Embers from a distant past

Everytime the wendigo tried to move towards the duo, it was pelted with bone daggers that deeply pierced it, owing to its serrated edges.

The woman, despite only having 3 fingers on her right hand, still handled the daggers dexterously, like a master in it.

The daggers, coated in the worst of Medusa's poisons, corroded the wendigo's organs.

It roared like the wailing of thousands of nails scratching on a glass plate, tormenting the eardrums of the duo. The woman was unaffected, at least in appearance.

After a futile struggle, the wendigo collapsed, dying a painful death.

The woman collapsed as well, the snow on ground stained red by her blood.

" I ... I can't fall here, I have to move, move dammit ... " her delirious murmurs startled Mark, who supported her enough to stand up as his wounds were internal and less severe than Lily's.

The woman's body was riddled with rough scars all over, felt even from the thick clothes that covered her body.

Despite not seeing them, Mark could feel the severity of them, and froze in shock.

The woman, not minding anything, simply stretched her body, causing it to become translucent.

When it turned back opaque, almost all her injuries vanished, but, the glint of life in her eyes dimmed.

Mark could infer, somehow, that this was the last time she could use this method to get rid of her injuries, intuitively.

Her next attempt at using it will lead to certain death, he thinks.

" Run ... run away from here. Seek help from the Leshy. Say my name, the phantom, and he will help you. Do not mind the others in the cave, I will save them. " (the woman)

Nodding his head, Mark carries Lily on his back and runs away towards the forest.

The woman, meanwhile, runs into the cave.

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Sarcony was barely standing, her entire body horrifyingly mangled.

Mo'er was worser, having tanked several blows that would have been fatal, if not for her passive, The protector, that lets her stay alive, even if only at the verge of death, as long as Sarcony is alive.

Its description is as follows:

The protector (passive): A covenant between the user of this skill and the target of protection.

Allows the user to retain his/her last breath and stay alive as long as the target of protection is alive, so as to protect it/him/her.

Heals all injuries temporarily so as to protect the person under question. All injuries rebound sequentially in a non fatal manner after the safety of the target is ensured by the user.

Allows instant teleportation to the location of the target of teleportation via the permission of the realm spirit as long as the target is in the same realm. Fails if the target is in another realm.

If the target of protection meets danger in the other realm, as long as the target requests for the protection from the user, and the permission of the realm spirits of the corresponding realms are obtained, the teleportation can be made possible.

Allows the user to tank multiple fatal blows depending on the threat to the target of protection.

It was this absurd passive that kept her alive in the death match with the wendigo.

Everytime it tried to inflict a fatal blow to Sarcony, Mo'er would abruptly pop up in between tanking the blow.

Attacking Mo'er was pretty much useless as any fatal blow somehow failed to kill her.

It is slowly getting frustrated and angry, as the duo didn't allow it to eat the fallen ones so as to replenish its energy.

It is slowly getting wounded, cornered, tired and erratic as the time went on.

The Oceanic staff was strong enough to deal enough damage to the wendigo, so was the heavy sword made by Makara, but the disparity in the speed, strength and reflexes made fewer blows connect, making it harder for the wendigo to be defeated.

Sarcony's spirit of the sun transformation was rendered partially effective, while the powerful, area of Effect spells she learned in that realm were useless in the current scenario, her body fortification allowed her to stand toe to toe against the wendigo.

She wasn't using her Jötunn form as it was stronger the larger it was, making it ineffective in the current situation.

They were being cornered, literally.

All the statues other than the statue of the knight were destroyed in the scuffle, the wendigo somehow avoiding the statue for some reason.

Just as they were about to be killed under the jaws of the feral beast, a bone dagger sprouted on its head, sending it reeling in pain, away from the duo.

" Stay away from the scuffle, but please observe how I fight, if you want to survive that is. " The mysterious woman told them as she protectively stood in front of them.

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" Was it okay to believe in that mysterious woman? " (Lily)

" I somehow felt I can believe her. She felt familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. An odd sort of dissonance. I bet on the best case scenario. " (Mark)

" I hope they are safe. " (Lily)

" Let us hope for the best. " (Mark)

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The woman continued pelting the beast with daggers that inflicted serious wounds but weren't able to land a decisive blow.

A network of thin threads formed a domain of sorts centered on the beast, sapping its energy away.

A wendigo is an emaciated, insatiable beast that only sees humans and the like as food to be hunted and eaten to try and fail to satiate its hunger.

The woman fought in a decisive manner, no hesitation whatsoever.

She utilised all she had in her disposal, minimising the blows she took on her body while maximising the damage she did in return on the beast.

The beast she defeated earlier was a recently "transformed" wendigo, a far cry from the monster in front of her.

Sarcony and Mo'er passively healed themselves while observing the woman fight.

<<Onee sama, the woman seems to be seamlessly employing several tactics at once. She is a genius in combat. I also sense some kind of familiarity from her.>>

<<Me too. She gives me a feeling of looking into a mirror. As if I'm seeing myself. Not combat wise, but something else. I'm no match for her combat sense and strength though.>>

The woman slowly started to gain on the wendigo and eventually managed to corner it.

The beast flailed and roared, slowly losing strength.

The woman was still vigilant. Her body was in a condition no worse than that of the duo prior to her arrival, but the condition of the wendigo was even worse off.

Its emaciated body reeking of flesh and blood, its glaring wounds only added to its gory image.

" For a person who could best a seat of tranquility with ease, to fall in a fight with a lowly wendigo, I guess I fell pretty low, huh, you won, you horned devil. I am now a fallen. "

The woman fell to her knees, her body slowly crumbling down into dust, her eyes dimming down, turning devoid of life and vitality.

The wendigo was a rotting corpse on the floor, but it's visage remained just as gruesome as before.

Just like the embers of the distant past, her body crumbled away into dust, flying off in the stale wind of the cave, leaving behind a faded, aged scroll along with a necklace.