Pillars of Ita

Chapter 1172 Gray Region

Aryan and Marian Tit were a little surprised to hear that they were going to the gray matter area, so they brought people to ask Fang He for the reason. Kailan from the Disaster Investigation Department was also with the two, but the latter was obviously more interested in the case itself.

Arian asked, "Mr. Ed, you said those people were related to this case. Did you find anything?"

Fang He nodded and explained the whole story to the three people. Finally, he added: "...My advisor discovered that the magic used by the other party during the battle was the same as the magic that erased the traces on the letter. They lost manpower in the battle and have now fled into the gray matter area."

"You said that the other party kidnapped another unicorn girl..." Scholar Arian couldn't help but ask. Compared to the other question, he was obviously more concerned about this one.

"Yes, she's my friend, her name is Meryl."

"Then we must act quickly and save people first." Arian said immediately, "Captain, please send someone to follow them. I will go and get the others to move quickly."

Fang He couldn't help but look at this scholar with new eyes. Marian Titmouse beside him also agreed with this plan and said, "Then I will join you too."

Arian also agreed. "Ms. Marian is a tracking expert sent by the Geological Society. She is also proficient in wilderness survival. She will be able to help you. Let her go with you."

Fang He was slightly startled, and his heart was warmed - there are always such noble people in this world, and Merrill had nothing to do with the two of them. But compared to their investigation mission, this court scholar and the lady from the Geological Society obviously cared more about human life.

He nodded to the two of them - Lady Marianne was very familiar with the area, and they needed such an excellent guide.

The three of them made a plan and started to prepare. It would take some time for the investigation team to set off. After all, most of the members were just ordinary people. They were not very accustomed to the wild. If they were woken up from their sleep in a hurry, they would be confused for a while.

But Fang He couldn't wait that long, so he left a team from the two teams of Chosen Ones to look after these people, while he took another team and Ms. Marian to meet up with the others in the gray matter area.

Arjan and Ailuoya were already waiting for them there. When Fang He arrived, they and several other Chosen Ones looked at him with awe, realizing in their hearts that the identity of this "magician" might not be that simple.

But the two of them looked at the group of Chosen Ones around Fang He, as well as Marian Titmouse and Kailan - the latter of whom also followed and wisely chose not to speak.

Fang He looked at the two of them and used the crystal to convey a message to them: "Don't be too nervous. My previous identity was a bit special, so it was inconvenient for me to tell you, but I didn't mean to hide anything intentionally-"

The elf girl nodded gently to him. She was only worried about her good friend at the moment. The more powerful and mysterious Fang He became, the more at ease she felt.

Ailuoya couldn't help but think that maybe the other party was sent by Lady Aimaya to save them.

Only the girl behind Aljean looked pale and stammered, "But are you the one who..."

The means Fang He had demonstrated before were obviously not those of a 'magician', but another profession known to all of them - there were not many people who possessed such means, and the other party happened to be from Corin-Ishurian.

  When she thought about what she had said to him before—how dare she call him a loser—she wanted to hit her head against a nearby tree and die. She stammered and asked:

"You, you won't be angry with us, will you?"

Fang He was speechless for a moment and couldn't help shaking his head.

If he wants to blame anyone, it should be those bastards behind the Super Competitive League who are smearing him. It's better in the third division because he has MTT and senior sister Luo Wei to speak for him, and there are more people who know the inside story.

But it is hard to say in the second division. Not everyone pays attention to the mainland league, and rumors have spread widely due to deliberate promotion by some people.

Of course, he would not vent his anger on these people because of this. He even didn't care about it anymore. "It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter who I am, right? You are all still my friends. That's enough."

The girl was slightly startled: "Really, you want to be friends with us?"

Fang Plover nodded.

She couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief: "...You are not the same as the rumors outside."

Fang He also sighed: "This is not the first time I have heard such words."

"This is different from Mr. Elion. Anyway, we haven't seen him. But there are many rumors about you outside. It is said that you have no competitive spirit and used some despicable means to enter the Hall of the Holy King. As a result, you were exposed in public there and expelled from the empire..."

The girl said, "I originally thought that such a person must be a dark-minded, selfish villain who caused his companions to lose the qualification to participate in the competition...but you selflessly extended a helping hand to us and Merrill. This matter originally had nothing to do with you."

Fang He was sweating profusely after hearing this, thinking, "You are too good at talking, don't say it again." And what rumors did those guys spread about him? He couldn't help but grit his teeth, thinking that he would have a chance to settle accounts with these people in the future.

But as for the purpose, it cannot be said that it has nothing to do with himself. Although he has good intentions towards unicorn girls like Meryl, it is after all related to Miss Elf.

But now was not the time to discuss this, so he asked Argen, "What's the situation?"

He didn't see Elisa and the others here. Only the ship officer and Jita who had been with him all the time were there. The box, the Paparars, Taliel and Tracis were also not there. They should have gone deep into the gray matter area.

"Miss Elisa is tracking those people," Argen replied. "The others went to meet her, and she left this behind."

He handed an information crystal to Fang He.

