章節 8: Chapter 8: River
"Okay, now hand me back control of my bod-"
She instantly flew out through the ceiling hole with my body and rushed straight to somewhere with incredible speed. We flew across mountains, seas, and valleys so fast, that the entire scene blurred before my eyes. I tried wrestling control over my body but failed to do so. She just won't budge. Then, the unexpected happened. We ran out of gas. At the same time, I regained control of my body. Not exactly useful in this situation. With no energy to maintain the flight, we came crashing down to mother earth. Mowing through trees, my bones breaking and reforming. We screamed all the way though the crash-landing before finally running out of momentum. I immediately performed a quick body scan and felt a sting on my left shoulder. I also noticed myriad of cuts all along my body.
"Useless! Absolutely useless! Why did I even put myself in such a useless vessel! I can't believe you don't have any power in reserve at all." she complained in frustration.
"Shut up, you idiot! What the hell did you do?" I demanded an explanation.
"Fulfilling the contract, what else? You promised that you would allow me to return to my homeland. So I did. I just didn't expect my power to run out halfway, that's all! Be grateful I had just enough to heal most of your wounds."
"So after you returned to your homeland with my body and unbound yourself from me, are you going to return me back to my home?
"Yeah, of-of course," she looked away from me.
"You're totally gonna strand me there, aren't you?" I eyed her coldly.
"Fine. I swear to bring you back after I separated my soul from yours."
I felt a cold chill on my back, the sensation of something watching you. I turned around and found a pack of dire wolves staring at me. Each of them bigger than a grizzly bear with jaws that could easily rip a man in half.
"Heh, just big wolves, eh?" I felt relieved. It's nothing compared to how terrifying the abomination is. "Ellariel, deal with those small fries," I said commandingly. Having power feels great, even though it's actually borrowed.
"Ummm, I can't…," she said meekly.
"What the hell are you talking about?" I asked in panic, the illusion of power shattering.
"As I said, I've used up all of it. There's not even a drop of power left in me."
"Can't you at least fight them off with your swordsmanship or something?"
"Huh? Are you an idiot? There's no way we'll survive against them without any of my power. Those wolves are big, you know."
I was sweating bullets, my system flooded with adrenaline. My eyes moved from erratically, trying to find a path to run, but find none. It's too late, the dire wolves had encircled me. They already did from the moment I crashed. At first, they were wary, but sensing that I'm no danger, they appeared out of hiding. The entire pack approached me, narrowing the circle, further lowering my already non-existent chance of escape. One of them lunged towards, I recalled the sensation and materialized the sword on my right hand; a long, straight, silvery blade with glyphs incribed on it. It didn't glowed with power like it did previously, but it'll have to do. I threw a slash while leaping to the side. It's a good thing I learned a bit of blade-wielding skills from Yama back in Arthuri. I didn't expect all the combat skills I learned would turn out to be useful so soon. I peeked at the beast and saw that I only managed to graze it. Great, this isn't going as expected. I half-expected that maybe I would be able to kill them one by one and survive this ordeal. But to think that I can't even deal with one properly. Seeing how I'm not as helpless as I look, the whole pack decided to attack me simultaneously. I guess there's no coming back to life from this one. Thankfully, I was immediately proven wrong. A hulking man clad in fur armor landed in front of me. "Get on the ground!" he commanded. I complied and laid flat on my belly. He swung his massive sword in a 360-degree turn, creating a force of wind that staggered the dire wolves a few steps back. None of them were injured, but it's enough to rattle them enough for them to stop and hesitate for a moment. They resumed their charge, this time with the big man as their main target. He brought his big sword down on one of the dire wolves and cleaved it in half. A dire wolf came from his side, only to be met by an uppercut from the bald, bearded man. Another came from his back, I intercepted it and got pinned down. It tried to bite my head off, but not before I rammed my sword at its throat. Blood and saliva spilled on my face, some getting in my mouth. The animal dropped on me; its weight suffocating me. I released my grip of the sword, and it disappeared. I glanced at the big man; he seems barely able to handle himself against two dire wolves at the same time. Which is unfortunate for me, since three were coming towards me. I struggled for a while but failed to move it away. A blast of fire came from the side and instantly grilled the animals on the spot. I shifted my head and saw a brunette woman in a sorceress robe. Underneath it was some light armor. She regarded me with cold eyes, and I met her gaze, her eyes the color of amber. Her features sharp and serious. She pointed her palm at me, and I felt the corpse of the beast on top of me being lifted. I took the opportunity and quickly wiggled out. I heaved a sighed of relief, then remembered something important. The big dude! Someone suddenly slapped his hand on my left shoulder, making me wince. "Are you okay, boy?", he said with a thick accent.
I turned around and saw the big man standing behind me, the two dire wolves he fought laid lifeless on the ground. Seriously, he's huge, like two meters tall. It felt like he could probably squish my head with his palms and pop it like a party balloon
"Well, I am now. Thanks for saving my life."
I turned my head back to the lady, "Thanks for saving me, too."
She nodded.
"The hell are you thinking, boy? Wandering around in this forest alone. You wanna meet your maker so badly, huh? You were in luck we were around because we heard a huge ruckus here," he crossed his arms and chastised me. I was at lost of words, the big man, despite his stature, somehow reminded me of a nagging mother.
"The destruction in the woods. Was it you?", the woman asked me. It gave me the chills. Her tone might be neutral, but there's a strength hidden behind it. She reminded me of the time I first met with the Princess of the Elves. She would, without a doubt, consider me an enemy as soon as I lie. Regaining her trust wouldn't be so easy afterward. Why are all women with power always so scary? Or maybe it's because scary women are the ones who are adept at obtaining power? I decided that, again, honesty is the best policy. Besides, would she had believed me even if I said it wasn't me?
"I sorta crash-landed here on my way to somewhere," I said with conviction.
She lifted an eyebrow and sized me up. "I see."
"Well, you seemed in bad shape. Come with us to our camp. Oh, and I'm Darius. The sorceress is Telara, and the man right there is Alan," the man said.
"But there's only two of you here?" I asked, perplexed.
"Ah, he's right over there," Darius pointed to a tree, and a man hopped down. He wore a cloak with leather armor underneath. His features hidden by a hood, but I noticed his leaf-colored eyes glowing underneath. He greeted me with a nod. I turn my head back to Darius and said, "I would gladly accept your generosity, Darius. My name is Mike. Oh, and is there any chance there's a river around here? I really wanna get the blood off my face."
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