10.19 cycle twenty-three, Ca’thir, of calendar Moonrachia

  "Kiara?! Hey!" I shook her shoulder; the monster’s footsteps grew closer and louder

  Kiara, just sit still and look somewhere far behind my shoulder, I could even hear her quiet whimpers and shaky breaths

  I really don't have much of a choice but to carry her once more, jump here and there as fast as I can

  With every step on the tree branches, I felt my leg muscles strain and pull so tight to the point that they could break anytime

  I can't even afford to look behind me. I poured everything I had just to run away from them. It was just a matter of time before we were both caught

  At my current level? Even if I got a blessing from goddess Fortuna, at best, it would only give me a few more minutes

  ...I really can't be weak like this for much longer

  I have someone that I want to protect...

  In my arms, I could feel Kiara's body shaking uncontrollably. I just made a promise before, didn't I? So, would everything be over just like this?

  I haven't met Alias yet

  I haven't even fulfilled Noah's wishes

  Taking a deep breath and jumping to the big tree in front of me, there's a hollow hole near the top of the tree's trunk

  Gently, put Kiara inside it and cover her with a hooded cloak. "Wait for me here." But she doesn't respond, her eyes turned empty, and she is just looking down, while hugging herself

  I stood up and looked behind me at the white creature itself. I can't even feel my legs anymore. I could feel how thin my mana currently is, especially since I've been using it since morning

  Physical enchantment

  Casting a lighting lance and shooting it into the creature's head, before I leap to different direction, and it seems I manage to catch the aggro

  Physical enchantment

  A jolting sensation, as if I had been struck by lightning, was spreading across my body, it made my legs much weaker to the point I could fall to the ground

  Layering the same magic, especially on the caster's body, is a bad practice, I know it damn well, but I really don't have much more choice right now

  A fog slowly surfaced in my mind, blinding my focus

  A cold liquid dripped from my nose

  ...And something hit me from behind, a blunt object, that made me fly and hit the ground hard enough, and made my head clear

  Slowly, I push myself from the ground and turn around. I could taste iron in my mouth, and even a red liquid fell to the ground

  It just stood there with a post-punching pose, "...Bastard."

  Cupping my hand palm under my face, to gather my blood that fell from my nose and mouth

  The creature was just walking, walking, to me as if they had some brain cells

  Slowly, I raise my palm that is filled with blood, and pour it into my eyes, "Hit or miss, let's play a russian roulette, shall we?"

  *****

  1#$.2% cycle twenty-three, Ca’thir, of calendar Moonrachia

  The forest terrain looked wrecked. Something must've met with that creature some time ago, it couldn't have been long ago, since I could still sense a thin unnatural mana in the air

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  "Sorry, leader, we lost sight of it."

  "Don't worry, it mustn't be that far since it's gone."

  Why did I feel this uneasy? I have never even felt something like this, even when fighting against a foreign creature, my entire instinct screaming so loud—

  "Leader! I detected it! It's 2 o'clock from us, in a few hundred meters away!"

  "Got it! Everyone, let's go."

  *****

  1#$.2% cycle twenty-three, Ca’thir, of calendar Moonrachia

  This is our first day in the house that Noah left us.

  The walk to the city is pretty far, but there's enough — no, a lot of empty land for gardening, for meat. It shouldn't be that hard to find, since this is the middle of the forest, perhaps I should make a few traps here and there?

  Kaleth and Kiara haven't arrived yet, but it shouldn't be that long, they could arrive anytime now

  As I walked to the living room, I noticed Alias standing in front of the window and staring at the outside. She doesn't even notice me, standing behind her

  "Something wrong, Alias?" Kneeling to her level and staring at the same spot as her

  "Kaleth?" Alias turned her face and looked at me, "Is he going to arrive today?"

  "I wonder?" Alias then stared outside the windows again. Outside, there's a small river flowing beside this house, and a few empty spots, before everything turned into a dense forest

  It was another normal and quiet day, until both of them arrived

  *****

  1#$.2% cycle twenty-three, Ca’thir, of calendar Moonrachia

  What did we just see..?

  A man at the sigil-level was standing shoulder to shoulder with the foreign creature—

  Sharp, the sound of shredding meat filled the air. Another white object pierced the creature from the ground and out from its shoulder, stunning it

  That man is just standing, his face covered with so much blood that we could hardly see who or how old he was

  The sharp white object, which shone differently than the creature, burst into smaller red needles that pierced it from inside

  Someone whispering under her breath, "...What should we do, leader?"

  "...I don't know—"

  The creature, running once more toward him after getting stunned, launched a heavy punch

  Before its hand could even reach him, something growing from his arm, from a tiny white string into another, the same sharp object that pierced the creature before

  Impaled the creature, punched with momentum, and completely destroyed its arms down to the palms with a single hit

  "Nnghh..!" Someone was taking a sharp breath behind me. I could understand the feelings, it's not even a fight anymore

  ...It's domination

  I could feel it again... my instinct screaming

  It's not something we can fight off, even with our entire party standing by

  Something league above us

  Once again, that white sharp object bursts into a red needle

  I... really can't even call this a forest anymore, when there's clearly a river of blood under both of them

  Something cold fell from my forehead

  A chill reaches my spine

  My breath turns shaky

  Is this what fear... feels like?

  The creature stepped back, trying to regenerate its arms, but it realized that it did not work, and ran away

  Slowly, as if he's taking his time, he looked at us. Nothing could be seen on his face other than his red eyes, instinctively I held my sword handle. "Shouldn't all of you have finished that guy?"

  His aura overwhelmed every single one of us. I didn't even realize I was holding back my breath, no one dared to move or even say anything back

  He then exhaled at us and walked away in the opposite direction, the river of blood following him, and slowly, the battlefield could be seen clearly

  The ground where that white, sharp object appeared from the ground leaves nothing, everything looks normal

  An impact hole, fallen tree...

  A few minutes? Half an hour? Time seems frozen, and we don't even know how long we're just standing there, completely trying to understand what just happened in front of us

  As a hero, this is the first time I feel so scared in my entire life. His mana alone overwhelmed all of us, even my sacred weapon feels like a toy compared to him

  *****

  1#$.2% cycle twenty-three, Ca’thir, of calendar Moonrachia

  My mind is so hazy, it's so unbearable, I can't even walk straight properly

  Every time I take a breath, a sharp pain surfaces in my chest

  The world is still monochrome... How do I turn this off?

  "...Right, I should find Kiara."

  I didn't even realize that I was wiping some blood from my face, everything feels so numb

  "...H-huff." This is too much, but I can't die yet, I promised, didn't I?

  Another few steps, I could see Kiara's red string about a hundred meters away, "This vision is becoming more and more of a mystery..."

  "Ughh..." Another tree, how many times have I bumped into them?

  Everything now had them, a red string

  A grass

  A water

  A tree and even its leaves

  I can't see properly... this is it?

  I need to jump and reach the branch. I could see where the red string started, and the branch must be to the left of it

  She hasn't recovered yet, huh...

  Inhaling as much air as I could get and ignoring the pain, while biting my lips

  There's a slight miscalculation, and I was jumping too high

  The moment my momentum died, I prepared myself to land properly into the branch, but I underestimated my whole body

  I fell miserably, the branch hit my stomach, and my upper and lower body dangled over the branch, before everything turned black

  ---END---