Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 1096 - 209 Beyond the Mist

Chapter 1096: Chapter 209 Beyond the Mist

"It seems that our luck isn’t too bad," Pannis suddenly spoke up, breaking the silence among the team, "I’ve always been concerned about encountering other types of Twisted Souls in the fog, but it looks like we’re not that unlucky yet. Although running into Twisted Souls head-on as soon as we entered the Wander Forest is quite unfortunate, the situation doesn’t seem to be as bad as it could have been. Ava, turn off the light; we don’t need it anymore."

"Have we already left the dense fog area? Isn’t there still fog?" Lina looked around. The fog still lingered in the forest, but because the light had been strong before, they hadn’t noticed that the fog was gradually thinning with their movement, and the visibility was getting further and further. It wasn’t until Ava discontinued the sustained use of the Light Techniques that the girls realized they could vaguely see the path under their feet even without the light.

The further they walked, the lighter the fog became, and the clearer the things they could see. It was as though the world rapidly filled with color from black and white, becoming dazzling. Soon, the dense fog that had once blinded the girls became a thin veil covering the surface of the distant trees. Although it still existed, it could no longer cause any interference.

Only then did the girls see what the inside of the Wander Forest they were in looked like. The Wander Forest was a narrow woodland caught between the Rordelansor Ring Mountain, and their current position was closer to one side. They just had to raise their heads to see the towering rock peaks through the treetops, like a giant stooping down to peer at the forest at the foot of the mountain. In the other direction, all they could see were layers of tree crowns, and occasionally, the sky in between them. But if they climbed up a few dozen meters high into the tree crowns, they could see that between the two towering peaks, the Wander Forest extended forward like a green river flowing from the valley, winding left and right along the mountain terrain toward the far distance, with no end in sight.

After leaving the interference of the dense fog and walking a short distance outside of the fog zone, the girls, who had always felt an indescribable eeriness, finally understood what had been astonishing them in their subconscious. Since entering the Wander Forest, they had not heard any natural sounds on the way. No, to be more precise, they had not heard any sounds from wildlife. No bird calls, no beast roars, no insect chirps, no flapping of wings, no sound of running footsteps. The surrounding environment was bizarrely quiet, as quiet as if it were not a forest at all. Holding their breath, they could even hear the sound of the leaves growing, even the sound of flowers blooming and falling.

At this moment, the girls truly understood the meaning symbolized by the name Forbidden Land of Living Souls. The living were no longer the protagonists of this world. In the forest, those sounds that symbolize the breath of life, in this world, no longer exist. What was left for the Wander Forest was only a creepy quietness, a quietness as eerie as the world after death.

"So it’s really this quiet here." Lina was startled by her own voice as soon as she spoke. The psychological pressure from the fog had distracted the girls, so they hadn’t realized how jarring their own voice sounded in such a quiet forest. It was only after they had left the area of the fog and their field of vision was reopened that they finally reacted. A normal volume of sound seemed so impactful in this setting. The priest girl stuck out her tongue and lowered her volume to a whisper as if right beside the ear, yet it was still clearly audible, "In this kind of environment, I’m a bit afraid to speak. Who knows if such obvious noises will attract other creatures. We might attract trouble, and big sister would complain about me again."

"Attracted by whom?" Catherine asked, tilting her head, "Who is there to hear it here?"

"Attracted by... uh." Lina opened her mouth and then realized, in this silent land of living souls, there was not only an absence of sound, but also no listeners to hear any sound. Even if one shouted with all their might, they probably couldn’t attract even a single animal. Still, the priest girl stubbornly said, "Maybe it could attract those Twisted Souls."

"No, it won’t. Ah, why are you stepping on my foot? It hurts like hell." Hopping to one side on one leg, Pannis glared at Lina a few times and then explained, "They’re just Twisted Souls; they don’t have senses like hearing, sight, or smell that one gets through having a physical body. All they can do is use their soul to perceive other souls."

"Is it the same for other kinds of Twisted Souls?" Catherine asked uncertainly, "Or is it just the Twisted Shadows we saw?"

