Chapter 594

Chapter 594: Battle and… Death?

One tall, thin shadow after another rose out of the air from every side. The rustling of tentacles squirming through the soil kept sounding, making Shirley’s scalp crawl. The remnants of the Sun gathered and pressed closer. They stood up straight from the shadows, showing their terrifying, twisted faces and corrupting the forest inside this dream.

Chains howled through the air. With sharp booms of compressed and torn wind, Shirley rushed back and forth across the clearing among the trees. She charged at every remnant of the Sun that had just stepped into the dreamwalking state and had not yet found its footing. She raised her hand and brought Dog down again and again, swinging the chain wildly with the monstrous strength she had gained from her symbiotic pact with the Abyssal demons—swinging the Abyssal demon Dog itself at the same time—knocking those not-quite-human horrors to the ground and banishing them from this dream.

But the number of intruders still grew. The remnants of the Sun that she had knocked down for the moment climbed up from the shadows again and again.

The dim forest, full of shifting light and shadow, became the perfect field for the remnants of the Sun to move freely and rebuild themselves. corrupted flesh that she had smashed away dissolved into the shadows, then gathered again in the shadows. Tall, thin silhouettes kept appearing all around. The moment Shirley’s movements slowed even a little, they launched ruthless attacks at once.

A sharp shriek suddenly rose behind her. A spike-like tentacle thrust out of the air itself and stabbed straight at the back of Shirley’s neck. Her hair stood on end at once, but when she tried to dodge, it was already too late—

There was a dull, wet sound as flesh was cut, but the pain she expected did not come. Shirley, already braced to take the hit head-on, turned her head in shock and saw a battle-axe sweeping past from behind her. The blade spun, then rose and fell again, cleanly chopping apart two more “spikes” that had lunged in for a surprise attack.

The edge of the axe blade shone with a dim blue light, as if it was covered by some burning force field that scorched and twisted the nearby air. An elven maiden named Celine held the strange long-handled axe in one hand. While she beat back the attackers and guarded Shirley’s flank, she stared in confused shock at the tall black figures still appearing and gathering from all around. At last she could not help asking: “What… are these things?”

“They’re definitely not something that grew in your forest, that’s for sure!” Shirley shouted as she swung her chain high and brought Dog down, smashing apart a knot of shadows that was gathering not far ahead. “These things are so damn hard to deal with!”

Celine raised her axe to block another attack coming from the opposite side. Hearing Shirley’s shout, she froze for a second, then frowned without thinking and said: “Those words are a bit rude.”

“If you don’t swear out loud, the curse words just rot in your stomach. That’s disgusting,” Shirley said with a wild, bright grin. She stepped on a mass of flesh that was still wriggling and pulling itself back together. Black smoky mist rose from the chain in her hands, and she looked almost cheerful. “I like to keep clean. I never let curse words stay in my gut overnight.”

Celine listened in a daze to Shirley’s “theory.” She seemed to be trying hard to understand this logic, but in the end she only frowned and shook her head. She turned her attention back to the enemies around them and muttered: “You’re talking nonsense.”

A tentacle that swelled and shrank without a steady shape, its surface crawling with eyes and teeth, suddenly wrapped around Shirley’s arm. Her heart jolted. She used all her strength to tear free of its grip, then forced back the clump of shadows where the tentacle had risen from. Only then did she glance toward Celine without thinking.

A strange doubt rose in her heart. Maybe it was just her imagination, but in these short few minutes, this elf named Celine seemed to have become more… human than before.

Was it because of the sudden attack? Because they were fighting side by side?

Shirley remembered how Celine had seemed when they first met. Back then, Celine had not shown so many emotional reactions. She had expressions of joy, anger, sorrow, and calm, but those reactions felt more like something designed ahead of time. She would only keep repeating the plan to head for the Wall of Silence. Besides that, no matter what Shirley said, Celine hardly reacted. Almost never was there surprise, confusion, or lively pushback.

Shirley did not know anything about psychology or behavior studies and had no words for the wrongness she felt. But her life experience had trained her to sense changes in other people’s moods. She could clearly feel that something about Celine was changing—she just could not figure out why.

But she did not have much time to think about it.

After their first confusion and panic, the remnants of the Sun had adjusted and found their footing here. Now they were truly dangerous.

