64 The escape

"Too… l-at-e," the devil was having a hard time even saying a single word.

"What happened to you?" Neither the hoarse voice nor the face covered with vines and moss was suitable enough to show Adi's expression, "Is this body already at the limit?"

Looking at her nod, Adi sighed and continued, "It would have been better if you could change into the new body."

"Not… Y-et"

"I know. The seed had not matured." Adi completed her words before continuing, "But now that you've lost the connection with your seed, it might be hard to find him. It's better…"

Adi couldn't complete his words before the black smoke on the devil's body flared up. As if she was expressing all her agitation.

"I know that. I know." Adi wasn't happy with the reaction still, he called, "Sylph." In the next moment, the wind gathered beside them.

"Your highness." If not, the fallen leaves gathered on the body, one would have had a hard time seeing the shape of the woman made of wind mana.

"Find the child of a man. He has both the water and the wind mana inside his body. Find him, capture him, but don't kill him."

"Yes, Your Highness," said the transparent woman, Sylph, with a deep bow. And with the sign from Adi, she disappeared again.

Even if it was hard for the devil to talk, Adi had no difficulty in understanding what she wanted to say.

"She is a wind mana elemental king, capable of detecting mana. She is our best bet to find Aiden." Looking at the red-ringed eyes, Adi felt she wasn't convinced, so he added, "I will send a couple of dryads with her, too."

She was still not satisfied, but Adi ignored her and looked towards the horizon. He could see the walls of the human city and the city that etched out of the mountain.

They were standing at the edge of the cliff. Aiden had seen the city of the mountain for the first time from this very place. And there was still a giant human skeleton under the cliff.

"I have done my part, you have to do yours." Adi said, staring at the giant tree stump, "You can't fail like last time. Your failure had cost my brother's life the last time. "

Without giving her any chance to talk, Adi continued, "And now that your seed has opened the path to the other worlds, we must take control of it before the others come to this place."

As Adi was speaking, the vines were leaving the body of the human skeleton. Soon the skeleton, with no support, fell on the ground and the bones scattered across the ground.

On the other hand, the black smoke of the devil's body started to spread. And with the passing moments, it grew bigger. After it stopped growing, her body was almost twenty meters tall. However, she wasn't alone.

The giant human skeleton, under the cliff, showed the sign of movement too. The vines were coming out of the ground and wrapped around the skeleton.

A little while later, the skeleton stood up. If Aiden had seen it, he would have thought it was just a larger version of the Adi.

Even after the giant skeleton stood up, the movement on the ground did not stop. More skeletons wrapped in vines and moss were coming out of the ground.

They were of normal size. In the mix, there were skeletons of humans, vampire deers, head snatchers, and many other beasts that lived in the dark forest. Like an army of ants, they have covered every part of the ground.

As soon as the giant Adi took the first step, the earth shook. With it, the entire army of skeleton-vine beasts charged through the 'Skeleton Forest.'

***************

* Remaining time: 51:12:17 *

* Underground slave warehouse near the town square of Valley City. *

Aiden almost fainted with the pain as soon as he woke up. His entire body was sore, and his head was throbbing with pain. It took a while before his breathing could return to normal.

'At least I'm alive.' Aiden sighed in his heart as he looked up at the roof. It wasn't a cave, it was a room. But he felt there was something wrong with the roof. One side was covered with ice, but the other side was burned with fire.

Gritting his teeth, Aiden sat back up. As he did, he was more shocked by the thing was in front of him. A rhinoceros was trapped in an enormous piece of ice.

'Arcid!?' Aiden remembered the beast essence Arcid had absorbed was a rhinoceros. However, Just to be sure, he checked his wrist. 'It's gone.' Seeing that there was no trace of blood tattoo around his wrist, he sighed in relief.

"There was only one way to undo the blood tattoo, and that's to kill the master." Looking at the beast trapped in the ice, Aiden was reminded of Jewel's words.

'Can it be my ice that killed him? 'Aiden was curious about that. He could not stop himself from touching the block of ice.

