(xxviii) The Journey (Yuffie Stanmidz, IV)
"Look at me!" The Beron patted his chest and said loudly with confidence, "Little girl over there, hold on, I'll be here soon!" β
Then he carefully held the scimitar upside down, probed the ground in front of him with the hilt, and carefully rubbed it step by step. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info Yuffie looked funny behind his back, but he also raised some of Bale's ratings - despite the frequent complaints, the Veron people are still first-class in all aspects.
She secretly apologized to Bell in her heart. Sending Alvons there may not have worked, so the only one left is Bale who is best suited for this task. He did it voluntarily anyway, Yuffie thought to himself.
It took nearly two minutes for the Perons to finally get to a position not far from the woman. He picked up the scimitar, wiped the muddy water that covered the hilt, and then held the grip close to the tip of the knife and handed it to the woman.
The woman stretched out her hands and struggled to grasp the grip of the scimitar.
Then the pair of smooth, slender arms suddenly lengthened, quickly turning into two shriveled limbs that were skinny and bone-like, but more than two meters long. At the top of the limbs were a pair of equally dry hands, with disgusting dark green skin, and sharp nails ten centimeters long that sprouted from the tips of each finger.
At the same time, her long, vivid silver-green hair turned into a mess of dark green, obscuring most of her face, like a wet pile of seaweed. The still naked face began to distort, changing from a young Erna woman to a wrinkled old womanβan Elna man who could not have been like that even if he was nearing the end of his life. Her pupils glowed a dark green, coldly sweeping over everyone present.
Even though she was nearly twenty meters away, Yuffie still felt her body stiffen, and her gaze was like a cold blade, almost freezing her blood. She saw Bell standing still, his hands still clutching the tip of his knife.
The old woman stretched out her arms and climbed up along Bell's knife-holding hands. Her nails were as sharp as ten daggers, piercing the neck of the Peron.
In an instant, more than a dozen golden missiles flew from Alphonse's fingertips, hitting the old woman's arm without missing a beat, causing her to retract her hand screaming.
Yuffie raised her right hand and pointed at Bell's back. She just flicked her fingers and unleashed the spell she had already prepared. Invisible magic poured into the body of the Beron man, breaking the confinement given to him by the old woman's gaze.
"The spell has a low effect on her," Yuffie shouted at the Peronne, "Bell, cut her!" β
The Beron people came back to their senses, picked up the scimitar that almost fell into the swamp, aimed it at the old woman who had finally regained her balance and wanted to continue the attack on him, and swung it with all her might.
"Get out of here!"
The knife light cut into the old woman's body, dividing her into two pieces from top to bottom. Instead of blood, green mud stenched with the stench of decay pouring out of the severed body. As the mud flowed out, the old woman's body gradually shrunk into a ball, and finally the whole thing sank into the mire and disappeared.
"What the hell is this!?" Bell turned around and glared at Yuffie angrily, "I've never seen such an ugly woman!" β
"If I'm not mistaken......" the girl thought for a moment, "it should be a ghost woman." Isn't it, Lynn? β
"That's it." Lin looked in Bell's direction with interest and explained with a smile, "They are the spirits of nature, the embodiment of the impression of the whole forest, and an indicator of whether the land is affected in some way. If a forest is going to be good, the elves that will be born will be dryads and water elves. And if it tends to be ugly...... That's the green ghost woman just now, and another kind of sea ghost woman who looks even uglier. β
"And it doesn't make much sense to kill them." Yuffie took over, "As long as this place is still the current situation, a new ghost woman will be born soon." β
However, it has come to this point, and the Elna people don't want to find a way to solve it? Or is it that for them with a long lifespan, a year or two will pass in the blink of an eye, and it is not enough to react? She secretly sneered.
"It's a bad thing, anyway?" Lily looked at her feet and pouted, "I can't find the trace, what should I do, Yufi?" β
"Let's go through here first." The girl looked up into the distance, of course, she couldn't see much except the fog, "If those people hadn't died here, it would have been impossible to stay in this place." β
"Okay, okay." Bell muttered as he cautiously walked back, "Anyway, if I see any more women here, I won't pay attention to them!" β
Lily laughed, and Yuffie and Lynn couldn't help but laugh. The ferocious bear purred under his breath. Alphonse's eyes flashed, as if trying to make sense of the amusement of the remark.
Then they continued on their way.
After getting used to it, the road in the swamp is still difficult to walk, but it is not unacceptable. It is worth mentioning that although Ruth's body is huge, her movements do not appear to be sluggish. "She" cautiously probed the ground with her front foot, following Lynn steadily.
Halfway through, they encountered several more attacks. The most troublesome was the attack from the four ghost women, who joined hands in a circle, floating around on top of the blades of grass, singing strange tunes hoarsely, and throwing all kinds of spells at the crowd as if they were not paying for money.
Bell was robbed of his mind by a spell and swung his knife frantically at his teammates, and Lily managed to keep him down. Yuffie did her best to counter the Ghost Woman's offensive spells, but was unable to deal damage to them. In the end, it was Alphonse who took the cover, and Lynn commanded Griffon Grace and her new companion Ruth, and it took a lot of effort to break up the group of ghosts and break them up one by one.
"Women are such a terrible thing." The first thing Bell said when he came to his senses was this, "Uh, that...... I'm sorry. β
"Forget it, there's nothing you can do about spells?" Lily didn't blame him anymore.
"Next time, stay close to us, don't rush up." Yuffie nodded his chin and added, "It's already distorted here, and there may be more troublesome monsters." β
Bell nodded sullenly in agreement.
The journey lasted more than an hour, and when the end of the swamp finally came into view, Bell and Lynn couldn't help but cheer, and Yuffie felt relieved. However, the next moment, the scene that appeared in front of her made her stop.
That's not what should exist on the continent at all. As far as her eyes could see, there was nothing but a lifeless gray, but a charred black. The ground beneath his feet was like chalky dust, and there was nothing on it, not even a single blade of dry grass could be found. Bent knots, the trunks of the trees that look like they have long been charred are scattered on this empty gray land, like arms pointing to the sky, telling their unwillingness before death.