Chapter 15: Is the village okay?

Kel furiously spread through the dust storm as the tribal marks around its hide all glowed with a dark green light with bead-sized droplets forming with every stomp on the ground. Despite the furious speed Kel was traveling, the inside of the carriage was completely calm.

Dyr was in a fetal position and there was no swaying or any other movement that would have resulted from the absurd speeds affecting it. The wagon seemed sturdy and the wheels seemed like they were glued to the ground. Other than rotating it barely rocked around.

Leo suddenly frowned as his gaze narrowed as he stared ahead. The veins in his hand bulged as he tightly held his sword.

Just as Leo was about to give a warning to Kel a black object flew past them before either he or Kel could register what it was.

As Kel looked sideways at what that black object was it saw Leo blur like a windy phantom appearing behind the wagon with his sword already drawn. No sooner had Leo appeared behind the wagon than a red streak dropped on them.

Leo explosively reacted as he swung at the red streak aiming to blast it apart with his sword coated with an orange aura.

Aaaaaaaargh!!!

Leo madly roared as he clashed against the red streak that was as slim as a string and as long as an arm. However, that short and slender streak was pushing Leo back as he ruptured the blood vessels in his arms which proceeded to spread to his torso like the cracks of dried clay. His sword was rapidly vibrating as faint cracks swarmed it.

This came as a shock to Leo as that sword was made of mithril and a few milligrams of orichulum to help sturdy it. It took Mira almost a whole year to craft it which to date was one of her finest blade yet, whose feats she hasn't been able to replicate. But here it was barely a few seconds in about to be smashed apart.

A minute in and Leo was undeniably losing the fight as he was being pushed back towards the wagon. When Leo was just a few inches away from the wagon he stomped one of his legs downwards as one rectangular earth pillar appeared on his back rising every time he stomped his boot down. One was followed by another and another till they were five in total stacked against each other. The pillars pushed the wagon out of the way and Kel who had somehow noticed Leo's intention rapidly sped to its right side leaving the earth pillar's sphere.

Bang!

Leo was smashed through all the pillars he had created behind him as the streak ravaged his sword and arms. He rolled around on the ground for almost 50 meters before he came to a stop.

Both his arms were mangled and bloody smoke came out of them like flesh that had been seared from being subjected to extreme heat. His right humerus was already protruding from his triceps while the left hand that still held onto the sword had its forearm bent awkwardly. Every part of his body was bleeding and half charred with his sword disintegrating into pieces leaving behind a black burned hilt.

As he tried to move he seemed to have shifted something as he started coughing copious amounts of blood.

"Tsk these blue-haired bastards sure are sturdy. Despite using less than 10% of my abilities due to my state I can't believe that kid still survived… No wonder things went the way they did. Despite assuming the worst-case scenarios we still severely underestimated that damn village.

Five organizations, all dead. I wonder how many people made it out? Your majesty, it looks like your foolish subordinate will not be able to accompany you..." a man in a black robe was floating midair more than 3 miles away. He was looking in Leo's direction blood dripping from his mouth. He was missing both his left hand and left leg, and his left cheekbones were exposed revealing a part of his teeth and gum. However, the worst of his injuries were the two fist-sized holes in his chest. There was a blue flame that constantly ate away at his flesh expanding the holes. Despite how agonizing those injuries seemed only a few whizzing grunts escaped from his mouth.

He geared up a red streak with his remaining hand but a frown formed on his face as he hurriedly decided against striking Leo as he hurriedly fled away. Conical airbursts were produced from his flying and within seconds he was already more than 10 miles away from Leo.

Leo unaware of how close he was to death was still struggling to crawl in the direction Kel had run to. He wasn't completely sure they were not caught up in the aftermath of the attack. The wagon had a few defensive spells inscribed which could handle several full-blown attacks from him before it even showed signs of energy depletion but from what he just experienced he knew those spells wouldn't fare any better than him.

