Mythic Abyss.

Lurie and the other elves stood before the Elderly Elf. He raised a Wand carved from a withered branch of the World Tree and delivered his final warning before the migration:

“Lastly, the forest to the north is dangerous. Remember this well. If you encounter a problem you can’t solve, run. You must survive.”

After speaking, the Elderly Elf sent everyone off to organize their equipment. The Dual Blade Sorceress and the greatsword-wielding woman walked in. The latter nudged the Elderly Elf’s shoulder with hers, a trace of amusement in her eyes.

“I never thought an old man your age could still give such a rousing speech.”

“What’s wrong with being old? Don’t let my appearance fool you. Living another hundred years shouldn’t be a problem. As the saying goes, a man remains a boy until the day he dies.”

The Elderly Elf puffed out his beard. He had no intention of continuing the greatsword-wielding woman’s teasing. Instead, he turned to the Dual Blade Sorceress.

“Have the humans and Halfbeasts prepared for the migration?”

A few days earlier, a tremendous boom had come from the distant north. A massive spatial rift had shot into the heavens. Even from inside the fortress, the Elderly Elf had seen it clearly.

This proved that the man’s words from over a decade ago had been true. This place truly held a passage to another world.

It was their only hope of survival.

This world had reached its end. The sky was strange, with a bizarre number of suns hanging above it. Unknown, tumor-like things lay buried beneath the earth.

As time passed, those tumors grew stronger. Things they once could have cleared away with ease had now become overwhelmingly difficult to deal with.

“I hope everything goes smoothly.”

Lurie returned to her front door and opened it. Over the next two days, she had to decide what to take with her during the migration.

Fortunately, there was hardly anything worth taking in her shabby little home.

There was no need to bring furniture. Who would carry heavy furniture while fleeing for their lives? Even bringing bedding was already a luxury.

Lurie rummaged through a drawer and pulled out a bag she had woven herself. It resembled a shoulder bag and could hold a few light items.

She stuffed a thin layer of linen cloth inside, then began sweeping through her home for anything useful.

“Water flask, food, Magic Stones, medicine, rope…”

These were all vital survival tools. If they encountered danger, such items could help them hold out for a while.

She wouldn’t bring her elven headdress, either. Although it symbolized the elves and held great sentimental value, that was all it had.

During an escape, it was no different from extra baggage.

“This should be about enough.”

Lurie stared at the stuffed-full bag. She suddenly felt that the bag she had chosen was a little too small.

Unfortunately, she didn’t have any spatial Magic Tools. If she did, she wouldn’t need to worry about these things at all.

“If only I could learn spatial magic.”

Lurie let out a long sigh. Spatial magic wasn’t easy to learn. To make matters worse, the great elven library had been burned down.

Only a few books recording Magic Spells remained. Lurie had looked through those recently, but they contained nothing beyond basic Magic Spells.

“What a hassle. I remember Night Frost has something called a Spatial Box. I’m so jealous.”

Lurie lay on her hard wooden bed. Her two white legs dangled above the floor, swinging back and forth~

And then…

“Thud!”

Lurie suddenly sat up and grabbed her ankle. She had swung her foot too hard and kicked the table.

She rubbed her aching foot, tears glimmering in her eyes. She was clearly a 【Cantata Two】. Why was she still so careless?

“Hm?”

Out of the corner of her eye, Lurie noticed the floor. Something seemed to be propping up one of the bed’s legs.

It didn’t look like a mud brick. It seemed to be the shape of a book.

Lurie went to the corner and used magic to lift the bed. She successfully retrieved the slightly swollen book that had been used as a wedge.

The book was covered in dust, and its pages were so grimy that their surfaces were difficult to make out.

When had she stuffed it there?

Lurie couldn’t remember for the moment.

She casually flipped through a couple of pages. The text was written in the elven language and roughly described the history of the elven race.

Every now and then, a few Magic Spells were interspersed throughout the text.

“This is actually a spellbook!”

Lurie couldn’t believe there was a spellbook in her home.

“Oh my goodness. Did I borrow it from the great library and forget to return it? No, wait. I barely ever went to the great library. Could it be one of my teachers’ spellbooks?”

Before arriving at the fortress, Lurie had studied under the elven elders for some time. Most of the spellbooks she had come into contact with had been given to her by the elders of her own faction.

When the forest changed and the elders left, Lurie had returned every single spellbook. There couldn’t possibly be one left behind…

Lurie continued flipping through the book. Soon, she reached the final page.

It was reddish-brown, and a rich scent of Blood permeated it. This made Lurie even more certain that the book belonged to one of the elders.

Just as Lurie was about to close the book, the Bloodstains on the page began to writhe.

They transformed into a thin needle and shot toward Lurie’s finger with lightning speed.

A bright-red drop of Blood fell onto the page and mixed with the other stains.

After absorbing the fresh Blood, the page began to emit a faint, multicolored glow. At first, the light was weak.

