Chapter 27

After spending the night by the campfire, Talli and Dusk continued on their journey.

Because she had promised him, their current goal was mainly to find the Abyss entrance opened by Theresa. Although they didn’t know where the entrance was, Talli knew that the closer they got to it, the more likely there would be significant changes or signs.

However, before they could encounter these changes, Talli came across something else.

Tall, majestic ruins stood before her. Several large stone columns surrounded the steps, their surfaces weathered by time, covered in moss and vines.

Talli walked up the stone steps. “This… looks like a ruin?”

Deritz, carrying a pack, had his hair loosely swept to one side, and his oversized clothes covered his tall and slender figure. He crossed his arms and glanced over the stone columns, humming lightly.

Talli lowered her head. She noticed a shallow depression on the stone steps, shaded by the surrounding shadows, with a small pool of water gathered in it, giving off a cool and damp feeling.

She crouched down, waving her hand over the water, feeling a brief relief from the restlessness in her skin.

A shadow covered her from the side.

Deritz crouched beside her, looking contemplative. After a moment, he pointed to the depression in the stone steps. “Talli, pry this open.”

Talli hesitated for a moment. “You want me to do it with my bare hands?”

Deritz handed her a rusty long sword. “Picked it up by the ruins.”

“…” It felt like she’d just gained a tetanus buff.

Talli reluctantly took the sword, wedging it between the stone slabs. To her surprise, when she pressed down gently, the other end of the slab lifted up.

She tossed aside the sword and watched as the water trickled down through the gap. Once the water had drained out, she used both hands to lift the stone slab and, with some effort, pried it open.

Underneath, there was a shallow pit, resembling a well. The water that had leaked down had soaked into the dirt, and in the center of the pit, there was a box, intricately carved with detailed patterns, secured with a small lock.

Talli reached in and, with some difficulty, pulled the box out.

“Ha, ha—”

She blew off the dust on the box.

“It looks like a rusted lock. I think I can pry it open.”

Talli twirled a strand of her hair.

“You know how to pick locks?” Deritz asked, slightly surprised.

“I used to like playing with these things when I was younger,” Talli answered, unconcerned.

“…” Deritz seemed to turn his face away, focusing intently on watching her unlock the box.

Talli perked up her ears, and when she finally heard a “click,” she happily said, “It’s open.”

She unlocked the clasp and opened the chest, releasing a cloud of dust. She waved her hand to clear it and coughed a couple of times.

Strangely, although the exterior of the chest was covered in dust, the interior was spotless, clean and pure. In the center, there was a beautiful and dazzling crossbow, its deep purple color shining, making it obvious that this was no ordinary item.

Talli reached out, about to touch the crossbow.

Suddenly, an arrow “whooshed” through the air, narrowly missing her ear and cutting off a few strands of her black hair!

Before she could react, a second arrow followed, this time heading straight for her face.

All she could see was the arrow tip, and it felt like time slowed down. Even the sound of the wind rushing past became clearer.

At this moment, a graceful hand shot out, like a gust of wind, and caught the arrow.

Talli finally snapped back to reality.

Her heart raced in panic, and she quickly stood up, taking a few steps back while looking toward where the arrows had come from.

On top of the tall stone pillar, there was a golden-haired young man crouching. He squinted one eye, his body exuding a murderous aura, holding a bow aimed directly at her. Behind him were two almost transparent, fluttering wings with clear veins.

“It’s an elf!”

Talli remembered the elves she had encountered in her dreams. She quickly grabbed the hem of Deritz’ clothes and pulled him back to hide.

The next few arrows landed on the ground, striking the stone steps with a “ping” and bouncing away.

“Who are you?”

Talli, slightly flustered from evading the arrows, lifted her face and shouted at him, “Why are you trying to kill us?!”

The young man froze for a moment when he saw her face, his focus wavering. Just as he did, Talli swiftly turned and prepared to run.

“Stop!”

The young man shot an arrow directly into the ground, just in front of Talli’s shoe. The feathered end of the arrow trembled.

Talli dared not move now and stood still in place.

The young man lowered his bow and flapped his crystalline, delicate wings as he lightly descended from the pillar, landing in front of Talli.

He completely ignored the young man behind her, as though he was utterly fascinated by Talli. He leaned in close to her face and examined her carefully.

