"RUUUN!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, warning Darwyn.

Thankfully, he got the message and bolted.

There was no time. I couldn't outrun the wave of razor-sharp glass shards closing in behind me, unless...

[Tempest Shield cast]

I shattered the nearest glass bloom right in front of me, my Tempest Shield flaring to life just in time to block the explosion of shards.

If I couldn't escape using the path that was available, then I had to make my own.

One bloom after another exploded as I slammed through them, each burst setting off another like a deadly domino chain. I sprinted forward through the trail of destruction, protected by the shield.

But my reckless charge had put Darwyn in serious danger.

He was just up ahead, and we were both getting closer to the exit. The problem? So was the glass storm. It was everywhere.

"Darwyn, stay still!" I shouted, raising my staff.

I cast Ethereal Form on him, just in time to turn him intangible as the deadly shards passed through where he stood.

I wasn't so lucky. My Tempest Shield was on its last breath.

Glass cut into my body from every angle. The pain was unbearable. I collapsed next to Darwyn, groaning as Rejuvenation pulses tried, and failed, to keep up with the damage. My health was dropping fast.

Suddenly, I heard a heavy thud, like something slamming into the ground, and a thin golden barrier snapped around me, shielding me from the onslaught.

"Made it just in time," Muradin panted.

He'd come back for us.

I could see the same shimmering barrier surrounding his heavily wounded frame. He must've charged straight through the storm to reach us.

"That was terrifying," Muradin muttered, helping me up.

Darwyn, now back to his normal form, was also wrapped in the faint golden glow of the barrier.

We decided to stay put, waiting for the glass storm to pass. It ended as abruptly as it began. The glass maze was now a ruin, every bloom shattered to dust.

"That was your skill?" I asked Muradin as I chugged a potion.

"Yep, pretty cool, huh?" he said proudly, raising his new shield. "I call it Aegis of the Titans, a signature skill from my handmade Titanforged Aegis."

Apparently, he was quite the equipment crafter. It took serious talent, even for dwarves to forge gear with embedded skills.

"I spent days and nights making this beauty," he added, enthusiastically explaining the details while casually yanking glass shards out of his arm.

"We should move," Darwyn cut in. "The maze is going to regrow soon. Let's continue later."

It didn't take us long to regroup with Orin, who looked visibly relieved. She must've been freaking out when she saw the storm swallow us.

"So, what the hell happened back there, Erynd?" Darwyn asked.

"Honestly? No clue. One moment it was quiet, and then boom, glass wave. It looked like it came from the entrance." I frowned. "That's... weird. Unless someone, or something, triggered it."

"All the more reason to get the hell out of here," Orin muttered.

"Agreed. If someone's trying to mess with us, we need to move fast," I said.

"Right after you patch me up," Muradin groaned, still looking wounded.

***

In stark contrast to the lush green grass of the previous area, the fields ahead shimmered in shades of silver, exuding a quiet, dreamlike serenity.

We had arrived in the Silvered Hills, an area not far from the maze we barely escaped, filled with gentle slopes, scattered trees, and noticeably, not a single flower in sight.

Thankfully, not just anyone could waltz into this place without serious preparation. Anyone reckless enough to follow us here would either give up... or drop dead trying.

[Field Effect Activated – Silver Tranquility. Gained Fatigue and Mental Fog]

Much like the Frostfang Tundra, this zone applied a stacking debuff the longer we stayed. The difference was this one ramped up way faster.

"Make sure you take it one by one," I reminded them for what was probably the fifth time. "Running out halfway through could be fatal."

"Yeah, yeah, you've said that like a dozen times," Muradin muttered with a mock groan. "So, we just keep walking straight from here?"

"Yes, we go straight ahead," Orin said confidently, pointing toward the tallest hill in the distance. "The lake's just behind that hill."

Apparently, she'd read about this place in the Druid Archives.

We moved slowly, carefully navigating the tall silver grass, trying not to disturb any Puffballs, sneaky little creatures scattered throughout this place.

"Watch it, Muradin!" Darwyn shouted a second too late.

