Vanessa was relieved when she saw that Aldrin was here.
She thought that Aldrin would left her but he didn't. Maybe Raliz was right, he wouldn't dare to leave Vanessa behind. It was an order from the Queen of Witches, Vanessa's Mother.
Whenever the Harpees catch up, Aldrin used Blinding Light so that they could get distance again but its somehow useless because of the Harpees extreme speed.
They didn't thought that something bad like this would happen but other than this problem, Serpent has its own.
" Raliz!" Black Knight said while slashing his sword towards her but she didn't get the strike, in fact the attack wasn't for her, it'sfor Serpent.
The sword only went through in Serpent's body. Raliz was shocked, too.
' Why did he attacked Serpent. Could it be that... He could also see Serpent.' Raliz thought.
Serpent was careless. Serpent forgot to hid itself from the others, and now Black Knight saw Serpent.
Black Knight was surprised when his attack only went through in Serpent's body.
But not only Black Knight could see Serpent but also Wizardo, so he asked.
" Raliz, what's that Creature beside you?"
Raliz sighed.
" I'm a Spirit Summoner. This is my Spirit, Serpent." Raliz said.
Everyone was stunned.
They even stopped and forgot the incoming Harpees.
Boom!
The Black Beam had landed on the ground where the group stopped to.
They were in a sorry state. Blood was everywhere on their bodies.
Then, they were picked by the Harpees.
Their unconscious body was snatched by these Dark Creatures.
Raliz recovered her consciousness. " Let me go!"
Raliz swung but the Harpee's gripped harder making its claws dug into Raliz's skin.
Raliz screamed.
Blood was everywhere in her body.
The Harpees claws has shadow and Dark powers in it and it penetrated in Raliz's Indestructible Jacket.
She saw that the others were caught by the other Harpees but they were unconscious.
' I need to think fast!' Raliz thought of something and finally, she did.
In a about a minute, they will reached the river.
Raliz prepared to cast. And when they reached the River, Raliz casted something.
" Dark Flame!" Raliz yelled the words the Black flames started to appear.
The flames burned the Harpees but it didn't kill them, the flames made them lose their gripped from Raliz's teammates and their body fall down into the rushing river.
Raliz summoned her Vines. With the help of her mind,she turned her Vines into a giant raft.
Using another Vines to get others out from the rushing water, they were all safe, for now.
Raliz was wet as well as the unconscious members.
Raliz looked at sky. There were no Harpees to be found. She was relieved. She lay down and rested for a bit.
She looked into her status and saw something spectacular.
Dark Blood ( 2/3) [Dark Essences, Dark Powers] ( one more factor to awaken Dark Blood).
Raliz was a little bit happy, though. She knew that this Dark Blood was like Dark Lord's.
But she was excited to learn about her Dark Blood and how did she have it.
As she thought about it, She saw a barrier like force up ahead. She was looking at it with confused looked but she got back to her senses when she saw a bird got incinerated by that force field like barrier.
She turned the raft around but the current of the river was strong and its leading them faster from the Barrier.
Raliz was sweating.
She think of something but she couldn't. Their were getting closer and closer every seconds.
But it was too late, they will be incinerated in no less than a second.
But just as she thought to be incinerated, their bodies and the raft went through the barrier.
Raliz opened her eyes.
" I wasn't incinerated!" Raliz was glad.
She was dancing like crazy and couldn't composed herself.
Then she felt a sting on her neck. She caressed her neck then she found a small needle stuck.
In a few seconds, she felt dizzy and her world began to darken.
...
Boats appeared out of nowhere and surrounded Raliz's Raft.
On the boats are beings that look like humans but have points in their ears.
These beings were called Elves.
The river current became calm and Raliz's Raft stopped. An old Elf came out from one of the boat and jumped on to Raliz's raft.
You could tell that the elf was a male because of its body built. Even the Elf was old only its face and beard changed but its body looks so young and strong.
The Elf has a staff in his right hand and he used the staff to poke at Raliz.
" Humans. But... Strange. All of them are strange in different ways." The old Elf muttered.
A young female Elf appeared behind the Old Elf's back.
" Second Elder. Are they a threat?" The young Elf asked in a hostile manner.
The Elder smiled and laughed before saying something.
