Chapter 49: Hunter vs Prey

An explosion occurred inside the wagon, not giving us the chance to escape from death. It wasn't that big, but it would be enough to kill all of us in one go. The smoke of crimson came flowing around us.

But unexpectedly, the explosion didn't kill all of us at all. I looked at my whole body and it was still intact with each part. The wagon didn't get any damage and was still in good condition. What just happened?

I saw my other friends and they were fine just like I last saw them, also shocked at what happened. Then, I saw the red magic orb on the floor, with small cracks and the red light was coming out of it. As soon as I saw this rare occurrence, which no one had done it, I raised my head and looked at him.

Kandani just nodded his head, confirming what I'm thinking he had just done. He used his ability to cancel the magic inside the orb. I knew that scarnets have the anti-magic ability, but I didn't know that they can cancel the magic inside objects too.

I grabbed the magic orb and looked outside. I'm sure that the orb wasn't just flying all the way into our wagon; there must be someone who threw it out. I tried to scan the whole surroundings, from the forest to the mountains, but there was no sign of a single soul anywhere.

"W-What was that?" Dalary asked, stunned. Her eyes widened as she was on full alert. She too leaned her upper body outside and tilted to look around.

"I-I don't know," I answered, focused on searching outside. We were just having an awkward conversation earlier and now, a sudden explosion came in. I don't even know what was gonna show up next.

As soon as I said it, a group of unknown figures started rushing towards our direction from the back at a fast pace. I couldn't help but to squint at them, leaning my head left and right. But then, the time came that I finally recognized their identity, and I wished I didn't.

On top of the armored horses and high-tech cars, was a group of knights wearing iron armor, clanging as they bounced with the motion. All of their faces were covered by their helmet, but I could still see the long red hair flowing from the knight in the car.

The heat of the sun in the middle of the sky didn't bother them and continued to march forward. I saw a glimpse of the woman's eyes, which I remembered named Regina, giving me threatening glares. My eyes widened and moved back inside the wagon, anxiety filled my mind.

"The Deravon army!" I yelled as I shivered. Cold sweat dripped from my forehead while my heart started beating faster. They gave me mixed reactions. Dalary and Cainne widened their eyes, while Pholly just showed a serious expression.

"It looks like they waited for us to come out of the town." The latter said as I saw her hands clenched. She averted her eyes and glared at nothing. I don't know what she was thinking, but it seemed like she was frustrated. "I should've known…"

Then, Cainne stepped forward, his sheathed short sword hanging in her hands. His eyes were full of alert, as he leaned outside, glaring at the enemy in front. He pushed the roof to give some space for him.

"Ready to fight!" He shouted as he finally removed his sword from the sheath, preparing for any offensive attack from the knights. They're Deravon army, so they might have loads of magic orbs in them, especially hostile ones.

"Dino, run faster!" Dalary yelled at the only horse that was giving engine to this wagon. He obeyed the order and increased his speed than before. The distance between us and them had finally getting longer, but they were also catching up.

My friend also stepped forward, as well as Pholly. They closed their eyes and concentrated.

A flood of bats came flying to our direction, covering the sun above us like a roof of a very wide house. One may not mistake it for night time or an indoor, but they were too many to darken the surroundings. The heat that we felt earlier was no more and was replaced by the cool sensation of the shade. The enemies were also stunned at them.

As far as I know, Dalary couldn't be able to pull off things like this, so this might be the work of her sister. She even admitted last night that Pholly was more talented than her in terms of talking to animals. She really trained for years that she could be able to summon this many bats in one go.

Then, a pack of wolves from the woods started rushing towards the army with intense red eyes. The bats also dived in to them at the same time, drowning them into the flood. Another group of wolves, bigger than the others also came running to them, feasting over them.

Screams and shouts of the knights can be heard from their direction, hearing fear and terror behind those voices. I know I shouldn't be sorry for them, but as those screams came into my ears, I couldn't help but shiver, covering them with great force. I couldn't believe that their ability was this powerful and dangerous.

Some of them survived the terrible experience as the car filled with knights came out, as well as half of the horse-riding ones. Their faces were covered with scratches and bites, but they didn't let their mind focus on their injuries. The screams of those who were abandoned were still there.

