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Chapter 307: It Can Even Affect the Land of Shadow?
Bai Shi and Melina returned together to the place where she had released the little Erdtree.
By now, all the Numen from the prison had been rescued and gathered here.
They huddled close to one another, but the masses of flesh and blood grafted onto their bodies prevented them from truly embracing.
After so many years in this forgotten prison, the only thing that had allowed them to endure was the small warmth they shared with their kin.
Of course, that was just enough to keep their minds from shattering completely.
Looking at the twenty-some Numen who were all that remained from the prison, Bai Shi sighed.
All these Numen would need care, which was no small task.
Bai Shi scanned the group and noticed they were all female; he hadn't seen a single male Numen.
He wondered if the Hornsent believed that only female Numen were suitable for the role of sacrificial witch.
Given the Hornsent's way of doing things, it was highly likely.
Bai Shi turned to Melina and asked:
“Are you sure there's no one left in the prison?”
Melina nodded.
“I’ve checked every path.”
After a moment’s hesitation, Melina added:
“But inside those great jars... the chances are slim, but I want to try again.”
“If there really is someone still trapped in a jar, and I fail to find them...”
Seeing the sorrowful expression on Melina's face, Bai Shi nodded.
“Alright. I’ll go with you.”
“We’ve found everyone outside the jars, and their conditions have stabilized. Let’s focus on the jars now.”
“As long as there’s even a sliver of hope, we should pursue it.”
Melina looked at the numerous great jars throughout the prison and nodded with determination.
The two of them began making their way through the prison, unsealing the great jars.
Because the jars were filled with corpses, many of them Numen, Bai Shi and Melina were reluctant to use wide-area attacks to open them, which might disturb the remains inside.
Opening them one by one was highly inefficient, but fortunately, they had plenty of time.
Bai Shi pulled Ashmi out from within him to help, then used his Spirit Calling Bell to summon the ashes of Storm Knight Oleg.
With the two of them helping, the pace quickened considerably.
However, their progress was disheartening. Jar after jar contained only corpses.
Until Melina's exclamation echoed through the cold, silent prison:
“Bai Shi!”
“I found someone! I found her!”
Bai Shi replaced the lid on a great jar full of corpses and turned his head in surprise.
They actually found someone?
Bai Shi hurried over and watched as Melina gently lifted a frail Numen out of a jar.
A soft golden light emanated from Melina’s hands, soothing her compatriot.
Though extremely weak, the Numen was indeed alive.
Seeing her, hope kindled in Melina’s heart.
There were still living kin inside the jars. They hadn’t been wrong.
Thank goodness they had chosen to keep trying, or they might have overlooked those who were trapped in the jars, unable to escape on their own.
Bai Shi looked at the Numen, his resolve to continue opening the jars hardening.
Since there were indeed Numen trapped inside, he had to find them all, no matter what.
Bai Shi moved closer, peering into the great jar that had held the Numen, trying to find a clue as to how she had survived.
Soon, he spotted a faint crack on the side of the great jar.
The crack was quite small, accompanied by fine fissures, likely caused by an impact with something.
But it was precisely that minuscule fissure that had allowed air to seep in.
The Numen were not ultimate lifeforms that didn't need to breathe, nor were they the golden-hued folk who could not die thanks to the Erdtree's blessing.
Though long-lived, they could still die from a variety of causes.
Having found this subtle difference, Bai Shi immediately summoned a tempest within the prison.
Melina looked at Bai Shi, realizing he had discovered something. Hope surged within her.
As the wind gradually explored every corner of the prison, Bai Shi located quite a few jars with cracks.
Bai Shi immediately went to one of the great jars.
When he opened it, there was still a corpse inside, but it was in a relatively good state of preservation.
Undeterred, Bai Shi moved on to the next location.
As the lid, sealed tight with root resin, was lifted, a weak Numen appeared before Bai Shi.
A smile couldn't help but touch Bai Shi's lips.
Though survival was not guaranteed even in these jars, this method of searching was clearly far more effective.
Melina followed behind, quickly using her golden light to soothe the newly freed Numen.
Her eyes widened when she saw that Bai Shi had found a method.
Bai Shi didn’t have time to share his discovery with Melina just then; instead, he communicated with Ashmi and Oleg through his spiritual link.