But as time passed, it gradually grew brighter and more dazzling.

The radiance flowed across the page, forming one gorgeous and mysterious pattern after another, as though whispering some ancient and profound secret.

Then Lurie fainted.

She collapsed heavily onto the wooden bed, while the book drifted gently down beside her.

The Elderly Elf sensed a trace of Mana in the distance. But the moment he extended his perception, that Mana vanished.

It was as though it had never existed.

Perhaps someone in the fortress had used magic. The fortress had been filled with all kinds of people lately. Who could say what had happened?

He only hoped that the owner of that magic wouldn’t interfere with the fortress’s great migration.

At dusk two days later, every member of the fortress gathered on the grassland outside.

The three races were carefully counting their numbers. At that moment, Lurie slipped into the elven group.

She wore a coarse linen shirt and carried a worn-out burlap bag.

It was all that damn spellbook’s fault! It had made her sleep for two whole days, and she had nearly missed the migration.

If she hadn’t packed the basic necessities before reading the book, she wouldn’t have had any time to prepare.

Lurie looked around. Most people here, like her, carried a great deal of baggage.

Of course, some had gone even further. They were dragging loads that looked like small hills.

“Can they really carry all that…?”

Lurie muttered under her breath. Apparently, the owner of the luggage had heard her and shot her a furious glare.

Lurie shrank her neck and hunched low as she searched for the Elderly Elf.

“All right. Let’s set out. Everyone’s accounted for.”

The elves, carrying bags large and small, began moving north.

Along the way, Lurie seemed distracted. She found the scene strangely familiar, as if she had seen it somewhere before.

Back then, the Elderly Elf had said the same thing. They had begun migrating north, but before they had gone very far, they encountered a pack of wolves infected by parasites.

The three races had joined forces and slaughtered the wild wolves, but all three sides had suffered casualties to varying degrees.

“Will the wolves appear?”

Lurie followed at the rear of the group. In theory, as a 【Cantata Two】, she should have been at the very front.

But because she couldn’t stop thinking about this question, she had unknowingly blended into the crowd.

Just as Lurie was struggling with her thoughts, a wolf’s howl rang out from the distant mountain forest.

The wolves had really come!

The sudden howl instantly put the entire group on edge.

Those who had been speaking in low voices stopped. Everyone turned toward the source of the howl with grim expressions.

Lurie’s heart tightened.

If the wolves had truly appeared, did that mean the two days she had lost had shown her… the future?

“Don’t panic! Keep formation!”

Someone in the group shouted, trying to steady everyone’s nerves.

But the howls seemed almost magical. They stirred ripples of fear through every heart, making it impossible for people to remain calm.

“It’s a wolf pack!”

Someone shouted.

A large pack of wolves with brown manes burst from the woods on both sides.

Those with strength quickly drew their weapons and surrounded the weaker members, shielding them from the wolves.

The pack wasn’t particularly powerful. With the Elderly Elf, the Dual Blade Sorceress, and the greatsword-wielding woman present, the wolves couldn’t cause much trouble.

The humans had two 【Cantata Two】s. One was the Dual Blade Sorceress’s disciple. The other was a man wearing rune armor.

The Halfbeasts’ strength wasn’t low, either. Their leader and two guards possessed the power of 【Cantata Two】s.

The elves had two elders—and Lurie herself.

As the danger drew closer with every howl, Lurie opened the translucent wings behind her without hesitation.

Her movements were graceful and swift. She gripped the longbow formed from condensed Mana.

When she drew the bowstring, a blinding beam of light shot from the bow.

It pierced straight through the head of a wolf leaping toward the crowd. The wolf lost its life in an instant and crashed heavily into the ground, sending dust flying.

“There must be an alpha among the pack… No, I can’t think about this in ordinary terms. Where exactly is that parasite hiding?”

Even knowing what would happen, Lurie still couldn’t find the answer.

But… why did she need to think about it herself?

Couldn’t she just ask the Elderly Elf?

So she went to him.

After hearing her explanation, the Elderly Elf swept his perception across half the forest and told Lurie the parasite’s exact location.

Lurie then took one of the elders and hurried straight toward the parasite controlling the wolf pack.

She drew her bow…

Then killed the parasite.

The parasite’s true body was unexpectedly weak. That was probably why it needed to parasitize a wolf pack.

After dealing with the wolves, the main group counted the injured while continuing forward.

They couldn’t delay for even a moment. They had to reach the location marked on the map during the previous meeting before dawn.

Otherwise, once the sun rose, fewer than one in ten of the people in this great migration might survive.

Lurie’s expression grew even darker.

The wolves had appeared already. That meant that by dawn the next day…

Something terrible would probably happen.

She wanted to tell the Elderly Elf, but would he believe her?

Predicting the future sounded too ridiculous.

Lurie was thinking this when the Elderly Elf approached her.

His face held a kind and gentle smile.

“What’s wrong?”