章節 21: Forest Fever
SIZZLE!!!
CRACKLE!!!
CRACKLE!!!
Scents and sounds of smoldering ash burning away the greenery surrounded Thalia and me on all sides. We were transported back to the riverside, the entrance point to Xiala's world where we'd been whisked away. Flames burned on the water evaporating the liquid and drying up the stream. One hand clasped tightly around Thalia's; I urged Xiala's shadows on as we moved deeper into the chaos alongside the forty soldiers in a square formation, ten soldiers each, positioned on the four sides while we ran in the center.
No screams from the town filled rang in the atmosphere. Instead, only demonic whispering blew in the wind giving the trees an eerie rustle as the inhumane voices increased in volume.
!!!
"L-Lei! What happened?!"
I scuffed my boots firmly into the soil terrain, skidding to an emergency halt. Fully expecting the shaky rope bridge we'd crossed earlier, a large swarm of demons had taken its place. I pushed to the front of the formation, looking down from the high vantage point provided by the hill, viewing the total destruction of the woodland. Every tree in sight had been knocked over or consumed in the horde, grass blades had been thoroughly trampled, and animal carcasses were tossed around with substantial bite marks from where the monsters had taken a bite.
My eyes estimated nearly one hundred devils lying directly below us, with even more filtering in starting at the forest's entrance. I scanned the area frantically for any clear path- then it happened; I locked sight with one of the devils. Both our eyes utterly transfixed on the other.
Fear nailed me in place. Beats of my heart pumped faster than two hundred a minute as I choked on my breath, and my body grew cold, clammy white. Slowly, those same eyes came to peek over the hill pairing with a menacing smile as the demon catapulted itself over the grassy landscape.
The hand which usually holds my lance shook, itching me to summon the spear and fight.
"Protect!"
That singular word raced through my mind urging me to do anything. Defensively I placed myself to shield Thalia with what little strength my body could muster; I stood firm and closed my eyes, expecting the death blow from the demon's talons to reach me any second.
SHHK!
Thalia let out a tiny shriek as I was forcefully thrown into her by a mighty wind gust that sent us tumbling until we reached the hill's foot, still holding hands.
Mini droplets of liquid were sprayed across my face and dripped onto my hands as purple blood. Lying higher up ahead, the demon's decapitated head lay sitting in the grass field. Its body hung lifelessly like a pinata on Yis's shield, pouring blood from the large gap in its stomach the buckler punctured through.
Confidence and control flooded my body once more. The anxiety and fear I felt before ceased to be upon the devil's life being forfeited.
(Emotion Manipulation?)
I flipped my weapon hand from front to back, curiously pondering the situation as beastly roars screamed in grieving agony. Wild footsteps came after fading their screams into the back. Demons leaped over the elevated landscape knocking through shadows like street cones.
Xiala's creations didn't stay down for long, hastily reconstructing themselves and counterattacking the surprised devils. Easily killing the first ten that appeared, the entire herd crashed into each other while crossing over the hill to meet the warriors, like ants on their way to blot a single crumb.
Hoisting Thalia on my back, I was careful not to look at the pursuing horde as arrows and various spells whizzed by untamed, grazing my cheeks and legs while retreating the way we came.
Yis manifested next to me on my right, running for a short period before encircling its body around us.
The purple mist their body consisted of began to hum nosily, circling faster and louder, gradually turning blue.
Tiny star-shaped particles floated and whirled before my eyes. The sensation of my feet pounding against the ground frantically vanished, replaced with a scary feeling of freedom as Thalia's body disassembled alongside mine.
BOOM!
Shortly ahead the flat land popped open freeing the demons lying in wait. Three massive ones threw themselves like a spear, mouths open in joyous anticipation.
"Yis!"
Up to nothing but our necks remaining. We were swallowed whole into the rows of long sharp teeth as the devil's mouth chomped closed, silencing my scream.
...
"W-What the...hell was that, huff...huff...Shadow...Hopping? Xiala's packed you full with all sorts of abilities."
I was hunched in front of a metal grate clasping my stomach with Thalia barfing her brains out three inches from me.
After the conversion, we found ourselves in the warship auction plot, land to many abundantly sized garages housing magic carriers.
The humongous district was largely undisturbed, lacking signs of any damage.
(Weird. This is the only area still standing within the town. A barrier spell? Also strange, I'm not sensing a massive gathering of magic if that was so, and the citizens would've enclosed the town in a protective bubble if they knew such a spell.)
BANG!
"...Hey, Lei."
"Yeah. I recognize those blasting sounds anywhere."
Suttle vibrations flowed in the quiet shipyard. The creaking of metal sliding against metal screeched distantly before making its way to our ears. Winds shifted, making way for dust as a giant fifteen-meter flashing display sign labeled E collapsed nosily in a heap of scraps.
(E, like quadrant E? Map, where's a map?)
"Hang on tight, Mistress Thalia."
Venturing at max speed, garage doors became blurring streaks of grey as I ran leading Thalia behind, and Yis followed jumping into my shadow.
More blasts went off, exploding in the sky with blinding radiance like firecrackers during a celebration. With no clue where to travel, I ran straight for what seemed an eternity before running into a virtual panel marked with symbols and directions.
Six letters for six divided sections, respectively. A-F was tagged with how big each area was and the time and distance it would take to reach the individual quadrants.
From where we stood, smack middle in division A, approximately two hundred meters in diameter; reaching Jai located somewhere in E would take an estimated thirty minutes. With a demanding three hundred thousand meters total to step foot through E's gate.
Another deafening pop rang, hitting close enough to demolish an advertisement board that sparked and ignited in flames before leaning over threateningly.
Alarms blared from the explosion as demonic roaring came out of the forest in synonymous discordance.
Wiping sweat from my brow and refilling my burning lungs with oxygen, I took off at max speed again, directing us to E.
(Hang on, Jai. You'd better not dare die before I get there, you giant pain in the ass!)
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