However, despite his feeble attempt at trying to crawl, he could barely move. His body felt heavy and the pain was insurmountable. He felt every part of him was being boiled in magma as his flesh was cut open. It took all he had just to remain conscious.

His efforts at staying awake were soon rewarded as he saw Kel rushing toward him with worry clearly showing on its face. It gently reduced its speed when it was close as it placed its muzzle on Leo's bloodied face.

Hundreds of green water beads condensed around which then charged at Leo's body. Sizzling sounds were produced all over as they were evaporated before they even reached his body. Kel unwilling to give up produced more beads as the tribal marks glowed brighter. But just like before despite the increase in number none of the water beads managed to reach Leo's body as they kept evaporating a few inches from it.

"Stop Kel, you won't be able to heal me with your racial trait healing spell no matter how skillful you are at it. Save your energy and use it to hurry us back to the village. We have Dyr to worry about and we don't know when that person or another person may attack us, especially with me being in this state," Leo weakly said as he coughed up blood in between. He threw a deep glance at the wagon as a relieved smile appeared on his face.

"He can be obedient sometimes," Leo said as he looked back to Kel who after an intense struggle decided to obey. But now a problem cropped up on how to get Leo on top of the carriage.

Leo couldn't move an inch as even blinking was a chore and Kel couldn't use spells to lift him up as whatever Leo was hit with seemed to erode any spells that came in contact with his body while having a lesser milder effect on physical contact.

Leo realized the dilemma too as he bitterly smiled. What could he do? He wasn't sure he would be able to live past half an hour. He felt as if his organs were melting and the red streak was still wreaking havoc in his body. Kel on the other hand could have carried him if it had perfected its transmorphing abilities to the point it is able to turn into other species but currently it could only transmorph into a regular horse.

"Seems I can only be carried in its mouth like a cub. Lucky Dyr isn't out here to see it. He would have a field day with it," Leo silently thought. Kel seemed to have come to the same conclusion as it approached Leo opening its mouth ready to lift him by biting his cloak and lifting him. Leo surrendered himself to the situation.

"It's Leo, looks like another rat managed to get away."

Just as Leo had resigned himself to his fate he heard a familiar voice that made him sigh in relief.

Elder Layun flashed before him with another slender middle-aged man by his side who had a bookish scholarly feel to him.

"Elder Layun, librarian Neirin, is the village okay?" Leo asked the question that has been burning at him since the first explosion sounded.

Layun and Neirin stared at each other as they both sighed.

"Neirin stay with him I'll go see if there are other intruders nearby,"

"You can't, the village ordinate rules are in effect. You can't move alone especially now. Let's go back, I doubt there is any attacker foolish enough to still be around and if there is they must have something that gives them the confidence to stick around," Neirin calmly persuaded as a small pale yellow wand that looked like a yellowing autumn appeared in his hand.

"Yew of spring," He calmly uttered as yew branches mushroomed from the ground enveloping Leo all over. A sizzling sound was produced from Leo's body as the remnant energy from the red streak attack tried to burn the yew branches but they were drowned out as the branches buried themselves in Leo's body. The branches seemed to be pulsating as if they were sucking something due to the round pulsating objects moving within the branches.

Those objects grew wider in girth before they transformed into arils which kept falling off the branches every time they matured. This event repeated itself all over Leo's body with branches entrenched in Leo's body kept draining something which later got transformed into an aril. Soon the ground was covered with hundreds of them before Neirin stopped the spell.

Leo who was a mangled mess moments ago had been reborn as his wounds had closed up, his bones were also popped into place by the tightening of the branches and later healed along with the rest of his body. He still looked like a mugged sap with shredded clothes and dried-up blood but he looked like a mugged sap who had some life in him now.

But for someone who had just escaped death's door, he didn't have the jubilant look expected of one but it was a somber look filled with fear, worry, and dreadful foreboding.

It didn't escape him how Elder Layun and Neirin avoided his question.

"Just what happened? Is the village okay?" the two questions formed a never-ending cycle in his head and soon spread its effects all over his body.