Survival in chaos

That Demon is Nysa, and she uses petrification magic whenever she fights. At the beginning of the sequel book, she attacks a village and kills everyone by turning them into stone. Among the people she kills in the attack are the second male lead's little sister, Aiko, and his parents. The second male lead, Ichiro, had moved out of his home village and was working as an adventurer at the time. When he found out about the attack on his childhood home, he rushed to his home village. Unfortunately, when he arrived, his sister was among the many who had been turned to stone. Ichiro went mad with the need for revenge. He kept Aiko's statue, which will forever show her pain and fear in her final moments—keeping her as a forever reminder to himself of why he is working so hard on revenge. Unknown to Ichiro until later on in the story. Nysa has a few flaws with her magic. Her petrification magic only works for those in her line of sight. The flames from the petrification have to fully engulf its target to turn them into stone, killing them. Then, finally, her flames can be put out with water and holy water as long as the victim is still not fully engulfed by the fire. One can return their bodies to normal with holy water and a grade 2 healing spell. Unfortunately, if Aiko knew that water could save her from the dreadful spell, she could have attempted to escape and survive.

*Scream's* 

* Flames of blue erupt and flow toward the crowd, turning the people closest to Nysa to stone. *

During the screaming and confusion, I managed to run through an alley towards the edge of the village. I turned my head and saw almost everyone trying to put out the flames on their bodies by patting them out as they struggled to run, screaming in pain and horror. Touching the fire only causes them to spread the flames faster, turning them into stone.

*Scream's* *Cries of pain* 

* Silent screams escape the mouths of those who are victims of the flames as their bodies petrify into stone. *

I can't save them.

"I'm sorry."

Tears formed in the corners of my eyes, and I felt anguish for the situation. But knowing that that spell wasn't the only one in Nysa's arsenal, I didn't turn around and run back to help. I turned my head in the direction I was heading to the forest to escape, hopefully. I don't know who I am at the moment. I don't even know if I am a villager who has a role in the story, but I need to run to survive. If I have to, I will use my prior knowledge from reading the books to survive. I know I am no hero and that if I try to help, I will unfortunately become a victim.

The screams of horror and pain made the Demons smile. The wyvern towered over them, and flames of blue engulfed the village, freezing this moment in time and stone. Unbeknownst to the Demon, Demonmond survived the thralls of chaos, having fled into Snow Ant Grove.

Entering the woods the Forest canopy shrouded me in darkness as I ran. The subtle glow of the bioluminescent moss was my only light source in the dark woods. I didn't stop till I tripped over a branch, causing me to tumble to the ground, releasing a subtle cry in pain. As soon as I looked up, I froze for an instant and hid behind a tree, rubbing moss quickly on my body, leaving glowing streaks on my body, and then pressing myself against the tree and stopping my movements.

*Skittering*

The soft yet loud sound made me realize I was in danger here. Although many would question it, this is the world of my favorite novel, and that is the noise of the Snow ant. The book described it as a shrill squeak with skittering that was quiet but sounded large. Snow ants in this world are a monster species that look like ants. Snow ants produce spit of ice, which can devastate an area. Its massive size is described to be as large as three grown men. They are dangerous and hard to deal with, especially since they live in colonies. In the books, they are described as living in colonies that range from ten to ten thousand. But luckily or unluckily, those ants are blind. They hunt other monsters and large animals and consume plants by sensing vibrations and odors so they can locate their target. These ants consume humans and must be avoided in a specific manner. 

The glowing moss around me can be used to survive them. The glowing moss releases a chemical odor that the snow ants avoid because the moss is inedible to that species and doesn't usually grow on what the ants consume. In the books, a dragon's moss grows worldwide, a widespread plant that can survive any climate. This moss releases a strong enough odor that in the original story, the main characters are confronted by a snow ant while injured but manage to escape because when they think they are going to die, one of the members smears the moss on their skin and uses that opportunity to cast a vibration spell that makes their presence undetectable for the vibration sensors of that ant. They use that to take charge and finish off the ant by cutting off its head, which has a weak spot on the underside of the neck. I can't fight back in this situation because I cannot cast that magic, but I can keep still.

The Snow ant moves around as its antennae, the scent of its prey and vibrations seemingly vanish, making the monster give up and scurry away for easier prey. 

In the book, they can avoid the rest of the ant colony by observing the area after smearing themselves with dragon's moss and keeping as still as possible until the ants are far enough away before continuing their travel. This is what I can do to survive. With the ant gone, I can't help but release a sigh of relief, but my body starts to shake uncontrollably.

*Muffled sobbing* *Wails in anguish*