Chapter 650 Confession and Outbreak

'Ellie?'

'Allirella?'

The name the hunter Old Sonny used for the banshee acted as a crucial clue, finally linking together the countless fragmented insights and discoveries Xia Nan had accumulated up to this moment.

The name "Allirella" carved on the gravestone; Sarah's delicate features that set her apart from the other villagers, along with the ears she always kept hidden beneath her felt hat; the banshee before him, who clearly shared a close relationship with Old Sonny and possessed an elven identity...

So, Sarah's deceased mother, Old Sonny's elven wife, was the banshee right in front of him?

Xia Nan's thoughts raced as everything suddenly clicked into place. The faint sense of oddity he had noticed since arriving at Ice Tree Village, and the doubts born from it, now all had their answers.

Suddenly, his Perception attribute of 14 made him instinctively notice something else.

His gaze involuntarily shifted upward from Old Sonny and the banshee in the clearing, turning toward the canopy of a towering fir tree not far behind them, diagonally across from his own position.

There, hidden beneath the dense branches and foliage, a deep shadow with an extremely low presence—nearly imperceptible and revealing only a blurry outline under the moonlight—was slowly writhing.

It looked familiar at first glance, and upon focusing his attention to observe it carefully, he immediately recognized the figure's identity.

'Treebrook?'

Hiding in the shadows and observing the two in the clearing, just like him, was the half-elf rogue from the Sulfur Dragon Breath squad.

She had previously claimed to be checking the traps around the village. Now it seemed she had coincidentally discovered the hunter and the banshee during that process.

Xia Nan's stealth skills were merely ordinary, and he possessed no related special abilities. From a professional's perspective, his technique was even somewhat clumsy.

But perhaps because Treebrook's attention was entirely focused on the two people in the clearing, and she herself didn't have a particularly high Perception attribute, she hadn't noticed Xia Nan's presence at all.

Wanting to gather more information from the conversation between Old Sonny and the banshee in the woods ahead, Xia Nan naturally wouldn't take the initiative to expose himself. He remained quietly hidden in the bushes, keeping an eye on the situation in the clearing while diverting a fraction of his attention to Treebrook.

"I'm sorry, Sonny. I can't control it," the banshee named Allirella explained to her husband. Unaware that the village's adventurers had already discovered her, she displayed a human-like posture that clearly bore the traits of an intelligent creature, in stark contrast to the fierce and berserk monster she had been at the Goblin Lair.

"You know it too. Since the beginning of the year, the time I stay lucid every day has been getting shorter and shorter—"

A deep sense of apology and guilt appeared on the banshee's delicate, pale face.

He clearly loved his wife very much; the agitated expression on the hunter's face gradually faded upon hearing Allirella's explanation.

It was replaced by overwhelming worry and heartache.

He reached out with a calloused hand, seemingly wanting to stroke the charred wounds covering the banshee's body, caused by the "Radiance" and "Sunfire" damage.

She knew clearly that the negative energy she carried would severely impact the health of an ordinary person like her husband, even from the slightest contact.

The banshee Allirella drifted back slightly, dodging her husband's touch.

"It's fine, Sonny. These wounds only look severe; they don't actually affect me much."

"What about Sarah?" The banshee shifted the topic to their daughter. "How has she been doing lately? Has she been staying safely in the house?"

Hearing this, the hunter Old Sonny hesitated for a moment.

Earlier, right after returning to the village, he had already heard from the village chief about Sarah boldly barging into the adventurers' dinner. Fortunately, the adventurer squad they were hosting this time was relatively decent and hadn't harmed the little girl.

Figuring there was no need to make his wife worry further, he nodded. But before he could even open his mouth, Allirella had already keenly detected her husband's hesitation.

The two clusters of spectral flames in her eye sockets flickered violently, and her already ethereal voice involuntarily rose a few pitches. "What's wrong? Did something happen to Sarah?"

"What did those adventurers do to her!?"

Knowing his wife had misunderstood, Old Sonny quickly waved his hands, signaling for her to calm down. "She's fine, completely fine. She's sleeping soundly in the house right now. If you want to see her, I can bring her out immediately."

Hearing this, the spectral fire in Allirella's eyes stabilized slightly, though her expression remained suspicious. She quieted down to listen to her husband's explanation.

"It's because of the Winter Wolf that adventurer squad brought with them—"

"You know how it is. Sarah has been deeply fascinated by things from the Northern Snow Plains since she was little."

