgment of a man-made world.

However, since the man-faced bat that captured her here was killed by herself, Liliana has never encountered any monsters, not even seeing them from a distance, so when the beast howl sounded , she unexpectedly failed to make a correct response for a while, but just stayed where she was.

——! !

——! ! !

The first beast howl fell, and more howls followed one after another. The difference between the bursts of sound waves was quite obvious, but the same still seemed to be full of hunger, thirst and anger.

But their movements are completely different from this irritable roar. The way these pitch-black monsters came to Liliana was by gracefully pacing from the shadows, silently.

The nervous girl just broke through the [interpretation] of the magic shield, six, eight, ten—a total of twelve monsters have surrounded the girl

Shades lighter than black burn like flames on them. Is this a lion's mane? Or a wolf? Liliana couldn't recognize it, because there were no heads on the animal bodies that looked like flat paintings, but a swirling whirlpool of bottomless shadows.

"...It's over..."

Liliana bit her lips tightly, looking at the dozen or so monsters in despair.

The girl couldn't recognize which type it was, but she still found out what this type of monster belonged to from her knowledge reserve.

The shadow beast, a kind of elemental monster, is a visitor from the shadow plane very close to the dark elemental plane. Just like its name, it is a fierce beast made of shadows. Among monsters, it belongs to a very dangerous category.

--very dangerous.

Recalling the articles in the Monster Illustrated Book, whether it is flames or lightning, arcane missiles or frost, if there is no way to create extremely bright light or extremely deep darkness, such monsters are immortal. They are shadows themselves, as tenacious as shadows.

At least for now, Liliana has absolutely no way to deal with them.

"There are still many scrolls of light art... But light and darkness that are not strong enough will only make them stronger..."

The shadow beasts didn't give the girl much time to think. After the encirclement was completed, the twelve shadow beasts howled ferociously, but approached with a quiet movement that was contrary to this massive threat.

The encirclement gradually closed.

The gap between the shadow beasts is getting smaller and smaller.

Howling was like a uniform chant, none of the monsters rushed to Liliana hastily, they cautiously and practically pushed forward the encirclement net, and did not attack rashly at all, which reminded Liliana that her father once said to her However, the cunning wolves he fought back with just a sword.

The difference is that his father has a reliable companion and honed martial arts, but he has only five spell slots.

Can't sit still!

"【The gathered warmth, the radiance of the flames, explodes and blooms here.】"

"【Fireball】"

A fireball with a trailing flame was thrown on the shadow circle, and the burst of bright flame instantly dispersed the two shadow beasts.

The shadow beasts stopped.

Just a few seconds.

The bright fire caused by the burst of the fireball only lasted for a moment, and the hardened earth without even vegetation could not support the burning of the flame. The fire was extinguished, and the darkness under the moonlight soon became the food for the two undestroyed shadow beasts.

They quickly recovered their taller bodies than the girl's, walking in unison.

... Now, there are only four spell slots left.

The scene Liliana expected was exactly the same as this one.

The fireball technique can indeed tear a gap in the shadow fence. Under the strong light, these shadow monsters are no stronger than foam. They are protected by a magic shield. The moment the gap is opened, they can indeed pass through the flames directly. .

But from sticking to being chased, do you have a chance?

The answer is no.

At least Liliana felt that it was impossible for her to outrun this group of shadow beasts no matter what.

...In other words, this is the end...?

"……hateful……"

When he realized this, a sense of powerlessness spread throughout his body.

The body reacted first, because of the extreme emptiness, the girl who tightly held the sapphire around her neck felt her stomach convulsing.

The colic that surged from her abdomen made her fall to her knees unsteadily, and the warm liquid spread from between her legs. For the first time, Liliana realized that she was moaning out of fear with a crying voice.

……don't want……

She cried out over and over again in her heart.

...I don't want to die.

...I don't want to be eaten...

...Anyone is good, help me, no matter who it is...

The usual calmness has long been lost, and in my mind, there is nothing but the words that spit out the overflowing weakness from my mouth.

Ahhh, it's really ridiculous, obviously not long ago, I still wanted to find the person who gave me the dream, let it kill me, it's better than the meaningless madness and decay here, but now, not long after, death is really approaching At the time, she was no different than anyone else who couldn't do anything about it.

Kneel down in shame.

Crying helplessly.