" They are not a threat... but a treat. Prepare the Sacrificial Emblems." As the Elder said this, he, the young female Elf and the other Elves began to exude Dark Auras.
The other Elves picked Raliz's members bodies.
The Second Elder voluntarily pick Raliz body but when he touched her body, a reaction happened.
The Dark Aura that the Second Elder exuded was being absorbed by Raliz's body. He was shocked and amazed.
" Incredible!"
But as he said those words, he was sent flying away from Raliz's body. He hit his back on a tree.
" Second Elder!" The young Female Elf shouted.
The Second Elder spat out blood. He held his face that has a fist mark on it. A sinister smile appeared on the Second Elder's face.
A girl was standing on the raft, releasing a terrifying energy, everywhere.
The Elves around her stared at her. They are very hostile now. If their stare could kill, Raliz would be dead by now.
The young Female Elf rushed forward and attacked Raliz. Raliz dodged her attack and punched her in the stomach.
The young Female Elf crouched in pain.
" Elfina!" The Second Elder shouted the name of the young female Elf.
" Attack her!" The Second Elder ordered all the Elves to attack Raliz.
Serpent appeared and told Raliz some informations about these Elves.
Serpent was shocked as it saw these Elves.
" Raliz, These are the Wood Elves. Wood Elves are usually good Elves but these Elves are committed to the Dark side. The Strongest among them is that Elder Elf. His level is at Grandmaster Level. You could compete with the Elder in strength but he has many followers that are at least Elite Levels, you should run." Serpent said.
Raliz gritted her teeth.
Raliz punched one of the Elf that was holding Vanessa and the Elf flew away.
The other Elves put down the bodies in fright and backed away.
" Useless! Attack her!" Second Elder screamed at his followers angrily when he saw that they are afraid of Raliz.
" Vines!" Raliz shouted and Vines appeared out of the water and the land strangling all the Elves around her.
Raliz underestimated these Elves.
The Elves got out from the Vines grips with their own different ways.
They cut them through the Vines!
Raliz gritted her teeth. She and her team are in a big trouble right now.
" Give up, Little Girl. Your team is outnumbered." The Second Elder said in a malicious way.
Raliz just gave him a mocking smirk.
The Second Elder frowned.
" You'll regret this!"
The Elder floated in the air and in a flash, he was in front of Raliz. Then, he punched Raliz in the face.
The impact was very strong and made Raliz flew out of the Raft and drowned in the river.
Raliz felt an intense pain in her face.
Raliz tried to swim up but somehow she couldn't. It's like she was being dragged down.
She looked below her and saw no one or something that could possibly pulling her down. She felt the water was dragging her deep down!
' Sh*t! Raliz think!" She panicked.
Then she thought of something and said the word.
" Vine."
Vines appeared around her in the water and she controlled the vines to strangle her and bring her up.
The method works!
...
The Second Elder thought that Raliz was dead because there's no way anyone would survive in these Water.
The scariest part of the river is in the 6th Layer. Some said the Water is alive and drowned everything including living beings that went in the water.
The Second Elder Elf ordered his men to pick up the bodies of Raliz's teammates and put the bodies on the shore.
Some Elves arrived. They were holding a giant Rock statue.
Raliz would be shock if she saw the statue. It was a Dark Lord's Statue.
They placed it close to the bodies of Raliz's teammates. Then, The Second Elder Elf started to chant. Their language are very hard to understand. Their using their own Elf language.
A Black Fire rose up overhead of the statue. Around the fire, A black smoke was encircling it like swirling vortex.
The Fire gets bigger every seconds.
The Bodies are slowly sucked in. But in a very weird manner.
If you look closer, you could see that its not the body were sucked up but the powers inside their bodies.
Aldrin woke up.
He felt very weak. When he was unconscious, he felt an extreme aura of Darkness. He looked up and saw a Black Fire.
His eyes widened.
' Sacrificial Fire!' Aldrin thought.
The Sacrificial Fire is an Emblem of Darkness and it means Dark Lord.
These Wood Elves were devotees of Dark Lord and they were using Raliz's teammates as sacrifices.
Aldrin couldn't do anything. He was weak all over. The Sacrificial Fire drained most of his powers. Others woke up too but just like Aldrin, they couldn't move.
Their bodies are drained of power.
But as the time that they've lost hope, something came out of the water.
The Sacrificial Ritual was disturbed.