Fang He nodded and took it. He couldn't leave Arian and the members of the investigation team there without notifying them, but he also couldn't let those who took Meryl away leave, so he let Alyssa follow first.

Miss Nightingale is an expert in this area. They had already gained preliminary knowledge of the wizard's whereabouts through his resurrected movements. With this information in hand, it would be almost impossible for Elisa to lose him.

Just in case, he also asked Daryl and Miss May to meet the former, but it seemed that others also received the message from Miss Nightingale, and Trishis, Tianlan and Box also chased into the gray matter area.

He took the communication crystal and sent a message to Eliza. Due to the interruption of communication between the two worlds, the communication crystal can only complete short-distance communication. However, the ether interference inside and outside the gray area is huge. Only after entering the gray area can he effectively communicate with Miss Nightingale in his team.

"I found the other party's trace."

Miss Nightingale's reply was brief and to the point, just one sentence and a coordinate.

"Be careful and wait for others." Fang He reminded her.

"Don't worry, Miss May and Daryl are with me." Alyssa replied.

Fang He then felt relieved, put away the communication crystal, and immediately led the others into the gray matter area.

Entering the interior from the outer part of the gray matter area, the surrounding scenery quickly changed significantly. The forest was white, as if it had snowed, the ground was cracked like glass, and the surrounding trees were like crystal sculptures.

It turns into ash with a light touch of the hand.

It was as if the forest had experienced a gray plague, which the elves initially called the 'winter of withering'. The shadows spreading through the jungle would first cause the trees to wither, one after another - at first only the tall and straight trees, because their roots were deeply rooted in the Holy White Giant Tree, and they were connected to the Holy Tree, so they were the first to be infected by the Holy Tree's withering.

Then the low bushes turned into gray thorns one by one - finally the grass and flowers were not spared, and even the mosses, lichens and ferns covering the soil died.

Even the land itself began to vitrify.

The withered trees turned into motionless crystals, as if covered with a layer of ice that would shatter at the touch. The animal herds that lost their food either died or migrated on a large scale, and finally even the birds and insects disappeared without a trace.

Only dead silence remained.

Then the ash branches will be born from the uninhabited land, growing branches from the dead soil, absorbing nutrients from the Holy White Giant Tree, but giving birth to twisted monsters, spreading the ash matter all over the Giant Tree Hill.

Thus began the Ashbough Plague.

"It all happened in just four months," Marianne told the others. "First the giant tree Gus, then Nianlot, and then someone planted a seed in Sanshak, and Ninimael was born."

"The disaster came so suddenly that no one was prepared for it, and the Investigation Society was established only three months ago," she looked at the other entourage who came with her, "No one has ever experienced such a thing. All the experience was learned from the investigation in just a few months - we learned to fight the monsters in the gray realm, and understand the gray branches and their origins -" "But I remember that Giant Tree Hill once sent a team to Oshu to obtain the elven relics to seek help. That should have been half a year ago, right?" Fang He asked.

"Ms. Marianne was talking about the Gray Branch Plague," Cailan replied, "but the 'Withering Winter' actually spread to the Giant Tree Hill a long time ago, starting from the Holy White Forest, almost a year ago."

"The withering plague did not spread quickly at first, but the situation gradually got out of control. In the end, people found that the problem came from the sacred tree itself or even the other twin of the forest goddess. Everything gradually became irreversible."

The person from the Disaster Investigation Department silently looked at Marian and the staff from the Geological Society not far away.

Several people were inspecting a broken crystal branch.

Marian did not go into battle alone. She brought three companions with her, all of whom were members of the Geological Society. They were the most capable group. As for the others, they were following behind with the elf scholars.

After they entered the gray area, Fang He realized that he had brought the right person.

This lady is indeed an expert from the Geological Society and knows the gray matter area very well. Although she is as chattering as all Papara people and never stops talking, she is very decisive when it comes to taking action.

The situation in the gray area is complicated. The twisted trees often make it difficult to determine the direction. The chaotic etheric flow will interfere with all magical guidance methods, and the magnetic poles will not work.

Even though he raised the clockwork fairy, the vast forest that stretched as far as the eye could see lacked obvious reference points. There were no stars or moon in the dark night to determine the direction, and he had to waste a lot of time to determine the front, back, left and right almost every time he advanced a certain distance.

Miss Nightingale left some marks, but most of them were lost in the monotony of the woodland.

  But none of these could faze the lady from the Geological Society. She could easily infer their location in the gray matter area, and even judge from some clues whether there were people or gray creatures passing through this place:

"This should be the trace left by your Miss Nightingale."

"Not long ago, a group of withered tree people passed by here. I will never mistake those things. They are not a nuisance, but you have to be careful of the shadows of trees with them."

"Are there tree shadows here too?" the naturalist lady couldn't help asking.

"There are the most tree shadows in the wild. They appear and disappear mysteriously in the forest, which is why they are named after them." The girl behind Aljan looked at the empty woodlands with some fear, "This is not in Silver Wind Harbor."