He told them the locations of the cracked great jars, and they split up to act.
The three of them continuously opened the great jars while Melina followed close behind, rescuing and comforting the Numen who were still alive.
Ultimately, through their diligent efforts, they rescued another thirty-plus Numen, whose conditions were markedly worse.
Including the twenty or so they had rescued earlier, the number of Numen survivors was now approaching sixty.
It seemed like a decent number, but compared to the sheer quantity of great jars spread throughout the prison, it made their survival seem all the more miraculous.
After all the jars with cracks, big or small, had been opened, the total number of remaining jars in the prison had visibly decreased.
After spending some more time, they had opened every last jar.
Unfortunately, they found no more survivors.
Looking at the group of Numen, Bai Shi let out a long breath.
Saving even one more was worth it.
The Numen before them were now in two groups.
One group consisted of those who had escaped the jars long ago and were able to move around the prison.
The other group consisted of those who had been trapped inside the jars the entire time, only just rescued by Bai Shi and his companions.
Though there was a clear difference in their conditions, neither group could be considered well.
The next step was to move them all to the surface, where their slow process of healing could begin.
——
Bai Shi and Melina led the Numen back to the chapel from before.
Upon their return, they saw that the little Erdtree Melina had left there still remained.
And the first Numen they had brought out had now awoken from her slumber.
After waking, she didn’t attack indiscriminately as she had in the prison, but instead sat quietly under the phantom of the little Erdtree.
Seeing her in this state, Melina felt relieved.
She had only known that the little Erdtree could heal wounds; she was glad to see it had a calming effect as well.
She had worried that the initial soothing effect would gradually diminish until it was useless.
The two of them led all the Numen into the chapel, gathering them beneath the headless statue of Marika.
Bai Shi couldn't help much with these matters, so he could only stand to the side and watch Melina guide them, one by one.
The Numen soon filled more than half the space in the chapel, making it feel a bit crowded.
Torrent came up to Bai Shi's side and nuzzled him with his head.
Bai Shi stroked Torrent’s fur, then suddenly remembered something. He took out a small jar and broke the seal.
It contained a considerable amount of spirit ash collected from the tower settlement.
Bai Shi placed the several portions of spirit ash he had gathered in the tower settlement in front of Torrent.
He had been in such a hurry to rescue the Numen with Melina earlier that he hadn't had a chance to give it to him.
Torrent seemed to really like this stuff, and it appeared to have a strengthening effect on him.
Upon seeing the spirit ash, Torrent's eyes lit up, and he eagerly leaned in to lick it up.
Torrent moved quickly, devouring all the spirit ash in an instant.
Seeing Torrent's insatiable look, Bai Shi suddenly felt a pang of concern.
Even if it has a strengthening effect, this stuff isn’t addictive, is it...?
In a sense, could this be considered the ashes of the Hornsent ancestors?
If it was just like catnip for a cat, that would be fine, but he was afraid it was more like... ice!
Bai Shi shook his head and turned his attention back to the Numen sitting in circles before the little Erdtree.
The Numen were in a decent state for now, their minds relatively stable.
Still, Bai Shi wanted to take some precautions.
Using gravity sorcery, Bai Shi quickly constructed a wall around the chapel.
If he could, Bai Shi would have wanted to build something like the rooms in a psychiatric hospital.
Padded on all four sides, with no sharp objects, so there would be no fear of the patients harming themselves during a mental episode.
Unfortunately, he didn't have the means for that right now. Just keeping them from wandering off would have to suffice.
He would leave the rest to Melina.
Bai Shi looked at Melina, who was moving among the Numen survivors, sensing each one's condition, and spoke up:
“Melina, I need to return to the Lands Between for a bit.”
“Do you want to come back for a while?”
Melina shook her head.
“I’ll stay here. I’m not going back.”
“They need someone to take care of them, and I’m in a position to help.”
Bai Shi received the expected answer, unsurprised.
“Is there anything you want me to bring back?”
Melina seemed troubled by the question and bowed her head in thought.
The condition of her kin was far more complicated than simple injury.
This state was unheard of, to be completely fused with the flesh and blood of other races...
She might have known something about it once, but with her fragmented memories, she had no understanding of it now.
