The Cornflower Witch

Chapter 72: The Sea of Monstrous Abominations

A distance of fifty meters felt as long as half a century.

When Sylutia stepped into another 'Colored Bubble', it was like a fish returning to a pond, allowing her to breathe again.

She walked to the center of this colored clearing, leaned against a tree to rest, and lay on the ground looking up at the low, incredibly thick and heavy clouds overhead.

This oppressive feeling was truly hard to get used to; it felt like the sky was about to collapse.

After resting for a little while, Sylutia stood up again. She searched her surroundings and discovered mushrooms imbued with Aspect power under some trees.

Even though she didn't recognize the origins of these mushrooms, she still decided to collect them. At the very least, these things were rare and possessed 'Aspect' power; they might come in handy later. Since these mushrooms mostly grew in ring-like patterns, Sylutia named them 'Ring-Hued Mushrooms'.

[Ring-Hued Mushroom]: Mushrooms of various colors possessing different Aspect powers, growing within the colored domains of the gray-white world.

[Ring-Hued Mushroom (Red Cap)] (First Tier - Bloodline), [Ring-Hued Mushroom (Soft Blue)] (First Tier - Snail Fish), [Ring-Hued Mushroom (Black Gills)] (First Tier - Dead Embers)

For now, she had collected three mushrooms possessing complete Aspects and carefully placed them into the pockets of her cloak.

After resting well, she set off again. This time, the chosen direction was farther, heading towards another 'Colored Bubble' that led to the top of the hillside.Upon stepping into the gray-white world, she once again felt as if she were submerged in dark water depths. Everything fell silent; she could only see her own body moving, with no sound whatsoever.

This walk was quite long. She traversed an interval of roughly 160 meters before reaching this 'Colored Bubble' to rest.

Her physical stamina wasn't heavily depleted, but the consumption of 'Verdant Nectar' made her feel somewhat tired.

If she used 100% battery as a metaphor, that last crossing had consumed about 4% of her charge. Currently, she had 95% remaining.

It was still relatively ample, but she had to consider the extreme scenario where she might exhaust her reserves and still fail to find a way out.

Just as Sylutia leaned against a tree, pondering and calculating how to conserve her stamina and energy expenditure while trying to find an exit, a peculiar 'fallen leaf' slowly drifted down from the small grove of trees above.

The leaf was brownish, similar to the surrounding foliage, but its texture was more complex, even somewhat bizarre. When it landed on the grass behind Sylutia, it suddenly twisted. This leaf, as if alive, pushed itself up, leaped onto the tree trunk, and lunged from the side and rear towards the girl's unprotected nape.

*Thwack!*

Even though she didn't see it, Sylutia's enhanced [Nature Perception Lv.2] after her advancement allowed her to react. Her body, accelerated by the Breathing Technique, leaped forward rapidly, and she swatted away the strange monster with the back of her hand.

The powerful force sent the leaf monster flying onto a tree trunk, where it slid down. At this moment, the girl suppressed the intense disgust she felt from the touch on the back of her hand and focused her attention to observe her opponent.

[Fallen Leaf Monster] (Aspect: Distortion): An unnatural, bizarre lifeform. Beneath the leaf are two black eyeballs, and along the leaf's edge are sawtooth-like tiny tentacles.

The [Distortion] Aspect!

Sylutia's pupils dilated slightly. This was her first time encountering this type of Aspect.

Aspect [Distortion]: Turbid instinct and melodies of loss of control.

It was almost entirely negative, uncontrollable, a force that polluted the world. According to records, the entire 'Seventh Epoch' was a war fought against this 'Aspect' power.

The reason why humanity's ancestor, the 'Primordial King' Mureto, led the ancient people across the Vast Star Wilderness, trekking for nearly twelve years, was precisely because their former homeland had been eroded and corrupted by the power of this Aspect, becoming uninhabitable.

As for the origin of this Aspect, secret histories record that it was due to the third descent of the alien star. Stars from another world tore through the sky and descended upon this world. Their unconsciously spreading power caused this world to distort and mutate, thus giving birth to the [Distortion] Aspect.

Compared to the first alien star, which gave life to the world, and the second, which gave light to the world, the descent of the third alien star brought chaos and destruction to the world. The sky fell, countless dragon descendants and fairies died. To resist the tearing impact of the alien star and the prying gazes of great beings from outside, dragons and fairies, in a rare alliance, set aside past conflicts and jointly fought against this calamity.

The Seventh Epoch was destined to be an epoch filled with chaos and decline. Many beings from ancient times perished, the earth was pierced, the world's shell shattered. Even the usually optimistic fairies fell into despair during that era.

The recollection of knowledge in her mind ended. Sylutia once again focused on the monster before her. Although it didn't look large, she dared not be careless.

Drawing the short sword from her waist, Sylutia adjusted her breathing. After observing Sylutia for a while, the 'Fallen Leaf Monster' attacked again. It first ran circles around Sylutia, attempting to assault the girl from behind once more.

However, once this sneak attack was discovered, the process became somewhat laughable. Because the monster had no legs, it could only move by wriggling its tiny tentacles and by bending its leaf body to spring forward. These two methods of movement made it easy for the girl to find its rhythm and pattern, allowing her to dodge effortlessly.

Finding that its circling maneuver failed, the little monster seemed quite annoyed. It shook the tiny tentacles around its body, emitting a strange hissing sound, and then attempted to circle behind her again.

Of course, it failed once more. Sylutia, now familiar with its behavior, shifted her steps slightly, creating distance and rendering its flanking attempt useless.

Then, it tried to circle behind her again.

At this point, Sylutia began to understand. Its level of intelligence was quite limited, or rather, it was incapable of complex thought, only capable of repeating a certain process over and over.

This is getting a bit boring, the girl thought. However, she still carefully observed for a while longer before finally taking action.

The short sword accurately pierced the fallen leaf monster in mid-air, lifted it, and then pinned it to the tree trunk.

Black blood oozed from the 'leaf's' wound. Where it flowed over the tree bark, wisps of greenish smoke rose, and then the wood underwent a certain degree of deformation and distortion.

Now Sylutia understood why the trees here were all strangely shaped and abnormal.

It seemed the [Distortion] Aspect had already permeated everywhere, including these trees, with only differences in the severity of the corruption.

The only thing Sylutia was curious about was how those mushrooms managed to grow. Could it be that the ancient Aspect 'Fungal Threads' truly possessed resistance to distortion and erosion?

The blood wasn't blood, but some kind of liquid and black mist. After the fallen leaf monster's blood flowed down, it initially spread and trickled along the bark, but soon evaporated into the air, seeping into the surrounding environment.

Finally, Sylutia pulled out the sword blade and discovered that even the forged metal of the blade had undergone some deformation and twisting; the front section of the blade had become curved and warped upward.

This kind of erosion was too bizarre and powerful, no wonder the fairies of that era had no way to deal with [Distortion].

As for how the various races of that time overcame [Distortion], that great war actually had no victor. The Twilight Sea beneath the seven continents is the graveyard where countless twisted monsters piled up.

The Primordial Sea has already been polluted. The source of all life's rhythms, [Bloodline], is already connected to [Distortion]. Deep within that Twilight Sea, twisted abominations that will destroy the world are being nurtured.