Chapter 62 The Confrontation
Evernya groaned as she awakened to find herself lying at the base of the central tree. After shaking her head several times to clear her mind, Evernya inspected her surroundings with confusion. Was the elf a dream? It must’ve been. There’s no way someone could be that powerful. Is that what the ascended stage feels like? I think she was even beyond that. Oh well, dream or not, I need to find Meira. I’ve had enough of the wilds. I’ll take Meira’s hellish training anytime over avoiding creatures who could eat me whole.
After climbing to her feet, she took one last glance at the central tree before wandering away. She returned to the tree arch to reacquire Meira’s scent trail, only to find out the scent trail led right back out of the arch. Is that what the elf meant by she brought me here? No way would I miss the scent trail leading away from here. Evernya thought while sending a stink eye toward the central tree.
In response, a quiet, distant giggle carried over the wind while the central tree waved several branches at Evernya. Freaked Evernya dashed through the archway with her tail fully puffed. Too scared to look back, Evernya dove through the barrier, hoping to put as much distance with the tree as possible before nightfall.
Once on the outside, Evernya shivered. Wow, why is it so much colder out here? Cold temperatures rarely bother me. At least it didn’t with the wolves, but going from a tropical 30°C to around five in a second is a shock to the system. Unless those beautiful flowers are immune to cold. Evernya commented in her mind after glancing at the temperature readings on her suit computer.
After a second, her body adjusted to the temperature drop. One sniff later, Evernya required the scent leading her to the right, which, according to her suit computer, was North. She took off in a sprint, eager to leave the spooky, quiet tree village. Almost immediately, Evernya noticed a difference in her body’s responsiveness. What happened to me? I don’t feel stronger or faster, but my mana feels more responsive and less draining. Evernya thought after coming to a stop after traveling only a hundred meters.
After a quick scan of her surroundings, Evernya closed her eyes and brought up her mana system. Her confusion only grew as her mana system looked the same as always. To confirm her feeling, she opened up several graphs pertaining to her mana usage on her suit computer. After setting the graph to display before and after arriving at the center tree, she confirmed her feeling.
As I thought, my mana efficiency improved. Whatever happened up in the tree improved my efficiency by about 25 percent. Though, according to the graph, the boost is only temporary. It already dropped .05 percent by just standing here. I better get going. I don’t want to waste the boost. Evernya observed, prompting her to take off once more.
Evernya spent the next four hours before nightfall following her previous tactic of avoiding all fresh scents and mana signatures with smoothie breaks every hour. As the forest darkened from the setting sun, Evernya climbed a tree to camp for the night.
After drinking two smoothies, she fidgeted on her branch, trying to make herself comfortable. Once comfortable, Evernya closed her eyes to sleep. To her dismay, for the first time she could remember, sleep didn’t come instantly. She pulled up her mana system, allowing her mind to relax, watching the flow of mana lulling her to sleep after a few minutes.
Only a few hours later, Evernya awakened. Pitch black night greeted her, which turned to a black-and-white world as her eyes automatically shifted to their vertically slitted pupils. She closed her eyes to fall back asleep, but after several minutes of trying, she gave up. From her perch, Evernya spread her senses as wide as possible. She caught activity in the distance, but nothing within sight of her tree.
Crap, what I do now? There are at least half a dozen mana beasts nearby, but there’s no way I’ll be able to lie here until dawn. It’s only midnight, and so far, dawn arrives around five AM. I may as well try to continue my colorless vision is kinda funky, but just as sharp as my day vision. I should be fine since my other senses aren’t affected. Besides, my efficiency boost is already down to twenty-four percent. Upon coming to a decision, Evernya silently descended her tree. Afraid to make any sound, Evernya crept at a slow pace through the black-and-white forest.
Only a kilometer later, Evernya slid to a stop, sensing several mana beasts ahead. She poked her head around a tree into the clearing to find four large gray wolf-like creatures dwarfing the white wolves she encountered earlier by at least double. Careful not to attract their attention, Evernya engaged their mana grade only to freeze in terror.
I couldn’t fight the ice wolves. There is no way I could fight four of these things! All four are in the arisen stage! What do I do? If their hearing is as good as mine, they will hear me if I try to sneak around them. Dammit, I hate being so weak! Why did that bitch have to kidnap my elf! Fumed Evernya while watching the gigantic wolves wander the small pine needle-covered clearing.
Despite feeling a strong desire to assert her dominance over the wolves, Evernya stayed put, watching and hoping they move on. An hour passed like this, with no change in her situation. Fuck this! I’m not waiting for these dumb creatures to move! I’ll try to sneak around. If they notice me, I’ll just make a run for it like the ice wolves. As long as they don’t trap me, I should be fine. Evernya thought, losing the battle of patience.
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Afraid to even breathe, Evernya tiptoed to the right, giving a wide berth to the clearing. With silent footsteps, she moved from tree to tree, minimizing her visibility. While training all her senses on the wolves, Evernya worked her around the clearing. Unaware of potential prey, the wolves lazed in the clearing, grooming themselves or napping. Upon reaching the other side, Evernya breathed a sigh of relief.