A vague shadow flashed at the edge of her sight. In a rush, Shirley only had time to yank her chain back and barely dodge the attack. The next second, another spike shot out from the shadows on the ground nearby and stabbed into the arm that still belonged to a human.

The sharp pain made her curse without thinking. Dog rushed in at once from the side and bit through the fleshy spike that had formed from the shadows. Shirley pulled back in a hurry, leaving that deadly range of attack. She had not even let out a breath of relief when she suddenly heard rustling behind her again.

She turned her head on instinct and saw a tall, thin shadow burst up from the ground right in front of her. The next moment, countless tentacles poured out from inside the shadow’s “long coat” and wrapped around her arms and neck. The huge force that surged through those tentacles yanked her forward in an instant. She only had time to gasp before she was dragged up close to the shadow.

The tall shadow lifted its “head” toward her. A swollen, twisted mass of flesh pushed out from the collar of the long coat and suddenly opened like a flower bud. Right in front of Shirley, eyes, countless sharp teeth, and many writhing tendrils like mad tongues opened inside that blooming flesh flower.

In that brief moment, it felt as if a thousand voices exploded in Shirley’s mind. Endless screams and whispers piled over one another, forcing their way into her head. Those howls and murmurs seemed to be trying to pass some message to her, but just as she felt she was about to understand them, most of the information slipped out of her mind, leaving no trace.

In this sudden link, her mind kept only one vague and strangely meaningless line:

“…Find their… the Sun…”

Shirley seemed to sink into boundless chaos. Endless darkness and emptiness wrapped around her. Countless noises roared over her. She slowly opened her eyes wide, her divine gaze blankly fixed on the blooming flower of flesh before her. Her will to resist felt peeled away from her body. Dog’s voice faded in her mind and drifted into the distance…

But in the next second, a thunderous boom exploded deep in her consciousness. In that endless darkness, Shirley seemed to see a ghost-green flame jump once. The flame shone on her soul and sent a sharp stab of pain through her head. The next instant, she snapped back to herself.

The tall, thin shadow came into focus again. The “head” made of foul, blooming flesh was shaking violently right in front of her. This remnant of the Sun let out a series of sharp hisses and howls. It seemed shocked. It could not understand why its corruption had failed to enter its prey’s mind—but soon, it no longer had any need to be shocked.

Clusters of ghost-green flame suddenly appeared on the surfaces of the many eyes inside the flesh flower. In the blink of an eye, the reflections in those eyes turned into real, spreading fire. Flames of spirit form burst out from the remnant’s “head,” blazing outward from the inside and burning this dream invader with fierce speed.

The monster shrieked and twitched. Under the burning of the spirit form flames, it convulsed hard, then curled up into a knot of strange black matter. Flames that poured from its body spread outward at once, like hunters that had caught the scent of prey, flowing toward the other remnants of the Sun that were gathering all around.

The fire spread like the wind. Sparks leaped from one place to another, and one remnant of the Sun after another caught fire. In almost the blink of an eye, they all turned into blazing sacred beacon torches.

Shirley stared in shock. The horrible feeling from when her mind had nearly been corrupted now cooled into a thin, icy aftertaste. But as the spirit flame spread, that lingering fear turned into a different emotion. She began to laugh. Wild pride showed on her face. She raised the black iron chain in her hand and looked with smug delight at the remnants of the Sun howling and struggling in the flames: “Trash like you think you can pull off some kind of mental corruption? I’m under the captain’s protection, damn it!”

The remnants of the Sun, of course, did not answer her. One blazing sacred beacon torch after another collapsed in the fire. Before they could withdraw from the dream, they turned into drifting ashes in the forest.

As for Shirley, she still looked smug, but she did not truly relax until the last “sacred beacon torch” fell. Only then did she turn her head toward Celine.

Celine’s voice reached her first: “Shirley, I feel… not very well…”

A heavy panic and unease hit her. Shirley’s heart clenched. She ran to Celine at once, and the next second, she saw the change happening to her.

The elven maiden’s feet had already begun to sink into the ground without anyone noticing. Dark, root-like shapes split from her legs, more and more of them, and reached down into the soil. She lifted her head and looked toward Shirley. She seemed to want to raise her arms, but bark-like growths were already spreading over them—growing stiff and harder to move.