Not Being Able to Think of a Title Is fvv's Way of Thinking!

Lumina had not completely calmed down yet.

She knelt over the tree roots, her hands no longer resembling an Elf's.

Black-red sap had forced apart her knuckles, and slender roots trailed from her fingertips as they crawled forward along the ground. Her pupils flickered between azure and blood-red, as though someone had forcibly crammed two consciousnesses into the same body.

She looked at Silver Wolf.

Or rather, she seemed to be looking through Silver Wolf, toward somewhere farther away.

"Let me be free..."

Her voice was very soft.

The next instant, it suddenly rose.

"Free... I want to see the Lord God, I want to..."

Black-red roots twitched out from behind her back, then dangled limply in midair. She seemed to want to approach Silver Wolf, yet something appeared to be dragging her from behind, leaving her able to wriggle forward only inch by inch.

Windchaser gripped her sword, her fingers turning white from the force.

Vernacular Poet said nothing.

His mana was nearly empty, and only a thin layer of Holy Radiance remained. Even maintaining Windchaser's healing was becoming difficult.

Sunken Crow stood slightly behind them, a short blade hanging from his hand.

Silver Wolf watched Lumina.

Inside her goggles, Lumina's status panel was frantically flickering.

[Lumina]

[Identity: World Tree's Other Half]

[Status: Brief Clarity / Abyss Backlash]

[Abyss Contamination: Out of Control]

[Sanity: Collapsing]

[Life Structure: Irreversibly Damaged]

Silver Wolf fell silent for a moment.

A faint trace of pity flashed through her eyes. "Tch."

Lumina seemed to have heard her.

She raised her head, and a touch of azure briefly surfaced within her blood-red eyes.

"Please..."

Her voice was nearly shattered.

"Don't let me... keep hearing Him..."

Sunken Crow moved.

His figure vanished from the shadow cast by the tree wall, then appeared behind Lumina the next instant.

His short blade stabbed out soundlessly, piercing through her neck in one strike.

Lumina's body shuddered violently.

Black-red sap flowed down the short blade.

The agony and distortion in her eyes slowly calmed at that moment instead.

Azure resurfaced for an instant.

It was as though she had finally heard something quiet.

Her lips moved softly.

No sound came out.

Then, she fell.

The black-red roots detached from her body, withering one after another like threads scorched by fire.

Sunken Crow crouched down.

He silently inspected the remains Lumina had left behind, extracting a moon-white fragment from the black-red sap before sealing several roots that had not been fully contaminated inside a material case.

Windchaser looked at him. "You're still looting the corpse at a time like this?"

Sunken Crow did not look up. "Don't waste it."

Windchaser opened her mouth.

In the end, she did not argue.

Vernacular Poet sat nearby, chugging mana potions like a storm.

After finishing one bottle, he pulled out a second.

"Your mana's still empty?" Windchaser asked.

Vernacular Poet tipped his head back and drank, his throat bobbing.

"Burp—"

He paused for half a second, then raised a hand to keep healing Windchaser as he said, "Don't rush me. I'm drinking."

Pale golden light fell over Windchaser.

The maximum health and mana she had lost earlier had not fully recovered, and her movements were still not particularly smooth. Vernacular Poet could only suppress the remaining contamination first, preventing it from burrowing deeper into her bones.

Silver Wolf did not join their conversation.

She looked around.

After Lumina fell, this branch chamber had not returned to normal.

On the contrary, the black-red patterns inside the tree walls had become clearer. They clung to the interior of the World Tree like blood vessels, slowly pulsing. The passage that had originally been sealed off in the distance had not reappeared either.

Silver Wolf pushed her goggles down slightly.

Her vision was filled with broken garbled characters.

[World Tree Branch Shadow · Interior]

[Status: Corrupted]

[Contamination Synchronization: Rising]

[Exit Record: Lost]

[Deep Space: Opening]

"We've sunk even deeper." She looked at Vernacular Poet. "Can you see the map?"

Before Vernacular Poet could open the interface, Sunken Crow had already checked. "No."

His voice was low. "The quest isn't over yet. We probably need to get out."

The instant those words fell.