Out of nowhere, Evernya’s tail puffed, prompting her to drop to the ground on instinct. Evernya sprung to a crouched position, senses on high alert, searching for threats. Despite her sensitive senses, she found nothing besides a faint trace of mana.
Worried about alerting the wolves, Evernya rushed forward, following Meira’s scent trail. The next hour passed as she silently and swiftly worked her way through the black-and-white forest. Her nose picked up an increasing number of bloody areas, but as she passed, she found no evidence aside from the smell.
Whoever won must have cleaned up the evidence. I’m sure I’ll meet the culprit soon enough, as each blood scent is only a few hours old. Maybe just before sunset at the oldest. Evernya observed passing by yet another blood-soaked clearing.
Evernya’s tail puffed yet again just before a burning pain assaulted her right thigh. She glanced down to find four deep claw marks running along the outside of her thigh. In shock, Evernya was slow to register the danger before more claw marks appeared on her right calf, forcing her to her knees.
In a panic, Evernya summoned a force field around herself as she focused her mana on her injuries. A second later, her force field shattered, stunning her mind with minor backlash. Before she could recover, more claw marks formed left thigh and hamstring simultaneously, forcing her legs to collapse, sending her falling forward onto her stomach.
As her mind cleared the backlash, rage took root. How dare a lowly mana beast touch me! Evernya roared in her mind, overwhelmed by rage and pain.
With mana rushing through her body, Evernya leaped to her feet, ignoring her injuries. Evernya’s mana aura released, stunning the shadow-covered creature. Brightly shining sapphire eyes locked onto the shadowy creature with predatory focus, unleashing a full power force blade. Before the attack made impact, the shadowy creature disappeared once more.
In a fury, Evernya flung force blades in every direction, slicing deep into the surrounding trees, but nothing else. Beyond the point of rational thought, Evernya’s magic exploded outward, destroying her surroundings. Dozens of explosions later, Evernya dropped to her knees, a sweaty and panting mess.
Drained and injured, Evernya fell onto her side as her body stitched herself back together. With no energy left to defend herself, Evernya laid at the center of her self-made crater, exhausted.
After several minutes of lying motionless, her mind snapped back in action, prompting her to chug several smoothies. She focused as much of her mana as possible on her numerous injuries, closing the gashes littering her legs.
All mana acquired from her smoothies went into healing herself. A dozen smoothies later, Evernya’s injuries closed without a mark on her flawless, ashen skin peeking through the gashes in her training suit. Depleted but otherwise uninjured, Evernya sprung to her feet, senses on high alert.
Terrified to stay still any longer, Evernya rushed forth. She disregarded stealth in favor of speed as she dashed through the forest at a dizzying pace. What the hell was that!? I couldn’t do anything! I need to get out of here! Why did I think it was a good idea to travel at night!? Evernya’s mind raced as she blurred through the forest, terrified to even stop for a second.
Despite running on fumes, Evernya continued to push her body faster. Her newly healed muscles strained to the limit, propelling the panic-stricken girl forward at inhuman speeds. Too scared to stop for a smoothie break, Evernya ran nonstop for several hours, draining her mana to dangerous levels.
Black encroached at the edges of her vision as her weight rapidly diminished. Dangerously low on mana, her body cannibalized itself to fuel her mad dash through the black-and-white forest. With a single-minded focus on following Meira’s scent trail, Evernya blurred through the never-ending trees.
Evernya burst into a previously invisible clearing with two elves sitting by a campfire snacking on plants. Evernya’s eyes turned predatory as she zeroed in on the elf to the left. With fangs descended, Evernya shot forward in a frenzy. Her claws shifted as she closed the distance in a blink of an eye.
Just as her claws would have hit home on the unprotected neck of the elf, a wind barrier knocked her backward. Undeterred, the withering, animalistic girl rushed forward yet again, only for the other elf to block her path. With a roar of rage, Evernya tackled the elf blocking her path.
Evernya and the defending elf sprang to their feet. The elf, with a tearful expression, flung Evernya backward with another powerful gust of wind before unleashing a potent mana aura on the crumbling girl.
On instinct, Evernya released her own mana aura, blocking the elf’s aura before blurring forward yet again in her suicidal mission to kill the other elf. Muscles tore as her body broke down, but she refused to give in.
Despite rapidly diminishing strength, Evernya continued to fight against the winds pushing against her failing body. As growls menacingly rumbling in her throat, Evernya released a massive blast of force providing an opening. Free from the wind momentarily, her dimming predatory eyes locked on to her target with the intent to kill.
She dashed forward on unsteady legs toward her target, only for the other elf to yet again appear in her way. The elf blew her backward yet again with a gust of wind, sending her airborne into a tree. Several of her brittle bones snapped on impact, causing her broken body to grow numb.
Blood gurgled out of her mouth from internal bleeding as slid down the tree, staring into the eyes of her target, promising death no matter what. With limbs at unnatural angles, the animalistic girl weakly crawled forward.
Before she could crawl a meter, a sharp pain impacted the back of her head, plunging her world into darkness.