Chapter 22

“This situation won’t last too long. It’ll stabilize soon.”

Talli’s hair was dampened by the water droplets floating in the air, but her violet eyes remained unusually calm.

She had prepared her parachute in advance, stabilizing herself before the folding effect disappeared.

After about twenty minutes, the effect gradually faded.

Talli shook the hair that had been blown out of place by the wind, then confirmed her destination in mid-air before slowly descending.

Due to the prolonged gravity disturbance, her landing was a bit unsteady, and she felt slightly dizzy and nauseous.

However, these symptoms were much better compared to those who were unprepared.

She packed her bag, placed Dusk on the ground, rested for a moment, and then stood up again to observe the terrain.

“This is no longer the place we were before.”

Having floated through the folded illusion for so long, even though she was in the area she had chosen, she wasn’t necessarily on the same path.

“Let’s keep going.”

Talli pushed aside the dense foliage, muttering to herself as she cut through the path with her sharp blade.

In another two or three days, the illusion would end, and she would return to reality.

If what the Crimson Witch had said was true and she had to go after the arrogant monarch, then perhaps all she needed to do was follow the original plot, wait until she was sacrificed, meet Deritz, and then consider the next steps.

Although she had no clear idea about how to approach the conquest, based on what she saw in the dream, the Crimson Witch seemed to have more information than she knew.

There was more than just this temple in the illusion. In the remaining days, she could look for more, perhaps learning more about Deritz and the World Vortex.

—

By evening, the dusk had settled.

The moon seemed particularly round tonight, its light soft and translucent like water. The moonlight filtered through the thin clouds and branches, casting a veil over the forest.

Talli decided to rest. She set up a campfire, roasting a rabbit she had hunted earlier while gently wiping and adjusting her weapons and tools with a soft cloth.

In addition to catching dinner today, she had also gathered some magical plants, which she could sell at an apothecary when she got out to earn some money, enough to buy or maintain new weapons.

The campfire crackled, with sparks flying into the air.

Talli’s wiping motion suddenly stopped.

On the other side, the little beast, limp beside the campfire, shook its furry ears and pricked up its ear tips.

“…”

Talli extended her right hand and gently pressed it against the ground.

Her fingers trembled imperceptibly along with the ground.

“You feel it too, right?”

Talli stood up, slinging her backpack over her shoulder and gripping the short knife tightly in her hand. The cold metal greatly soothed her emotions. She lit a torch, extinguished the campfire, lowered her gaze, and said:

“Dusk, let’s go.”

The little fox jumped up, grabbed the roasted rabbit from the campfire rack, and sprinted after her.

Talli’s intuition was spot on. After just a few steps, the vibration grew stronger, reaching a point where it could no longer be ignored. The trees shook, the ground trembled, and the leaves scattered, swirling wildly in the shadows.

Talli’s pace quickened. She veered to the side, and even in the dense forest, she could hear human screams behind her.

Walking quickly turned into running.

Talli’s night vision was poor, so she couldn’t run too fast in the dark, only able to see the area illuminated by the torchlight. As she tried her best to run, she glanced back and faintly saw the commotion and a scattering of tiny flames behind her.

It was a group of humans being chased by wild beasts—it was probably her classmates. They screamed incessantly, terrified of whatever was pursuing them. Because Talli couldn’t run quickly enough, the distance between them steadily shortened, until she could hear a voice she was all too familiar with among the group.

“Help, help—ahhh—”

…It was Theresa.

Why was Theresa here?

Unless…

Talli suddenly remembered something, and in frustration, she gave her head a sharp thump.

She and Theresa’s paths had originally been far apart, but after the folding effect of the illusion, some of the points on their paths had overlapped, resulting in a spatial intersection.

That’s why she could encounter Theresa on her original path.

But what were those monsters chasing them?

This was not something that had happened in the original story—was it another unexpected event?

At this point, the distance was so close that even Talli could feel the enormous, oppressive presence of danger, shaking her body and making her uncontrollably tremble.

But what she was sure of was that she had never felt such a terrifying aura from any monster before!

“Ugh!!”

Talli tripped on a branch beneath her feet, rolling on the ground and crashing her back into a thick branch. The pain made her grit her teeth. The torch also rolled away on the damp soil, briefly flaring up with sparks before being extinguished and emitting a puff of smoke.

Talli didn’t go after the torch. She pressed her hand against her bruised shoulder, slowly leaning backward, almost against the tree trunk. Then, a rancid, foul wind swept past her!

“Ahhh—”

A young man’s scream rang out about twenty or thirty meters ahead of her. His torch fell from his hand, and in the brief moment the firelight flickered in the night, Talli finally saw what the terrifying monster was.