But Dalary took this chance once again and used her ability once more. Pholly also followed. Then, all of a sudden, most of the armored horses stopped in their tracks, much to their riders' surprise, and dropped them into the ground one by one. No matter how hard the knights tried to go back on track, they were just being declined.

And yet, some riders survived and ran along with the car. It seemed like they had deep bonds with their horses that even these talented tendrins couldn't be able to talk to them. They also told me about this.

The enemies decided to attack us. They grabbed their slingshots and ruby-colored magic orbs. Putting the orbs on their small cannons, they aimed at our wagon, ready to fire.

"Apollus!" Regina yelled with the loudest voice she can and at the same time, and they all fired their orbs towards our direction. Panic came into our minds as some of them landed on our floor.

But then, after a few seconds, the orbs didn't explode nor cracked. I looked at Kandani and he again confirmed that he was the one who canceled them. As I knew this information, I sighed in relief.

Cainne immediately grabbed all of the orbs inside the vehicle. I continued to stare at him as I was curious about what he was gonna do with it.

"Apollus!" He yelled.

Then at the same time, he threw the magic orbs in the direction of the enemy.

Though they were close enough to our side, I was sure that the orbs won't make it to their position and will just explode to the ground. I started to become worried that it won't make it. So also at that time, I felt an intense pain in my chest without even me requesting it.

My instinct told me to stand up from sitting. Then, I stretched my arms and opened my palms towards the opponent. A huge amount of force was flowing through my body, then ended up in my hands, causing it to come out. It pushed the orbs further into the enemy, and at the right time, it exploded on top of them.

The car was severely damaged, couldn't be able to go further than what they were right now. I took a glimpse of Regina's face, and she was even more pissed off than before. It sent chills down into my spine.

Then, as persistent as she was, she moved out of the car and pushed off another knight from his horse and instead, rode it. She was back on track once again and now with her unsheathed lance. Her brown eyes were glowing as ever.

"Fire!" She yelled, as the army behind her, a total of six, aimed at us with their quiver and arrows. They finally fired them and flew into our direction at great speed. I tried to stop them using my magic, but it wasn't activating yet. Fear came over me as I saw them flying.

But thankfully, Cainne blocked them off using his sword, swaying it to protect us from the threat. An arrow escaped from his sword shield and landed on top of my head. If I wasn't shorter, then I would be dead by now.

They made another row of arrows, but this time, with the use of the fire. Their arrows lit up with flames and finally fired it. Once again, Cainne blocked it using his sword, but one of them managed to land on the roof of the vehicle, causing it to spread the fire.

But before the whole vehicle started to burn, Dalary could be able to splash a huge amount of water at the wagon, causing the fire to be instantly distinguished and for us to get soaked. But that doesn't matter, what matters was that we won't be able to die due to inflammation.

Before we know it, we were already running through the depths of Mt. Herk, especially to the dangerous parts of it. The heat became even more torturing than before.

The black rocks and ashes that we were running on formed the mountains. And on each summit, was a hole that emitted smoke every time. Compared to the tall ones that we passed by earlier and seeing in a distance, it was shorter that anyone could hike on it in just minutes.

But that doesn't stop us from escaping and that also didn't stop our opponent from chasing us. Dalary attempted to make a water wall in front of us, and it was big enough to cover their path.

"Meria, use your magic!" She yelled at me. At first, I didn't have any idea what she was talking about, but when she didn't do anything to the water wall that was floating in front of us, I immediately closed my eyes.

In just a few seconds, I activated my magic as I felt the pain again in my heart. Then, I aimed it to the water wall and pushed it towards the enemy. With the pressure of both the heavy wall and my force, they were being dragged further away from us like it became a flood in the middle of the hot mountains.

And yet, the female knight still didn't give up. She stood up from lying down on the ground and gave us a death glare once more. Just like before, I started to get nervous. I didn't want to deal with this madness, but I was forced to since they attempted to chase after me.

She rode on her horse once again and ran towards us at full speed. Dalary also made Dino faster but because of the heavy wagon, he was slower. At any time, she will surely catch up on us with her lance.

I was about to lose hope at the situation when I took a glance at a mountain that was ahead of us. And it wasn't one of the normal smoky mountains everywhere, but it was releasing lava from the top, now slowly pouring down, covering our path.

The liquid was still tiny and surely Dino could jump above it with no problem, but if more of the summit parts will crack, it will surely give a flood of burning goo.

And at that time, I finally had an idea.