It seems that this can arouse the sympathy of the god of death, and let it take itself away later, later.

But do monsters know what sympathy is?

Even if they knew, why would the hunter talk about sympathy and pity with the food close to his mouth?

The footsteps of the shadow beasts are silent ridicules, and their roars are the horns of death. The steps of these guys approaching Liliana have not been disordered from the beginning to the end, no matter whether the ground where Liliana is kneeling is wet, or the girl's delicate face Distorted by despair, he closed his dark pupils tightly.

But then, those eyes opened.

Then, the light came on——

It is not a description, but in the hands of this human being who seems to have given up resistance and can't even see the momentum of a little struggle, a light that is not dazzling but enough to illuminate the surroundings is lit up just like the literal meaning.

One after another.

One after another.

A scroll of parchment with wax seal appeared in Liliana's hands. The girl frantically tore apart these scrolls of [Light Art], letting bright balls of light emitting warm light spread around her one after another, Different positions and different heights illuminate the area around ten meters around the girl like daylight.

The howling of the shadow beasts became sharper because of fear.

Under the light from all directions, their thick black bodies began to become thinner, and their swaying manes, like black flames, melted like ice and snow under the sun when the ball of light rose.

In just half a minute, they changed from hunters to prey, hunted by the light that they desire so much but dare not touch!

This is really a kind of contradictory monster. They were born from the shadows, and they pursued the light like moths to a flame throughout their lives, but they would be annihilated due to too strong light, leaving nothing behind.

Perhaps, it is this irreconcilable contradiction that makes them bloodthirsty and crazy.

The shadows become weak under the light that is not strong, and on their shrunken bodies, there is a clear outline between the deeper shadows and the shallower shadows, just like the bare core after the shell has been peeled off.

——! ! !

————! ! ——! ! !

They scrambled to escape.

Fleeing to this place where light cannot shine, fleeing to a place full of shadows to become tall and hideous again, but it is useless to dare to approach this day—if they understand what day is—the general realm.

"Huh...huh...that's...the umbra and...penumbra of the shadow beast...huh...the book says that the shadow beast is a shadow...huh...it seems to be true...this way you can understand those things , The role of those black curtains is to... huh... to prevent the entry of these shadow beasts..."

In the center of the light, Liliana put down the eleventh scroll of light art that was about to be torn apart, trembling, she took a deep breath desperately, pulled her thoughts away from fear and crying and turned to other problems.

She has to.

Otherwise, the joy of temporarily escaping death and the fact that it is still useless to escape from danger may make yourself do not so rational things, and now if you lose your reason, everything will be over.

Along with the disappearance of the shadow beast and death, there is another scene in front of me.

It was a room with walls covered with white tiles. On the platform in the center of the room, several people in white magic robes, gloves and masks were dissecting a corpse.

On top of their heads is a bowl-shaped disc, on which many crystals are inlaid, exuding a light that is not dazzling.

When this scene appeared in front of her eyes, Liliana still didn't understand the meaning at all, but as her eyes shifted, she saw that these magicians clearly moved their hands and various dissection tools on the corpse, but only a few minutes later. After the light shadow—perhaps thanks to the sudden inspiration at the very moment, she immediately realized that it was the application of light from different angles, which can weaken the shadow even when the light is not strong.

Coincidentally, although there are not many magic scrolls for combat in her space storage ring, there are still three kinds of [Silence], [Light], and [Feather Fall] that are often used in life and study. Dozens of volumes, and the unsold inventory of the family alchemy store every quarter, except for the magic used in battle, almost all of them were brought back by her.

"...Although, although they cannot be eliminated..."

Standing up unsteadily, wiping the tears off her face, Liliana looked at the receding beast and tried hard to move her footsteps.

But her feet are still shaking, her skirt and panties are wet from incontinence, and she feels uncomfortable

"...But they are shadows and creatures after all. After weakening them to a certain extent, they will retreat carefully out of the desire to survive, huh..."

That unknown being helped her again.

Although it is still impossible to determine whether it is good intentions or ulterior motives, at least she should not want to die like this.

... run!

Although the present difficulties are barely over, there are only about 20 scrolls left for [Light Art], and the beasts of shadows are still stalking, if you don't leave quickly...

But no matter what, Liliana couldn't move her feet.