A voice appeared beside everyone's ears.

[Get out?]

The voice was not loud, yet it seemed to fall directly into their minds.

Windchaser instantly tightened her grip on her sword.

Vernacular Poet raised his staff.

Sunken Crow drew his short blade again.

Silver Wolf took half a step back, the data lines in her goggles sweeping wildly through their surroundings.

There was no one there.

Yet that voice remained.

Silver Wolf said coldly, "Who?"

She raised her hand, and silver-blue pixel blocks spread through the air in every direction, trying to catch the source of the voice.

[This is the place where a god is sealed.]

Silver Wolf did not follow its lead. "Come out." A finer ring of blue light lit around her fingertips. "This pretending-to-be-mysterious act is boring."

That voice fell silent for a moment.

Then, every branch vein within the World Tree trembled gently, as though stirred by wind.

[Little girl...]

[I am the Forest Moon God.]

Windchaser's expression changed instantly.

Vernacular Poet held his breath as well.

Sunken Crow did not lower his weapon.

Silver Wolf still did not release the data lines in her hands.

That voice continued.

[I was forced into slumber by the Abyss.]

[And this place has long since been altered by the Abyss.]

Silver Wolf looked at the black-red tree walls around them and raised an eyebrow slightly.

"So what you're saying is..." She paused. "You got locked inside your own house?"

The air went quiet for half a second.

That voice seemed to have been choked speechless by her as well.

[...]

[If we put it your way.]

[Then my house is already on fire, and I have long since been burned.]

Silver Wolf chewed her bubble gum. "You're pretty funny." She sounded relaxed, but she did not lower her hand.

Vernacular Poet took half a step forward then, his tone far more solemn than usual.

"Lord Forest Moon."

"We are travelers of the Goddess of Life."

"I assume you know of our existence."

Deep within the branch veins, moon-white light flickered faintly.

Vernacular Poet continued asking:

"What exactly happened to the Elves?"

"And what happened to the World Tree?"

"Why did the Abyss infect a god like you?"

After that string of questions landed, the branch chamber fell silent once again.

Several seconds later, the Forest Moon God's voice finally sounded again.

[I did not expect so many questions upon awakening.]

[But there is no time to explain them one by one.]

The black-red patterns spread faster across the tree walls. From above the branch chamber came a heavy scraping sound, as though something enormous was awakening deeper within.

[The Abyss is about to reach this place.]

[Children, I know that the Goddess of Life has granted you immortality.]

The Forest Moon God did not pause.

[I will tell you the secrets of this world.]

[Wherever they may be, the worlds above and below are equal.]

[The Abyss has grown stronger because of an unknown existence.]

[They have received aid from beyond this world.]

[Pass this on to the Goddess of Life. She will understand.]

Vernacular Poet's expression turned extremely ugly. "Aid from beyond this world..." The sentence was brief, yet unnaturally heavy.

The Forest Moon God's voice grew fainter and fainter, as though the deeper darkness dragged Him down another inch with every word.

[Though the remnants of my body live like the dead.]

[It would be better this time... to grant you my protection.]

As the words fell.

Moon-white light surged from deep within the tree wall.

It was no longer swallowed by black-red corruption as before. Instead, it transformed into a gentle veil of light that fell upon Windchaser, Vernacular Poet, and Sunken Crow.

Prompts appeared before all three of them at once.

[You have received the Forest Moon God's protection]

Windchaser froze for a moment. The next second, her eyes lit up. "Percentage-based double regeneration?!"

The maximum health and mana she had lost began to slowly recover.

Though they did not instantly refill, their limits were gradually being raised back up.

Vernacular Poet looked at his status panel and sucked in a sharp breath. "I suddenly understand why people are obsessed with the main storyline..."

Sunken Crow said nothing, but his grip on the short blade visibly loosened.

A panel popped up for Silver Wolf as well.

[Silver Wolf]

[Cartridge LV55 → 57 (Roleplay Level Increase)]

[Hidden: Unknown Save Cartridge Level 999]

[Load: Medium]

[Status: Continue Resting]

[Protection: Forest Moon God]

[May you forever remain weak]