Cornflower Witch

Chapter 166 Misty Mountains
Misty Mountain
Holding her ebony composite bow, Hiltiya walked with her companion through the misty, chilly mountains.

The mist here lingers year-round, blending seamlessly with the world in the film. They frequently step into areas of color and then into gray and white zones, a transition that creates an uncomfortable feeling.

Once inside the mountains, everyone became noticeably more alert and spoke much less. If they did speak, it was because they had discovered something.

"Ya'en, how far can you see now?" the captain asked, walking ahead without turning around.

"About sixteen meters, it gets a little hard to see beyond that."

“I’m a little better; I can probably see about twenty meters,” Carl added in response.

"I guess Karl, being a wizard, has stronger mental power," Bad Apple simply commented.

"I can see about fifty meters because I am a 'Mist Shadow' type, which allows me to perceive things in the mist."

"Where's Tiya?" The group focused their attention on the girl in the group.

“About two hundred meters,” Hiltiya replied after a moment’s thought. This was her normal field of vision. If she were to fully utilize her natural perception, along with the assistance of her alien perception, she should be able to see a distance of four hundred meters.

Whew, everyone breathed a slight sigh of relief upon hearing this.

To be honest, soon after they stepped into this place, the group had a bad feeling. The range of their visual perception was compressed too much.

If someone like Yann comes here, he can only perceive a distance of sixteen meters around him, making him extremely vulnerable to ambushes by unknown monsters. He would have to be highly focused at all times to deal with them. In addition, if the team members are a little too far away, they can easily get separated, which is almost fatal in the misty mountains.

"Something's coming." Hiltiya looked ahead and spoke softly.

Upon hearing her reminder, the group stopped, moved closer together, and prepared for battle.

In the mist-shrouded mountains, two snow-gray fur-bearing creatures sniffed the faint scent emanating from their noses and scurried away. They resembled foxes in shape, but were much longer and more slender. They moved silently, with three blood-red eyes on each side, making a total of six eyes, which were exceptionally eerie.

As they darted through the misty grass and reached within about fifty meters of the group, as if they had already spotted them, their forms vanished like ice cubes sinking into water. Now, not only the other team members, but even when Hiltiya activated her recognition pupils to the fullest extent, she could only detect the constantly shifting, blurry outlines.

"Watch out, they've gone invisible."

This statement made everyone's hearts jump again.

Nocked the bow, drew the arrow, and with focused concentration, Hiltiya aimed and fired.

A slight tremor of the bowstring sent the arrow piercing the mist, striking the outline of a monster and leaving a trail of fine blood.

Such an attack caused the opponent to pause in their approach, then they quickly turned around and disappeared back into the mist, fleeing and scattering.

So cautious and cunning? If it gets hurt even slightly, it will never come near again, Hiltia thought.

Faced with this situation, she felt both happy and worried.

The good thing is that this way, dangerous battles can be avoided; the bad thing is that these two monsters are so intelligent, who knows what trouble they might cause later.

The group then resumed their pace until they passed the spot where the two monsters had been injured.

Bad Apple crouched down, carefully examined the fresh bloodstains on the grass, dipped his finger in it, and tasted it.

“There’s a faint aura of ‘Mist Shadow,’ so it should be a second-tier ‘Mist Shadow’ type monster.” He stood up.

"The good news is that it's only at the second tier; the bad news is that I don't know where my opponent comes from, and I can't even guarantee a win." He felt a lot of pressure.

"Let's go first. If things don't look good in the next few days, we'll light the Xufeng Torch and retreat quickly."

Having come this far, it would be a real shame to turn back at the slightest setback. With this in mind, the group continued onward.

In the afternoon, as the light dimmed, Hirutiya parted the damp shrub branches with her fingers and found several small, dark blue fruits among them.

'Anthocyanin Berry', a berry imbued with the essence of 'hibernation', is of exceptional quality.

