Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 1095 - 208 In the Thick Fog

Chapter 1095: Chapter 208 In the Thick Fog

The departure process was not as smooth as the girls had imagined. Twisted Shadows existed on a plane, lacking volume and height, possessing only area, and their area was not very large; the biggest patch of shadow covered less than one square meter. Any ordinary adult could easily step over them, so the girls had initially believed that leaving this place wouldn’t be much of a challenge – they’d simply need to take a few steps to easily leave the shadows behind.

However, reality often differed from imagination. When Catherine was the first to leap forward, attempting to cross over the Twisted Shadows from midair, she did indeed succeed. But upon landing, she stumbled several steps forward, nearly falling flat on the even ground.

"Strange, I didn’t touch it at all," Catherine’s expression turned odd again. She looked back at the ground at the shadow that looked like a puddle of mud with a wary eye and said, puzzled, "I was so far away from it. Why did it still interfere with me? The first time it only worked when I touched it. Wait, no, I get it now – could it be that in terms of height..."

"Yeah, this thing is pretty weird." Pannis had deliberately refrained from warning the girls about the properties of the Twisted Shadows, wanting them to understand their peculiar nature through actual encounters and to remain sufficiently alert. Only when Catherine spotted the problem did he nod and say, "As you can see, since these Twisted Shadows are planar, the concept of height does not exist for them. There’s no difference between crossing over their tops and stepping directly on them, so even flying creatures can’t escape their influence. Relying on quick tricks to get by is not feasible."

"So, we can only bypass them?" With Catherine as a precedent and Pannis leading the way, the girls avoided the gathered Twisted Shadows. The shadows moved slowly; even with everyone walking leisurely, the shadows couldn’t catch up. Catherine likewise circled around and rejoined the team, and Lina checked the returning knight girl to confirm she was alright before turning back and saying, "But bypassing them doesn’t seem difficult."

"Of course, there’s another method, which is to rush through, just as Catherine did just now." Pannis pointed to where Catherine had been, "If you find yourself surrounded by Twisted Shadows with no gaps to bypass, you’re left with no choice but to rush through."

"Charging through seems tough," said Lina, curious. "I tried it earlier. When influenced by them, it’s very difficult to control one’s body, and if there are many Twisted Shadows, or if their thickness exceeds a certain range, you’d likely descend into confusion midway. Then, as you said, you’d be enveloped and assimilated by them. Has anyone actually succeeded in charging through?"

"Actually, if one concentrates their will, it’s possible to diminish some of the effects. Although you’d still be disrupted by a mass of confused memories, you can still barely control your body. In theory, after a few more attempts and getting used to it, it becomes easier. However, I strongly advise against trying it too many times out of boredom. You might not feel much now, but every time you’re disturbed, it actually leaves certain wounds deep within the soul. Although these wounds would naturally heal after some time, if the impacts accumulate rapidly, they often result in short-term or even permanent injuries that cannot heal, and by then, it would be too late for regrets," Pannis sighed with a sense of loss and continued, "There was once a very powerful Demigod of the Elves named Pedino, remember the one I mentioned who was lucky to escape the Forbidden Land of Living Souls without having his soul twisted? That’s him. In his escape, he kept trying to break out in a straight line to survive, and as a result, he was interference by the Twisted Shadows too often, leaving unhealable wounds in his mind. For the past hundred years or so, he’s been living in seclusion on the border of the Lost Forest, partly to keep an eye on the movements of the magical beasts in the Forest of Death and partly in the hope of healing his wounds through mental exercises."

"Is Pedino that elf with the small eyes who likes to speak only half sentences, leaving the rest for others to figure out?" Dillie shook his mane vigorously, as he was accustomed to do, and said in a gruff voice, "I’m really annoyed by him. Every time I talk to him, I end up frustrated and wanting to argue with him, but he acts like he never gets angry, which makes me so mad I want to devour him in one bite."

"You couldn’t beat him even if you tried, it’s just wishful thinking," Pannis said, ignoring Dillie’s bared white teeth. Speaking to the young girls, he continued, "But there’s no need to worry too much. As long as there aren’t too many disturbances in a row, that kind of risk won’t materialize. Minor soul traumas usually heal on their own in an hour or two."

"That quickly?" Pannis’s words finally allowed the girls to breathe a sigh of relief, and they couldn’t help but look back at what was behind them.

Behind the team, the twisted shadows had been left behind in the thick fog and were no longer visible, but the girls could imagine that they had not yet shaken off those twisted shadows. These Twisted Souls, reduced to only flat silhouettes, had long lost their memory, thought, consciousness, and self. Still, they would instinctively approach a normal soul, seemingly trying to draw warmth from it, but the ultimate outcome was contrary to the goal they innately sought.

Walking in the dense fog, even with the illumination from Ava’s Light Techniques, the girls’ visibility was still blurry, and if they were just a little distance away, all they could see was a vast expanse of white. Every sight was obscured behind the hazy veil of fog. The mist churned and swirled, making the girls feel as if countless ferocious shadows were hiding within, encircling the entire team from unseen places, gazing greedily and viciously at every member of the team.

Of course, the girls also knew that this was merely an illusion produced by their own deep-seated instinctual fears when their vision was sufficiently suppressed. However, this illusion wasn’t necessarily false, for no one knew what truly lurked within the roiling, steaming fog. Was it insurmountable mountain peaks? Life-stealing cliffs? Or countless shadows writhing with flattened bodies, waiting to ensnare these sound souls within their grip?

No one spoke. The only sound around the team was the rustling of footsteps. The strange and eerie environment sapped everyone’s desire to converse. Each person proceeded slowly in the most vigilant state. Although theoretically, this could increase the psychological pressure from the environment, with the girls’ current experience and caliber, such pressure could no longer affect them.

Indeed, along the way they had encountered twisted shadows two or three times, but due to their sparse numbers, these shadows posed no real threat. Before the shadows could get close, they, like their predecessors, were left behind.