“…”

Talli felt awkward under his intense gaze and couldn’t help but want to look away, but then thought it might seem like weakness, so she glared back at him instead.

Upon closer inspection, she noticed the elf looked clean and handsome. His golden hair was styled in a neat fringe, his pointed ears accentuating his features, and his hair was smooth and straight, falling down to his neck. He looked young but serious, not smiling.

He continued to study Talli, as if she were a difficult puzzle to solve.

“…” Talli finally couldn’t take it anymore. Despite the youth’s handsome appearance, she still felt uncomfortable under his intense gaze, making her scalp tingle. “Is there something on my face?”

“It seems so,” the young man answered, but his response was off-topic. “It’s so similar.”

“Similar to what?”

Talli was confused.

He shook his head, not answering, and walked up the stone steps. He closed the chest, picked it up, and said, “Come with me.”

Talli furrowed her brow, about to say something, but before she could, Deritz had already come up behind her.

“Follow him,” he said in a low voice.

Talli silently followed the elf youth, with Deritz walking just behind her.

As she walked, she fell behind Deritz. She noticed that the hand he had hidden in his sleeve was dripping fresh red blood from between his fingers.

Talli quickly stepped forward, grabbed his sleeve, and whispered, “Are you okay?”

“A small wound,” the young man replied indifferently.

As they walked, Talli took off her backpack and rummaged through it, pulling out some bandages she always carried with her. She gently took his hand and pulled it in front of her, carefully wrapping the wound with the bandages.

“Thank you for earlier,” she said.

Without Deritz, she couldn’t imagine what the consequences would have been.

After walking for a while, Talli finished bandaging his wound and tied a knot.

The elf youth glanced back at them and saw the two of them holding hands, looking like they were secretly doing something. He frowned and snorted.

Talli immediately pulled away from him, raising both her hands to show she was innocent.

The elf youth told them to wait outside while he went inside a wooden house in the settlement to report something.

While waiting outside, Talli observed the elf settlement.

The settlement was built along the river, with dense trees on the outer edge, creating a pleasant landscape. Beyond the trees, there were some makeshift tents surrounded by fences, where livestock were kept. The inner area was mostly made up of wooden houses and bamboo structures. Some timid elves peeked out from behind the wooden house doors, half their faces visible as they curiously observed these two humans they had never seen before.

After a short while, the elf youth came back. Without saying anything, he led them into an empty room, took their backpacks, and locked the door behind them.

Talli sat in the room for a while before standing up and pacing back and forth, trying to figure out a way to escape.

Meanwhile, the young man sat casually on the floor, leaning against the wooden wall with one leg bent, his posture lazy, and his head tilted as if lost in thought.

“Staying here isn’t a good idea,” Talli said to him. “I’ll sneak out to investigate. You stay here and wait for me.”

Deritz made a soft sound of acknowledgment, “Mmm.”

Talli walked a few steps, then turned back. “Aren’t you afraid I’ll sneak away?”

“If you can escape, then I have no reason not to,” he said slowly.

“That’s true,” Talli thought about it seriously.

The locked room wasn’t a big problem for her. It seemed the elf didn’t have much experience dealing with cunning humans and probably didn’t expect anyone to dare escape less than half a day after being locked in. So, Talli managed to slip out relatively easily.

Her backpack was taken, which made Talli feel insecure. Inside it were not only her essential tools but also her quiver, books, parachute, and the flint given to her by the deep red witch. The flint came from the center of the world, and she felt it might have some kind of use.

After slipping out of the wooden house, she quietly crept, avoiding the sight of the little elves, and followed the creek. Initially, she planned to head toward the center of the elf settlement to investigate, but unexpectedly, she ended up trapped in a strange loop.

She had gotten lost in an area filled with swamps and dead trees.

“It feels like a magic circle,” she murmured to herself.

Talli hesitated before crouching down to examine the pale bandage she had wrapped around the dead tree earlier. When she passed by this place before, she had wrapped a section of the bandage to avoid taking the wrong path. But now, after going around in circles, she had ended up back here again.

As she hesitated, she realized that the sky was getting darker.

On the withered branches and dead leaves standing in the mud, black crows flapped their wings and screeched in a hoarse voice, emitting an ominous aura.

