The forest stretched like an inky-green labyrinth, every shadow seeming to conceal a twisted form. Raine and Liana leaned on each other, stumbling forward. Raine's senses were unnaturally sharp after the uncontrolled surge and realignment of his energy; even the faintest flows of power, the sighs of decaying plants, and the distant psychic scans of the Deep-Sea Cultists pierced his mind like needles. Liana, relying on the residual sense of ley lines and an instinctive awareness of danger, struggled to discern the path.
"Just up ahead…" Liana panted, pointing toward a heavily collapsed stone complex. Partially hidden beneath thick vines and moss, the structures were ancient and austere. Unlike the roughness of Ashfall Town or the filth of the mines, they hinted at a bygone era of precision and durability.
This was the ancient observation post she had mentioned.
The entrance was a downward-sloping passage partially blocked by boulders. They pried open the gap and squeezed through. Inside, the space was larger than expected. The dome of the circular main hall remained mostly intact, embedded with crystals long dulled, aligned with the sole opening of the ceiling—now overgrown with vegetation. The surrounding walls were etched with faded star charts and runes tracing energy flows. Though covered in dust and cracks, the precision and intelligence behind the carvings were still palpable.
Most importantly, in the center of the floor, a complex silver-white metal array, though dim, still radiated a faint yet stable isolation field, greatly reducing the suffocating whispers of corruption and the influence of Akatsuki from outside.
"Plop!"
The moment they entered the array, both collapsed to the ground, drained. The taut nerves and the willpower that had been resisting external pressure finally allowed themselves to relax—safety, at least temporarily.
Fatigue washed over them like a tide. But first, their injuries had to be addressed.
Liana fared slightly better; her exhaustion was mostly magical and mental. After swallowing a few pills, some color returned to her face, and she began assessing Raine.
His condition was far worse. With Silent Mercury no longer active, his body felt like a battlefield recently ravaged by a storm: multiple energy channels were damaged, forces of differing natures still restless despite being temporarily guided away, and each breath brought faint, tearing pain. The red patterns on his crystalline right arm no longer glowed or burned, yet they protruded like fresh, vicious scars.
"Don't move," Liana said with the authority of a professional. She pulled out clean cloths, water, and several ointments. "Your energy circulation needs to repair itself. All I can do is treat the external wounds and relieve the pain."
Her movements were swift and precise—cleaning the wounds, applying ointments with calming and mild numbing effects, and wrapping them carefully with clean bandages. While treating the large burn on Raine's back, scorched by the energy tendrils, her fingers inevitably brushed against his skin. Both of them tensed slightly.
A strange, subtle energy interaction sparked at the point of contact between her fingertips and Raine's body. It wasn't intentional—rather, it was the natural attraction and probing between Liana's "Withering Healer" constitution and the chaotic sea of energy within Raine. She felt a faint, mingled current flowing up her arm, bringing a slight prickling sensation and an indescribable… sense of satiation. Meanwhile, Raine felt a coolness at the contact point, slightly soothing the restless energy in that area.
They quickly pulled away, leaving a subtle, awkward tension hanging between them.
"…Thank you," Raine said quietly.
"…Just doing my duty," Liana replied, averting her gaze as she returned to her work, though the faintest flush crept across her ears.
Once the wounds were attended, they leaned against the cold wall, sharing the meager remaining food and water. Silence filled the spacious observation post, broken only by their labored breathing and the faint, distorted sounds from outside, dampened by the array's protective field.
"You… just now… what were you remembering?" Liana finally asked, her amber eyes glinting with curiosity in the dim light. "In the forest, your expression… it looked painful."
Raine remained silent for a moment, chewing on the hard rations. The fragment of memory about γ was still vivid, carrying both heart-wrenching despair and urgent warning.
"A companion," he finally said, his voice low, "γ… She… seemed to be controlled by something. She was warning me… about a trap called 'Cradle.'" He didn't mention Ravenna—some wounds were still untouchable.
"γ… control… Cradle…" Liana repeated the words, frowning. "The Holy Alliance does have mind-control modules, but enough to override an individual's will… 'Cradle'… that codename seems familiar… somewhere…" She struggled to recall, "I think it was in a banned book catalog from the Church, referencing an ancient elven manuscript. It mentioned a place called the 'Cradle of Life,' supposedly connected to the origin of the World Tree… But how could the Holy Alliance—"
The clue added another layer, yet the mystery deepened.
"Your power," Liana shifted the topic, her gaze sharpening, "that guidance just now… you called it 'Withering'?"
"The word you used," Raine said, looking at his bandaged left hand, "feels… like extraction, but not entirely." He described the subtle calm that came from stripping a target's "life force" or "energy," causing it to "wither," without the usual discomfort.
Liana listened intently. "I see… your 'Withering' is similar to my own nature, but the expression and origin might differ." She extended her hand, and a faint trace of platinum energy gathered at her fingertips. "My ability stems from a mutated Dawn Godcraft foundation. It leans more toward 'deprivation' and 'sealing.' The process is painful and places a heavy burden on the user. Yours…" She looked at Raine. "Yours seems closer to… a 'return to origin' or 'energy balancing'? Your Life Seed power is inherently harmonious. Perhaps when it performs this kind of 'draining,' it's more like… a natural metabolic process? That's why the backlash is smaller."
Her eyes brightened as she spoke, as if discovering a new continent. "If we can understand the principles behind this, we might not only help you control your power but even develop safer, more effective applications! For instance, more precise removal of corrupted energy without harming the host!"
The researcher's passion reignited. She ignored her fatigue, taking out her notebook and a specialized charcoal pencil that could faintly visualize energy flows, and began recording and theorizing.
