No Need to Shut It Off?

[Load: Medium]

Silver Wolf looked at the [Load: Medium] line.

It even restored some of my status?

She was a little surprised. The Forest Moon God's blessing had not only suppressed the corruption, but also shaved off part of the load she had built up from Aether Editing.

That was pretty useful.

The Forest Moon God's voice rang out again.

[Children...]

[Next, you need to use immortality to return and find the Goddess of Life.]

The excitement on Windchaser's face abruptly vanished, replaced by confusion.

Vernacular Poet immediately turned to look at Silver Wolf as well.

Sunken Crow looked over too. They knew Silver Wolf was not a player.

They also knew she did not have the resurrection mechanism they did.

If they had to rely on "dying to return" here, what would Silver Wolf do?

Naturally, Silver Wolf understood the looks in their eyes.

She flexed her fingers and lightly bumped her fists together.

"What are you looking at?" She raised her head toward the branch cavities continuously splitting open above them. "It's time for me to show off."

The Forest Moon God's voice paused.

[?]

[...]

[You...]

[You are not a traveler.]

The corner of Silver Wolf's lips curled up. "Yo~ Sharp eyes."

She had not intended to hide it.

The Forest Moon God's voice became lower, but there was a trace of almost imperceptible relief in it.

[So that is how it is.]

[You are also someone from beyond this world.]

Silver Wolf did not deny it.

The Forest Moon God continued:

[Then I will bestow my final strength upon you.]

[After that, I leave it to you...]

Before Silver Wolf could reply, an extremely faint moon-white light suddenly descended from above.

That light was different from the blessing earlier.

It was smaller, yet more solid.

Like a polished fragment, it fell into Silver Wolf's palm.

Silver Wolf lowered her head, and the light melted into her glove.

Her interface flashed.

[Item: Stabilizer (Single Use)]

[Stabilizer: Processed power of Elation. Can stabilize one use of Level 999.]

Silver Wolf looked at the text. "Is this you entrusting your children to me?"

The moment she spoke, the entire space began to shake violently.

The branches overhead snapped one after another.

The pale silver tree walls were torn open from within by black-red corruption. Huge amounts of splinters and branches came raining down, while somewhere in the distance, something enormous and heavy seemed to be breaking through its seal.

Windchaser looked up and shouted, "Silver Wolf!"

Silver Wolf was already floating in the air.

Silver-blue motes spread from behind her, piecing themselves together into a pair of pixelated wings. Their edges flickered constantly, as though they had been hastily assembled from countless fragments of data.

She looked back. "What?"

Windchaser had wanted to say something, but the words caught in her throat. "You... have wings too?"

Vernacular Poet immediately raised a hand and knocked her on the head. "Quit being amazed."

He spoke rapidly. "Start recording now—the next part is probably a key plot point."

Windchaser rubbed her head as she genuinely activated her recording function. "I know, I know!"

Sunken Crow looked upward. "It really is speeding up."

The ceiling of the space split apart completely.

A massive pitch-black eyeball appeared behind the crack.

It had no complete body, or at least, they could not see one yet.

Only that eyeball hung in the depths, coldly looking down at them. Rings of dark-red patterns floated within its black sclera, while its pupil was as deep as a bottomless well.

It did not speak. It merely glanced at them.

Several black spots immediately surfaced on Silver Wolf's arm, and bone-piercing cold surged through her heart.

It was as if something was trying to write the status "corruption" into her body.

Windchaser and the other two had it worse. In almost an instant, large black blotches surfaced across their skin, while abnormal status notifications continuously popped up in their status bars.

Windchaser looked down, then raised her head toward the eyeball and cursed through gritted teeth, "What are you staring at? If you've got the guts, show me your health bar!"

Vernacular Poet had already stacked light shields on himself and Sunken Crow.

Silver Wolf looked at the eyeball, and a flood of garbled text appeared inside her goggles.

[Abyssal Projection]

[Level: Unable to determine]

[Status: Descending]

[Corruption Intensity: Extremely High]

[Warning: Do not engage]

[Warning: Do not engage]

[Warning: Do not engage]

Silver Wolf gave a faint laugh. So this is the real culprit behind it all?

She opened her own interface.

[Silver Wolf]

[Cartridge LV57 → 60 (Level increased through roleplay)]

[Blessing: Forest Moon God]

[Item: Stabilizer (Single Use)]

[Stabilizer: Processed power of Elation. Can stabilize one use of Level 999.]

She looked at the item description. The Forest Moon God really is a god. Can't underestimate her. But! It's time for me to spin up!

Silver Wolf raised her hand and pointed at the pitch-black eyeball overhead.

"What? You think being big makes you impressive?"

Her pixel wings snapped open, and there was a hint of laughter in her voice.

"Watch me tear you down."

The LV999 Cartridge appeared between her fingers. It was quiet, ordinary in appearance, and did not even have any extra visual effects.

But this time, it did not spring away.

The moon-white light of the Stabilizer covered the Cartridge's edges, miraculously and temporarily suppressing the power that was nearly tearing her body apart.

Silver Wolf slid the Cartridge across her glove.

"Watch closely."

Silver-blue pixels exploded beneath her feet.

The space within the World Tree seemed to be forcibly dragged into another layer of reality. The tree walls, branches, black-red corruption, and falling chunks of wood were all covered by blue-violet data light. Fine grids and continuously scrolling characters emerged along their edges.

