readytorunbook Chapter 296 Hunting
Chapter 296 Hunting
"Quiet, or else..."
The old hunter cautioned that if Alice could also use ancient elven magic, then he wouldn't need to be as wary of the person he was rescuing as before.
Many outsiders who stray into northern Louisiana often die because they cannot see the danger or feel the malice of this land, while some stubbornly cling to their own opinions.
But they couldn't possibly know this land better than the hunters, neither the United States government of Northern Louisiana that had previously worked with the hunters, nor the outsiders, could see these dangers.
The dark shadow receded into the distance, and Alice saw the mysterious, bear-like figure quickly disperse.
“Yes, child, you and my daughter... look very alike.”
Alice performed very well. He had thought that a child of this age would panic, but she quickly learned the hunter's survival skills. The old hunter glanced at Alice with his deep eyes.
Even though she was as young as a princess, Alice's every move exuded an extraordinary air. She was not some sheltered princess. Her clothes were worn but clean, the kind that someone who had traveled through war zones would have.
"Here, child. Ordinary weapons won't work on these things... This was a gift from my daughter. It's beautiful, isn't it?"
"The Caldwell Heavy Strike Revolver, you've definitely never played with such a beast anywhere else... In this environment, only rifle bullets can better scare away those monsters... This was assembled by my daughter herself."
Alice took the revolver; the reinforced cylinder made the entire gun very long, longer than an arm's length.
But she controlled it as if it were her own arm, even making the revolver spin, creating a beautiful spear flower in her hand. With the butt of the gun pressed against her thumb, Alice saw a beautiful cursive script on the metal carving.
"Sheri Campbell, what a beautiful name."
Hearing Alice's praise, the old hunter's lips curled up slightly, and his tone became even more gentle: "She's a good girl, and the best naturalist in Northern Louisiana. If it weren't for the Civil War, she would have gone to college in the District of Columbia. He got her recommendation letter. She's a really good girl."
"Before the avalanche, she went west. She and we were going to Brighttown, one of the few settlements in northwestern Louisiana, where fifteen hunters were stationed."
Alice nodded, and the old hunter touched a mark on a tree stump: "What a good girl... She really shouldn't stay in this godforsaken place. It's alright, Sherry, I'll send you out as soon as the civil war is over."
The old hunter murmured, standing up and looking at the two women beside him: "Sherry told us that monsters are gathering in this direction, so we have to take another route. After all, gunshots will attract... nature's attention."
Alice held Rafis's hand, whose cheeks were flushed. Rafis's usual demeanor had completely vanished. In Alice's subconscious, he was like her little boyfriend, holding a pistol in one hand and tightly gripping Rafis's small hand with the other.
In Raphis's eyes, it was Alice who protected her at that moment. She initially wanted to take responsibility, but in her heart, she was happy for Alice's action.
She took her hand and led her westward, with Alice blocking her way.
"wrong."
The old hunter suddenly realized something, and he frowned. Alice immediately activated her extended vision and saw that in the distance, in the town surrounded by forests and streams, chaotic and turbulent magic was gathering.
"Damn it!"
Gunshots echoed faintly through the valley. The old hunter lowered his gun to his shoulder, turned back, and shouted to Alice, "That's Bright Town!"
Several corpses lay scattered on the ground in Bright Town. Alice clearly saw that some of the corpses no longer belonged to the category of "human".
The faces of the corpses were unrecognizable, their bodies were mutated, and they grew limbs that were not human. The same was true of some of the strangely shaped "animal" corpses.
The old hunter raised his gun, and Alice saw for the first time clearly a "bear" that was entirely black and covered in spikes, roaring angrily.
"It's a demonic bear!"
boom!
The old hunter's Sharps LRR spewed thick smoke as old-fashioned magic crystal black powder propelled a single magic crystal-carved bullet, precisely striking the demon bear's body.
Alice raised the heavy revolver in her hand, clicked the hammer, and raised it—
boom!
The second bullet struck at the perfect moment, and the demonic bear roared in pain. Just then, several black figures darted out from the side—
"Fire!"
Several full-size rifles of various shapes roared. Alice saw several Springfield 03 rifles, a Mosin-Nagant rifle, two Winchester 1873s, and even an M1887 lever-action rifle.
Rifles fired in unison, and bullets made of magic crystals struck the demonic bear. The magic collided, and a hunter, seeing the situation was bad, immediately pulled out some long sticks from his back—it was a javelin made of wood, metal, and magic crystals.