The banshee's expression gradually softened.

"This adventurer squad in the village is very different from the one half a month ago."

"Sarah said there's a dark-haired one among them who treats her very well."

"I've observed him. He even saw through Sarah's identity as a half-elf, but he didn't point it out."

"Just wait in the woods for a few more days. I figure they'll leave soon, so don't worry."

Hearing him say this, Allirella subconsciously recalled the young figure in the Goblin Lair, wielding a strange, flaming wooden sword with exceptionally crisp movements.

She knew that with his level of strength, he had absolutely no need to accommodate anyone in the village and could just act as he pleased.

Yet he had actually behaved with such restraint. It couldn't be a deliberate disguise; more than likely, it was simply his natural way of doing things.

Since he had already stayed in the village for so many days without anything happening, it was highly probable that there wouldn't be any accidents later either.

"Don't worry, Sonny. I know," the banshee assured her husband, her voice returning to the gentle tone it had at the very beginning.

But they had been together for so many years, after all.

Just as Allirella could spot the fleeting hesitation on Old Sonny's face, Sonny could naturally detect the concealment in his wife's words.

"You're lying to me, Ellie."

Amidst his thoughts, it was as if Old Sonny had realized something, and his expression suddenly changed.

"You shouldn't have been there."

"Whether it was that Goblin Lair or the place where the battle happened half a month ago, both are dangerous areas where you could easily be discovered."

"Even if you—lost your mind halfway through, the place where you originally hid is extremely far from here. It's impossible—impossible—"

Old Sonny suddenly looked up, his somewhat cloudy eyes staring straight into the two spectral flames in his wife's eye sockets.

"You went looking for them on purpose, didn't you?"

Under the shroud of moonlight, the clearing fell into silence.

After a long time, Allirella finally let out a slow breath and spoke in an incredibly gentle tone. "Sonny, the time I can stay lucid lately has been getting shorter and shorter."

"In a whole day, it might only be three or four hours."

"During this time, I am your wife, Sarah's mother, and a villager of Ice Tree Village."

"But once this time passes, I turn back into that banshee with no reason to speak of."

Gradually understanding his wife's meaning, the expression on Old Sonny's weather-beaten face showed a rare sense of panic.

"Don't... don't say that. It will get better, Ellie. As long as we take it slow, everything will get better. I heard that over at Bloodcast Keep—"

"I'm very scared, Sonny," Allirella interrupted her husband.

"I'm scared that one day I'll wake up and see you and Sarah lying dead in front of me. I'm scared that I'll turn the village into a ruin where no one survives."

"This fear—even if I fly as far away from the village as possible before losing consciousness, it still won't fade."

"It's time to end it, Sonny."

Her ethereal voice echoed through the woods as the banshee spoke to her husband.

"Let this adventurer squad kill me. They can get the quest reward, you and Sarah won't have to worry about being implicated anymore, and I can truly stop feeling anxious and afraid for myself and for you."

"Everything will come to an end here."

"No, no!" Old Sonny's face was filled with the terror of losing the one he loved most. "Think about Sarah, Ellie!"

"You'll get better. You definitely will—"

"Do you still not understand, Sonny?" The banshee's gaze fell on her husband's cheek, looking at the negative energy scar left there—caused when her out-of-control self had accidentally caught him in the crossfire during the battle half a month ago.

"I am the source that brings disaster and misfortune to the village and to you both. Only when I die will you and Sarah be able to return to your peaceful lives. And only then—"

Halfway through her sentence, her tone—which had been steady and gentle, though slightly quickened—suddenly distorted, and the two clusters of spectral fire in her eyes flickered violently.

An expression of painful struggle appeared on her delicate, pallid face. Her body, suspended in midair, involuntarily hunched forward as her slender, sharp, claw-like fingers tightly clutched her own head.

"The time—it's getting shorter again—" Her ethereal voice gradually grew shrill, almost turning into a low shriek at the end. "Run, Sonny! Get out of here!"

As she spoke, she actively drifted deeper into the woods, seemingly wanting to take advantage of this last brief window while she was still lucid and in control of her body to get as far away from here as possible.

Seeing this, although Old Sonny's expression was full of worry and reluctance, he knew he couldn't help at all and could only step back.