As if the bowstring collapsed to the limit had been broken, the whole body was relaxed, and the hem of the skirt, which was wetted by the liquid from his own incontinence, was as heavy as a string of dumbbells. It was obviously at such a critical juncture, but this happened Something happened, and the brain that had finally calmed down began to become confused again due to anxiety.

And at this moment, another scene appeared before Liliana's eyes.

It was still the three torii gates that were incompatible with the domed and colonnade-style theater at the end of the road, but this time the angle of view was extended further, so that Liliana could see the stream flowing in front of the torii gates.

The picture moves slowly upstream along the stream, and after a certain distance, passes through the shadow curtain that can only be seen from the outside.

Next came the wilderness that was no different from the place where Liliana was now. It was the same barren of grass, and there was no bump that could be used as a landmark.

Only the flow of the stream gradually accelerated—no, it was the projection of the scene that was accelerating, just like a person quickly recalling the past.

The stream soon merged into a river, and the scenery in front of me flowed upstream along the waves of the river. Quickly, a place by the river covered by a curtain of shadows came into view. When passing through the black curtain, on the platform The bonfire has not been extinguished.

"... want me to go down the river..."

There was no answer, just like the previous two dreams.

Is it because the other party can't make a sound, or can't you hear it?

Liliana has all kinds of questions, but now she doesn't have so much time to think about them.

A scroll of light art can last for about half an hour, but in fact, before half of this time, the brightness of these light balls that can move with the user will decrease, as the magic stored in the scroll for ordinary customers, There is no magical construct that can replenish mana at any time, this is inevitable.

And compared to the dome of the dark curtain that is still on the horizon and only a little more than when we first set off, it is about two or three kilometers on the left hand side. It can be said that we can see some sparkling rivers. very close.

"...My lord father, my lord mother, thank you for allowing me to be born in the Einsteins family, my lord brother, and thank you for listening to my advice and persuading my father to develop the family alchemy industry..."

It was obvious what to do. Liliana took out a bottle of Restorative Flower Potion from the space storage ring and drank it, and then poured another bottle of Sober Potion.

The body gradually regained its strength, and the hands and feet gradually became in control, only the wet skirt still dragged down the steps——

Tear--

But not anymore.

He took off the soaked panties and threw them away, took out a knife and cut the hem of the skirt that fell to the ankles, as if breaking loose, exposing half of the thigh above the knee to the moonlight.

"...I want to live."

Those who know death fear death.

"I must live and return to your side!"

People who have brushed past death will no longer casually say stupid things that death is nothing.

The ferocious beasts of the shadows were afraid of the light around her, but they swarmed like moths trying to catch a flame. They chased after the girl, screaming.

Liliana ran.

Even though she traveled a long time later and left her own footprints all over the mainland, this is still her most dedicated run. She will always remember that she was desperate and threw all her hesitation and thoughts to her head After that, there was no more hesitation.

The beast of shadows was behind her.

The flowing river was in front of her eyes.

The heartbeat was like a war hammer pounding in the chest, and a large amount of air poured from the open mouth into the aching lungs, and was spit out again before being heated by the body temperature, and the limbs seemed to start to convulse.

"[In the name of Undine, formless yet formable water, I have given you the possibility of thousands of changes, obey me for now!]"

This is no longer a question of whether my muscles will be sore when I wake up the next morning. Liliana has no time to think about it. The river bank is close at hand. Interpretation of Plastic Method].

A large number of water spears rose from the river, driving the shadow beast back from the river bank with a powerful impact. At the same time, the power of magic made the girl float on the water like a light feather. The more turbulent water quickly rushed her downstream, and at this time.

The side effects of the medicine started.

The price of the green flower potion to enhance the efficiency of physical recovery is extreme fatigue.

Clarity Potion improves concentration and the five senses at the cost of continuous drowsiness.

Essentially, they are all overdrafts, so the stronger the drinker, the later the side effects will come, and the less dangerous they are. Liliana's can only be counted as healthy rather than strong. After strenuous exercise, these side effects will almost immediately manifested.

"Well... no, you have to hold on..."

You must persevere, otherwise all the hard work so far will be in vain.

Must, hold on--

On the colloidal surface of the [water plastic method], the girl pinched her thigh vigorously, using the pain to stay awake.

The river carries the girl drifting downstream quickly, and in the distance under the night sky and moonlight.

The black curtain gradually approached——