The Cornflower Witch

Book 2: Chapter 174: Blood-Limbed Forest

Vol 2 Chapter 174 Blood-Limbed Forest

Heading down the mountain gorge, the wind was strong. Sylutia tightened her hood to keep it from blowing off.

The Windtrust horse beneath her galloped down the slope. Under Sylutia’s guidance and control, it gradually reached a most energy-efficient pace. This was the White Knight ability, the effect of Gallop.

As Sylutia grew more practiced with the ability, rider and steed began to sync. Sometimes she only eased her movements slightly, and the Windtrust horse would understand and slow down as well.

Along the way she occasionally met other adventurers heading toward the abyss, who greeted the lone girl out of curiosity about her traveling alone.

“Hey, little miss, why don’t you come with us? It’s dangerous to be alone.” On the road, a wizard in his forties and his companions waved to her.

Sylutia thanked them briefly, then continued on.

It took her about three days to reach the edge of the Petrified Forest outside the Darkmist Mountains.

After years of erosion and contamination, the trees here had turned into black stone, the brittle kind of shale that crumbles into flakes and shards at a touch.

Everything in the Shadow World is a projection of the surface continent. This forest is the projection of a surface-world forest that broke away and fell into the Twilight Sea during the Eighth Epoch.Deprived of the surface world’s support, this region of the Shadow World fell into stagnation and is gradually dissolving, being eaten away by the Twilight Sea.

This place was not yet the Twilight Sea, but it was already not far from that filthy, chaotic Monstrous Sea.

After arriving, Sylutia did not rush in. She found a spot on the forest edge to make camp and rested for a day.

She lit the campfire, put her favorite jerky, potatoes, and a small amount of vegetables into the pot, and sat by the fire to open the booklet Dickens had given her.

There were two nearby secret realms worth exploring: the Wailing Caverns and the Blood-Limbed Orchard. The former required delving into underground fissures to explore unknown dark caves; the latter meant entering a dangerous orchard and facing potential ambush at any time.

“The orchard first,” Sylutia decided after a moment’s thought. It looked closer; she could go to the caverns afterward.

After dinner she ate slowly by the fire, thinking of Pona, who had taught her cooking skills, and wondering how she was doing now.

Most of Sylutia’s cooking skills came from Pona’s instruction. With high-quality ingredients, Sylutia could now prepare Second Tier · Perfect dishes. To reach Third Tier she would need Third Tier ingredients, and she only had Third Tier Cornflower.

Growing Third Tier potatoes or wheat was within Sylutia’s ability, but the time and resources required far exceeded that for First Tier wheat. In Lantern Town, the healthiest wheat had only reached Second Tier · Rare; it would take about six months to break through to Third Tier.

Only Cornflower could be cultivated quickly under her personal talent.

While Sylutia enjoyed her meal, the Windtrust horse lay down nearby, eating the beans and fodder in its wooden trough. It occasionally drank water, tossed its head, and snorted contentedly.

That night, before sleep, Sylutia summoned three sealed Eye Tyrants to keep watch, then crawled into her sleeping bag in the tent.

After a peaceful night, she entered the Petrified Forest the next day and pressed on toward her goal.

.....

When she saw the patch of blood-colored trees in the distance, Sylutia stopped and patted the Windtrust horse beside her.

“Sorry to bother you for a bit.”

After saying that, the starlight in her eyes flickered. She raised a finger, and the Windtrust horse at once vanished. A white card appeared in her hand.

[Windtrust Horse] (Second Tier · Castle): An excellent warhorse bred by the Holy White Knight Hall. Rigorously military-trained, it can cooperate with knights in many combat techniques, excels at accelerated charges, evades obstacles and attacks, resists weak assaults, and withstands incursions from other Aspects.

She put the card away in her booklet and drew the Tree Jade Spirit Sword.

The verdant blade, empowered by Verdant Nectar Aspect, honed itself and became especially resilient. It was not her strongest weapon, but it was the most handy and durable blade she owned.

As Sylutia’s intent shifted, the blade widened and lengthened, and she easily swept away the petrified trees along the path, stepping into this blood-colored forbidden zone.

