Misako smiled and tried to stand up, but the injury in her back was so bad that she could do nothing other than cry out loud and slump back to the ground. Iranueel was by her side in the next moment and examined the large cut the blade caused. Although it was already beginning to close the wound would take some time until the woman would be able to walk normally again.

He thought about his magic and discovered a serious gap in his knowledge. He knew nothing about healing magic. Sure he could cauterize the flesh, but he didn't think, that Misako would approve of him trying to roast her.

“So no healing for me? Nothing surprising. Classic amateur failure. Most new avatars forget to learn this feature in their arsenal. You are an elemental mage, so you can substitute healing magic a bit by combining several kinds of magic, but that's not easy to do. For healing even the smallest wound you have to use earth, fire, water and air in one spell and match the elements exactly with the recipient of it. Therefore you have to scan me and then pull the same amount of elemental mix into your healing spell. I would recommend a really small spell for starters. I don't want to get boiled and killed, after I have survived this fight.”

Iranueel used his new aquired skill to look at Misako and finding her special elemental mix. After some seconds he saw a kind of circle with different colours in it. And there were 6 of them in it.

“I see 6 colours, not 4. Is that a problem?”

He helped Misako to lean against a tree. She made him a face and drew her breath sharply.

“So you have all 6 ways? You surprise me again. Most young avatars are not that versatile.

But for a wound of the body you only need the 4 baseline elements. If my mind or soul would be damaged, you would need the rest also.”

Iranueel then again scanned her and tried to memorize her mix for the spell. After that he began to collect the different kinds of magic in the spell. The opposing powers like water and fire made it not easy to combine them and tried to fight him.

Fusing the energies into the spell was quite taxing and took some effort from him. He felt his mana declining fast and a headache began to manifest in his skull. But the spell began to mend the big wound and the separated spine together. But after only 5 seconds it stopped again.

Misako smiled painfully.

“Elemental mages are not the very best at healing efficiency, that's for sure, but they have a unique advantage. There's no wound they cannot heal. But only if they can get their spell mix exactly right. They only need massive amounts of mana for it.”

Iranueel sat back and began to meditate to restore his energy as fast as possible. He didn't know how much time they had before the next kill squad would come around the next corner. It took almost a full hour before Misako's wounds were fully healed and he felt drained like after a marathon. But after looking for his abilities he recognized a significant rise.

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Tired he helped Misako to her feet and they began their journey to the next town again.

“I don't want to say the obvious but we should just get to the town and steal the next car we can find and try to get some distance between us and this unpleasant place. By the way, when do you plan to get rid of your minion?”

Iranueel took a look to the zombie that was following behind some meters. The dead man with the big hole in his chest where Misako's knife hit him, had a bit of intelligence in his eyes that Iranueel found disturbing.

“He seems to be conscious of his situation if i'm not mistaken?”

“Yeah, my minions retain some of their wits but are completely loyal to me. They are even able to level. One of the reasons, why I never had the urge to make many friends outside my inner circle. Some of my oldest minions had quite the intellect. When the triads destroyed my friends I was devastated. They accompanied me for more than a hundred years in some cases.

Kabuko was a vampire I created 140 years ago after my village had chased me away.”

Iranueel bobbed his head and tried to imagine this lonesome life away from normal society.

“If you show any kind of compassion for my miserable life then I will kick your ass. I decided to follow this way out of my own will and don't regret it. But now I will try to go another path. Not only to make it harder for my enemies to follow me but also to get along with you.”

“Thanks, I really appreciate this. Undead make me nervous. I don’t know why, but even as a child I never liked them, be it in tv shows or in games. I found it quite disturbing that some movies made vampires appealing for women. Sure immortality has its perks but not in this way. It makes your life harder, I know, but please refrain from this habit of yours.”

Misako looked back to her newly created zombie and concentrated for a moment. Seconds later the undead fell to dust before their eyes. Iranueel thought, he had seen a thankful nod from the guy before his face vanished.

They turned back to their way and jogged for the next 3 kilometers when they reached the end of the forest and could see a small village in a valley. A river meandered through it went right through the locality with its farmsteads. Iranueel counted 23 buildings of varying sizes.

“There is a SUV right in the center. I think it belonged to our attackers. But it could also be their reinforcement. If it is, then we have to be extra careful when we try to steal it.”

Iranueel thought for am moment and asked then.

“Will the people in the village perhaps help these guys? I want to avoid collateral damage if possible, but if they help our enemies I will kill my way right through them if necessary.”

A smirk on her face Misako answered.

“You know, some of my vampires have been less bloodthirsty than you. But to return to your question, I think they will take cover at the slightest kind of violence. These are farmers, no fighters and they will try to flee the site as fast as possible. So no, there will be no reinforcement from locals. Only the eventually mobster on the place for us to worry about.”

Iranueel nodded and then began to check for a way down to the village where he could hide himself the best way. But the rice fields before him didn’t offer much without getting really wet. And every time they had to slip into the lower field they would be open for any watching eyes.

Then he looked further into the valley and saw that 2 kilometers north the forest reached till the river. There they could slip into the river and let it carry them down into the village. But this would take them more than an hour to reach the place.

“We could take the river and risk more reinforcement arriving in town or we try to sneak through the rice fields directly. We will get wet anyway, so what do you think?”

Misako reflected for some seconds before she smiled mischievously.

“Or we could just run down the path over there and try our luck. It’s the shortest and fastest way and something they would never expect. Sometimes you have to do the crazy thing to survive. They know I like to hide and sneak. So this could turn over their evaluation of me and overthrow their way of dealing with me for some time.”

Watching every movement he could see in the village Iranueel tried to rate their chances. He saw the farmers go into their houses. By looking for the sun he estimated that it was midday. Time for lunch. His stomach made a quite loud noise and Misako laughed a bit before stopping because hers also complained.

“We should eat something but I have nothing on me right now. You?”

Misako shaked her head and watched the surrounding. And her sight rested lastly on the village again.

“Whatever we do, everything points over there. So what will we do?”