The Cornflower Witch Chapter 73

Chapter 73: Sea of Abominations

The fifty-meter distance felt as long as half a century.

When Hylial stepped into another ‘colored bubble,’ it was like a fish returning to a pond, able to breathe again.

She reached the center of this colored clearing, rested under a tree, lying on the ground, looking up at the low, heavy, dark clouds above.

This oppressive feeling was truly uncomfortable, as if the sky was falling.

After a short rest, Hylial stood up again. She searched her surroundings and found various mushrooms with aspect powers under some trees.

Despite not knowing their origins, she decided to collect them. At least, these things were rare and possessed the power of ‘aspects,’ so they might come in handy later. Since most of these mushrooms grew in rings, Hylial named them ‘Ring-Colored Mushrooms.’

[Ring-Colored Mushroom]: Mushrooms of various colors and different aspect powers, growing in the colored areas of the grey-white world.

[Ring-Colored Mushroom (Red Cap)] (Level 1 – Blood Discipline), [Ring-Colored Mushroom (Indigo)] (Level 1 – Luoyu), [Ring-Colored Mushroom (Black Gill)] (Level 1 – Dead Ember)

She had currently collected three mushrooms with complete aspects and carefully placed them in her cloak pockets.

After resting, she set off again. This time, she chose a longer route, leading to another ‘colored bubble’ towards the top of a hill.

Upon entering the grey-white world, she once again felt as if she were at the bottom of a dark body of water. Everything became silent; she could only see her own body moving, without any sound.

This time, she traveled a greater distance, traversing about 160 meters before reaching this ‘colored bubble’ to rest.

Her physical exertion wasn’t significant, but the consumption of ‘Jade Nectar’ made her feel a little tired.

If likened to a 100% battery, that last journey consumed about 4% of the power, leaving 95%.

It was still quite plentiful, but she had to consider the extreme situation where she might not escape even if she ran out completely.

As Hylial leaned against a tree, pondering how to conserve her energy and find a way out, a peculiar ‘fallen leaf’ slowly drifted down from above the small forest.

The brownish-yellow leaf was similar to the surrounding leaves but had a more complex and even strange texture. When it landed on the grass behind Hylial, it suddenly writhed. This leaf, as if alive, kicked up, jumped onto the tree trunk, and attacked the unsuspecting girl’s neck from behind.

*Snap!*

Even without seeing it, Hylial’s innate [Nature Sense Lv.2] after her advancement allowed her to react. Her body accelerated with the breathing method, and she leaped forward, batting away the strange monster with the back of her hand.

The violent force sent the fallen leaf flying into the tree trunk, then it slid down. At this moment, the girl suppressed the disgusting feeling from her hand and focused her attention on observing the opponent.

[Fallen Leaf Monster] (Aspect: Twisted): A strange, unnatural life form. It has two black eyes under its leaf, and serrated, tiny tentacles along its leaf edges.

Aspect [Twisted]!

Hylial’s eyes widened slightly. This was the first time she had seen this type of aspect.

Aspect [Twisted]: Dirty instinct and uncontrolled rhythm.

It was almost entirely negative, uncontrollable, an aspect that pollutes the world. According to records, the entire ‘Seventh Epoch’ was spent fighting against this ‘aspect’ power.

The reason why Mullerto, the ‘Barbarian King’ and ancestor of humans, led his people across the Vast Star Wilderness for nearly twelve years was because their former habitat had been eroded and corrupted by this aspect’s power, making it uninhabitable.

As for the origin of this aspect, secret history records that it was due to the third alien descent. Stars from another world tore through the sky and descended upon this world. Their imperceptible spreading power twisted and altered this world, giving birth to the [Twisted] aspect.

Compared to the first alien descent that gave life to the world, and the second that gave light, the third alien descent brought chaos and destruction to the world. The sky fell, countless dragon-kin and fairies died. To resist the tearing impact of the alien stars and the prying eyes of external great beings, dragons and fairies rarely allied, resolving past conflicts to jointly combat this catastrophe.

The Seventh Epoch was destined to be an era full of chaos and decline. Many ancient beings died, the earth was pierced through, and the world’s outer shell shattered. Even the usually optimistic fairies fell into despair in that era.

The recollection of knowledge ended, and Hylial once again faced the monster in front of her. Although it didn’t look large, she dared not be careless.

Drawing the short sword from her waist, Hylial adjusted her breathing. The ‘Fallen Leaf Monster,’ after observing Hylial for a while, attacked again. It first ran around Hylial, trying to ambush her from behind.

However, once discovered, this sneak attack became somewhat comical. Lacking legs, it could only move by tiny tentacles and the springiness of its bending leaf, making its movements easy for the girl to anticipate and effortlessly evade.

Realizing its flanking maneuver was unsuccessful, the little monster seemed annoyed, shaking its tiny tentacles and emitting peculiar hisses, then attempting to flank again.

Of course, it failed again. Hylial, already familiar with its behavior, shifted her steps slightly, gaining distance and rendering its flanking useless.

Then, it tried to flank again.

At this point, Hylial understood that the monster’s intelligence was quite limited, or rather, it couldn’t engage in complex thought, only repeating a process.

It was getting a bit boring, the girl thought, but she still cautiously observed it for a while before finally taking action.

The short sword precisely stabbed the Fallen Leaf Monster in mid-air, impaling it, and then nailed it to the tree trunk.

Black blood oozed from the ‘fallen leaf’s’ wound, and the tree bark it flowed over emitted wisps of green smoke, followed by some degree of distortion and warping of the tree.

Now Hylial understood why the trees here were all strangely shaped and abnormal.

It seemed the [Twisted] aspect had permeated everywhere, including these trees, with only differing degrees of severity.

The only thing that made Hylial curious was how those mushrooms grew. Could it be that the ancient aspect of ‘mycelia’ truly had resistance to twisted erosion?

The blood was not blood, but some kind of liquid and black mist. When the Fallen Leaf Monster’s blood flowed out, it initially spread over the tree bark, but soon evaporated into the air, permeating the surrounding objects.

Finally, Hylial drew her blade and found that even the meticulously crafted blade had undergone some kind of distortion and warping, its tip bending and curling.

This erosion was too strange and powerful, no wonder even the fairies of that era couldn’t deal with the [Twisted] aspect.

As for how the various races ultimately triumphed over [Twisted], in truth, that great war had no true victory. The Twilight Sea, beneath the seven continents, was simply the graveyard where countless twisted monsters accumulated.

The primordial sea had been polluted, and the source of all life’s rhythms, [Blood Discipline], was now connected to [Twisted], nurturing world-destroying abominations deep within the Twilight Sea.

(End of This Chapter)