"Fake!"
The confusion in Sophia’s eyes lasted only a split second before she made her judgment about this seemingly familiar scene.
Sophia had considered that perhaps one day she might return to her previous world, but no matter what, it shouldn't be as simple as being swept back by the mist.
She could still open her status panel. After checking her condition thoroughly, there were no negative statuses indicating hallucination or mental influence.
So it wasn't her perception being twisted, but rather this entire area itself was an illusion.
Sophia also knew the mist probably wasn't as simple as just being an illusion, but that didn't prevent her from understanding it this way for now.
BOOM—!
A violent explosion sounded from deep within the fog outside the window, making the glass buzz and rattle.
Was it Samuel and the others?
Were they all in the same illusion?
She instinctively wanted to go out and check, but just as her feet moved, Samuel's instruction to "be sure to protect your own safety" pinned her in place like shackles.
"If only I could be stronger..." The feeling of knowing her companions might be fighting while she could only stand by and watch made her involuntarily tighten her grip on her bow.
"Get lost!"
A familiar angry shout suddenly pulled Sophia back from her dejection to reality. She immediately rushed to the window and saw Bella's figure appear on the narrow street below, wielding her longsword as she fought and retreated.
Chasing behind her was a group of bizarrely shaped, twisted humanoid monsters.
Their movements were stiff yet swift, and from the tattered clothing fragments remaining on their bodies, these monsters were likely the original residents of this city.
Looking at these familiar yet detestable figures, Sophia murmured: "Aberrations..."
Soon, she also discovered that these aberrations had no status panels!
Below, Bella swung her sword forcefully, silver light flashing as she decapitated the two aberrations that had lunged closest.
But more monsters kept pouring out endlessly from the crossroads and dark alleys.
Bella anxiously looked around, her gaze sweeping across the building entrances along the street, seemingly weighing whether to hide inside a building to use the complex terrain to maneuver, while obviously also worrying that more dangers might lurk inside the buildings.
Just then, several arrows glowing with silver light descended from above, piercing through the heads of the aberrations closest behind Bella!
"Bella! Up here!" Sophia's voice came from above.
"Sophia!" A flash of joy appeared in Bella's eyes. Without further hesitation, she dashed into the entrance of the building where Sophia was.
At the same time, at the window, Sophia's bowstring vibrated continuously, shooting down one by one any aberrations trying to chase into the hallway or climb up the outer wall.
Easily killing these seemingly powerful aberrations, Sophia couldn't help thinking how good it would have been if she'd had this hero's power back then...
Knock knock knock—
Just then, the door behind her was knocked on.
"Bella?"
"Sophia, it's me."
It wasn't Bella!
That was a clear and familiar voice, yet one she had long buried deep beneath the ruins of memory—a voice she thought she would never hear again in this lifetime.
She carefully pulled open the door.
Outside stood a young man in a police uniform, handsome-featured, with eyebrows that bore some resemblance to Sophia's.
However, a bloodstained bandage was tightly wrapped around his neck, with the edge of the bandage faintly revealing the outline of a gruesome wound.
"Alexei?" Sophia's voice carried a tremor she herself hadn't noticed. The next moment, she raised her bow again, the arrow tip pointing directly at the young man, though tears uncontrollably welled up in her eyes. "What... what are you?"
"Hey, hey, hey," Alexei showed a helpless yet somewhat aggrieved expression, obediently raising both hands. "Could you not point that thing at me? It's pretty scary."
His voice carried a trace of sadness: "Do you... want to kill me again, sis?"
As he spoke, he slowly raised his hand and unwound the bloodstained bandage from his neck.
The bandage slipped off, revealing a horrifying knife wound deep enough to expose bone, clearly displayed before Sophia's eyes.
Looking at that wound she had personally inflicted, Sophia repeatedly reminded herself in her heart that everything was an illusion.
However, her fingers drawing the bowstring could not, no matter what, release that condensed silver arrow.
"Sis, I don't blame you," Alexei said, watching her struggle. There was no resentment or reproach in his eyes. "After all, there was no choice back then. But I'm living well here now. The mist—it's not what you think it is. It's not what you imagine."
"Not what I think it is?"
"Right," Alexei nodded affirmatively. He extended his right hand toward Sophia, palm up, making an inviting gesture. "Let me take you to understand the truth, sis."
Sophia didn't step forward. Her reason was still making her try to stay alert, but her heart violently wavered because of that familiar face before her and that shocking wound, unable to bring herself to shoot an arrow at this "brother."
Seeing that Sophia hadn't responded for a long time and hadn't lowered her weapon, undisguisable disappointment showed on Alexei's face.
Just then, urgent running footsteps came from the corridor.
A flash of silver sword light burst in!
Bella's longsword mercilessly pierced through Alexei's abdomen, pinning his entire body viciously against the opposite wall!
"Lady Sophia, you okay!"
"Bella, he..."
"Ah, is this someone important to you?" Bella glanced at the youth and pressed her sword in another inch, showing no intention of holding back.
In her eyes flowed a silver radiance: "It's all fake! Just like my old man who suddenly appeared in front of me earlier, asking me to go to some Mushroom Capital together, and I cut him down with one sword! They're no different from those monsters outside—all deathly gray!"
From the wound in Alexei's abdomen, no blood flowed—only ash-like matter drifted away. His body began to crack inch by inch.
"Sister, sooner or later... you'll come back... I'll be here... waiting for you forever..."
Before he finished speaking, his body completely disintegrated, turning into gray fragments on the ground, then dissipating into the air as if he had never existed.
With "Alexei's" disappearance, the fog that had been slightly thinner around them grew thick again.
This time, Sophia didn't hesitate. She firmly grabbed Bella's wrist beside her.
At a certain moment, the suffocating pure white around them suddenly receded. Sea wind carrying a salty tang hit their faces, dispersing the last wisps of mist. Behind them was that massive fog wall gradually receding, and ahead was the azure, boundless expanse of open sea.
They were back, standing on the deck again!
"Lady Sophia!"
"Hero, we're so glad you're safe!"
Priest Samuel, the captain of the guards, and the others immediately gathered around. They all bore traces of battle, and upon seeing that Sophia was unharmed, everyone visibly relaxed.
However, as Sophia's gaze quickly swept across the deck, her heart sank.
The number of guards protecting the ship was clearly fewer than before they entered the mist... Their figures would likely remain forever in that eerie expanse of white.
...
In the Mushroom Capital, Dylan woke in the middle of the night and splashed cold water on his face, washing away the gloom in his heart.
He had dreamed of his daughter again.
He hoped Bella wouldn't get caught up in danger, hoped the kingdom would defeat the demons, hoped that after the war they could reunite as father and daughter...
(End of Chapter)
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