Act XXVII: Investigation II
After a moment of silence, Avery took a sip of the ale from the jug he was carrying before continuing.
"I crawled up for a while, and when I came back to my senses, I noticed that the wind that had been high above was gone, and then I began to look around. ”
He spoke slowly, as if it were a difficult time to recall what he had seen that day.
"The vast fields and lakes around me have disappeared, turning into a bright red sky, a devastated land, and the flames of war, I saw many people and monsters fighting in the distance, and from time to time there was the roar of artillery fire, and then, from the track behind me, crawled out of countless black monsters. ”
As he spoke, Elie seemed to be back in the scene, his breath becoming short.
"I tried my best to climb up, and the monsters were chasing me, and then just as I was about to be caught up by them, everything was gone, and I was still clutching on the ladder of the track, not even taking a single step. ”
What happened later was basically the same as what was written in the report, Eli was found by the search and rescue personnel and brought back to Greenwich, and he immediately told what he had seen and heard, but according to the physical examination, he did not have the slightest abnormality, at most because of the sudden stagnation of the mechanical city, which caused some concussions.
Eventually, the matter became an unsolved mystery, and Eli left the train maintenance team to become an ordinary craftsman, never even riding a rail train again.
"Sorry for reminding you of bad memories. ”
Rosen said, then took a step forward and placed his hand on top of Ellie's head.
For a split second, Ellie felt a very thin needle pierce into his head, and he felt as if something was stirring his brain, revealing all that had been hidden.
The next moment, Avery felt like something had hit him in the chest, and a black mist came out of his head, just in time for Rosen to grab him, and all feelings came to an abrupt end.
Ellie fainted.
Rosen watched as the black mist in his hand gradually condensed, eventually becoming thick as a liquid, constantly changing shape, from which a painful human face could be distinguished.
"Abyssal worms?"
This creature Lawson knows that there are many such beings in the endless abyss, which are monsters polluted by the power of chaos, very low-level, but because of the low level, it is difficult to detect, if the abyssal worm is not actively exposed, then it can even lurk until the host dies.
And this abyssal worm was forced to appear because Lawson tried to spy on Ellie's memories.
At the same time, Rosen discovers that Avery does not remember what he describes.
Rosen saw the war-torn land, and at the same time, he saw the huge monster floating in the sky, the monster was like a whale, but with a black crystal cluster on its back, and its long beard was constantly wriggling, and it was being attacked by artillery fire.
There were many smaller flying objects in the sky, knights riding dragons, who were constantly bombarding the huge whale with their ballistas, but they were tickling and did not pose any threat to it at all.
In the distance, the fleet of floating warships lined up, and the cannon roared, knocking down the two-pair winged parade dragons beside the whale, and the flesh and blood poured down like a torrential rain, mixed with gunsmoke, and fell into the two armies fighting fiercely on the ground.
One of these two armies is a knight in bright armor, and the other is a strangely shaped monster, like two waves of different colors, eroding and canceling each other.
Huge mechanical cities roam the middle of it, long mechanical arms moving slowly, flashes of light flowing through them, transporting the city's soldiers to the ground.
Rosen knew that this was the spectacle of jihad.
As for this abyssal worm, it erased most of this scene, leaving only a broken phantom.
Then the question arises.
On the one hand, it is unknown what this scene represents, why Avery saw it at that time, and what direct connection it has to with the stagnation of the mechanical city.
On the other hand, why is there an Abyssal Worm here, and why does he want to organize Ellie to remember this picture and tell others?
Rosen thought about it for a long time, and read that memory many times, but he never found the reason why the Abyssal Worm hid it.
He called for someone else and took the fainted Ellie to the hospital, then looked at the mechanical legs again.
"Now that we at least know that Greenwich is really weird, it seems like the most important thing to find out what caused the mechanical city to come to a standstill. ”
Rosen muttered to himself.
Fina, who was next to her, was a little surprised to see what had just happened, but she had seen more things beyond common sense in Tahiria, so she kept her composure.
Naturally, Fina saw the hellish sight, and while she couldn't bear it, she noticed something strange.
"Mr. Rosen, look here. ”
She held out her hand and pointed to a place in the frame.
It was Greenwich on the move, and unlike the mechanical city that was originally traveling according to the established track, Greenwich was acting as a fortress in the rear, and countless dragon knights and floating warships were rising from the city.
"Is there anything special about Greenwich?"
Rosen looked closely, but still didn't see anything unusual about Greenwich, just like the workshop city he saw now.
"Wait, exactly the same?"
After being reminded by Fina, Rosen finally realized the blind spot in his thinking, if this is really a picture of the Holy War period, then how can Greenwich be exactly the same as it is now?
Especially the continuous rail trains on top of those long mechanical legs, this is a picture that will only appear now.
In other words, this is not a picture of the holy war of a thousand years ago, but a scene based on the current Greenwich.
To put it simply, this is the Greenwich of the future.
"This is the Chaos People's battle plan?"
Rosen quickly thought of the answer.
If, as Avinia said, Greenwich's Retreat Furnace could be a breakthrough point for the Chaos Folk to attack the main material plane, then it would be the first battlefield against Chaos, and it would not be surprising that there would be such a tragic war scene.
If this is true, then it is normal for the Abyssal Worm to try to erase Ellie's memory, and the people of chaos do not have enough strength to directly erase Eri, so they can only use this means to prevent their plans from leaking.
And if all this is true, Rosen must find the retreat furnace in the shortest possible time.
When he looked closely at Greenwich again, he noticed that the banner of the Universal Exposition was flying inside.