Pillar of Yita

Lan Wuxin spat out the snow foam in his mouth with a ’ptoo ptoo’, filled with regret.

If he had known, he wouldn’t have been tempted by that small reward. He was well aware that the winter Tibial Creek was several times more dangerous than usual. In the snowy night, with piercing cold, the snow seemed to absorb footsteps, and the only sound in the Forest was the wind howling through, unsettling his heart.

He raised the resin torch in his hand, the flame flickering like a tattered cloth in the wind and snow, casting shadows of rows of intertwined fir trees. A line of pale gray dead faces gathered together, swaying as they approached.

Locals called these things ’Revenants’, the undead spirits of those drowned in the Tibial Creek. Although Lan Wuxin knew this was just a legend, looking at those stiff faces, he couldn’t help but feel his hair stand on end.

He forced himself to patrol the depths of the Forest, knowing that there were certainly a few ’Corpse Ghosts’ secretly commanding these dead. The cunning of ’Corpse Ghosts’ was innate, and teams annihilated in the Forest each year were mostly related to these necromantic creatures.

However, ’Corpse Ghosts’ were not the scariest things in the Forest—

Earlier, he saw a narrow Strange Shadow flash through the firs, reminding him of a certain legendary thing in this area, the mere thought of which almost froze his blood. Fortunately, that thing hadn’t appeared again since.

He kept this to himself, hoping he’d just imagined it due to his tension.

Six people were still with him, three or four torches among them. The torches clustered together, barely providing any light amidst the swirling snow. When Lan Wuxin led the group away from the Tibial Creek for a return trip, there were seventeen or eighteen people, but the rest had all fallen in the wind and snow.

Those people might have been luckier; they could have already been resurrected in the Holy Sanctuary of Ameya, found a warm place to have a drink, waiting for them to rejoin.

Thinking of this, everyone couldn’t help but curse inwardly, though they were reluctant to waste Starlight in such a place.

The long Weapons and Load-Bearing had been discarded long ago, but even after fleeing here, they were blocked, surrounded by the Undead, forcing everyone to back against each other in preparation for one last fight.

The steel-forged blade pointed at the line of pallid faces, each one shining bright in the snow-filled night.

At this moment, Lan Wuxin heard the Alchemist accompanying the team shout, ”Wait, there’s light over there!”

”Don’t get distracted!” he yelled angrily, a gust of wind and snow filling his mouth, making Lan Wuxin cough twice. This accompanying Alchemist was a newcomer from Dulun in the south of the Great Canyon, with no real skill but full of arrogance, always causing trouble—

”I’m not lying, there really is light over there,” the young man insisted.

”I told you to focus,” Lan Wuxin said annoyedly, ”No one will save you later.”

The young man muttered a couple of times, ”Damn, weak and likes to blame others.”

Lan Wuxin naturally heard the grumble, but his eyebrows twitched, thought for a moment, and didn’t speak.

With strong enemies all around, he didn’t want the team to start arguing at this juncture. Although this was his first dangerous mission, he had led several other missions before, gaining some experience in the nearby areas as a Captain.

However, if not for the protection clause in the contract, he really wanted to kick this guy out to feed the Undead, making him of some use.

Despite his thoughts, he glanced in that direction with his peripheral vision and saw two beams of light cutting through the Forest, swaying in this direction. Another team was present, stirring a thought in Lan Wuxin’s heart.

But he didn’t immediately command the team to move in that direction. After all, in the wilderness, the other side’s intentions were unclear; they could very well take advantage of them.

Even if the other side didn’t take advantage, they might not lend a hand. The run over there would be a mile or two, inevitably costing one or two lives in the storm and snow.

If the other side stayed indifferent, they might as well stay and fight the enemies here, where the terrain was still somewhat advantageous for them.

But before he could speak, the Alchemist shouted again:

”I saw it, that’s definitely another team, we should head over quickly, right?”

”Quick, give the order. Don’t you understand? Do you want to get us killed here?”

His words instantly stirred restlessness in the team. After all, no one wanted to die. Not everyone had thought as thoroughly as Lan Wuxin. Upon hearing another team was nearby, they had no intention of fighting to the death here.

Everyone’s gaze turned to Lan Wuxin.

Lan Wuxin only wished to strike the guy with a sword, but someone already kicked the Alchemist out before him. It was his old partner, clearly at his wits’ end.

The guy had no idea someone would attack him from behind and, losing his balance, screamed as he fell towards a Drowned Corpse upfront. The latter, sensing the presence of the living, opened its mouth to bite his neck.

It had just opened its mouth when a sharp sword pierced its cheek, knocking its head off and rolling onto the snow. Quick-eyed and swift, Lan Wuxin grabbed the young man and pulled him back, throwing him to the ground.