What to do, what to do...
Yeah, I have to consider where I'll go from here carefully.
On one hand, all 5 that entered are dead.
On the other hand, there are still 3 of them running around above ground beyond my grasp.
I could leave the spot I'm in and go into the tunnels with the intention of gathering all the materials I bought with the points, because they're definitely worth something, and most still seem perfectly usable.
Sure, some were produced with mana, but using this "storage" the system provides I could always reuse these resources without use of mana.
I'm not a waste thrift after all.
However, that also exposes me to the possibility that the child's pursuers will follow me into the tunnels. I'm not a fast turtle and running is to my disadvantage.
Oh, the kid wants a cherry.
Here you go.
It's amazing that the child has been this patient so far, though I've been lulling her with my mental abilities to keep her quiet.
So should I run, or stay put until reinforcements arrive...
Bang!
And that sounds like my signal to flee.
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"You sure this is where the energy is radiating from?" asked one of the scouts worriedly. "I'm not sure we'll have enough time to kill the child if we miss them this time. The two guards are nearly at this location. "
The eldest of the group looked towards the one who had led them here since they were the only one with accurately trained mana sight. "Well?" he snapped.
The elf nervously looked around before confirming. "The source of that energy seems to be here, if this concentration is anything to go by. And there is this huge concentration of life mana, so no, maybe it's a cicada nest." He ended sarcastically.
Before the second elf can respond however, the nervous one becomes a bit worried as he changes tones. "Guys, I think he's doing something right now, the mana is starting to-"
Bam!
A huge explosion of dirt occurs, blinding them for a second as it blows into the air.
Being B-rank elves, they recover quickly, just in time to avoid the giant silver spikes that shoot at them.
It misses 2, but manages to hit the nervous one in the face, plunging through his eye, causing him to scream in agony, before falling over dead.
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Out of the dirt a turtle leaps out with a cloth draped over the top of its shell, quickly grappling onto the nearest tree before swinging away.
The child!
"Dammit! The B-ranks are probably already on our tail now! After that damn thing!" cursed one elf as they began running after the swinging bastard, with the second in hot pursuit.
The child was getting away!
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You okay ore?
"Mmmm" Ore gurgles softly, clearly tired out from that as it begins to recede into my neck, which does lead to a very funny lopsided turtle.
I had ore shoot spears of whatever ore Ore's head is made out of in order to distract and very much piss off the elves.
I did ask Ore to prioritize the mana sensitive elf, based off my appraisal, since he's the most troublesome one, though it seems to have come at the cost of exhausting Ore. Crap. There goes attacker 2.
The explosion wasn't meant to injure them, which they both knew.
It was just to bring in someone who could beat them in a direct fight.
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"There!" shouts Servante as he immediately jumps through the tree tops as Lenore quickly followed after.
They'd been searching for the child this whole time, and yet had neither seen the child, nor encountered any of the scouts somehow.
It had left them worrying for the worst, just hoping for a signal.
They did encounter an exploded rabbit tunnel, which worried them, but with no trace of the child's mana they had ignored it since the child took priority over other worrisome local issues.
This explosion could either signify the worst for them, or it could be an immense stroke of luck.
The two could only hope they would arrive in time.
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They are fast down there.
Earl noted this as he swung, seeing the elves were in fact catching up.
No clue if they're the B-rank ones or the C-rank ones, but I'll tell you that I'm sure that I can't beat them, not in a straight fight.
It might take them some time to wear me down, but they will do it eventually.
Fwish!
An arrow flies by as it attempts to cut through my vines, only to bounce off.
I have no time to look, but I'm sure that surprised them a bit.
Jokes on you, part of my evolution involved the hardening of all plants on my body into a wood metal hybrid, demonstrating great flexibility and great durability.
And from what I heard, your arrows are made of ironwood.
That's not going to work.
Buuut that dead end in front of me most certainly would.
Crap
Stopping, I slowly turn around to the astonished faces of the elven scouts as the draped cloth fell off.
I can already see the anger on their faces, and I can only offer a mocking face in return, snickering in stupidity.
I hadn't really expected it to work this well, but I'm guessing the attack on their friend caught them off guard.
Seeing the cloth, they must've assumed that the child was hiding on me.
How foolish were they to fall for this simple visual trick?
After all, the child wasn't with me.
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The two guards quickly landed at the sight of the explosion, finding a huge whole in the floor, and a dying elven scout.
"Quickly, we have to go!" Shouted Lenore, as she moved to follow the trail of blood and carnage, only to be stopped by Servante grabbing her shoulder.
"What!?" she snapped, only to shut up as she watched a tiny little hand waive at them from the hole, connected to the hand of a very little high elf child.
Willow was safe.
Lenore went to quickly hug the child, relief present on her face, while Servante stared at the carnage.
Fleeing? Not likely. Not when their target was this close.
A distraction was far more likely.
And if that's the case, then someone was in danger as they protected willow by guiding away the scouts.
The turtle perhaps? They had headed into the forest on the hunch in regards to the turtle.
Regardless of who it was...
They owed a debt.
Speaking quickly with Lenore, they quickly agreed to follow the carnage, to best aid whoever had helped Willow, even if they were a turtle, and they could only hope that they weren't too late.