Hello, is this a letter addressed to Demon Fortress?

Led by Shadowblade Lin, Elvia began the longest escape of her life.

"Turn left, there's a huge rock about thirty paces away. Hide behind it."

The voice was as calm as if it were reading a menu.

Elvia did as instructed.

Carrying Lin Gui on her back, she staggered and hid behind a boulder.

Just as I crouched down, a huge demon walked past from ten meters away.

The creature's hooves pounded the ground, each step sending pebbles flying.

It didn't turn its head or stop; it just walked straight past.

Elvia held her breath; her heart was pounding in her throat.

Only after the demon had gone far away did she dare to slowly exhale.

"Keep heading east. See that thicket of thorns ahead? Go around it to the left and follow the mountainside."

Why?

"Because the right side is the territory of the Windwing Wolves, whose sense of smell can detect your farts from three kilometers away."

Elvia: "..."

She obediently turned left.

And so, under the guidance of Shadow Blade Lin.

She was like a frightened rabbit, dodging and weaving through the wilderness.

She crossed the swamp, stepping on the stones designated by Shadowblade Lin, not daring to make a single wrong step.

Looking back, she saw that the stones formed a hidden path in the swamp.

The mud beside them was covered with countless monster footprints.

She crossed the ridge and followed Shadow Blade Lin's instructions, walking along the shady side of the mountain.

The places where the sun doesn't reach are bitterly cold, but there are no monsters there either.

On those sunny slopes.

Every few hundred meters you can see a group of shiny-furred demons lying in the sun.

She ventured into the dense forest, where Shadow Blade Lin told her which tree had a hidden hollow where she could rest temporarily.

She climbed up and found that the tree hole was just the right size to accommodate her and the forest ghost.

There are also vines hanging down to cover the entrance of the cave.

It seems to be specially prepared for adventurers who travel through time.

She walked along the stream, and Shadow Blade Lin told her to only walk in the water and not to step on the stones on the bank.

"The flowing water can wash away the smell. If you go ashore, your scent will remain on the rocks and be smelled by those long-nosed creatures."

Elvia did as instructed.

The icy stream water soaked through her already tattered boots.

Her toes were numb from the cold, but she dared not go ashore.

Once, she was so tired that she wanted to rest under a big tree.

"Don't stop."

Elvia gritted her teeth, stood up, and continued walking.

She didn't know who Shadow Blade Lin was.

All she knew was that this woman's understanding of the wilderness had reached a terrifying level.

She knew the habits of every kind of demon.

When are they active and when dormant? What kind of terrain do they like to stay in? What smells are they sensitive to? How good are their eyesight and hearing?

She even knew which demons had territorial conflicts.

She knew how to hide in the wilderness.

It's not the kind of concealment that relies on magic.

It is the most primitive and basic.

How to walk without making a sound, how to breathe without being detected, how to use the wind direction to cover up the smell.

She knows how to reduce physical characteristics.

Elvia listened to her and chewed up some kind of herb she found in the Wood Ghost's bundle, applying it to her face and hands.

The smell of that grass was so pungent that it made her want to vomit.

But after she applied the ointment, the mosquitoes and blood-sucking flies stopped landing on her.

She knew where the temporary bases were.

A hidden cave, a hollow giant tree, and a pile of rocks that could hide a person.

She took Elvia with her and traveled back and forth between these outposts.

Every time, they appeared at just the right moment when Elvia was about to give up.

"There's a crevice up ahead. Let's crawl in and spend the night here."

Elvia crawled into the crevice.

The crevice was narrow, just enough for her and Lin Gui to squeeze together.

The wind was strong outside, but the crevices in the rocks were quiet, like another world isolated from the rest of the earth.

She didn't know how Shadow Blade Lin knew about these places.

All she knew was that without this woman, she would have died a hundred times over.

one day.

Two days.

Three days.

Time became blurred during the escape.

For the first time, Elvia experienced firsthand what a true wilderness was.

What does the real wilderness look like without the protection of the Forest Ghost's Night Veil?

She witnessed a demon being torn to pieces by a stronger demon, its intestines spilling out onto the ground.

She witnessed a group of flying demons sweep overhead, their dark shadows almost making her legs go weak.

Just one wrong step could disturb a sleeping monster.

