Whispering Poems

Chapter 3796 White Apple

In the low-lying areas of the island shrouded in fog, the battle on the outskirts of Time Wheel City and Kyle Todd Town continues, with lower-ranking demons, water ghosts, and ghouls, destined for destruction, death, aging, and corruption, emerging in droves from the thick fog.

But this is not a strange space connected by dense fog; the snake has been preparing for this night for countless years.

Meanwhile, the warships that had received orders to leave the dock for exercises that evening were now anchored at the edge of the thick fog at sea. Major Raders stood on the side of the ship's guns aimed at the sea, awaiting orders. Having experienced the Battle of Midhill Fortress, he knew very well that their exercise target was definitely not people, and that no one would be able to sleep tonight.

As for Flora, the owl that returned to the ship at 10 p.m. brought back not only a body covered in snowflakes, but also the basket of apples:

"No, I can't find any trace of Ellie and the others. I clearly remember where they were just now, but I just can't find them in that area."

"I'm afraid it's because you're trying to interfere with them that you can't see them anymore. Stella just found and destroyed one of the seals; this is the second seal to be destroyed tonight."

As more and more seals are broken, the chaotic fate will allow Mr. Snake to project even greater power. You should rest for now. Since we can't interfere, there's no need to go looking for Ellie and the others for the time being.

Luvia said, then discussed with Bella whether the mermaid girls should evacuate back to the ship now. Although the ocean appeared calm, Mr. Snake's apocalyptic power was clearly creating something incomprehensible.

"I once heard Her Majesty Chloe mention that she was very curious about how the most outstanding girl by Shad's side managed to win over the others."

Standing by the wall of the banquet hall, watching this scene, Winnie whispered to Miss Elizabeth:
“Now it seems that Luvia Anastasia is indeed qualified to be this person.”

The boat girl then whispered:
"Her Majesty Violet also discussed this topic with me, and speculated that the person would be the most outstanding and beautiful witch of Shad's era. Only after I came to this era did I understand the meaning of the capriciousness of fate. Who would have thought that a girl who is not a witch could gain the witches' trust so much?"

“Miss Elizabeth, stop whispering with Winnie. We need to go and retrieve the mermaids from the far sea; they're in trouble.”

Luvia's voice came, and the boat girl immediately set off to take control of the boat.

Flora didn't rest; instead, she looked with some worry at the sand table covered in glowing dots. The little unicorns she hadn't found, of course, hadn't left the snow mountain area. In fact, Ellie had already led little Leanna to the location of the next seal.

The problem was that a dim, yellowish light appeared ahead. The next seal was located in a canyon, and when they arrived at the canyon entrance, they were met with rolling yellow sand, the dim light of the setting sun blocking their only path forward.

After the "Pseudo-Ring Beast" and the "Infinite Serpent," Ellie finally encountered "Before the Apocalypse." But this time, faced with that twilight landscape, Ellie was helpless.

She could turn the Infinite Serpent into an apple, but she couldn't turn the scenery into an apple. However, the little unicorn was certain that the place she was looking for was behind this scenery, and that it was the only path leading to her destination.

Now, her second life ring has gained Miracle-Adventure and Blasphemy-Madness in addition to Whisper-[Fall], after consuming two more Arcs, but these new powers are still not enough to dispel the abnormal twilight scenery before her.

Meanwhile, the card game at the Drowned Tavern continued to progress during that journey, so Ms. White turned over two more cards for Ellie.

However, no new unicorn appeared beside Ellie this time. In these two opportunities, she received an apple that could restore her life force—which she shared with little Leona—and gained a two-hour boost to her running speed.

But neither the apple nor the speed could help with the current situation. So Ellie paced anxiously on the boundary between dusk and reality. Little Leona, who had just helped Ellie fight, hid behind Ellie, looking at the dusk in front of her with some fear.

Then Mia's tail, with flames at the tip, gently patted Ellie's forehead, and the little unicorn was inspired once more.

The twilight scenery is merely a harbinger of the apocalypse, a result of the serpent's power partially infiltrating reality. By suppressing the serpent's power, this twilight can be partially erased, which is why the holder of the Ring of Fate can act within it.

Ellie didn't have a ring of fate or a curved arc, but she remembered that she could turn fate into a delicious apple and eat it. So the little unicorn established the concept that "fate = apple," and thus she believed that "apple = fate" was also true to some extent.

She had already encountered the power of fate and transformed it into her own runes. Ellie thus knew what fate was and believed that if she could once again coalesce the power of fate into an apple, they could enter this dim, golden world.