It was a massive creature enveloped in black mist, with only two eyes glowing with a crimson fiery light. The black mist occasionally parted in the strong wind, revealing its coiled and eerie white exoskeleton, with horns resembling those of a black goat on its skull, and four rows of serrated teeth at the jaw capable of terrifyingly powerful bites.

…She had never seen anything like this. Talli had never encountered such a creature in any book.

She was paralyzed and stiffened with shock by the immense intimidation from the creature, unable to even scream, only able to watch as the poor, helpless young man in its mouth had his spine snapped.

The torch fell to the ground, rolling and extinguishing the flame.

Talli didn’t see his final moments. She only managed to hear the short, desperate screeches of multiple voices rising and falling in the dark.

Her consciousness snapped back when she felt the pain of her palm being unconsciously clenched tight. She shivered all over.

Right.

…Where was Dusk?

Since the moment she had fallen earlier, she hadn’t seen the small figure that usually followed closely behind her. Talli knew Dusk was strong, it might even be some high-level magic beast. But in the face of such a creature, Talli didn’t believe Dusk had the ability to fight and escape unscathed in such a narrow confrontation.

In the darkness, her other senses became unusually sharp. After realizing that the monster hadn’t detected her and the dangerous aura was fading, she leaned against a tree trunk and struggled to stand, limping as she walked and softly called out Dusk’s name.

There was no response.

Her heart pounded in her chest, the smell of blood spreading through her nostrils, making her stomach churn.

The screams and cries blended together, nearly deafening her.

—If she can’t find it, she’ll leave.

Talli leaned against the tree trunk, gasping for breath, bending over to dry heave a few times, wiping the cold sweat from her forehead. However, she didn’t even have time to straighten up before hurried and panicked footsteps approached.

“Tal, Talli! Woo, woo!”

Talli’s heart skipped a beat.

Although she couldn’t clearly see the person’s face, she knew immediately that it was Theresa.

Behind her, a young man with a torch was following closely. He was covered in various wounds, looking disheveled, but holding a sword and protecting Theresa, ensuring that the delicate girl remained unharmed despite the chaos. Only her blonde hair and clothes were slightly messy.

In the firelight, Talli saw who it was, but it only made her heart cry out, “This is bad!”

“Idiot,”

Talli grabbed Theresa’s hand, pulling her down quickly. “Put out the torch, quickly!!!”

“…Wha—what—”

The young man didn’t even finish his sentence.

The next second, his figure vanished from where he stood, leaving only the dropped torch. Then, a cracking sound and a gut-wrenching scream followed in the wake of his shadow!!!

Theresa, pulled down by Talli, lay flat on the ground. Her hand was soft, cold, and trembling, with warm liquid dripping from her hand onto Talli’s hand.

“Tal, Talli… Wuuu… What is this? It’s so terrifying…”

“You don’t know?”

Talli gripped her hand tightly.

Theresa’s hand trembled uncontrollably.

“I… I don’t…”

She sobbed, struggling to catch her breath, seemingly shaking her head. She cried and cried, seemingly choking on the smell of blood, then began to vomit. “It’s so scary, so scary, Talli…”

“Don’t speak.”

Noticing that the dangerous presence had moved a little farther away, Talli immediately lowered her voice. “Save your strength, come with me.”

She spoke as she carefully stood up, brushing off the dirt from her clothes, and grabbed Theresa’s arm.

“I… I don’t have the strength anymore…”

Theresa’s voice was hoarse from crying. “My legs are so weak, they’re numb… I can’t stand up…”

“Then do you want to die here?”

“I… I…”

Theresa gritted her teeth, mustered some strength, and as she wobbled to stand, she collapsed again, her whole body going limp.

She had been scared out of her mind earlier.

“Talli, you leave first, don’t worry about me,”

Theresa wiped the tears from her face and pulled her hand away from Talli’s grasp. “After you leave here, go that way—”

She stretched out her arm, struggling to point in a direction for Talli.

“Go that way, and you’ll find Mos—my magic beast. Last time, I forgot to hold the leash properly, and you got hurt. I’m sorry… If you can forgive me, please let it come here… It went to fight alone to protect me earlier, and I don’t know how it’s doing now…”

Talli’s heart jolted.

She really wanted to ask, wasn’t Mustafa locked outside the illusion? How could it be inside now?

But she knew this wasn’t the time to ask.

…Her intuition told her that Mustafa couldn’t be separated from the monsters that had been stirred up.

“…I understand.”

Talli’s expression grew serious. “You stay here and don’t run off.”

“Cough, cough, thank you, Talli…”

Before she could finish her sentence, the girl had already disappeared, running out of sight.