But right at this moment, from above and to the side of the two, the blurry shadow that had been hiding deep within the tree canopy all along finally couldn't hold back anymore.

Accompanied by the hum of surging shadow energy, a slender figure landed lightly on the ground.

"Lord... Lord Treebrook, why are you here!?"

Clearly not expecting the adventurer hosted in the village to appear at this moment, Old Sonny looked astonished, his expression freezing stiff.

But in the very next second, he realized she had most likely overheard his entire conversation with Ellie. He couldn't help but speak up in an almost pleading posture, "I can explain, Milord! I can explain!"

In response, Treebrook merely cast a cold glance at Old Sonny, seeming to not care at all about what he said. All her attention was focused on the struggling, agonizing banshee ahead.

Reaching into her waist pouch with her left hand, she pulled out a spherical, leather-bound throwable item that looked like a primitive munition.

With a bit of force, she crushed its outer shell.

Then she hurled it forcefully into the sky.

"Boom!"

It was as if a second moon had risen in the night sky. A dazzling, blinding light that could be glimpsed even from extremely far away burst out above their heads, accompanied by a massive boom loud enough to jolt every villager in Ice Tree Village awake from their dreams.

As an experienced veteran adventurer, how could Treebrook not carry this kind of throwable item used for signaling danger?

A Flare Bomb. One cost four silver and three copper.

It was slightly more expensive than a Deafness Potion, yet it sold far better on the market.

After all, to adventurers, a Deafness Potion was typically only used when they might encounter a banshee or other dangerous monsters and special environments that posed sonic threats.

A Flare Bomb, on the other hand, had a significantly wider range of applications.

Some adventurers even used it in combat as a blinding ranged prop, throwing it straight at an enemy's face.

Of course, it was best to discuss it with nearby teammates before using it. Otherwise, it was highly likely to result in killing a thousand enemies at the cost of eight hundred of one's own.

Right now, Treebrook was naturally using it to alert her teammates resting in the nearby Ice Tree Village.

With a Class Level of only Lv3, even if the banshee's [Withering Wail] was currently on cooldown, Treebrook would find it very difficult to finish her off one-on-one without a Bard teammate providing the bonus Radiance damage to break through the banshee's comprehensive resistances.

Treebrook aimed to stall for as much time as possible and pin the banshee down in the clearing. Once her teammates saw the Flare Bomb's signal and rushed over, they would lay siege to it.

"No! Please spare her, Milord!"

His eyes stung red and almost impossible to open from the Flare Bomb's bright light, Old Sonny realized the reason behind her action. Ignoring the tears streaming down his stimulated face, he sorrowfully pleaded with the rogue.

This time, Treebrook didn't even cast a second glance his way.

She had already heard from the hunter and banshee's conversation that Old Sonny never had any intent to harm anyone. The location he had provided them wasn't overly dangerous; at most, it just had some goblins.

This was also the reason why Treebrook hadn't killed him the moment she stepped onto the scene.

But on the other hand, the banshee had killed her teammate. That was a fact Treebrook had witnessed with her own eyes.

Furthermore, judging from the truth Allirella and Old Sonny had confessed, the banshee had deliberately gone there seeking her own end, fully knowing that Treebrook's party might show up to inspect the site where the previous adventurer squad had been wiped out.

This had ultimately led to the half-orc Gank's death.

Under such circumstances, how could Treebrook possibly let her leave?

"Screeeech!!!"

The blinding glare from above, along with the massive boom that followed, finally made it impossible for Allirella—who was already struggling to fight back the malice fighting for control over her body—to suppress it any longer.

After a shrill shriek unique to banshees, there was no longer any humanity left on that delicate, pallid face.

All that remained was the bloodthirsty ferocity of the monster they had encountered at the Goblin Lair.

With negative energy wrapping around her fingertips, she howled and lunged toward the two in the clearing like a phantom.

Her attention highly focused, Treebrook reacted the very moment the banshee moved, nimbly dodging out of the way.

But the hunter Old Sonny behind her wasn't so fast.

His mind was already reeling from his wife's sudden loss of control and the adventurer's abrupt appearance. Being blinded by the Flare Bomb on top of that had turned half his world entirely white, making it almost impossible for him to open his eyes.

Just as the banshee's negative energy-wrapped claws were about to tear through the air and land on the hunter Old Sonny...

"Awooo—" A deep and resounding wolf's howl suddenly erupted from the bushes nearby.