"Uh~" (What should I do?)
Ellie thought of the magical power Dorothy had used to create apples out of thin air—the "poison apple"—which she had envied back then. Although she hadn't been able to directly master this magical power after reaching the level of a Ring Sorcerer, she at least understood that the power came from fairy tales and was a dreamlike and magical power like that of unicorns.

The core spirit rune [Connection] shines brightly at this moment, establishing a new relationship, and what Ellie connects to from Dorothy is a wonderful feeling about fairy tales.

As that strange feeling welled up in her heart, Ellie recalled once again the pure white corner of the unformed mystery lock [Snow White] that Shad had once shown her.

As she raised her horn and cried softly, pure white light from her entire body gathered at the tip of the horn. The light seemed to be gathering into a sphere, but what it ultimately formed was an almost illusory apple-like object radiating pure white light.

Although Ellie had become much stronger than before, she still wasn't strong enough to make the apple take shape. Fortunately, at that moment, little Leona, who was hiding behind her, offered her own horn and shared her light with Ellie.

As Ellie, in her human form, held her hands together and raised them high, the apple, radiating a soft white light, slowly fell into her palm. The apple was still transparent, indicating that it had not yet fully formed, but even a semi-solidified destiny already possessed considerable power.

This power stems partly from the fact that Ellie embodies this destiny entirely through her own efforts, and partly from the fact that this destiny comes not only from her, but also from a glimpse of the still-forming labyrinth she once glimpsed.

Ellie was unaware that the power of the Lock of Illusion was precisely what the God of Illusion desired.

The apple, radiating a white light, looked incredibly tempting. Not only did little Leona peek out to sniff it, but even Mia made a light sniffing motion. This was the destiny of "innocence," born from Dorothy's fairy tales, Ellie and little Leona's racial talents, and the power of Shad's Lock.

Ellie, still in human form, carefully held the apple, then sat on little Leona's back. The pure white sacred beast carried the human and the cat towards the twilight ahead, erasing the yellowish hues of the world as they passed.

Although the twilight scenery returned to normal after they left, the world truly revealed its original appearance wherever they went.

Five minutes later, Ellie successfully passed through the canyon entrance and entered the canyon. On the smooth rock wall at the end of the canyon was the huge golden serpentine rune that Ellie and Mia had seen more than an hour ago.

Ellie expected another enemy to stand in her way, but when she tried to approach the rock wall in human form, she found nothing there. Then, the girl, who looked like an elf from a fairy tale, stretched out her right index finger, and a beam of pure white light shot forward, shattering the rock wall and runes.

Clang~
The third gold coin fell onto the card table in the Drowned Tavern. Shad glanced at the expressions of the other players at the table and confirmed that the third seal was not broken by the five candidates.

He was somewhat worried that the third seal had been destroyed by Mr. Snake's followers, and at the same time, he was very worried about Ellie, who was adventuring in the snowy mountains, and the girls who had most likely already begun their battle that night.

However, this game of cards won't last long. After Stella destroyed one of the seals, the other four candidates have already found the locations of their own seals. With the search of the six people, including Ellie, the thirteen seals aren't actually that many.

What Shad was really worried about was what would happen after all the seals were broken.

As the third seal was broken, a black rift appeared out of nowhere in the material world's starry sky, under the horrified gazes of the astrologers performing astrological divination that night. The rift pierced through the southeast and northwest of the starry sky, as if someone had cleaved the cosmos with a sword. The essence of this strange astronomical phenomenon was that chaotic fate had, in turn, influenced the starry sky.

But the people on Fatummst Island couldn't care less about that for the time being. In the lower elevations, as the ground shook, liquid from underground water veins gushed out from cracks in the ground. But it wasn't clear groundwater; it was a black, highly corrosive liquid.

Even more monsters with the power of fate crawled out of those disgusting liquids, increasing the defensive pressure outside Time Wheel City and Kyle Todd Town.

Having shattered the seal, Ellie once again received the power bestowed upon her by the ancient gods. First, the semi-solidified white apple re-integrated into her, granting her the Enlightenment rune—[Innocence]—that had appeared due to her connection with Dorothy.

Subsequently, with all four runes complete, and even the runes required for the Ascension Word already inscribed, Ellie's second life ring transformed into a third ring amidst the miraculous light emanating from the shattered seal. However, the humanoid Ellie paid little attention to this; many apples awaited her tonight, allowing her to make her own apple more real.

Ellie had already made up her mind. She would present the delicious white apple to Shad, so she would continue to travel as the "Apple Hunter" with the cat and little Leona, going on a journey that would take her much longer.