Or it could trigger some deadly danger that she has no idea about.

She finally understood why those golden adventure groups...

They always hesitate and make excuses when faced with lucrative transportation contracts.

It's not because I'm lazy.

It's because they know that in the wilderness, a single misstep can be fatal.

Those rewards were earned with their lives.

She, on the other hand, used to look down on them for not being proactive enough or obedient enough.

What was she thinking at the time?

"A bunch of spineless cowards."

Looking back now, she realized that she was the real idiot.

Fourth day.

Day .

Day .

Elvia didn't know how she managed to get through it.

Her feet were covered in blisters. The blisters burst and turned into calluses, which then burst and bled again.

Her legs felt like they were filled with lead, and every step she took required all her strength.

Her eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep.

Everything I see appears double.

She was afraid to sleep.

It's not that I don't want to sleep, it's that I'm afraid to.

She doesn't have any concealment magic.

The concealment techniques that Shadowblade Lin taught her could only fool ordinary demons.

You can't fool those demons with their keen sense of smell and hearing.

Each time she closed her eyes, she took a short rest.

They would all be driven away by a passing demon after a few minutes or tens of minutes.

The longest she ever slept was less than two hours.

The shortest time was when she had just closed her eyes when she heard Shadow Blade Lin's urgent voice.

"Get up! Three demon wolves are coming this way!"

She jumped up almost instinctively, picked up Lin Gui, and ran.

After running several hundred meters, she heard the howling of wolves behind her.

The sound was less than fifty meters away from where she had just been resting.

Her legs went weak on the spot.

But she dared not stop.

She could only keep running.

exhausted.

despair.

Boundless exhaustion, boundless despair.

She didn't know how much longer she could hold on.

All she knew was that every time she was about to give up, she would turn her head and glance at the unconscious man on her back.

He is still alive.

She could feel his heartbeat.

The heartbeat was faint, but it kept beating.

thump.

thump.

thump.

Like a stubborn, relentless drumbeat.

She didn't know when he would wake up.

All she knew was that as long as she held on until Lin Gui woke up, this desperate escape would end.

She can finally get a good night's sleep.

however.

Eight whole days.

She carried Lin Gui on her back, guided by that woman.

We crossed swamps, climbed mountain ridges, ventured into dense forests, and followed streams, step by step, until we emerged from the woods.

The man behind her was still unconscious.

She glanced down.

Lin Gui's face was still deathly pale.

The wounds started to scab over, but his left arm was still twisted at that strange angle.

His breathing was so weak that you had to get very close to hear it each time.

If it weren't for every now and then...

She could feel his heartbeat coming from behind him, and she would really think he was dead.

"He was badly injured."

Shadow Blade Lin's voice echoed in my mind.

"If it were just a superficial injury, he wouldn't have been unconscious for so long."

"The most troublesome thing is that his magic power is overdrawn."

"Exhaustion of magic will force his body to trigger a protective mechanism."

"He won't wake up for at least half a month."

At this moment, Elvia no longer cared.

because.

She pushed aside the last clump of bushes.

Sunlight pierced my eyes.

Before me lay a tundra.

Open, flat, and boundless.

Beneath my feet lay soft moss, a mix of gray and green, gleaming warmly in the sunlight.

In the distance are undulating, gentle slopes covered with gray-white and pale green lichen.

The wind blows across the tundra, carrying the clean scent of sunshine and earth.

The sky overhead was a pale blue.

It's a transparent blue.

Elvia stood there, stunned.

She recognized the place; it was in the northern part of the border region...

Southern tundra.

Then, her knees buckled.

She carried Lin Gui on her back and slowly knelt down.

Kneeling on the soft grass.

She placed Lin Gui beside her, raised her head, and looked at the pale blue sky.

Tears streamed down my face.

She didn't wipe it.

She just knelt there, silently shedding tears.

A long time passed.

She took a deep breath and turned to look at Lin Gui.

The sunlight shone on his pale face.

She reached out and gently brushed aside a stray strand of hair from his forehead.

Then, she lay down.

Lying on the moss.

The sun was shining warmly.

The wind rustled across the tundra.

It's very light.

very gentle.

The diverse terrains serve as a buffer zone for the demon's territory.

In other words.

She is safe for now.