This is an ancient weapon of the local elves; the spearhead, crafted from large blocks of magic crystal, is the best outlet for magical power.
The spear was thrown, striking the demonic bear, which had become unstable due to the bullet tearing through its physical body. The bear roared deafeningly, then collapsed, turning into a black mass.
"Damn it... what happened?"
The old hunter asked, and a hunter stepped forward, removing his wide-brimmed hat adorned with traditional local feathers. The pointed ears that were revealed identified him as a local elf.
"A demonic tidal attack... It's been a long time since something like this happened. The last time... was ten years ago..."
The elven hunter's teammate pulled out his javelin and handed it to him. Alice's eyes were fixed on the strange aggregate, and in her gaze, something invisible to others was emerging.
[Cross-Dimensional Interference Magic Aggregator]
[Anti-interference module is ready]
Alice walked towards the mass, but the hunter beside her blocked her way: "Miss, you don't look like a local... Don't go near that thing, it's dangerous. See those corpses over there? It was from contact with this stuff that their bodies and souls were corrupted..."
Alice looked at the hunter, and she had a strange feeling.
“Miss, leave here. Don’t touch these things. Bright Town is finished. These things will pollute this land until nature has nothing left.”
A hunter crouched down, gazing sadly at the land. He scooped up a handful of soil: "Our homes are being polluted one by one, but we will return sooner or later..."
Alice watched the hunters, who were offering a eulogy to this land in their own way, according to their own customs and culture. Natural death left only silence.
Next year, there will be no more reviving flowers and grasses, no more trees and birds, and no more animals leaping in the mountains; only a thick layer of crystals will remain.
Even after harmless dead crystals have settled, it can take more than a decade to remove them.
She looked around. The old hunter was chatting with the elf hunter, while the other hunters were moving corpses, counting the dead, and reading eulogies for their fallen comrades.
Alice exhaled a breath of warm air, her heart filled with boundless emotions, and she reached out her hand towards the aggregate.
She could see these things; they were filled with disordered gibberish, unreadable, like a system written in a different machine language that was impossible to read.
But she doesn't need to interpret these things.
[Contaminated magic aggregate detected—cutting off dimensional interference—success—magic aggregate quality check complete, absorbing.]
The black aggregate emitted a light, drawing everyone's attention. The murky black substance was shedding its pollution, becoming pure, and eventually turning into the unique blue of the magic crystal.
[Magic absorption complete - Inscription system launched - Administrator privileges confirmed]
"What are you...?"
"Alice?!"
Alice's body emitted a faint light, her eyes turned golden, and wings and bat wings spread behind her. A faint golden halo was appearing above her head.
She reached out her hand, and a pale golden figure appeared.
"Long time no see, Alice. Do you remember me? Consciousness entity—Greywind?"
As Alice gazed at the golden figure before her, memories began to surface. She recalled many things, including the scene of her standing in the Holy City's Great Hall.
"So, it really was me? Alice Delalaye, hmm, I remember now, everything..."
Alice stretched out her hand, unfolding it—[Engraving]
A beam of light spread out, and the old hunter looked at Alice. Centered on her, all the black pollutants were stripped of their blackness and transformed into harmless, pure magic.
"What...what is this? How did those things turn into magic crystals?"
[“Region identification complete, event reading complete, regional inscription formatting complete, local control terminal identification failed – diagnosis complete – cross-dimensional pollution spread on the surface – urgent, requires action.”]
Alice could see that deep within the earth, amidst the mountains, forests, and rivers, a "gate" was greedily drawing in and alienating the nature of this place.
The [Engraving] system is a joint masterpiece by Raffarin Lowe and Greywind. Relying on the burgeoning computing power of an ancient computer and the devices placed in the orbit of a star, they created the magic of this world—a kind of data-driven reality energy. By reversing the magic that once changed this starry sky, the materialists created the "magic" of their world.
The nature of this magic is basically the same as that of the magic from another dimension invasion; they can influence each other. However, unlike the magic from another dimension, this magic can be digitized, influenced and altered by code and terminals. It is not actually an ethereal power, but a real, tangible program from their world.
The ultimate result, the [Inscription] system, is to spread this kind of domain. Within this domain, the nature of magic is forcibly altered, and the [information] within is [formatted] into [magic] that they can control.
This is the inscription, and also the final result of Raffarin Low and Emily Lansey's research team. She hopes, they hope, that this is the final note in their civilizational contest.
Formatting complete, area magic reprogramming successful—purification complete, dimensional pollution effects isolated.
Nature has already reset.