At his words, the white-haired woman adjusted her glasses and let out a hum. She was crouched on the ground with her book on her thighs, and her wand lazily floated in the air.
Because of his new Soul Artifact, he could feel that there was a bit of Spiritual Essence at the tip of that wand, and if he had to guess, she was the one responsible for the pillar of light.
"Just lower your crossbow, I'm not here to kill you," the woman said with a sigh. "Had that been my goal, I would've killed you while you were busy pinning that White Tree Spirit against the entrance."
"..."
The woman brushed her hair behind her ear, acting innocent. But Julian was on the verge of shooting her.
After all, if his hunch was right...
"Answer me this... Were you following me ever since I entered that church with the pedestal?"
The woman tilted her head and opened her mouth. Right as she was about to speak, she stopped herself, a smile appearing on her face.
"What is your name?" she asked.
"..."
"Oh, come on, I don't have any voodoo dolls lying around. You can tell me your name," she insisted.
"It's Julian," he replied. "And you?"
She puffed out her chest. "Aliyah. Dormant-ranked. I'm a sorcerer, sort of."
"A Dormant-ranked sorcerer?" Julian raised a brow. "Were you lucky enough to only get magic-related Soul Artifacts?"
Aliyah put a hand on her chin, falling into thought.
"Luck? If I was lucky, I would've found a way out of this place. I'm really starting to hate this place. On that note, I heard you talking about camps. When did you arrive here?"
She lowered her wand and stored it inside her pocket. She also put aside her book.
Staring at her for a few short moments, Julian lowered his crossbow as well and replied,
"Should be around two weeks by now."
"Two weeks, huh?" Aliyah whistled in amusement. "I've been in here for two months. Just been running around here and there trying to find all the overpowered stuff I can."
She really was a chatterbox. But he didn't dislike it.
"Aside from getting stronger and finding a way out of here, I don't have much of a goal. I guess finding Soul Artifacts that suit me would be nice as well," he said.
"Heh, what more does a person need?" Aliyah's gaze turned distant. "You know, before entering this place, I wanted to venture through the Reverie Realm with my friends and kill evil spirits. Maybe record a few videos here and there."
She met his gaze, her emerald eyes sparkling.
"I wanted to become an idol. An exorcist idol would definitely bring me a ton of cash, wouldn't it?"
"..."
"Anyway..." Aliyah trailed off. "It's nice to meet you, Julian. I was going to kill you after finding you, but I changed my mind. After all, I can't really blame someone who outsmarted me, can I?"
Despite her kind words, Julian's wariness knew no bounds. Even if she had no weapons, he would very likely not trust his back to her.
After all, it was always the pretty and nice girls who usually turned out to have a few screws loose.
Even so, while he kept his guard up, Aliyah lowered hers, leaning against the church's wall.
She closed her eyes and added,
"I'm going to get some shut-eye. If you need anything, wake me."
He couldn't believe his ears, but when her soft snores rang throughout the church, he was left speechless.
A bead of sweat poured down Julian's forehead.
'Are all the people I meet in here going to be so... quirky?'
He raised his hand.
All it would take was for him to clench his fist, and that bolt would fly straight through her temple.
But for the sake of acquiring a powerful companion, Julian decided against it, lowering his crossbow and sitting across from her.
'What a strange woman...'
The hours flew by in a flash, and yet, it was still nighttime.
However, the reason why he was so uneasy was because the light pillar had faded, and now, there were several dozen evil spirits walking around just outside the church.
Sure, the White Tree Spirit was warding them off, but for how much longer?
"Pshh!" Julian called out. Standing up and quietly walking over to Aliyah, he shook her by the shoulders.
"Wake up!"
"Mmm...?" Aliyah slowly opened her eyes, groggy. Right as she was about to yawn, he placed a hand over her mouth, stopping her.
Her eyes widened, and her brows furrowed, likely thinking he was silencing her for the wrong intentions.
But as she started to reach for the wand in her pocket, Julian gave a quick rundown of what was happening.
"Your light pillar is gone. The evil spirits are all around us. Do you think you can cast that light again so they back off?"
She listened to him attentively and then bit into his palm, causing him to move his hand away in slight disgust.
"I'll have you know, my body is very delicate. Don't touch it however you please," Aliyah warned. "But... what was that again? A light pillar? You mean the one from earlier?"
He nodded.
"Oh..."
She awkwardly scratched her cheek, a goofy smile appearing on her face.
"I thought you were the one who cast that light pillar after getting that ring. Because I'll have you know, while I do have a few fancy Soul Artifacts, none of them can create something on that scale."
"I..."
Julian's heart began to beat rapidly in realization.
If neither he nor Aliyah was responsible for that pillar, then who was—
A deathly pale white notification suddenly appeared in front of him, snapping him out of his thoughts.
[Second Heaven – The Night of Harvest has begun.]
[Description: Night will last longer than usual. Evil spirits across Second Heaven have become stronger and more aggressive. Multiple Awakened-ranked evil spirits have awakened and are now active.]
[Objective: Survive until the Night of Harvest ends.]
For the first time since entering this Realm, Julian saw a crimson crescent moon hanging in the sky, its light washing the land in an eerie red glow.
"..."
"Oh."