Sackses did not answer again.

They stood on a wilderness. The gray-black sky has no stars and no moons, only a faint ominous light behind the stacked clouds, and the distant sky occasionally flashes with electric light, but there is no trace of wind, and the clouds are as still as painted.

Ed tugged at his neckline. He felt a little out of breath, but not completely out of breath. He was looking around when another flash of lightning flashed by, a gray shadow faintly flickering in the corner of his eye, and his heart suddenly jumped.

He turned his head, his gaze fixed on that corner, until the next flash of lightning appeared in his eyes, allowing him to see what it was.

- A tall tower, long and white, towering into the sky.

He was creepy, and an exclamation of surprise stuck in his throat turned into a grotesque, ridiculous, hiccup-like sound.

Cold sweat broke out instantly, and the scalp was numb. He lowered his gaze in horror, and saw thin white bones in the black earth, deeply imprinted on the bottom of his eyes.

Perhaps because his face was ugly, Saxis couldn't ignore it, and the elf asked him, "Is there anything wrong?"

The corners of Ed's mouth twitched, and he wanted to laugh but couldn't: "I've been here." ”

He's been here...... He used to die here.

Otherworldly Mirror, Otherworldly Ring, Dimensional Ring...... The magical object that belonged to the Temple of Water and was used as a proving ground for him to become a saint, no matter what it was called, would have been a nightmare for him—more than one, and even if he had successfully passed the test, the strange way he had died in it and through different worlds would have been enough for him to never forget.

Those worlds may not be real, just a fragment of interception, a projection, but every time he dies, the feeling is extremely real.

But what scares him the most in this world is not the moment of death - that time he died too quickly and didn't feel anything at all. However, walking in it day after day, I have walked through the remnants of the once prosperous civilization more than once, seen the stone pillars supporting the almost collapsed buildings of the past, and touched the words left on the mottled stone tablets, but I never saw a sign of life, or even heard a sound...... That kind of empty and dead silence can clearly feel the heaviness and despair of the word "death" more clearly than walking in the desert where it is difficult to live in the first place.

It is the end that no matter how fervent life or how great civilization is, it cannot escape.

"If it also exists in the Otherworldly Ring...... No wonder Felicity found it. ”

Sacthus looked up at the sky, and raised his hand as if he was touching something intangible: "This world, it's Abby...... But IMHO, it's not much better than the one I originally wanted to go. ”

“...... The one you wanted to go to was the Ghost Realm, right?" said Ed.

If it weren't for the unfinished half of the symbols given to him by the elf, he would have liked to go over and see what he wanted to do...... However, it is a dead place, but it is much better than being surrounded by shadows!

"Ah, I forgot," Sachses smiled, "you've mastered the rules, so you can recognize them even if you haven't seen them before...... But you should also know how the world known as the 'Ghost Realm' came to be. ”

"Swallowed up by the sea of nothingness......" Ed's voice lowered.

"It was a world that had been swallowed up by a sea of nothingness, but for some reason, not fully 'digested'. "It has lost its life, and the soul that lingers in it still has its own power—in a sense extremely powerful." ”

Ed understood: "And that's what you can devour." ”

"Although the taste is quite horrible. Sackses admitted.

Ed looked at him with a complicated expression, feeling like he was looking at a ...... Nana in tuba. No, if you really compare, maybe Nana is more powerful, after all, the elf is just devouring another form of soul in the state of a soul, but Nana can swallow anything.

In the short conversation, the shadows that had risen from the depths of the memory gradually dissipated. He pointed to the tower in the distance and told Sakhsis, "I used to die there...... Fortunately, he died in the blink of an eye. ”

Sacess's low chuckle sounded somewhat pleasant.

"It occasionally shimmers, and even if the world is dead, there must be something left there. Ed cheekily didn't hear: "Of course, if this flower can be planted anywhere......"

"Of course, it's impossible," the elf smiled, "I'm afraid we'll have to get there." ”

Ed let out a long sigh, then perked up.

"Well," he said, "it's a long road." ”

.

No matter how long it is, they can only walk, because this place cannot cast spells. Ed sometimes finds this rather ridiculous - magic, which is seen as almost omnipotent, will always "fail" for various reasons, and it's no wonder that adventurers like Alan always talk about "don't expect magic for everything...... They must have learned a pretty hard lesson.

When he was in the Otherworldly Ring, he thought that he couldn't cast spells only because the world lacked magical power, or because the power that existed here was not the same as what he could use, but now, when he was able to control the power in his body, the moment that power left his body, it would quickly dissipate into the air, like a drop of water falling into the dry and cracked earth, and disappear in an instant. He couldn't even wrap himself in a "shell" like he did on the dark side of the earth, because the barrier made of magic would shatter in an instant. He had a terrifying feeling that if he insisted on forcibly casting the spell, he would most likely be sucked dry...... It's like a dried corpse in the desert.

When he was a child, he was frightened enough by a dried corpse, and when he suddenly remembered it, even though he felt that he was much stronger, he couldn't help but shudder.

"You...... Are you alright?" he asked Sacess.

He had always felt that this elf was not so much a "ghost" as a combination of will and strength, in a sense, like a ...... God.

But without the protection of the body, it is like water without a container, and in such a world, it is really dangerous.

"If I didn't even have the strength to protect myself, I would have been completely gone when I died. ”

Sachses replied in a tone that was not friendly. When he realized this, he immediately apologized - he was still not very emotionally stable at this time, but he was much more gentle and friendly to Ed than to Sean.

Ed was a little proud and a little puzzled: "You used to ...... Have you dealt with Shaun in any way?"

When Grivar faced the elves, Sackses was not as sharp as Shaun.