Raine watched her focused profile in silence. Liana's pursuit of knowledge and truth was pure and fervent. Though sometimes seemingly aloof, it oddly felt reassuring. In a life constantly on the edge, her focus itself was like an anchor.
Time passed in quiet contemplation and occasional low-voiced discussion. Outside, the sky gradually brightened; the red moon's glow was replaced by the dawn, and though the forest fog still blocked most light, the oppressive weight inside the observation post seemed lighter.
Raine tried to refine his perception and guidance of his internal energies according to Liana's theory. He no longer saw the foreign powers as wild torrents but as rivers of differing character. The Life Seed's emerald energy formed the "riverbed" and guiding channels; the dragon power was a surging "main current"; the crystal energy was a cold, heavy "undertow"; and the abyssal corruption was a highly corrosive "tributary." He carefully channeled the "main current" along the "riverbed," avoided the sharp edges of the "undertow," and attempted to direct the destructive "tributary" toward… the Frost Whisper Sword.
The process remained incredibly difficult, demanding full concentration. But each successful micro-guidance deepened his control over his power, slightly easing the ever-present sense of imminent explosion.
Liana watched tensely from the side, taking notes and occasionally offering suggestions: "Try wrapping the dragon breath in life energy instead of forcing it!" "Pay attention to the inertia of the crystal energy—it can serve as a temporary 'dam'!" "That thread of corrupted force… try touching it with your 'Withering' intent, just observe…"
During one attempt to guide a faint strand of corrupted energy, Raine's focus intensified slightly. The energy surged violently, attempting to lash back! Instinctively, Raine invoked that 'Withering' reflex!
Hum!
An invisible suction erupted from his fingertips! The target was not the corrupted energy at all, but a tenacious, slightly mutated dark-purple moss growing in a crack nearby!
The moss visibly lost its luster, withered at remarkable speed, and finally crumbled into a small pile of gray-white dust! Simultaneously, an almost imperceptible—but pure and pristine—stream of primal life energy (stripped of corruption) flowed into Raine through his fingertips, slightly easing his fatigue!
Both of them froze in shock.
"Directional stripping?! Purification effect?!" Liana exclaimed, grabbing Raine's hand to carefully sense the residual energy fluctuations at his fingertips. "What did you just do? You precisely stripped only the corrupted portion, leaving the most fundamental life force?! This is… incredible!"
This had already surpassed mere healing; it was almost an operation at the level of laws themselves.
Raine stared at his own fingers, deep in thought. This ability… seemed far stronger and stranger than he had imagined.
And just then—
Wuuuu—!!!
A deep, resonant horn blast—low, prolonged, as if emerging from the very depths of the earth—suddenly pierced the isolation barrier of the observation post, reaching the ears of both of them with startling clarity!
This sound was not a physical vibration in the conventional sense. It seemed to strike directly at the soul and mind—a tremor of ancient desolation, awe, and a dread-inducing majesty!
The faded rune etchings on the observation post's walls all flickered simultaneously in that instant, as if responding to this age-old call!
Raine and Liana felt their hearts tighten violently at the same moment—a strange pulse rising from deep within their bloodlines, sweeping through their entire bodies!
"Wh-what… what is that sound?" Liana's face turned pale as she clutched at her chest.
Raine leapt to his feet, his right eye's gear-shaped pupil spinning wildly as he attempted to analyze the source and nature of the sound, but all he received were chaotic fragments of data. Yet the Life Seed mark on his left chest burned fiercely with the horn's resonance, flooding him with an indescribable wave of sorrow, anger, and… longing.
The horn continued for several seconds before gradually fading, but its after-resonance lingered deep within their souls.
They looked at each other, shock and confusion mirrored in their eyes.
This was no sound that could be produced by the Deep Dwellers or any known corrupted creature!
Ancient observation post… mysterious horn… runes that respond…
Liana suddenly lunged to the wall, brushing off dust, carefully examining the runes that had flickered and quickly dimmed.
"These symbols… don't belong to any known ancient civilization! But they did resonate with that horn just now!"
She seemed to realize something, rifling rapidly through her notes and maps, her fingers trembling slightly with excitement.
"Legend… before the roots of the World Tree spread through these mountains, this land belonged to an even older race… Could the legend be true? This observation post wasn't built by elves, but—"
She couldn't finish her sentence.
Because at the observation post's only exit, in the shadow of the massive stone they had pried open, a figure slowly emerged.
It was neither a Deep Dweller nor any known monster.
It was a tall figure clad in heavy armor made of a dull, metallic material and petrified leather. Its helmet completely obscured its face, leaving only a narrow slit through which a fathomless darkness could be glimpsed. On its shoulder plate was a crest unlike anything they had ever seen—a black obelisk struck by lightning. In its hand, it held a massive, greatsword seemingly forged from some black crystal, the space around the blade slightly warping.
It stood silently, as if it had existed since time immemorial, radiating an aura colder, purer, and far more despairing than even the High Elders of the Deep Dwellers' cults. It emitted no energy fluctuations, and no hint of killing intent, yet the temperature inside the observation post dropped sharply.
Liana's corruption detector gave no response whatsoever.
Raine's mechanical right eye went into full alarm mode, but it could not analyze any useful data, only flashing a stream of red warnings: "Unknown," "Extreme Threat," "Conceptual-Level Interference."
The helmeted figure's head tilted slightly, the slit of darkness seemingly "looking" directly at Raine—or more precisely, at the Life Seed mark on his left chest, which still glowed faintly.
A cold, dry voice with no emotional fluctuation rang directly in their minds, in an extremely archaic and obscure language—but its meaning was instantly clear:
"Stealer of sacred relics… I have found you."
A new crisis had arrived, more unimaginable and immediate than anything they had faced before.