In the past, it had been a beautiful forest. In her memories, which mixed those of the game and glimpses of the reality that she had sometimes perceived, large and lush trees stood there, while sheltering many life forms, both plants and animals. The ground used to be covered with all kinds of herbs and insects, and the sound of the birds singing, or of the leaves moving following the wind, reached every corner.
However, now the lush trees had lost their leaves and the color of their trunks had blackened, giving them a gloomy appearance. The ground was covered in lifeless black dust, and the shadows that were moving here and there were chilling.
Inside the cave, they couldn’t hear the sounds, but they didn’t need it to know that they were no longer those of the forest, that life had vanished from that place where only desolation remained.
It was impossible for their hearts not to shrink at what their eyes were showing, a sensation that was even deeper when they remembered what it had been, what the world had lost in the face of that terrible corruption.
And yet, that was not all. They knew, through the Oracle’s words, that the souls remained trapped in the bodies of animals and trees, suffering eternally, unless they were released and returned to the cycle of life, from which they had been torn by that dark force.
What they had before them was even worse than they had imagined. It is true that they had already encountered corrupted spirits, but it wasn’t comparable to a landscape in which there was not even a glimpse of natural life, in which everything that reached sight was covered by that evil. Although the Oracle had told them, there was a huge difference between hearing it and seeing it in person.
When they finally left the cave, they immediately came into contact with the miasma, which seemed to want to invade them, corrupt their bodies and their souls. But living beings aren’t so vulnerable. It takes something else for them to be affected, such as being on the verge of death, and not having the energy or will to defend themselves.
Life Detection was still working, although instead of detecting life, it detected the fluctuations of death. It was a different, strange, bleak feeling.
There were no great death forms in the vicinity, so, without thinking, Goldmi aimed to a not excessively thick tree, which she knew could become dangerous if you got close. She fired six Ethereal Arrows, combined with Piercing Arrow, and took refuge in the cave again.
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She sat in front of the exit, with the lynx leaning against her, clenching her teeth, almost bursting into tears. She had fired full of rage and frustration, draining her mana and energy without considering the consequences, and she was now feeling tired, both physically and psychologically.
She watched as the arrows continued to pierce little by little, as they were diluting. But, before that happened, the tree began to collapse and, in just a few moments, it disappeared.
She felt a very small experience gain. But, above all, she seemed to feel like the soul of the tree, somehow, thanked her for freeing it. She would have thought it was her imagination, but…
“Did you feel it? It was like the essence of the tree that it’d been in the past. As if it was glad you’d destroyed it,” the lynx said, confused.
“Yes, I’ve also felt it. It was… Maybe there’s still hope.”
And there they stayed, while recovering the mana and energy, and while their hearts began to understand what it meant to “free corrupted beings”. The situation there may have been bleak. And it is true that they didn’t have the power to free them all. But it should be enough to free some. Perhaps, it would only mean a grain of sand, but, for the freed, it would mean everything.
When she recovered the mana, they both got up, ready to fight, ready to take advantage of having that refuge. In the distance, several corrupted beings of levels 5 and 6 had appeared, drawn by the energy fluctuations caused by the attack.
They didn’t see them when the two of them left the cave, as they were far away. Goldmi made sure there were no others nearby, and put an arrow in the bow. It was level 1, like the bow and other equipment. In the game, up to level 5, she hadn’t reached the beginner’s village and bought new equipment, so she had no choice but to rely on inferior equipment.
Something similar to a blackish deer was hit by an arrow that entered through the eye and went through the brain, because, despite being just a level 1 arrow, it had pierced through very vulnerable areas. It had made the mistake of standing still, being an easy target for the archer.
It didn’t die immediately. The corruption somehow made vital organs less important, but also less effective. It looked around with its other eye, trying to figure out where the attack had come from, when another arrow stabbed into its back, splintering as it entered the body with the help of Piercing Arrow.
The third one hit the neck, and also meant that the victim finally discovered the origin of the attacks. It tried to move there, but its body wasn’t responding, and it barely took a few steps before falling. If it had been a living being, it would be agonizing, but that being felt no pain, only the instinct to attack its aggressor. But that instinct disappeared when the corrupted deer did too, freeing it from its suffering.
The deer’s action didn’t go unnoticed by other corrupted beings, which headed in the direction where the attack came from. There were five of them, and, for now, they were advancing slowly, as they didn’t clearly distinguish the attackers. As soon as they did so, they would undoubtedly accelerate and attack with utmost ferocity, for that was the attitude the Oracle had described when they encountered living beings. For some reason, they hated them.