The Northern Mountains cross between the northern and southern continents, home to a vast number of Great Beasts.
It is the largest forest in the world.
Indeed, it is a mountain forest.
Near the territories of the three human cities — Xianfeng City, Red Pine City, and White Stone City — the forest was situated in an area with relatively gentle terrain.
A giant White Deer, standing over 3 meters tall, carried the Elven Saintess toward the great Chasm that was still carving its way through the earth.
Wherever the White Deer’s hooves stepped, grass and trees flourished with new growth; even a withered giant tree nearby suddenly radiated new life.
It appeared to walk slowly, yet as it strolled through the woods, it traversed the distance from afar to up close in the blink of an eye.
Even at such high speed, it left a profound impression on every living being it passed.
The Saintess of Nature, the favored elf Eliv, cradled a harp in her arms.
Her slender fingers brushed over the strings as she sat sideways atop the White Deer, humming a melodious, gentle tune.
Where her voice drifted, it felt like a spring breeze brushing past, bringing a Divine Revival to all things.
The light from the Starry Night within the Chasm was suppressed by the sound.
After a final struggle, it fell back into the depths of the earth.
The Vengeful Spirits that had been continuously flying out of the slit also felt their madness and ferocity slowly melt away under the beautiful melody.
Deprived of their malice, they fell into a state of hollow confusion.
The song then guided them toward their path.
These lowly souls, once deluded and consumed by Desire until they were ruled as Slaves, shed the pain and beauty they had experienced under the brilliant sunlight.
Every impurity they carried was purified until not a shred of cloudiness remained.
They transformed into the purest Spirit Bodies and finally turned into snowflakes, returning to the currents of the Spirit Sea.
Eliv passed over those great chasms.
Deep beneath the earth, roots spread out like stitches in a wound, closing the rift in the ground. Old trees fell, but new ones grew strong upon the land.
The dead Magical Beasts could not be resurrected, but the power within the song snatched those on the brink of death back from the hands of the reaper.
Broken legs slowly mended under that soft glow.
There was no pain in the process; the Magical Beasts did not scream, showing only joy and peace.
Beneath collapsed trees, roots arched up to release trapped beasts, and the light healed their injuries.
The White Deer walked atop a high hill where the view was vast.
Eliv jumped down from its back and stood barefoot on the lush grass, walking to the edge of the cliff to gaze at the distant horizon.
She watched for a long time before finally sighing and letting out a helpless laugh.
‘Fine, I’ll just give her some time.’
Eliv knew that Enya would eventually come looking for her. She had noted the debt from today’s escape; when that day came, she would settle the score with Enya all at once.
She turned around, and as the White Deer lowered its head, Eliv reached out to stroke it.
As the Elven Saintess — or rather, the Saintess of the Church of Nature — she could not leave this forest. It wasn’t that there was a physical restraint, but rather that responsibility prevented her from chasing Enya. After all, beneath this forest…
***
On the other side, Enya had been flying for a long time. She had nearly squeezed both of her Magic Cores dry before choosing a place to land.
It was a small cave in the forest.
This was a plain woodland to the east of White Stone City, not adjacent to the Northern Mountains.
After Enya landed, she set down the two she had been carrying under her arms.
When Sophia’s feet touched the ground, her legs went soft. Unable to stand, she collapsed directly onto the dirt floor. Nina fared a bit better.
“Mama Dragon is so fast; Nina had so much fun…”
She was referring to the flight.
Nina followed Sophia’s lead and plopped onto the ground, her legs sprawled out with no concern for her image.
Sophia was more refined in that regard; despite being exhausted, she maintained a dignified posture while combing through her messy hair with her fingers.
Enya looked around before setting down the birdcage hanging from her waist. However, she was currently in no mood to deal with Sylvia.
She placed the cage on the ground and, after saying she needed a brief rest, walked into the depths of the cave to sit cross-legged.
The Sword of Flowers had a 1,000-meter range, and the effort had left her 5th-Tier Swordsmanship core completely limp.
Afterward, Enya had relied entirely on her Spell Core. Now, not much was left in that core either, and she hated being in this weakened state.
Over 1 year ago, she had been in a weakened state when Archethia took advantage of her.
If she had been at full strength, Enya wouldn’t have been forced into that…
‘Wait, I shouldn’t even bring that up!’
Enya grew angry the moment she thought of Archethia.
That woman had never missed an opportunity to take advantage of her and had done such outrageous things.
Pushing the intrusive thoughts aside, she began to focus on recovering the two Magic Cores in her body.
With Enya’s current Spirit Power, controlling two cores was easy; it was only when advancing that she needed the Black Dragon Princess to give her a push while she exerted herself from the front.
Meanwhile, after sitting on the ground for a short while, Nina regained her vitality. She stood up and jogged over to the golden birdcage.