Marian also replied: "You have experienced the disaster of the gray branches in the port. Although it was an elite gray branch, the newly born gray area is still very fragile and easy to remove. These gray areas on the border between Linoril and Sanshak are almost all the newly formed gray areas. Some have been growing for more than three months. The gray branches that generate them are at least disaster-level, and some are even nightmare-level. The internal environment of these gray areas is extremely complex. The tree shadows are not the most powerful sucker creatures. There will be some "big guys" near the core area."

The girl nodded repeatedly. If Fang He and the others were not here, they would never set foot into the gray matter area.

Even so, she felt a chill behind her, as if something was spying on them in the dark.

The ash branches of the Giant Tree Hill spread to the entire Elf Kingdom in just half a year. Due to the interruption of communication between the two worlds, the outside world knew very little about it. Although Fang He had heard some information from Merrill, he generally did not know much about the "death plague" - especially the ash branch disaster outside the port.

He then asked: "The Silverwind Harbor Council has a plan to deal with 'Ninimer'. Why don't they send people to eliminate these secondary gray matter areas first?"

The Linorel-Sanshak Council may not be able to take down a "disaster" like Ninimer for the time being, but it should not be a problem to eliminate the disaster-level and nightmare-level gray branches. He had seen an "elite"-level gray branch once in Silver Wind Harbor, and thought that dealing with the opponent would be no problem.

There may not be many dragon knights in Giant Tree Hill right now, but there are still as many Silver Rank and Gold Rank as needed.

"Because we don't have enough manpower," Marian shook her head. "Ninimer is expanding too violently. We have to focus all our efforts on dealing with it. As for these dormant gray areas, we can only slow them down for now."

"Hibernation?"

"Most of the gray areas are very active at the beginning of their formation, and will expand rapidly after the gray branches grow out," Marian replied, "but after expanding to a certain extent, they will enter a dormant state and will not expand further."

"But we are not completely helpless. This gray area on the border of Morning Mist Forest is one of the earliest gray areas around Linoril, and it has stopped growing a long time ago. But recently, some people have observed that it has begun to revive again - this is very abnormal, so the parliament has sent an advance team to Danteville to take action against it -"

At this time, Kailan suddenly asked, "Ms. Marian, are we approaching Danteville?"

Marian was slightly startled, "Oh, it's true."

"What's wrong?" Fang He looked at the two of them and asked.

"Do you remember the investigation team?" Marian said, "Because this gray area suddenly revived, this has never happened before. The parliament believes that the gray area will not revived for no reason. There must be some reason that caused it to mutate, so they sent an investigation team to investigate the matter."

Kailan added: "The mutation first occurred near Danteville, where there is a village on the border of Sanshak. The missing investigation team entered the gray matter area from there. Because the changes observed at first were not violent, the investigation team was only equipped with a small number of personnel, but it disappeared shortly after entering the gray matter area."

"General disasters will not wipe out the entire investigation team, unless there are extremely powerful gray matter creatures in that gray matter, or there are human factors involved."

He looked at Fang He.

Fang He obviously thought of something as well.

"You mean, those guys are leading us to Danteville? What's there?"

……

"…There is a vanguard of the Council, and there is also the Silver Order stationed there. They have recently advanced to the Silverwood Pass area, but the other side does not know this. They are walking into a trap!"

Lian Kuiya Alsana looked at the simple topographic map drawn on the ground and said to Tracis and Daryl beside her with some surprise.

Cui Xisi glanced at Miss Nightingale who was observing the situation not far away. "Are you saying that in order to avoid entering the central area and running into the nightmare-level gray branches there, the other party had to take this path?"

"Yes, I learned from Mr. Arian. I met him once when he was still a court scholar in the Elven Court. He also recognized me and he would not lie to me. The Linoril-Sanshak Council recently sent an advance team to the vicinity of Danteville."

"This advance team is led by two Silver Ranks and is attacking the gray area of ​​Morningwind Glade. Since this is a military deployment, it is very likely that they are unaware of it."

The Elf Princess nodded slightly.

But Cui Xisi smelled a strong scent of conspiracy. Those people tried every means to monitor the investigation team. It was unlikely that they had not carried out careful planning and detailed investigation beforehand.

Even if those people didn't know the true identity of the Seven Seas Brigade, they at least knew that they had helped Merrill and performed brilliantly in the elite-level Ash Branch Disaster. The other party hid in the dark just to fall into this trap.

"Your Highness," Alyssa suddenly turned around, "Can you still detect the location of those people?"

"Yes," the elf girl nodded gently, "I can already sense Meryl's position from this distance. I am the main saint. Although I haven't completed the ceremony yet, I can also feel the aura of Lady Aimaya's favor."

"Don't act rashly yet."

Miss Nightingale replied, "Miss May, come with me. We will try to get ahead of them and prevent them from joining the advance team."

"Ah?" Lian Kuiya Arshana was slightly startled. "Why?"

"Because we'd better not let the enemy accomplish what they want to do," Elisa replied coldly, "Besides, it's not like we can't take them down without the help of the advance team. If there's a traitor among those two Silver Ranks, we'll be in big trouble."

"Princess Alsana," Elisa said to her, "Your task later is to keep an eye on Miss Merrill and prevent those people from harming her. You have the favor of Ms. Aimeya, so you should be able to do this."

Lian Kuiya Arsana nodded slightly.

……