Ashes Of Deep Sea Chapter 595

Chapter 595: Chapter 594: Fight and… Death? Chapter 595: Chapter 594: Fight and… Death? One gaunt shadow after another emerged from the air in all directions, the rustling sound of their writhing tendrils in the soil unceasingly buzzing, enough to make one's scalp tingle. Those remnants of the sun gathered, advancing, rising upright from the shadows, displaying their horrifying visages as they corroded the forest within this Dreamscape!

Chains whistled through the air, accompanied by the explosive sound of the air being compressed and torn apart. Sherry darted across the clearing in the woods, charging at every piece of sun debris that had just entered the Dreamscape and had yet to find firm footing. She swung her chains with abandon, wielding the monstrous strength she gained from the Demon Symbiosis with the Profound Demons–swinging the Profound Demons themselves–continually knocking down those frightful beings that were like neither man nor beast, banishing them from this Dreamscape.

However, the number of Assailants continued to increase, and those sun remnants Sherry had managed to knock down momentarily kept rising from the shadows!

The dappled forest of light and shadow became the perfect playground for the sun remnants to move freely and reshape themselves. The corrupted flesh blasted away dissolved in the shadows only to coalesce again within them. The tall, thin shadows emerged time after time from the surroundings, and as soon as Sherry's movements slowed even slightly, they launched their relentless assaults.

A sharp whistling sound suddenly erupted from behind, and a spike-like tendril unexpectedly emerged from the air, aiming straight for the back of Sherry's neck. She immediately felt her hair stand on end but by the time she thought to dodge, it was already too late–
Following a muffled sound of flesh being pierced, the agony did not descend as she had imagined. Sherry, having braced herself for the impact of the attack, turned her head in surprise, only to see an axe swing past from behind her–then the blade pivoted back, rising and cleanly severing two more of the incoming “spikes.”

The edge of that axe blade shimmered with a faint blue light, as if covered by some kind of fiery force field, burning and warping the nearby air. The Elf girl “Xilin” held the strange long-handled battle axe in one hand, fending off the Assailants and guarding Sherry's flank, while staring bewilderedly at the tall, black figures that kept emerging and gathering around her. She couldn't help but blurt out her question, “What… what are all these things?”

“Whatever they are, they're definitely not something native to your forest!” Sherry called out hastily while swinging her chains high, toppling a cluster of shadows gathering not far ahead, “These things are damn stubborn!”

Xilin raised her battle axe, blocking an attack from another direction, but after hearing Sherry's exclamation, she instantly paused and unconsciously frowned, “Those words… are a bit crude.”

“Swearing that isn't let out ends up rotting inside, how disgusting is that,” said Sherry, her face bearing a brash and exuberant smile. She trampled on a mass of still writhing and reassembling flesh, her chains trailing pitch-black smoke and mist, looking utterly delighted, “I like to keep it clean, never let the dirty words stay overnight…”

Xilin listened to Sherry's theory in a stupor, seemingly trying hard to comprehend the logic behind her companion's words, but eventually shook her head with a furrowed brow, muttering, “You're talking nonsense.”

A tendril that kept swelling and contracting, its surface continuously sprouting eyes and sharp teeth, suddenly wrapped around Sherry's arm. She felt a sudden numbness in her heart, but quickly broke free from the tendril's grasp, pushed back the shadow where the tendril came from, and then looked towards Xilin subconsciously.

A sense of puzzlement suddenly welled up from the bottom of her heart–was it her imagination, or in the brief minutes that had just passed, did this Elf named “Xilin” seem to have become markedly more… distinctively human?

Was it because of the sudden appearance of the Assailants? Was it because of the change brought on by fighting side by side?

Sherry remembered how it was when she first interacted with this Elf; back then, Xilin didn't have such emotional reactions. Although there were expressions of happiness, anger, sorrow, and pleasure, those reactions seemed more like something pre-designed… something. She would only incessantly emphasize the plan to head to the Silent Wall. Besides that, no matter what Sherry herself would say, Xilin hardly reacted much, seldom showing vivid “feedback” like surprise, confusion, or contradiction.

Sherry didn't understand those professional concepts of psychology or behavioral science, nor did she know how to describe these feelings of incongruity she sensed. Yet her life experiences had honed her instinct to detect changes in others' emotions, and she could keenly perceive the changes occurring within Xilin–though she couldn't understand why these changes were happening.

But she didn't have much time to ponder this.

