"What is that?"
In a human village dozens of miles away, someone saw dark clouds shrouding the sky in broad daylight, then spotted a purple star slowly rising at the heart of the distant darkness.
"Something seems to be flying toward our village."
Someone else made another discovery.
"Daddy, Mommy..."
Among the children, some had sharp enough eyes to notice the swathes of crystalline color sweeping rapidly toward them through the clouds on the horizon.
That was definitely nothing good.
Instinctively frightened, they clung to their parents' legs or took the adults' hands.
"They're bugs! So many bugs!"
That crystalline sheen drew closer and closer. Only when it reached the sky above the village did the villagers realize it was made up of tiny moths. The crystalline color filling the sky was the powder the little moths scattered.
Any human who inhaled this moth powder, even a little, would quickly lose consciousness and collapse.
And so a strange sight unfolded: countless humans fainted beside roads, in fields, and inside villages in broad daylight, falling like rows of dominoes.
The onslaught was fierce.
It began in the area near the Forest of No Return, spreading outward in a ring.
It spread frighteningly fast.
One village, two villages... ten villages... a hundred villages...
Whether they were able-bodied adults, the elderly, children, or women, anyone who inhaled the moth powder fell victim to it.
Countless people watched in terror as disaster approached, yet they were powerless to do anything. They could only watch their wives and children, their elders, and the friends and relatives around them lose consciousness and topple over. Of course, they themselves were no exception.
With death so close, they had no idea what to do.
They wanted to flee, but how could human legs outrun moths' wings?
"Thud, thud..."