Although it hasn't yet solidified its essence, it's still quite rare and precious. It can be used to ferment and refine a special 'Cold Dew Wine' for learning the 'Hibernation' essence ability. Hiltiya carefully picked more than thirty berries from the bushes, put them in a cloth-lined box, and then hung it in the leather luggage bag on her horse's back.

“Let’s keep going.” She stood up and looked at the three people waiting beside her.

"Alright." Bad Apple jumped down from the branch where it was crouching and then walked ahead again.

After that, they encountered many minor troubles along the way, such as white venomous snakes in the grass, strange insects occasionally flying low overhead, and strange potholes that appeared on the road at some unknown time.

"There are two more potholes ahead, let's take a detour," Hiltiya reminded everyone, glancing at the bushes blending seamlessly into the surrounding environment.

"Sigh, do we have to take another detour? What is it that we can't even touch?" Bad Apple wondered.

"I don't know what it is, but I can sense strange living creatures lurking at the bottom of the pit," the girl explained.

“Why don’t we prepare properly this time and actually meet them? Otherwise, it’s not good to keep hiding without knowing the specifics,” Yann suggested.

Bad Apple shook his head after hearing this. "I think it's better to listen to Tia. There's no need to take unnecessary risks."

"Of course I understand Yann's thinking. You always want to play it safe and prepare for what might happen in the future."

"How about this, next time we encounter only one, we'll go check it out."

“That’s fine too.” Carl nodded from behind.

About two hours later, they encountered a similar pit again, this time there was only one.

After hearing Hilti's description of the exact location, Bad Apple looked at the other two members.

"How about we give it a try this time? We'll both be careful."

“Then I’ll go first.” Yann raised his shield.

"Okay, be careful." Bad Apple nodded.

"Wait a moment." Hiltiya thought of something, went to the black horse behind her, took out the high-quality food stored in her package, put a few pieces of cold flatbread in her hand, heated them slightly with the 'baking method', and then handed them to Yann and the others.

【Roasted Meat Pie】(Excellent); Made with premium venison and rare flour, its quality slightly decreases when cold. It replenishes nutrients, restores stamina, and accelerates blood circulation. (Stamina Recovery +2, Blood Circulation +1)

After receiving it, everyone ate it with great curiosity and then waited for the food to take effect.

"It's a strange feeling because we never knew when we would encounter the enemy, so we always ate afterward."

"However, this will indeed increase our overall combat strength significantly." Yann licked the remaining crumbs from the corner of his mouth, somewhat unsatisfied.

"Alright, we've finished eating, time to get back to work."

Afterwards, Yorn walked in front, Bad Apple circled around to the side, ready to provide support at any time, Hilti stood behind with her bow in hand, ready to provide assistance, while Karl was not far from Hilti, also holding spellcasting materials, making various preparations.

Following the location indicated by Hilti, Yann held his shield in front of him, slowly approached, then stopped and threw a stone into the camouflaged grass.

The stone crushed into the grass, hitting the monster in the pit. A sharp screech rang out, and then a gray-white figure leaped out rapidly. Before Yann could even see the creature clearly, he was pounced on.

Its sharp forelegs snagged and tore at the shield, leaving scratches. If it were an ordinary person, they would have been torn open or even dismembered long ago.

Faced with the biting claws, Yann held his shield firmly, preventing the black claws from piercing down. At this moment, the others could see clearly what the ambushing creature was.

Its appearance is similar to that of a spider, but its two pairs of forelegs are sharp as knife tips. Its body is covered with snow-white hair, which can greatly reduce the sound of its movements. After attacking, several pairs of black eyes of different sizes stare at Yaen, and the mandibles under its fangs emit a fierce hissing sound.

【Snowflake Spider (die, dang)】(Tier 2·Mist Shadow): A burrowing spider that lives underground. When lying in ambush, it is silent and still. When it attacks, it is extremely fast and difficult for ordinary creatures to detect or resist.

(End of this chapter)