Chapter 66

I'm posting some chapters ahead of time on my discord server: https://discord.gg/r2VSvS5kaH

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*Cough* *Cough*

The Xyrus students were coughing uncontrollably while in the burning forest. Tessia was nowhere to be seen, while others were in the epicenter of the attack. The forest was burning, and it was slowly narrowing, close to leaving nothing but ashes in place of previously greeny trees.

Claire was trying to fish out Tessia's location. She couldn't have gone far away. Although, she definitely masked her presence well. At least the Alacryans wouldn't be able to find her quickly.

"This place is becoming too smoky. At this rate, we'll be just breathing in pure dark smoke."

As much as Theodore was endurant, there was no way he could endure these conditions forever. He wasn't Snoop, and hell, not even Snoop Dog himself will be able to. You simply shouldn't have a need to breathe, or at least filter lunges. The plants in this forest aren't just simple, some of them are magical, with special magical abilities to hypnotize and make people happy. In their dreams.

"Should I just remove this smoke?" Feyrith asked. Claire thought for a moment but rejected the idea.

"No. It can reveal our position. We need to search for Tessia first." The red-hair explained, also proposing the plan. They would split up to quicken the pace. In case of emergency, they are to warn others by some loud spell. The same if they find Tessia. If successful, they will leave the forest together.

"Get going then."

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Tessia, on the other hand, was completely fine. She had wind magic and the smoky environment couldn't harm her in any way. There was an issue with orientation since her current position was too dark. Everything was coated with black smoke, it was even covering sun rays that could barely enter the woodland even earlier.

Her vision expanded as she channeled mana in her eyes. She'll be able to find a way out of this. But she'll have to find Claire and others, because without them, leaving wasn't possible. Where could they have gone in this forest? Her vines died long ago, and she can't use them to sense their presence.

'They are probably searching for me now.' She thought as she ran in a random direction, still trying to hide away from the sudden appearance of Alacryans. It's not like they can see anything in this place either.

They'll be unseen until this forest is still burning. In the meantime, they'll have to leave this place as quickly as possible. That was the only way they could survive. If not, then they'd simply die against thousands, if not more, of Alacryans. Dropping down the weapons wasn't an option. If they are caught, enemies will lure out important information.

As a princess, Tessia understood this well. They can use her as bait for her parents. Knowing them, they can do something stupid in exchange for her safety. So she was dead set on surviving no matter what.

'I need to meet Art…at least one more time.'

Tess was lost in her thoughts as she traveled through the burning woods. She was on the lookout for her friends, but she followed the path blindly. Sometimes she would turn right, sometimes left, aimlessly, so that she even forgot where she was initially. The thing was clear; something appeared that made her snap out of this state.

'What's this?'

The presence of something else knocked her down. Immediately, she felt heaviness in her chest, her ears perked up, and sweat dropped on her forehead, this time... more intensively. Tessia jumped to her side in worry. Her eyes darted around to identify the threat. It was nowhere to be seen. Faint noises, however, reached her pointy ears.

It sounded like a crazy, manic laugh. This noise was like the music of a broken violin, very shrill and harsh. Her heartbeat quickened as Tessie's eyes caught the silhouette. The shadow of which was darker than the smoke. She also quickly began to absorb air due to nervousness. Because of the loud noise coming from her, she covered her mouth to avoid making any more.

As the blood was being pumped by her heart, Tessia could hear each beat. She felt like her chest was being held by something from inside. However, it was the only reassurance she had at that time. She still felt alive, thanks to it.

Meanwhile, another noise was added to the terrible laugh. The metallic shrieking of chains only added more pathos to the situation. The girl began to wonder who it was, and how it got there. Nothing of the kind was seen during their battle. All Alacryans were the same; nothing differentiated them from Dicathenians...

But this thing was something that they had not yet seen, and no one from their continent had seen it before. Just one look was enough to cause fear, but she still hasn't seen that individual in full. It definitely wasn't something simple.

'I have to find others quickly!' Tessia jumped on her two and quickly tried to find others by sending thin vines in all directions. This was a costly move, but to save time, you have to take risks. Not that there were any alternatives. The elf-girl couldn't think with a clear mind because she was disturbed.

The vines spread their roots at a large distance, with Tessia being able to sense mana fluctuations with their help. She felt a lot of signatures, but detecting the familiar presence of Claire was more than enough for her. She had to just run because someone might have detected her presence.

The red-haired girl also seemed to feel that Claire was moving towards her. Tess would like to tell her that she shouldn't come here, but the elf had no way to communicate with her. She cursed in her mind, nonetheless, she increased her speed to reach quicker. Tessia was also looking back to see if she was pursued or not. She still didn't know what that individual was capable of.

Well, it was clear that it was dangerous.

A faint smile appeared on Tessia's face as she was closing up to her friend. She would have cried out if not for the circumstances.