Silver Wolf's body rose into the air.

She did not transform into anything else. She still had her long silver-gray hair, cropped jacket, and goggles pressed against her forehead. It was only that the luminous patterns on her goggles became brighter, while silver-blue pixels continuously spilled from the edges of her clothes and gloves, as though her entire body was being reloaded.

The next moment, black mechanical wing frames unfolded from her back, segment by segment, like floating armaments or some kind of data interface.

Then translucent iridescent wings extended from those mechanical frames. Films of blue-white, cyan-purple, and pale pink light spread open layer by layer. Fine circuit patterns flowed within the wings, and sheets of pixel fragments scattered from their edges.

She stood at the center of the data domain.

Windchaser stared with her mouth open. "What kind of form is this...?"

Vernacular Poet was already speechless.

Sunken Crow looked up at Silver Wolf, his pupils contracting slightly.

Silver Wolf did not look at them. She stared at the eyeball.

"The one sending you on your final journey is the last emperor of Black Domain!"

She raised a hand, and an absurdly enormous Emoji popped out beside her. It looked like an exaggerated smiling face, or perhaps the open maw of a monster.

"Now, it's my turn."

The next moment.

Silver Wolf vanished from where she stood.

She moved so fast that Windchaser's recording could only capture a string of blue afterimages.

The enormous Emoji that had suddenly appeared opened its giant mouth and slammed straight into the pitch-black eyeball behind the crack.

The eyeball finally reacted.

The dark-red patterns spread wildly, and corruption swept toward Silver Wolf like a tide.

But before it could reach her, the blue pixel domain dismantled it, folded it, and re-encoded it.

The Emoji bit down on the eyeball.

Crack.

There was no sound.

Yet it felt as though a piece of the entire space had been bitten apart.

The eyeball shook violently.

A silent scream exploded inside everyone's minds.

Windchaser covered her ears, her face turning pale.

Vernacular Poet's Holy Radiance Shield cracked instantly.

Sunken Crow dropped to one knee, driving his short blade into the tree roots to steady himself.

Silver Wolf raised her hand.

A second tear.

The pitch-black eyeball was forcibly dragged halfway out from behind the crack, then compressed into countless fragments by the blue pixel domain.

The Abyssal Projection finally shattered.

Black corruption exploded outward in every direction.

Silver Wolf merely waved her hand.

The corruption was blocked by a blue grid and tossed into a rift in the void like garbage files.

The next second.

She snapped her fingers with her backhand.

Windchaser and the other two felt the ground disappear beneath their feet.

When their vision stabilized again, they were already standing at the entrance outside World Tree Branch Shadow.

The moon-white gate trembled violently behind them before slamming shut.

World Tree Branch Shadow still stood upon the water.

Its pale silver trunk was still glowing.

Only, a thin crack had appeared in the starry reflection upon the water's surface.

Silver Wolf landed on the ground.

Her Level 999 form faded away at the same time.

The blue pixel domain contracted, her wings dispersed, and her clothes returned to their original appearance.

She lowered her head and glanced at her interface.

[Silver Wolf]

[Cartridge LV60 (Level increased through roleplay)]

[Hidden: Unknown Save Cartridge LV999]

[Load: Medium]

[Status: Continue resting]

[Blessing: Forest Moon God]

[Remaining Cartridge Time: 21s]

[May you remain weak forever]

Silver Wolf looked at the [Remaining Cartridge Time: 21s] line, and her eyes shifted slightly.

Yo? There's still time remaining.

What a pleasant surprise.

Vernacular Poet finally came back to his senses. His composure was completely shattered for once, and his voice rose several pitches higher than usual.

"My god! You— I—"

He looked at Silver Wolf as if he had only just realized what he had been teamed up with.

"No, Wolf Venerable! You've been this strong all along?!"

Silver Wolf crossed her arms and looked at him. "What, got a problem?"

"No, no."

Vernacular Poet immediately waved his hands.

He took a breath before barely managing to slow his speech. "The main thing is... the other side... is the Abyss."

Windchaser was completely stunned.

Sunken Crow said nothing. He only looked at Silver Wolf, his gaze darker than before.

Silver Wolf raised her eyes and looked at the black fissure above World Tree Branch Shadow, which had yet to fully dissipate.

Her tone was flat. "Really? It just felt like some roadside mob."

The air fell silent for a moment.

Windchaser lowered her head to look at the black spots that had yet to fully fade from her body, then at the World Tree entrance that had nearly crushed them to death moments ago.

"Roadside mob..."

She repeated softly.

Vernacular Poet held his forehead. "Wolf Venerable is just insanely strong."

Silver Wolf chewed her bubble gum. "Your levels are low. Once they're higher, it'll be OK."

Windchaser: "..."

Vernacular Poet: "..."

Sunken Crow: "..."

Silver Wolf did not explain further.

She raised her head and looked at World Tree Branch Shadow.

That tree was still beautiful.

But in her goggles, its status panel had changed slightly.

[World Tree]

[Status: Remnant]

[Abyss Connection: Residual]

[Forest Moon God: As if Dead]

That attack just now had only torn away the eye that had reached in.

It was not the source.

Silver Wolf watched for two seconds, then pushed her goggles up. "Don't celebrate too soon."

She turned around.

"The main quest isn't over yet."