A pale, bloated creature burst from the grass like an overfilled balloon and bumped Muradin backward.

Fortunately, he had strong knockback resistance from his Korrogoth's Bulwark Armor. Otherwise, he'd have been sent flying.

But that wasn't all. The Puffball, now inflated, released a shimmering cloud of silver spores around us at the same time, intensifying the area's already punishing effect.

[Silver Tranquility Effect Increased. Fatigue and Mental Fog intensified]

A sudden wave of exhaustion hit me like a truck. My arms ached, and my legs felt like stone.

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"My bad," Muradin said, checking on all of us with a sheepish look.

"Shit happens," Darwyn replied curtly as he reached into his pouch and pulled out a small container. "How many?"

"One is enough," I replied, taking a single berry and eating it.

The others followed suit.

[Brightwake Berry consumed. Fatigue and Mental Fog reduced]

The moment the berry touched my tongue, it burst with a tangy sweetness so vivid it was like a firework in my brain. I felt my thoughts clear, my body energized. Nothing I'd ever tasted even came close.

Feeling better, we pressed on.

This time, Darwyn took the lead. As an elf with heightened senses, he was able to detect hidden Puffballs among the silver grass.

Fortunately, this mushroom-like monster cannot walk. It simply stays still like a mine, waiting to strike back at any unlucky foe who wanders into its attack range.

Every now and then, Orin would hurl Mana Bomb, or Darwyn would toss a Sticky Bomb from a distance to clear the path ahead. But for the most part, we moved slowly and cautiously, trying to conserve our resources as much as possible.

But of course, that didn't mean everything went smoothly.

As dusk settled, visibility dropped, and the Puffballs became even harder to spot.

At one point, Darwyn accidentally stepped on one while crossing the first hill. Unlike Muradin, he got launched right into me.

That little accident knocked me straight into another Puffball.

What followed was an absolute disaster: the Puffball propelled us into another Puffball, setting off a chain reaction eerily similar to the one we'd survived in the flower-glass maze.

We ended up chugging a worrying amount of Brightwake Berries just to stay conscious. Our Fatigue and Mental Fog levels had spiked dangerously high.

Luckily, we'd stocked up. Otherwise, the Silvered Hills might've become our final resting place.

The sky had grown darker by the minute, and we were finally approaching the largest hill.

"Orin, you said it should be somewhere around here, right?" Muradin asked, squinting into the twilight.

"Yes, that's right. Let's split up and search carefully," Orin replied, already scanning the area with sharp eyes.

We spread out, carefully combing the area in the dark, remaining cautious despite our fatigue.

Thankfully, Orin knew about this secret. That meant I didn't have to come up with some half-baked excuse for why we were even out here chasing flowers at dusk.

"Hey! I think I've found it!" Darwyn called out, crouching down to pluck something from the grass.

It was a delicate, silver-white flower, Starlace Lily. Rare beyond belief, it only bloomed in the narrow valley between three smaller hills just before the one we were heading to.

He handed the precious flower to Orin with a small, respectful nod, and we resumed our climb.

By the time we reached the base of the main hill, we could finally breathe a little easier. No more Puffballs.

After hours of tiptoeing through the hidden monsters and battling the ever-growing effects of Fatigue and Mental Fog, the absence of danger was a small mercy.

We took a brief rest, chewing on a few more Brightwake Berries to clear our heads and recharge our strength, then began the final ascent.

At the summit stood a ruined stone bell tower, cracked and covered in moss. Though weather-worn, it still reached proudly into the dusky sky.

"You guys wait down here. I'll go up alone," said Orin. "It won't take long."

Muradin looked visibly disappointed, probably dying to know what was up there, but the tower was clearly only meant to fit one person at a time.

It didn't take long for Orin to climb to the top. The tower wasn't particularly tall. At the summit hung a single aged bell, its rope dangling down like an invitation from the past.

We could see Orin from below, grinning like an excited child as she reached for the rope.

She pulled it.

GONNNNNG.