"Tess!" Called out the red-haired girl, who was running with her hand on the weapon. Ready to unsheathe it at any moment.

Tess put her finger in front of her mouth and signaled for Claire to be silent. "Shhhh, quiet down, Claire. We got an unidentified threat, very dangerous."

"What are you on about?"

Tess grabbed onto the girl's hand and began Claire with her. The red-head was surprised, but she still followed nonetheless. "Just explain. What's going on?" Claire pressed the question while they were running.

The princess was about to explain what was going on when she stopped dead in her tracks. Claire stopped and looked at Tessia weirdly. She was staring into the smoking forest. Her pupils were shrunken, and her heart was pumping furiously in her chest.

It was the same feeling as before!

Claire, who felt the weird change in Tess, tried to shake her up a little bit. Again, the redhead was surprised to see her reaching for the weapon on her waist. The peculiar part was, that her hands were shaking uncontrollably. Another question arose, did she see a ghost?

*Rattle*

Claire was roughly kicked away by Tess, and in their place, a sickle attached to chains passed. Now she understood it, there was an enemy who Tess wanted to warn her about. Speaking of the enemy, where was it again?

Claire looked at the place where those chains were coming from: The man was donned in all black, his torn coat covering him and a greenish aura surrounding him. He was walking towards them wearing a crazy expression and a long tongue stuck out. He seriously looked like a predator snake that had just found its prey.

Claire shot a glance to her left, to see how Tessia was. She was alright but had an injury to her right shoulder. The sickle managed to tear the flesh and muscle, fortunately leaving the bones in one piece.

"Would you look at that? Two beautiful girls, all alone in the forest... interesting. Who's gonna stop me?" His grin sent chills down the girls' spines.

With a swish of his hand, the chained sickle was back in his hands. This time, the girls weren't able to even react to it. Much to their frustration, the man didn't stop on that and licked the bloody tip of his weapon. to antagonize the elf girl even more.

"Haha, today is my lucky day!"

The sickles were now thrown simultaneously. Interestingly enough, they weren't aimed at the girls. The batshit crazy guy threw it so that the chains wrap around the girls and capture them. Their eyes followed the chains, but their bodies weren't fast enough. They could witness how the chains were closing upon them, and how they were about to hit them.

"Huh."

The man gasped while holding onto the chains. Yes, the chains worked as intended and encircled the two girls, although they didn't shrink and were too wide to even reach them. His eyes searched for the barrier. No trees should be able to hold his sickles down...

His green glowing eyes stared into the dark smoke, hoping that there would be something. His hope appeared to be true, as the glowing purple eyes shone brightly through the darkness and repulsed the fear. Now... an unknown man felt frightened. The purple eyes were staring down at him. When the complete shape of a creature emerged, the man was petrified to see the tall and wide shadow.

'Is this one of the mutated beasts? What is it doing here though?' The man wondered. Mutated beasts couldn't have left the dungeons, or maybe the mutations spread outside. With a raised eyebrow, the man closed in upon the beast. 'This one seems pretty useful at that.'

"Stand on your four, you are too tall." Although the command was given, the creature didn't react instantly. It also mimicked the man and raised an eyebrow. Nonetheless, it began to lower itself.

"Goo-"

The man wanted to compliment the shadow, but before he could do so, he was smashed to the ground and pressed hard on by the creature's paw. Its bear head now showed white-sharp teeth, and the noise of growling was escaping. It was annoyed by the man's doings, as well as, being in the shadow of a girl for years. Finally, Tank was free.

Tank lifted to see how the man was. There was no visible damage, so it again proceeds to stomp on the man repeatedly to deform him until he dies. Tessia and Claire watched its actions, stupified just by the sheer size of the bear. Not it was also toying with the man, that toyed with THEM.

*Swish*

Air was cut by the swish of a sickle, followed by Tank's paw being cut off from its socket. This didn't cause Tank to stop but did hinder the bear for a few seconds, which was enough for the man to escape. He is now standing meters away from the bear, angrily swinging his chains, cutting the trees down uncontrollably.

*Growl*

Tank also ascertained its angriness and intent on the man. Also, being a Tank it is, the shadow also looked behind to show the girls thumbs up and point in a certain direction. signaling them to go that way.

"Uh…thanks?" Claire briefly thanked Tank before she was taken away by Tessia. This was perfect timing from Tank. Now they had momentum. They'll find their classmates and get the hell out of here.

"We got more support approaching, I believe."

"How do you know that?" Asked Claire.

"This creature is similar to ones we were sparring with. Remember the ones Ashy summoned? Exactly."

Claire still had hellish flashbacks from that training, it was tiring and not something a teen would like to remember. They got dragged around on the training grounds like in football. That ant-like creature was even trying.

"Princess Tessia!"