It melted as he touched it. Instead of water, the ice melted in mana and invaded his body. However, there was no feeling of coldness or pain. Only a warm feeling spread through his body, reducing pain and soreness along the way.

'This!' Aiden couldn't put words on the feelings, 'This is like the first time I've circulated wind mana through my body, but this is more satisfying.'

Addicted to this feeling, Aiden moved around like an energetic child and touched every piece of ice inside the room. Bit by bit, his hungry body was full again.

'This is not the time.' Aiden wanted to experiment more with this mana, but decided against it, 'I should escape first.' He couldn't just let this golden opportunity pass.

He tried to find a weapon as soon as he decided to escape. But there was nothing inside the room other than a stiff beast.

'Arcid is dead! It means other slaves are released from the blood tattoo.' Making a list of all the possibilities that might be waiting for him outside, he opened the door. However, the hallway was empty.

'Could all the slaves have escaped?' Aiden did not know what had happened, but he dared not to be careless. He moved through the mana crystal-lit corridor.

'I need to get some cloth.' Aiden didn't understand how his clothes would mysteriously disappear every time, but it wasn't something that Aiden could worry about right now.

Making his mind, he pushed a door open. There was nothing inside the room. He opened door after door, but he couldn't find anything. It was like somebody had swapped this place clean.

Fortunately, in the seventh room, he found some clothes. Though they were tight, he put it on and moved through the hallway. He found the stairs at the end of the corridor.

When he came up, he was standing in an enormous hall. The sunlight brightened the hall, but it was still empty. However, the brightness wasn't the only thing that attracted his attention.

*Boom*

The thunderous sound shook the entire building, but what Aiden saw outside the window shocked him a lot more. Aiden rushed out of the room and called, "Adi."

[This golem is different from the golem called 'Adi'.]

By the time the notification appeared, it was too late. The boney hand wrapped in the vines was already aiming for his throat. Even if he was caught off guard, Aiden didn't have a problem escaping. Mana circulated in his hand and punched.

[The host is unable to initiate [Air Punch]. Mana used:--. Remaining Mana:???]

Even if the notification didn't appear, Aiden wouldn't have a problem realizing it. Looking at the face of the golem that was now covered with a layer of ice, he understood that it wasn't the wind mana that was circulating in his body.

Its face was still covered with ice, yet it didn't stop attacking. Aiden didn't get the time to understand his body before he had to dodge again. He continued to think of a way to utilize his newfound mana.

'If it's ice mana, that could work better.' Aiden circulated the mana again, and a scythe appeared in his hand.

[The host is unable to initiate [Wind Scythe]. Mana used:--. Remaining Mana:???]

And the result was a lot better than he had expected. The pale blue ice scythe passed through the golem with little resistance and cut the golem in half.

'It wasn't that strong. Could it be the effect of the ice scythe?' Aiden wasn't sure whether the ice scythe was sharper than the wind scythe or not, but he didn't get the chance to think about it.

* Boom *

The thunderous sound shook the world again, and the strong wind blew with it. Yet, 'shock' wasn't enough to explain his feeling.

It was a giant cannon that came out of the mountain, shooting at a giant made of black smoke.

Aiden wasn't sure whether or not it was the devil. Even if it was the devil, Aiden had no idea how she could grow so big.

Whatever it was, it looked like a giant body of black smoke, but to Aiden's surprise, the cannon shots were effective against her. After being shot by the cannon, she was having a hard time recovering her previous shape.

And if one giant wasn't enough, there was another giant woman who was swinging a club at a skeleton wrapped in vines. But the skeleton was enormous compared to the one Aiden had fought.

"What the hell is happening here?" Even if Aiden wanted to know no one could answer him. The entire city was void of life.

"I have to escape as soon as possible." Whether it was Adi or the devil, they were cordial to him. But Aiden had no intention of getting in their fight. And ESS was thinking along the same line.

[Time till departure: 50:52:39]

With the notification in his mind, Aiden didn't dare to wait anymore.