The bell let out a loud, resonant chime, clear and powerful, cutting through the stillness like a blade through silk.

Orin rang it again. And again.

Each toll echoed with growing intensity, releasing a soft magical pulse that rippled through the air. With every ring, the atmosphere around us shifted: growing colder, quieter, eerily still. Even after the bell stopped moving, its haunting echoes lingered, suspended in the silence.

Then, from above the clouds, a figure emerged.

A massive moth-like creature drifted down from the night sky. Its wings were pale and vast, glimmering with a soft silver sheen. Trails of silver dust followed its every move, glowing faintly like moonlight scattered on the wind.

The Murmurmoth.

A special monster of the Silvered Hills, only summoned by ringing the bell exactly seven times. But with its arrival came danger.

Just like Puffballs, the Murmurmoth could release silver spores, but these were far more potent. The effect of Silver Tranquility would spike instantly, overwhelming both mind and body until the victim entered a vegetative state: permanent and irreversible.

One wrong move, and it would be the end of us.

But instead of looking afraid, Orin stood tall, calm and confident.

She held something out toward the great moth.

The Starlace Lily.

Rather than attacking, the Murmurmoth slowed. Its movements became graceful, almost reverent, as it approached. With delicate precision, it took the flower in its clawed feet... then gently fluttered its wings, as if offering a silent thank you, before gliding downward, tracing the silver grass below. It flew low for a moment before finally ascending into the sky, vanishing into the clouds like a whisper never meant to be heard.

"Catch me!" Orin shouted from above, already mid-leap. "We need to follow that trail before it disappears."

We barely managed to catch her and quickly took off, chasing the shimmering trail of silver dust left behind by the Murmurmoth.

The trail led us away from the hill and toward a flat stretch of land, also blanketed in that mesmerizing silver grass.

Conveniently, the path ahead was completely free of Puffballs, which made our progress much faster than before.

After a while, we spotted a small clearing where the trail came to an end. The entire area shimmered with a soft silver glow. Without hesitation, Orin dashed forward, barely containing her excitement.

I watched anxiously, silently hoping the item we'd come all this way for was still there.

A second later, Orin turned around, grinning from ear to ear as she held something up for us to see.

***

Muradin was way ahead of us, hammer swinging in both hands as he slammed it repeatedly into the ground. His shield, which usually never left his side, was nowhere to be seen.

The air around him was thick with Fogburst Spores from the Puffballs. We kept our distance to avoid getting caught in the cloud.

"Finally! I get to vent my frustration properly," Muradin shouted with glee, after what felt like hours of careful, restrained travel.

Unlike before, he no longer had to worry about the effects of the Silver Tranquility.

"Take that, you oversized fungal menace!" he roared, smashing a Puffball that had once shoved him around. The inflated creature burst with a soft pop and dissolved into a glow of fading light.

"Guys, luck's finally on our side!" he called, raising a silvery-brown orb triumphantly.

At last, we had obtained our first Soul Fragment.

And it was all thanks to the Murmurmoth Pendant, a tiny silver locket crafted from the essence of the creature itself. This rare artifact granted immunity to both Fatigue and Mental Fog, making it incredibly valuable.

A one-of-a-kind item, obtainable only once every few Tower cycles.

We waited patiently until the spores in the air finally settled before moving forward. While time ticked by, Orin and I sat cross-legged and meditated to restore our Mana.

Hopefully, we'd be out of this place soon. Our berry rations were running dangerously low, including Muradin's, which he had shared with us earlier. With the new item, he no longer needed it.

Darwyn was nibbling on what little he had left when he suddenly froze mid-chew. His eyes narrowed.

"That's weird," he muttered. "Hey guys, something's off with my body."

Orin turned to look at him, alarm flashing across her face. "You too?" she said, her voice tight. "I thought it was just me."

Neither of their Fatigue nor Mental Fog levels had reached anything dangerous yet, but Darwyn's limbs were going numb, and Orin looked pale.

"Shit... this must be because of them," I said through clenched teeth.

Turns out, someone really was trying to harm us and had been following us here.

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