A gentle breeze blew past, yet it could not ease the oppressive tension gathering unseen.
The area was empty and open. Ahead, the Giant Tree had fallen, no longer blocking the sky. The figures arriving one after another remained far apart rather than gathering together, and none of them moved quickly. Yet even in this open space, a subtle, intangible atmosphere took shape, bringing with it a peculiar gravity.
Ruger blinked. He sensed no danger from the figure faintly visible amid the flickering light and darkness, but he still chose to put Zhizhi away beforehand.
A figure sat on the armrest of a chair.
It was humanoid.
It seemed to have a pair of wings as well.
It also seemed quite relaxed.
This was the thing deliberately sending out that call.
Ruger blinked and kept walking, with Dati and the other two beside him.
The fallen trunks grew tangled together, influencing one another as though locked in a contest of strength, forming an enormous chair. Was that chair its own?
It seemed to be sitting there with its legs curled up.
It seemed to be turning its head.
Perhaps the prolonged scrutiny had alerted it to something.
Ruger blinked, then turned his head, no longer straining to look.
"What did you see?" Dati had been watching him all along.
"Nothing much. Just a person. Looks like they have wings, too..." Ruger blinked to relax his eyes. Straining to peer through that flickering light and darkness was exhausting.
The moment he finished speaking, all three looked over.
Seeing his apparent eye discomfort, as though he had overexerted himself using some extraordinary special method, they believed his words a little more without needing any further explanation.
"Where? In the middle of that pile of twisted trunks?" Dati asked curiously.
"Imagine it as