In short, Melina couldn't think of any way to heal their physical bodies.
And beyond their physical abnormalities, their mental state was a huge problem.
Their minds were extremely unstable, every one of them teetering on the brink of complete collapse, barely clinging to a sliver of sanity.
In such a state, even with a period of treatment, communicating with them would likely be difficult.
“Hmm... I don’t know.”
“If you think of anything that might help the situation, please bring it back.”
Bai Shi nodded and then flew up into the sky above the chapel.
There were some strange creatures in the vicinity.
While they were unlikely to pose a threat to Melina, having to deal with troublesome neighbors while also caring for the Numen would be an annoyance.
Bai Shi first located the lightning rams wandering by the cliffside.
These creatures were extremely annoying, charging at anything they saw.
He could forgive it in the game, since it was a mechanic—everyone hated the Tarnished, and everything wanted to kick them a couple of times.
But a long time ago, when Bai Shi had encountered the rams on the Weeping Peninsula, he discovered that the creatures simply wanted to ram everything they saw.
However, after observing from the air for a moment, Bai Shi saw that the rams' territory was quite far from the chapel. It was unlikely they would venture over and cause trouble.
Since that was the case, he decided to leave them be.
Turning his gaze in another direction, a dilapidated ruin came into his view.
There, he saw a species of bizarrely shaped, massive creatures.
He had noticed them before when flying past.
The creatures' appearances were certainly... unique.
Bai Shi didn’t want to be too harsh, but they looked even more wretched than the Demi-Humans and Misbegotten.
Their massive bodies were topped by smallish heads, their features all twisted together and accented by enormous buck teeth.
Let’s just say their appearance was... less than ideal.
Furthermore, their power seemed to be related to blood.
Even if they weren't creatures associated with the Mohgwyn Dynasty, they had set off his dynasty radar.
Bai Shi flew toward the ruined village at top speed, arriving above it in short order.
The grotesque monsters below quickly spotted him.
They brandished strangely shaped clubs, but no matter how they swung, they couldn't reach Bai Shi in the sky.
Bai Shi silently observed the creatures below.
He suddenly realized that the "clubs" they were waving were actually the desiccated arms of their own kind.
Suddenly, one of the blood-monsters raised a long spear in its hand.
As the two-pronged spear thrust into the air, a power that Bai Shi was incredibly familiar with spread through the sky.
The spear pierced the void, and instantly, a shower of bloodflame rained down from the sky, exploding continuously.
Seeing the blood-monster unleash a blood ritual, Bai Shi’s eyes sharpened.
This amount of bloodflame was no problem for him, but he could feel a powerful force emanating from that spear.
After unleashing the blood ritual, the blood-monster on the ground suddenly found it had lost control of the sacred spear in its hands.
Just as it was panicking, an invisible river of flesh surged forth from the rupture the sacred spear had created in the void.
Only then did the blood-monsters below belatedly realize that the Truth Mother they worshiped had descended.
The Truth Mother had answered their prayers!
The blood-monsters roared and cheered, prostrating themselves on the ground in worship of the venerable Truth Mother.
However, the Truth Mother had not come this time for the blood-monsters she had once aided.
Her target was clear: Bai Shi in the sky.
Bai Shi was surprised to see the Formless Mother seizing the opportunity to attack him.
He had only intended to scout the situation.
He hadn't expected the Formless Mother to be truly connected to these creatures, even allowing them to use a blood ritual.
And the Formless Mother's reaction was so swift, so intense—she could even affect the Land of Shadow?
Bai Shi summoned the Great Rune that held a massive amount of solar power from within him.
A magnificent sun hung high in the air, sending down a torrent of destructive flame.
The power of the blood-monsters' sacred spear was too weak; it couldn't compare to the Mohgwyn Sacred Spear in Mohg’s hands.
This spear couldn't handle any more power, and cracks quickly began to appear all over it.
The Truth Mother's flesh was instantly annihilated by the blazing fire, forced to retreat to the tip of the spear.
The sun’s flames descended upon the shaft of the blood-monsters' sacred spear.
In the next moment, the spear could no longer withstand the force and instantly shattered.
Just as the blood-monsters reeled in shock at the Truth Mother's defeat, the blazing flames consumed them as well.