“Blood-Limbed Forest,” the name said it all. The trees looked like twisted, blood-red limbs, as if crafted by a mad creator.

Branches were extended arms; foliage was outstretched fingers; the blood-red sharp buds were like pointed nails. Seeing such plants caused physical discomfort.

Sylutia’s personal light slowly swept across the trees, most of which were shrunken branches that looked dead. Occasionally she saw dead monster corpses gripped by the fingers of branches, the blood-red tips embedded deep into the bodies, constantly drawing nutrients.

She shook her head and covered her nose to block the strange stench.

These limb-like trees were half-dead and half-alive; they only awakened when they smelled blood. Fortress records said these Blood-Limb Trees sometimes produced rare Blood Fruits. Those were Third Tier · Bloodline fruits, precious and fragrant, which attract many monsters and humans.

Many monsters die fighting for them; their corpses become the trees’ nourishment and eventually condense into the next Blood Fruit.

After walking a while, Sylutia hadn’t found any Blood Fruits yet, but she had found seven or eight monster corpses—competition here was fierce.

Winding through the strange forest, Sylutia carefully avoided the limb trees to keep her clothes from being torn by the dark-red nails.

A strange rustling came from the right, and soon five massive rats passed through a low gap in the trees and arrived at Sylutia’s side.

Fruit-Eating Rats?

Sylutia noticed their huge incisors and recalled that their teeth could chomp so hard even steel would break.

The five rats were around Second Tier · Bloodline in strength. They sensed the Verdant Nectar aura on Sylutia and stirred, hesitating. But when Sylutia drew her sword to attack, the goat-sized rats fled quickly back into the tree gaps.

She decided not to pursue them. They were filthy and carried nothing she needed.

As she pressed deeper, Sylutia felt she was approaching the center of the Blood-Limbed Forest: the number of monsters she detected increased. Most were First to Second Tier Twilight Monsters; a few Third Tier beings appeared but were far away.

The pressure from her Aspect tier could be keenly sensed by these creatures. When Sylutia displayed Third Tier · Verdant Nectar, many organisms avoided her in advance.

Yet some special creatures, upon smelling her aura, charged instead.

Eight brown-winged moths descended from the air. Their fuzzy upper bodies bore a pair of human eyeballs, and their wings displayed unsettling patterns.

[Owl-Eyed Moth] (Second Tier · Insect Moth): A monster born in the Distortion land, it favors gnawing on fruit-tree sap. Its attack method specifically counteracts Verdant Nectar Aspect plants.

The eight strange moths flapped their wings. As they beat, the wing patterns seemed to come alive, creating a crushing, uneasy sensation. Sylutia stood beneath them, feeling a faint danger creeping closer.

No—though these moths weren’t high-tier, Sylutia still backed away with caution.

Seeing her move, they rubbed their mandibles and limbs, producing a mocking, buzzing sound, then flapped closer, attempting to encircle the girl.

A subtle gleam ran through Sylutia’s pupils. After careful observation, she finally detected the source of danger.

As the moths flew, their wings scattered fine powder. What looked like ordinary dust was actually countless tiny insect eggs that hatched upon contact with living plants or animals, then burrowed in and devoured them.

Even high-tier beings could be afflicted if they accidentally inhaled the powder.

How insidious, Sylutia thought. Close-range Verdant Nectar combat would be too risky. In an instant her aura shifted; she vanished from the scene and reappeared several hundred meters away in the air, then raised her arm.

[Evil Eye Shot]

One eye-like symbol after another appeared beside her. Brilliant purple beams ignited from those eye motifs, pierced the distant moths, and burned them into melted, torn fragments.

After the attack, Sylutia slowly descended from the sky and took out her seldom-used lantern. A burst of flame spread, burning the moth corpses and the surrounding area.

These moths were not very strong, but if she had been careless, she very likely would have been infected. No wonder people said the Shadow World was dangerous; today she had a real taste of it.

Unlike the stable surface world, the monsters here mutate constantly, and you can encounter undocumented new life at any time. Their habits and methods are bizarre and unpredictable.

Even if you are higher in rank, one mistake can make you fall.