Suddenly, Talli remembered that she had been out for so long without returning. What if the elf came looking for them and found she wasn’t there? Would something happen to Dusk?

…It shouldn’t, right?

He had said that if they were in danger, he could escape first.

But…

Talli hesitated.

It still didn’t feel safe.

She knew Deritz’ temperament.

Right now, the priority was to find a way out quickly.

Moreover, it was getting dark, and her night vision wasn’t very good. She didn’t dare to stay here any longer.

Just as if to confirm her suspicion, Talli, still feeling her way through the darkness, hadn’t walked two steps when she felt her foot sink into something soft. Her heart immediately alarmed, and she thought to herself, Not good. She reached out to grab a branch, but before she could pull herself back, the ground beneath her feet seemed to pull her in, gripping her leg like a windmill.

With a “crack,” the branch she grabbed snapped.

The cold wind howled, like the roar of a trapped beast.

Talli crashed to the ground hard, almost dizzy. The fall caused half of her body to sink into the ground. Just as she was being gradually swallowed up, a faint light suddenly appeared ahead.

Talli thought it was just an illusion, rubbing her eyes.

The faint light gradually expanded, from a small twinkling of stars to a soft glow resembling the light of a full moon. Talli felt the restraints on her body suddenly loosen, and her body became lighter, slowly floating upwards.

The light dispelled part of the darkness, gently lifting Talli’s body and carrying her toward the source of the light.

The aura brought by the light was so familiar that Talli couldn’t help but want to get closer.

It wasn’t until she was near enough that she could see clearly. It was a statue of a goddess, intricately carved. Her pose was lively, her expression calm, vivid and lifelike, her skirt fluttering, as if in the next moment, she would leave this polluted earth and fly to an unknown place.

…It really did seem like that.

The face of the goddess statue resembled her own.

Talli reached out her hand, and the little elves flying around the statue, radiating a warm light, flew toward her and landed on her hand, calm and gentle.

She turned her head and looked back at the path she had come from.

The road, previously blocked by mud and dead branches, had somehow cleared. Several tiny elves emitting a twinkling light illuminated the path, waiting for her to pass.

—

The young man’s hands were bound in front of him by the unique vine-like restraints of the elf race. Two adult male elves led him into the main hall.

Sitting at the far side of the square table was an elderly elf with graying hair. The edges of his wings had begun to yellow slightly, and they were no longer as light and nimble as those of the younger, stronger male elves.

Someone must have kicked him, for the young man suddenly “plopped” to the floor, kneeling. The two elves pressed down on his shoulders, forcing him to bend forward.

Deritz was weighed down by gravity and could not straighten his back, but he still raised his head, a smile bright on his face.

The sight of his smile made a few of the older elves burn with anger.

One of them, an elderly elf with a white beard, exchanged a glance, and the elves escorting Deritz yanked his bound hands, pulling him forward with a harsh tug. Deritz stumbled, his whole body being dragged and pulled in a clumsy, disordered fall to the ground.

His hands were pressed against the square table.

“The human girl has already run away. Aren’t you going to run?”

The elder stroked his beard and asked him.

The young man’s nose bumped against the corner of the table, turning red, and blood quickly began to flow. He casually said, “There’s no need for that.”

His arrogant and disdainful attitude quickly angered the elves, even those who were typically quiet and gentle could not tolerate one of their own being looked down upon by a human. They all cast angry glares at Deritz.

The elder gave an order: “Since you don’t care, it seems that losing or gaining a finger won’t affect you, will it?”

At the signal, one of the elves picked up a dagger and aimed it at his right ring finger.

The young man sniffed, but the nosebleed only worsened, dripping steadily from his chin onto the floor. He squinted his eyes, calmly watching where the dagger would fall, as though the finger being severed belonged to someone else. Although still smiling, his pupils subtly darkened with a touch of coldness.

Just as the dagger was about to fall, an arrow sliced through the air with a whoosh and struck the hanging dagger with a clang, knocking it down.

All the elves turned toward the door.

The young man kneeling on the floor also slightly tilted his head.

The black-haired girl was surrounded by little elves radiating light spots. She was panting, her face flushed as if she had been running at full speed.

She held up a sleeve sword, pointing it at the elf elder by the table, her violet eyes shining startlingly bright.

“Let him go,” she said, “or I will shoot through his heart!”