The Cornflower Witch

Book 2: Chapter 30: Twisted Dead Tree

Vol 2 Chapter 30: Twisted Dead Tree

The next day, the team set off in the early morning. Their belongings and supplies had already been checked and prepared the night before. After the sun rose, they had a simple breakfast and then stepped onto the small path.

Leaving Berg Town, they followed the mountain path westward, passing through woods full of weeds and shrubs, gradually arriving at the edge of their outpost.

Compared to the stable town, the air here was noticeably different. Even the distant scenery had turned gray, white, and static, as if sketched by a pencil.

"This is the place."

'Bad Apple' walking at the front stopped and looked back at the group. Yan followed not far behind him, then came Sylutia, Pona, and Karl.

"The black and white parts of the Shadow World's land don't actually exist. They only seem to be there;

in fact, they are merely projections of the Cloud Sea Continent," he briefly explained to Sylutia.

"When it gains 'color,' it gradually acquires elements of reality from illusion."

"Every time we walk within it, we leave faint traces. When enough accumulate, that illusory part can transform into a real world."

"But this process is quite long;

ordinary people won't live to see it.""Even though we won't see it, this brings a benefit: if your perception is exceptionally high, you can follow these faint color traces to know the routes taken by the seniors who came to this secret realm before."

"As long as we follow the same main routes, we'll be very safe. Of course, the downside is that everyone thinks this way, so such routes yield fewer gains."

"This time, our main goal is to familiarize ourselves with the environment and let Tia get used to the exploration process, so we chose the main route."

After the explanation, everyone nodded to show understanding, then plunged into that strange black-and-white world.

Traveling through the black-and-white Shadow World was exceptionally silent. Sylutia kept close within the group, walking quickly. After about fifteen minutes, they reached the first intermediate node—an area that had color.

"Whew, we can talk again," Pona said, a bit tired, supporting her waist.

"This place isn't far from the outpost;

monsters basically won't appear here," Karl said, looking around. It was his first time speaking since they set off.

"There's leftover charcoal on the ground. Someone probably camped here a couple of days ago."

"Why not just return to the town when it's this close? Maybe it was too late that day," Pona said, touching the charcoal inside. It was already somewhat damp.

Sylutia also looked into the distance. Blocked by many forest trees, her line of sight was limited. She only vaguely sensed faint 'traces' ahead, leading to the next node.

"Let's keep going," the team set off again after resting for about two minutes.

After that, they passed through several similar nodes. The journey was very smooth, likely because they hadn't truly reached the secret realm yet.

Around three in the afternoon, when Sylutia followed her teammates ahead and stepped into a forest again, a cool, shady aura washed over them, and the surrounding trees regained their color.

This was likely deep within the forest. The tree trunks were covered in moss, the air was cold and damp, and the thick canopy of branches and leaves overhead blocked most of the light, making the forest particularly dim.

"That's right, this is it. Only now have we truly arrived at the 'Deepwood Forest Path,'" the 'Bad Apple' at the front commented.

"Stay alert, everyone. We need to be careful from here on out," he said, his eyes searching around as he walked ahead with light, silent steps.

Not far behind him, Yan, clad in full heavy armor and holding a shield and longsword, followed step by step. His focus was on the front and his feet;

he didn't waste energy looking around.

In this dim forest, Sylutia couldn't hear any birdsong. The only sounds from the five of them moving through it were their own activities: faint breathing, the snapping of dry twigs underfoot, and the brushing past of shrubs and thorns.

The first few hundred meters went relatively smoothly, with no abnormalities or surprises, until Karl at the back of the team suddenly stopped.

"Wait a moment, do you see that tree?" He pointed beyond the roadside shrubs, deeper into the darker woods.

"I can't see it," Pona said, standing on her tiptoes to look a few times before shaking her head.

She didn't have any long-distance vision abilities and wasn't sensitive to some Aspect auras.

"I can sense something different, but it's quite vague. I don't know the exact spot," Yan said, looking inside before answering.

"I can roughly smell some aura;

I can determine the direction," 'Bad Apple' said, twitching his nose.

"I think I see it," Sylutia's answer slightly surprised the others.

"What do you see, Tia?" Karl turned his head to ask carefully.

"It should be a rather strange tree. It seems to have a distorted face on it," the girl described carefully.

"That's it then. It should be the 'Distorted Dead Tree,'" Bad Apple rubbed his nose, then turned his gaze to Karl.

"Should we go look for it?"

"Yes, sorry for the trouble, everyone," Karl nodded, then raised his hand. An illusory ghostly cat leaped out and dashed deep into the forest.

The group left the main path, using their weapons to push aside the weeds and branches along the way, carefully approaching the place Sylutia had described.

It was a withered, decaying tree. Its branches and trunk seemed covered in white ash, making it exceptionally silent. Yet the motionless, distorted face on the trunk made everything eerie.

"We need to chop the tree. Yan, you do it," Bad Apple said after examining it for a while, stepping back.

"Alright." Yan then put down his heavy backpack, took out an axe from it, walked up to the dead, withered tree, found the right angle, and prepared to start.

"Get into position first. Tia, you and Pona stand at the very back together, as far away as possible."

"Okay." Sylutia and Pona took a few steps back.

Karl then came to stand beside and slightly behind Yan, waiting, his eyes carefully observing the large tree.

"Alright, begin," he nodded.

Yan raised the axe high, then swung it down, striking the root part of the tree. The axe embedded into the decaying wood, and then wisps of black mist seeped out from where it had cut in.

"Indeed, this is the 'Distorted Dead Tree,'" Karl said with a complex expression.

"It's said that during the Eighth Epoch, an evil cult developed a special ritual: placing the corpses of the dead inside tree trunks and sealing the wounds."

"This large tree would also slowly die, and under the ritual's effect, gradually condense the 'Dead Embers' Aspect."

"If the ritual succeeded, it could cause the corpse buried within the trunk to also be tainted by the condensation of the 'Dead Embers' Aspect, eventually animating it into some kind of walking corpse."

"Back then, that evil cult used this method to create walking corpses and ghosts for warfare or to complete the learning of certain special spells."

"This secret realm's Shadow World was once the site where those cult members were active. To this day, there are still hidden 'Distorted Dead Trees' undiscovered, still nurturing corpse ghosts."

While he explained, Yan pulled out the axe and kept chopping. The emerging black mist became increasingly apparent.

Then, with a cracking sound, the withered, decaying large tree slowly fell over. Inside the split trunk, exposed skeletal remains were revealed, including a rotting skull.

He walked over. That ghostly cat rushed to the front of the split trunk, its fur standing on end, issuing a warning hiss, as if something invisible was coiled there.

"Boring," Karl said coldly, then scattered the strange glowing powder he carried, letting it drift toward the split trunk.

An ugly humanoid figure appeared. Its lower body was connected to the skeleton within the trunk, occasionally twisting and writhing.

[Skeletal Wraith] (First Tier · Dead Embers): A ghost nurtured by a dead corpse. Often lacks reason and only instinctively attacks living creatures.