Lilith pulled out her arm from the insides of a Rank 2 wolf, and a shining crystal appeared in her palm. She put it in her bag alongside many others that she had harvested earlier.
The spoils of war were quite bountiful.
Although she didn't have much use for them since she didn't have a Calamity Core or some special use, she still could use them to heal herself since she didn't have a healing spell at the moment.
As she weighed her heavy bag, she heard the muffled giggles of Noah in the background.
She didn't put much thought into them, attributing his mood to a weird quirk of her him instead of realizing how dense she was.
Nevertheless, she had to continue crossing the Wailing Mountain.
Lilith put the bag on her back and then approached a tree, climbing it. She was much better now than before, but she had to wait some more before being able to use spells freely.
The tree branches were thick and long, like a system of roads dangling above.
She jumped from one to another, then finally used both [Eye of the Storm] and [The Primordial Sense] when she regained her peak condition after traveling several Kilometers.
She was satisfied with her constitution, it healed fast and had many other unique perks. However, the fact that she didn't have a Calamity Core still annoyed her...
The night had fallen, and Lilith knew it because the faint grey light that penetrated the thick canopy created by the trees had dimmed.
As a Nightmare Elf, the night wasn't different from morning to her. Actually, it was a little bit better, because not all prey could see in the dark...
Nevertheless, she had to stop and take a rest. Her sleeping schedule was kind of messed up, so she had to sleep tonight, regardless of her abilities and preferences.
Lilith chose a random high tree branch to camp in.
She sat, put her bag beside her, and leaned her back against the tree. She closed her eyes and felt her body relax.
She was still drenched in blood, but cleaning herself was a task that she assigned to herself for tomorrow.
Lilith had grown familiar with [Eye of the Storm], so she was able to keep it active even in her sleep.
Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for [The Primordial Sense]. It was the last spell that she had made, and it was taxing on her mind.
But it didn't matter much, why should she worry about sensing other people early while they can't sense her to begin with?
With that thought, her consciousness drifted, and sleep soon took over her.
But the night wasn't as calm as she hoped...
***
Lilith opened her eyelids abruptly, her ghostly-blue eyes glowing faintly in the darkness. Her drowsiness vanished in an instant, replaced by vigilance.
Something was wrong.
[Noah, did you feel that?]
She knew that they shared senses, but she was asking to open up the conversation.
[Yes... but I don't know what it is, be careful.]
She could tell that it had been multiple hours since she had slept, and everything seemed normal...
Until now.
She felt her intuition warning her, that danger was imminent.
But she didn't know where and when.
Lilith immediately cast [The Primordial Sense] as well, and prepared herself to use [Output Overload] and [Soul Flash] should danger come.
However, her spell didn't pick up anything out of the ordinary.
... No, that wasn't quite right...
The forest was silent, too silent.
While she traveled, she saw many other Rank 1 beasts, but she had ignored them as they weren't different than ants in her eyes.
However, the forest was completely still, as if awaiting an approaching storm...
Lilith stood up and summoned her spear.
Holding the weapon tightly, she observed the forest with [The Primordial Sense] in high alert.
Moments of prolonged silence continued, and just when she thought that she might be imagining things...
"Ahh!"
Chilling screams echoed through the whole place, so loud that her eardrums almost burst.
The agony contained within them was unimaginable, their screeches unbearable to the faint of heart.
Men, women, children, elderly... Their wails mixed together and formed a cursed symphony of suffering and despair that haunted those unfortunate to hear.
Lilith clutched her head with both hands, the spear falling on the tree branch.
Her nails dug into her scalp and her fingers gripped her hair tightly. She grit her teeth and frowned in discomfort.
The screams were wreaking havoc on her mind, putting immense pressure on it.
[Hold on, Lily!]
She heard Noah's voice and felt reassured by it despite her disorientation. So, she chose to keep bearing the screams.
After several moments of torment, the intensity of the screams began receding.
Finally, the screams were just a discomforting background noise that annoyed her greatly, but didn't threaten her life.
Lilith sighed and massaged the bridge of her nose, this was a new experience for her.
[I used a Mind Pathway spell to protect your mind, you should be okay now.]
His words put her at ease, and she sat back down when she realized that nothing was coming to her.
[What the fuck was that? Was it a mental attack?]
The forest didn't change, the only thing affected was her mind.
Noah answered her:
[Yes, it is a mental attack. However, I don't know where it came from.]
Not even he could tell, which prompted Lilith to frown. After a few moments of thinking, she felt like she had stumbled upon the answer.
[The name of this Danger Zone is the Wailing Mountain, right?]
Her question would've been treated as stupid and irrelevant any other time, but her brother understood what she was getting at.
[Oh, I see... I guess that whoever called it the Wailing Mountain was being direct rather than dramatic.]
Not only was the place infested with countless beasts, but the region itself was deadly.
Any other Heavenly Ascender would've been in great danger, but Lilith had theoretically infinite reserves of heavenly essence, so Noah could use his protection spell for as long as he wanted.
Lilith couldn't help but think that she would've just brushed off the attack if it were soul-based, but unfortunately, it targeted the mind.
If she were the Mind Calamity, wouldn't the region just be her playground?