The sun remnants, initially bewildered and unsteady, had gradually adapted and now stood their ground here, becoming dangerous.

A shadowy figure flashed past the edge of Sherry's vision. In the hurried moment, she just managed to retract the chain in her hand and barely dodge the attack. Yet, the very next second, another spike, springing forth from the shadows underfoot, pierced her human arm.

Intense pain made her curse subconsciously; Adog swiftly lunged from the side, biting to pieces that spike of flesh conjured from the shadows. Sherry rapidly retreated, leaving the dangerous range of attack, but before she could even catch her breath, she suddenly heard rustling noises behind her.

Instinctively turning to look, she saw a tall, thin shadow abruptly rise from the ground in front of her. The next second, numerous tentacles burst from the “long coat” of the tall, thin shadow, entangling her arms and neck — a sudden colossal force from the tentacles dragged her over, and before she could utter a cry of alarm, she was pulled in front of the shadow.

The tall, thin shadow lifted its “head” — a mass of grotesquely swollen flesh emerged from the collar of the coat, blossoming abruptly like a bud before her eyes. In that bloom of flesh, eyes opened, countless sharp teeth and numerous frantically writhing, tongue-like tentacles were revealed.

In that brief moment, Sherry felt as though a thousand voices exploded in her mind, countless roars and whispers layered upon one another, pushing into her brain, as if trying to convey a message to her. Just when she believed she almost understood the whispers, most of the information slipped through her consciousness, leaving not a trace behind.

In this suddenly established “connection,” her mind ultimately retained only an indistinct and cryptic phrase —
“…find their…sun…”

Sherry felt as though she had fallen into a vast, endless chaos, enveloped by boundless darkness and void, battered by incessant noises. Slowly, her eyes widened as she blankly stared at the bloom of flesh before her, the will to resist seemingly stripped away from her body, while Adog's voice gradually faded in her mind…

However, in the very next second, a thunderous boom suddenly erupted deep within her consciousness. In the borderless dark, Sherry saw a pale green flame leap forth, dimly perceived as though a figment. The flame cast its reflection on her soul, and her mind felt a sharp, piercing pain — the next instant, she snapped back to clarity.

The tall, thin shadow reappeared before her, that blooming “head” made of filthy flesh now violently trembling before her eyes. The monstrous entity, a remnant of the sun, let out a series of sharp hisses and wails, seemingly in shock, seemingly unable to comprehend why its “corrosion” had not invaded its prey's psyche — but it did not have to be shocked for long.

Clusters of pale green flames suddenly appeared on the surfaces of the numerous eyeballs within the bloom, and in the blink of an eye, reflections transformed into raging, real flames. Spiritual Fire burst forth from within, the dream invader's “head,” burning fiercely from the inside out.

The creature howled and convulsed, spasming violently under the scorching of the Spiritual Fire, curling into a pitch-black, bizarre mass. Then, the flames flowing from its body began to spread outward, like predators that had caught the scent of their prey, moving towards the gathering remnants of the sun.

The fire spread like the wind, and in the flicker of tiny flames, the remnants of the sun around her ignited one by one, almost instantly turning into a sea of blazing torches.

Sherry watched the scene in astonishment. The terrifying feeling of near-corrosion in her mind now left only a cold afterchill. Yet the afterfear quickly gave way to another emotion as the Spiritual Fire spread — she laughed, her triumphant expression arrogant, and lifting the pitch-black chain in her hand, she proudly watched the sun remnants struggle and howl within the flames: “You think such small fry can pull off some psychic pollution? I'm under the protection of the captain, damn it!”

The sun remnants of course had no response for her, and the blazing torches swiftly fell one by one, reduced to ashes scattering with the wind before retreating from the dreamscape. Sherry, although appearing triumphant, did not truly relax until the last “torch” had fallen. Then, she turned to look in Xilin's direction.

Xilin's voice reached her first, “Sherry, I feel…not so good…”

A sudden anxiety gripped Sherry's heart, and she hurriedly ran to Xilin's side. The next second, she saw the…transformation…that was happening to Xilin.

The elf girl's feet, unbeknownst to when, had been gradually swallowed by the ground. Dark, root-like structures split from her legs and continued to multiply and merge into the earth. She lifted her head, looking in Sherry's direction, seemingly trying to raise her arms, but her limbs too were being gradually encased in bark-like structures — becoming stiff, increasingly immobilized.

Chapter end

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