In the shallow soil lay the rotting dried corpse of a woman, entangled by twisting vines that seemed almost alive. The vines, covered in slime and lumps, seemed to burrow deep into the earth, as though they had existed alongside this land since ancient times.
Wiping away the icy crystals formed from his bloody tears, Shade understood what he was seeing.
Though the corpse was covered in horrifying curses, merely seeing it would not have unsettled him so badly. What truly affected him were the vines. Having encountered the power of the Pantanal Evil in various ways, Shade could practically see a label identifying those vines as belonging to that evil.
This Great Swamp had been used to seal that dreadful thing away, but the seal had actually developed problems many years ago. Otherwise, an organization like the Pantanal Voodoo Society would never have appeared.
Those vines were bizarre plants formed from the power of the evil sealed in subspace reaching toward the Material World.
Though the skeleton appeared to have been buried for only a few centuries, judging from the distinctive curse and traces of the Whisper Element upon it, if Shade was correct, it was very likely the main body of the relic Swamp Witch.
It had to be her main body.
He returned to Iluna's side. The girl, whose mental state had improved somewhat, also jumped down from her horse and listened as Shade described his discovery.
"So, after she died such a miserable death, her remains were captured by the Pantanal Evil. That's why, even after becoming a relic, she still couldn't leave the Great Swamp?"
Iluna asked while holding Shade's hand. Shade nodded, his eyes searching through the wind and snow for the woman who showed only half her face each time.
"Though there's no