Shut up, brave man! I don't want to atone for my sins to you!

But why are there adult items in the baby’s cradle?

When Lacie thought of this, she couldn't help but stare at the strange-looking mistress.

So, what exactly is the Matron of the Elves?

AI? Shipboard mainframe? Or something even stranger?

Speaking of which, since He can communicate with every elf, He may no longer be a pure product of technology.

——He possesses the aura of both mystery and science.

But how could such a person fall into madness?

Lacele didn't understand.

To her, most of the anomalies in Lentiheim could now be explained.

The origin of all abnormalities is that the mistress has gone mad.

And what caused the mistress to go crazy?

She was lost in thought.

At this moment, a slightly confused voice suddenly came from behind her:

"Mother?"

Lacie turned her head subconsciously and found that it was Seloway who was speaking.

At this moment, the elves who had experienced the dream of existence with them all woke up.

Except for a very small number of elves who really couldn't join the battle, such as the children who had just left the breeding room, and the couple who gave birth to Lentiheim's first newborn...

Apart from them, all the elves who had not yet disappeared in the thick fog gathered here.

Most of them came here for the first time and met the mother who gave birth to them for the first time.

There were also a few, such as Selowei and Fuwenna, who had met their mother before.

But no matter whether it was the former or the latter, all the elves at this moment turned their eyes to the strange creature floating in the huge hole.

Rachel saw fear, shock, and confusion on their faces.

And all these emotions were anticipated by Lacie.

She guessed that not many elves could recognize that the strange creature was their mother. After all, even she was briefly stunned when she first saw the true appearance of the mistress.

However, a son will not despise his mother's ugliness, and a dog will not despise his family's poverty.

Although the elves' mistress looked a bit strange, and her existence itself was difficult for the elves to understand, but no matter what...

After all, He is the mother who gave birth to the entire Lentiheim.

Lacie was a little hesitant, wondering whether she should introduce to these elves that the strange thing in front of them was actually their mother.

Before she could think clearly, Selowei passed her and walked slowly to the mistress with staggering steps.

Then, the old elf raised his head with difficulty and looked up at the mistress who was as huge and majestic as a mountain.

Compared with the huge and twisted body of the mistress, she seemed too small.

Like dust or fireflies.

Hardly worth mentioning.

But even so, she still asked in a trembling voice:

"Mother...how did you become like this?"

Lacey was stunned.

What do you mean?

Wasn't the original mistress like this? Then what should He be like? Was there something else that she hadn't noticed?

Before Lacie could figure it out, faint ripples suddenly appeared in the huge hole.

Everyone, including the witch and the hero, felt that some great will had awakened from its slumber.

Is it because of the end of the dream of existence? Or is it because of Seloe's call?

No one knows.

But the Matron of the Elves did cast her gaze upon all the living things before her.

The look was gentle and peaceful.

He looked at all His children, and as the waves surged again, His voice resounded in everyone’s heart:

"You are here..."

The voice was soft and a little mechanical, but it was not scary at all. Even Lacier felt as if she was basking in a spring breeze.

She only heard motherly love.

It was as if... as if the elves' mistress had never gone mad, and that she was normal, still protecting each of her children as before.

But how could this be possible? If the Matron was normal, how could there be such abnormalities in Lentiheim? And how could Mura disappear inexplicably in the thick fog?

Lacey encountered another problem that she couldn't figure out.

The elves don't seem to have such a problem.

All the elves raised their heads and stared at their mistress.

Fuvenna, Selowei, Austin... and those strange elves whose names and numbers Rachel couldn't remember, they gathered here, as if they had made an appointment to attend an exceptionally grand funeral.

Every elf had a solemn and sad expression, no one spoke, and the huge void fell into deep silence.

Until the old elf in front of the mistress spoke again, breaking the silence:

"You..." Her voice was anxious, with a certain expectation, "...are you okay?"

The mistress seemed unable to understand what Selowei meant, and everyone felt the mistress's confusion at the same time.

But this confusion did not last long, the mistress quickly replied in her usual friendly tone:

"I'm very good."

"But don't you feel pain?"

"Pain..." The mistress became more and more confused, "Why do I feel...pain?"

Selowei's body trembled.

She suddenly didn't want to look at her mistress anymore. She lowered her eyes sadly and seemed to have aged a lot in an instant.

"You are crazy."

the old elf whispered.

The mistress heard her words.

But the mistress still didn't understand what she was saying.

The relationship between them was suddenly reversed, with Seloue becoming the mother and the mistress the imaginative child.

The child believes that there is a giant of light in this world, and a Kamen Rider who will stand up and save the world in times of crisis, but the mother tells the child that those are all fake, do not exist, and are just beautiful fantasies.

The child didn't want to believe his mother's words.

So, He still made a confused sound:

"I am...crazy?"

"Yes, you are crazy." Selowei's voice became hoarse. "Don't you know?"

She raised her head again and said to her mother:

"You bred those deformed freaks in the breeding room."

"You created the thick fog that enveloped all of Lentiheim."

"You have caused many elves to disappear without a trace."

"Mother..." Her voice was bitter, "So... you never noticed it?"

The mistress seemed to finally understand what Serlovi said.

But He just remained silent.

In the subtle humming sound, under the gaze of the children, after a long yet short time -

Like a dream, the great will that resides here conveys to everyone the answer it had given not long ago:

"I'm very good."

"everything is normal."

"They are all well protected by me."

The mistress's voice echoed in the empty space. Her tone was gentle, but it only made people feel chilled.

It seemed as if He wanted to prove something to His children.

So He began to repeat these three sentences endlessly,

Until Seloue said to Him:

"But you know what? Your children...are afraid of you now."

The mistress suddenly stopped.

The plant roots connected to his huge body suddenly flashed with chaotic light, and the subtle humming sound in the hollow became louder, as if the function was overloaded. After a long time, the mistress asked in a stiff mechanical voice:

"……Why?"

"Because of the way you are now."

"My...appearance..." The mistress muttered to herself in confusion, "My appearance...what's wrong..."

He wanted to know why His children were afraid of Him, He wanted to know what He had become.

Then, after many years, He opened His eyes again.

All the lanterns brought here by the elves that had been extinguished in the fog suddenly lit up again.

Then, the last layer of the dream was also dispelled.

The mistress finally revealed her true appearance.

The twisted armor, the shattered shield generator, and the hard shell are still there, but the lush plants have disappeared, replaced by flesh and blood.

—Deformed and twisted, growing wantonly, as soft as mud, and inlaid with countless eyeballs, broken limbs, tentacles and hair.

The peaceful and gentle light that enveloped the place disappeared...

Darkness and thick fog enveloped everything again.

[To be continued]

-

28. Want to die

The elves' mistress finally revealed her true appearance.

Crazy, hideous, twisted, and deformed.

The original peaceful and tranquil appearance was just a shadow of the past preserved in the dream. Now that the dream is over, we have to return to the cruel reality.

There is no doubt that the mistress is crazy.

He has become the ineffable.

His voice was no longer gentle and kind; He began to roar and snarl, uttering maddening gibberish and pouring out nearly endless malice in all directions.

The earth began to tremble.

It seemed that even the giant tree named Lentiheim felt pain and almost collapsed.

And Serlovie, the old elf, still stood at the feet of the mad mother.