Allen and his little bones [Western Fantasy]

All the way from the middle of the forest to the canyon was safe and sound, not even a wild beast or raptor was encountered, and it was even a bit too smooth.

When Eli looked down at a hand-drawn map, he inadvertently raised his eyes and found that Alan's expression seemed to be not very good.

"What's wrong?" He didn't know why but asked with concern, and presented the confirmed map to the other party.

This map was made by himself, and he drew it silently based on his own impression of the place when he was still in the Anduru Valley.

Of course, after arriving at the forest near the canyon and remembering more terrain details due to the influence of the environment, this first version of the slightly rough map has been supplemented and strengthened, and now it is for Alan, a first-time visitor. A detailed map that can be seen at a glance.

"Look here." Stretching out his extremely pale fingers in the half-dead state, Eli clicked somewhere on the map, and the location he indicated was very close to the canyon marked with a small flag, "We have come here There is not much distance left to the canyon."

"Hmm." Allen followed Eli's instructions to look at the map first, he nodded, and then answered the other party's previous question, "I think there is something wrong with this forest."

"What's wrong?" Eli was taken aback by Alan's answer.

"Didn't you find it?" Allen said, raising his hand as if wanting to demonstrate something, and the power of elements mainly composed of wind elements gathered at his fingertips immediately.

Soon, the "elemental ball" that had just gathered soon burst open again, turning into filaments of elemental power that quickly scattered into the surrounding woods.

Their invisible ends are still attached to the owner's fingertips, turning into countless slender eyes and ears, sweeping across a large area around for the owner, and feeding back the collected information back to the owner.

"Here..." Eli watched Allen's movements, and he learned from Allen when he released energy towards the surroundings, and tried to use his perception skills to search around.

When Allen's "eyes and ears" returned, he finally realized what was wrong.

"It's too quiet here." Eli muttered while reading the sensory information.

"Yes." Allen dismissed the energy light balls gathered at his fingertips, "When we first entered the forest yesterday, we could still see many common animals in the forest, and we could also hunt some hares and pheasants after arriving in the central area. But after we got past the middle, we came all the way and didn't see a single animal."

Whether it is running on the ground or flying in the sky, this forest seems to be bounded by its central area, dividing the forest into a "mixed area of ​​animals and plants" and a "inhabited area of ​​pure plants".

In this half of the forest near the canyon, there are no other residents except for these towering trees of unknown age and various low bushes.

For a forest whose first half is quite normal, it is really hard to say that there is no abnormality in this situation.

"It's not just that there are no animals." Hall jumped from the tree closest to Alan and the two of them. He hadn't been seen for a long time just now, and he probably went to check around.

At this moment, he came down from the tree with a slightly serious expression.

"Eli." Hall called his direct descendants first, and he gestured to the canyon that was not far away with his chin, "You said before that you came here with a team formed by your mentor and students at the same time. , the original purpose was to destroy the nearby monsters, right?"

"Yes." Eli nodded.

This topic will bring back memories to some extent, and it will also bring up some not-so-pleasant memories-for example, from the eradicator representing justice to the object of eradication.

Try not to let yourself be affected by negative/negative emotions, Eli added an answer: "At the beginning we... the mentor who led the team also first received the news that there were dark creatures in the vicinity and the intensity of dark elements continued to rise, so the team would gather. Get out and set this place as a place of practice."

Both Allen and Hall heard what Eli was deliberately avoiding, and they acted as if they didn't hear Eli's temporary change of words.

Hall sighed: "But I just sped up a little bit, and rushed to the front to take a look. The area around the canyon in front of me feels quite 'clean'."

It is so clean that not even a shadow of a dark element can be picked out, let alone a dark creature.

In the vast half of the forest, a canyon that was once suspected to be haunted by dark creatures due to the rich dark elements.

Now there are no animals in half of the forest, and the canyon is clean.

After a short period of silence, it was Allen who broke the silence first.

"We always have to go and see the situation first," he said.

This sentence quickly got the approval of Eli and Hall.

They continued toward the canyon.

It didn't take long for the scene that Eli saw in his dream to really appear in front of their eyes.

"Cold?"

Perhaps the canyon that can decipher most of the doubts is right in front of you. It is said that the place where Julisa Winter stood in Eli's dream is only a few steps away from her. If you walk a little further, you can bow your head and overlook The lady made a special trip to dream of things for the children to see.

However, Alan's first action after arriving here was not to continue to move forward, not to immediately see what was below the canyon. He frowned and greeted a gust of freezing wind. He lost two warming spells on his body.

This question was asked after the warming spell had already taken effect on the person beside him. He touched the other person's hand that was no longer too cold, and then asked.

Eli was looking at this place that was the same as in his dream, and he couldn't help being a little distracted. He subconsciously compared the dream and imagined his mother's appearance on the empty cliff... As a result, before the feeling of sadness fermented, he was followed by Alan. The two warming spells and concerns were interrupted.

Before his brain reacted, his body had already held Alan's hand on the back of his hand quite skillfully.

"..." After reflecting on his completely conditioned reflex actions for a while, Eli turned to look at Allen, "I always feel that this scene seems familiar."

He said with some embarrassment: "This is not the first time you do it first before asking."

The black-haired young man who was very good at this kind of alternative "cut first and play later" raised the corner of his mouth slightly. He obviously didn't think there was any harm in doing it first and then asking.

The body temperature of the undead itself is lower than that of humans. Even if Eli is currently only controlling the power to convert into a semi-undead, his body temperature in a normal state is lower than that of Allen.

Allen firmly held the hand that Eli took the initiative to shake, and he didn't think the opponent's hand was cold.

Just when Allen and Eli were about to continue walking forward together, and stood on the spot where Julisa Winter guided Eli to stand in the dream, Hall suddenly called out to them.

"and many more!"

The senior who has survived in the spirit state for many years has noticed the changes in the surrounding air one step earlier than his juniors.

A look of astonishment appeared on his face, and he quickly stood side by side with the two of them: "I felt the dark element, and it suddenly appeared."

Allen and Eli stopped at the same time, and after Hall reminded them, they also clearly felt the difference in the energy field of the surrounding elements.

Eli: "But why..."

Why did dark elements suddenly appear in the canyon that was clean before?

Eli's question was unsuccessful.

Both Allen and Hall understood what he was trying to say.

What is amazing is that the third person who appeared quietly could understand his unfinished words.

The "third person" was like a shadow that appeared out of nowhere, and also like a dark cloud that suddenly arrived. It appeared in front of Allen and his party without any warning, and then adjusted its height without any haste, and floated to the place where the two of them met. An even position.

"Because I'm here."

The "third person" spoke, and let out a female voice that seemed to have tried to soften the tone.

But because of her voice, her tone is still not gentle and friendly, like the water flowing quietly under the valley, cold and clear.

Eli's eyes widened at the sound.