Sylvia’s head looked quite pitiful.
While they were flying through the sky, she had bumped around inside the cage quite a bit, leaving her face covered in bruises that looked painful.
However, she hadn’t made a single sound. Now, she kept her eyes tightly shut, clearly unwilling to acknowledge Nina.
The cage possessed some kind of suppression ability, leaving her unable to use any power while imprisoned.
Moreover, Sylvia was just a head.
She was only alive because she was a Puppet; she didn’t need a body like a Human.
Her Spell Core was inside her head, but it was currently dim and lifeless.
Nina reached out a finger and poked it.
“Hey, Spider Hag, you still alive? If you’re alive, make a sound.”
Sylvia remained silent.
Nina blinked her large eyes and, with an innocent expression, lifted the cage to give Sylvia the experience of a “Super Great Whirlwind.”
After ten rotations, Nina finally stopped her swinging arm.
She looked at the beautiful head inside, which had now opened its eyes.
Nina’s watery blue eyes were full of wonder.
“Sister Sophia, she’s still alive! Before, she could still talk when she was just a mouth. Is that an ability Humans can have?”
Clearly, Sylvia was no longer considered human.
A spider girl? A doll girl? Or perhaps some other thing.
Regardless, she couldn’t be human, as no pure human could survive as just a head.
At least, among all the humans Nina had killed, she had never seen such tenacious vitality.
Even most Orcs lacked that ability.
Sophia had just finished straightening her hair when Nina shoved the cage into her arms.
She looked at Sylvia inside and couldn’t help but twitch the corner of her mouth.
Suppressing the urge to laugh, Sophia scolded Nina.
“This is the Predecessor’s pet. Don’t play with it recklessly. What if you break it? We should find a place to hang it up.”
“Huh?”
Nina found the suggestion quite disappointing.
It was like picking a beautiful mushroom outside only for her mother to say it was inedible and snatch it away to throw it out.
The little elf girl grumbled under her breath.
“If Sister Sophia won’t play, Nina will play by herself!”
With that, Nina ran outside carrying the cage. Every few steps was a little hop, her stride revealing her cheerful mood.
Sophia watched Nina’s retreating back and sighed helplessly.
She felt as though her authority as an older sister was becoming less and less effective.
No, it was likely because of the Predecessor.
When a higher senior was around, Nina wasn’t very willing to listen to her; she only behaved when the two sisters were alone.
“Sigh, forget it. Let her be.”
Sophia didn’t think reporting this to Enya would result in the birdcage being taken away. Instead, Enya would likely tell her to let her sister play if she enjoyed it. Sophia had experienced that kind of scenario many times.
She glanced into the cave and sensed that Enya was rapidly recovering her magic. Sophia stood up and walked toward the entrance.
By evening, Enya caught the scent of something burning. She couldn’t help but furrow her brow as she opened her eyes and looked toward the mouth of the cave.
“What’s going on?”
Enya stood up and walked outside, only to run into Sophia coming back in. She stared at the charred object skewered on a branch in Sophia’s hand. It was barely possible to tell that it had once been the shape of a fish.
Enya’s eyelids twitched several times. She really wanted to ask Sophia why she had interrogated the fish under such extreme torture. When she smelled the burning, she had thought Nina was roasting Sylvia, but it turned out they were just grilling fish.
However, this heavily carbonized fish didn’t look like food at all.
“Predecessor… do you want to eat?”
Sophia held out the “grilled fish” to Enya. She was also quite embarrassed, knowing it wasn’t exactly appetizing.
Enya took it but didn’t even dare to sniff it.
“Is this a fish?”
“I… I think so?”
Sophia wasn’t sure what it was now, but it had definitely been a fish at the start. It simply had an unfortunate encounter with fire…
“Ahem… Predecessor, it might not taste very good. This is my first time making something like this. I never had to cook for myself back in the Elven Kingdom, so please don’t mind.”
Sophia pursed her lips and lowered her head, but her eyes peeked upward.
Her expression clearly said “I tried my best” and “Since I worked so hard, won’t you give it a try?”
Was Enya the type of person to be held hostage by a young girl’s gaze?
Clearly not!
She looked at Sophia, then back at the carbonized fish in her hand. Enya assumed a serious expression and said to the Missy.
“Actually, I think it’s firewood.”
“Huh?”
“My dear Missy, you really haven’t lifted a finger in your life, have you?”
“Um, what does that mean? Is it some sort of slang from the Human World?”
Sophia didn’t quite understand the meaning of the phrase.
As she was pondering it, Enya reached out and rubbed her head, instantly switching from serious mode to a doting senior posture.
“Eating is the most important part of an adventure. I’ll teach you.”
“O-Okay, Predecessor…”
Caught between hot and cold, distance and intimacy, Sophia was completely swayed by the sudden shift.