Chapter 78: Multiple Histories
Shadow World, surface layer, nameless hill.
Xilutiya awoke from her restful sleep. Her weary body felt much better now, and her spirit had recovered somewhat. Though not at 100% power, she was probably around 80%.
Returning once more to the Weathered Iron Sword, Xilutiya recalled the scenes she had seen in her dream.
At the end of that battle, the knight gripping the longsword slowly fell, but the sword blade he had thrust into the stone became a beacon in this Shadow World, briefly parting the thick, heavy fog in the sky.
In this brief gap, another figure crossed the boundary of the reflection, arriving from the Continent above the Sea of Clouds to the Shadow World below the Sea of Clouds.
The other was a practitioner of Moon Attribute nature, with a graceful figure, and such people were called “witches” in many stories.
The witch, wearing a wide-brimmed pointed hat, descended into this Shadow World and confronted the Ghost Hag.
“You shameful traitors, actually mixing with those stone dogs!” The Ghost Hag saw the witch who had descended into this world, her face showing hatred and anger.
“Treason? Not really. We were just barely holding together anyway.” The witch’s voice was ethereal as she pressed one hand on her hat brim, revealing her pair of silver eyes.
“The Moon Council has long been a name without substance. The Golden Honey Dynasty that initially supported the organization’s founding has long collapsed. Where are there any ally promises left?”
“For this Continent, we fought the Silver Radiance Church for several hundred years. In the end, no one won, and instead that black rabbit got the inheritance of the Brilliant Moon, becoming a new Star Lord. Now, even when we borrow the power of the moon, we have to look at ‘His’ face. It’s no longer the prosperous era of the past.”
“You old folks, hiding in the forest every day, should come out and see the world.”
“No need for you to mock me!” The Ghost Hag gnashed her teeth and pointed her finger straight at the witch floating in midair.
The giant Black Snake prowling around the Ghost Hag flew out again, charging rapidly toward the witch in the sky. Its gaping huge bloody maw was enough to swallow three witches in one bite.
“Ah, this ‘Talil’s Black Snake’ trick from a thousand years ago—you’re still playing it.” The witch fanned her hand dismissively.
She raised the Wooden Moon Staff in her hand and swung it simply. Invisible silver moonlight manifested behind her, illuminating the attacking Black Snake.
The Black Snake, which had just been baring its fangs and claws, instantly froze, changed color as if petrified, then dispersed into countless crystal powder falling from the sky.
Having lost her important attack means, the Ghost Hag was furious. She yanked off the Bone Necklace around her neck, chanted incantations, and kept beating the small drum hanging at her waist with her other hand.
Soon, the Bone Necklace exploded in midair, transforming into skeletal evil birds that flew swiftly toward the witch in the sky.
“‘Soul-Devouring Evil Birds.’ These guys are troublesome, but just troublesome.” The witch shook her head again.
She lightly touched her lips with her finger and spat out a blood-red bead, then gripped it in her palm. Invisible ripples instantly trembled and spread, shattering the incoming skeletal evil birds into fragments.
“What other means do you have, old hag?” The witch put the blood-red bead back into her mouth, then looked down at the Ghost Hag below with her eyes.
“Dragon Blood Treasure Bead—you actually obtained such a thing…” The Ghost Hag was jealous and gnashing her teeth.
After that, the Ghost Hag used several more bizarre secret arts, but the witch easily countered them all. As the two had said before, they had come from the same faction a thousand years ago and knew each other’s means very well.
“No time to drag this out with you, old hag.” The witch swung her Wooden Moon Staff again, scattering invisible powder that fell onto the grassland below.
At this moment, the Sea of Grass across the mountains and fields grew wildly, and the extending grass tips twisted like snakes and earthworms, swaying on the Earth and charging toward the Ghost Hag at the end of the mountain slope.
During this, the Ghost Hag tried every way to burn, poison, and resist, but she was overwhelmed by this Twisted Sea of Grass. Then the grass tips drilled into her body, devouring her flesh like sucking blood.
“You traitors, actually touching the taboo, wielding the power of ‘Twisted’…” The Ghost Hag shouted loudly.
“I curse you, curse your descendants to also die in this sea of despairing Twisted!”
In the end, this Ghost Hag was completely devoured by the countless Sea of Grass, leaving no scraps or remains.
“Phew, that settles this guy.” The witch descended, strolling leisurely in this clearing, picking through the Ghost Hag’s treasures.
“Nothing valuable or useful here.” She kicked a skull on the ground with her toe and pinched an old, tattered leather item with her fingers, searching for what was inside.
“Whatever, that’s it.”
Giving up the search, she came to the side of the dead knight and looked again at the longsword he had gripped tightly even in death.
“Such firm will.” She sighed softly.
“No wonder only you foolish guys could expand territories, while we smart ones can only play supporting roles.”
“Knight Holling, I remember your name. Rest assured, I’ll tell Regard Bouilly of your deeds. No doubt, to highlight achievements and console the people, he’ll grant your descendants a nobility title.”
“As for you, rest here in peace.” She placed one hand on the dead knight’s armor, causing his body to slowly turn to flying sand and dissipate, leaving only his longsword embedded in the rock ground.
After handling things here, the witch swung her moon staff again. Invisible moonlight spread, turning into veil-like ripples in the sky, like a serene lake surface.
The witch leaped lightly, positioned beneath this rippling lake surface, bathed in moonlight all around, like the moon in the water.
Soon, her figure faded, and then high above the distant horizon, in that real Continent, the witch’s figure reappeared.
Moon in the water, moon in the sky
Flawless Fantasy, transformed in an instant
————
Finishing recalling the dream scenes, Xilutiya gazed once more at the sword hilt. Now she could make out the emblem and inscription on it.
‘Fir Knights · Holling’
If she guessed right, the lord of Fir Village, Baron Holling’s ancestor, was this knight who sacrificed himself.
Time is truly long and evocative.
That said, when Knight King Regard fought the tribal Ghost Hags in the Mountains back then, he must have borrowed the witches’ power. And according to what Talil said before, the witches probably had a promise with the scholars of Candle Keep not to record their deeds in books.
But in Fir Tree’s Annual Rings ~ Mountain Kingdom Past Events, the author clearly knew the true history and cleverly alluded to this point in the book.
Why that night Regard made the other scholars leave the tent, facing alone the birdcage covered in black cloth—it’s probably a hint that this monarch used that strange bird to convey some message, summoning the final ally.
The truths of the past are veiled layer by layer in black cloth. What she sees and knows now, she doesn’t know how many times it has been filtered as history, and the inside story of this world is even deeper than she imagined.