"All Twisted Souls are like that, no matter how strange they appear; they’re still just incorporeal Twisted Souls. Even if their twisted form still has ears, it makes no difference," Pannis replied, "Of course, most Twisted Souls have such distorted appearances after the twist, that people can’t tell where their ears are, like those over there with all sorts of colors mixed together. Can you find their ears?"

"Oh, my Lord Denia." Following the direction of Pannis’s gesture, Lina let out another short exclamation. These Twisted Souls, because they had no physical form, could neither hear sounds nor make any themselves, and even someone as sensing as Pannis could not detect their approach.

"Can this ghostly thing also be considered a Twisted Soul?" Catherine also let out a subdued gasp, the sight before her eyes somewhat beyond her imagination and even her understanding, which was why she had let out such an alarmed scream.

What floated there were merely unidentifiable colorful geometric symbols. No one could describe what exactly was the thing that spiraled upward, formed by two flat bands of light intertwining, creating a beautiful yellow helix, nor could anyone find the right words to describe an entity made of two opposing green triangles. The triangles, resembling an hourglass, alternated between increasing and decreasing in size.

Of course, there weren’t just these two; there were a dozen similar entities roaming about. The girls couldn’t be sure of their exact number because it was hard to determine whether some of these entities were a single whole made up of multiple symbols or should be counted separately. For instance, one symbol made of five spheres, which not only rotated on their own but also entwined and orbited each other, could reasonably be considered either as one entity or five independent ones. There were also two tangent planes in circular shapes, inflating like balloons and then deflating back to a diameter of around one meter. They resembled breathing lungs.

"Don’t get close; they haven’t sensed us yet." Pannis frowned noticeably displeased with what she saw, and grumbled, "What a hassle, why have we encountered them already?"

"What, are these types of Twisted Souls difficult to deal with?" Catherine asked in a low voice, "What are their characteristics that make you show such an expression?"

"Among the sixteen types of Twisted Souls we’ve encountered, their threat level can be ranked in the top five, no, if I were to judge personally, they could even be in the top three." Pannis halted everyone’s advance, stroking her chin as she spoke, "This kind of entity also belongs to those that have been twisted for a very long time, at least a thousand years, to form into such individuals. Although no one knows why they turned into these chaotic geometric symbols, it is confirmed that they are left with only weird fragments of souls, like a piece of paper that’s been torn and mostly burnt, with only a few corners and edges remaining—except in their case, it was their souls that were torn into fragments."

"Don’t describe it in such a horrifying way," Lina couldn’t help but give Pannis a reproachful glance, instinctively hiding behind a tree to peer out for a while, her voice even lower, "I see they are floating, does that mean they are capable of flight?"

"I already said they don’t have hearing or sight; you don’t need to whisper behind a tree," Pannis teased, "As for flying, they are in flight right now."

"This is floating, not flying," Lina retorted through gritted teeth, glaring at Pannis, thwarting his attempt to sneak a feel of her prickly short hair, then snorted through her nose dissatisfiedly, "Don’t play dumb; you know what I mean."

"Alright, you’re right, they can indeed fly, and their flying speed is not slow," Pannis pointed upward, "Look up."

Including Dillie, all six of them looked up and got quite a scare. There appeared to be quite a few similar entities floating amongst the tree canopies overhead. Although their bodies were obscured by the foliage, the colorful haloes spreading around them gave away their positions.

"There are many of them," Catherine said with a pained frown, "You ranked their threat level so high, it means they are probably not as easy to handle as the Twisted Shadows, right?"

"Of course, they are not easy to handle," Pannis nodded, "If Twisted Shadows affect living beings, then these Chaotic Fragments directly plunder souls. They are supposed to be the remnants gathered after a soul is twisted and torn apart. While Twisted Shadows merely seek warmth, these entities instinctively want to snatch more souls to complete themselves, although such actions are bound to be fruitless, the damage they cause is real. Once touched by them, the soul will suffer tearing pain and severe damage; a few contacts can make a sane person turn into a lunatic. Moreover, their attack is a direct harm to the soul, unlike environmental soul attacks, previously mentioned so-called soul shields are ineffective against them, and they don’t care whether you’re a living being or a Dead Soul. As long as it’s a complete soul, it is within their snatching range."