Elisa still seemed tired, but her condition had drastically improved compared to when she healed the nun.
She stood up, still wobbling on her legs she walked over to the nun. The nun tiredly looked up at the girl who was walking towards her.
"I am sorry that I can't heal you right now."
Elisa kneeled down before the nun who was still laying on the spot where I left her.
"but if you want to, I can put you to sleep for a few ours."
The nun forced a smile on her face that was red from crying.
"thank you. I will gladly accept that offer."
Elisa calmly inhaled the fresh air. The wind had long sins picked up again and was sinning its aggressive jet calming tune by rustling the leaves around us.
She starched out her arm and touched the forehead of the nun. A faint blueish glow could be seen but it waisted many times faster than that of the healing magic.
The nun closed her eyes and fell asleep. Elisa didn't seem as weakened as when she used the healing magic. Alex rushed over to help her stand up.
It didn't take long before she could stand on her own an we could start moving.
Gert was the one who was carrying the nun on his back since I couldn't. we wandered through the fields of bloodred flowers for another three hours.
With my help we could safely avoid the giant snakes that were luring underneath the leaves of the plants.
I was relieved when we finally entered the woods again. There was less wind, so it was easier for me to cense creatures that were approaching. This resulted in us not having to always be on high alert.
It would still take a few ours for the sun to set, but the group was so exhausted that we decided to make a camp a few kilometres in the forest.
I hunted a boar and consumed its soul before I handed it to the group. This time were Allenya and Alex cooking, Gert was getting some water, I was keeping watch, the nun was still sleeping, and Elisa and Yohan were not quite asleep but still resting.
I climbed a tree to have a better lookout. The air was even colder than yesterday. It wouldn't take long before we couldn't travel anymore.
("Maybe they can stay in a village for the winter. I think that I will be able to endure the cold so I would just have to stay in the woods during that time.")
I was not looking forward to that at all, but especially with what has been going on for the past two years, I could not just enter some village.
I sighed and repositioned myself on the branch I was sitting on. ("This tree is so much less comfortable than the last one.")
I decided to climb down. This tree wasn't worth sitting in, even if it was such a great lookout.
"Was the tree not comfortable?" Alex spoke in a joking tone and a wide grin on his face.
"Right on the dot."
He started laughing like the idiot he is. "wait. So, I was right?"
"Yes. You must be shocked since this is probably the first time in your life."
Allenya started to laugh so hard that se nearly fell to the ground, even Gert showed a slight grin.
I looked over at Elisa and Yohan both of them were just sitting against a tree, waiting for the food to be ready. They both looked so lifeless, it was nearly sad.
I shrugged it off and just went to look at the nun. The most fatal of her wounds was already roughly healed by Elisa. However, she would still be incapable to walk for a few days.
I sensed something. This sudden presence made me jump up. I turned away from the nun to face whatever was approaching us.
The others had noticed it to. Everyone turned to see the dark green creature. It looked like a mixture between a giant wolf and a deer. It was covered in branches, but even I couldn't tell if these grew out of the creature or if it was just covered in it.
It looked old, older than the forest itself. Able to tell stories that didn't survive the ravages of time and had long since been forgotten by the minds of humans. Its breath was perfectly aligned with the wind that blew through the forest.
Jet it was corrupt. I simply could tell from the feeling the creature gave of. Besides that, some of the plants covering its body had withered and some were already starting to rot.
I felt a change in the posture of the creature. It was no longer observing but jumped straight at me baring its teeth.
It was relatively easy to doge the attack. Something that shouldn't be possible.
This creature was undoubtedly strong, or at least in the past. Jet I was able to evade its attack.
("Could it be that whatever disease it is suffering from weakened it that much?")
It turned around. Staring right at me with its bright green eyes that showed a heavy resemblance to those of Elisa.
The creature attacked once again. This time only swinging its giant paw at me. And again, I could easily doge the attack.
The creature roared. Scratching the earth whit its paw.
Then it stopped. It slowly turned around and started to walk to the rest of the group, while unleashing a lot of killing intent.
Allenya screamed while throwing one of her daggers to the beast. It took the attack full on, jet didn't stop for even a moment.
Strange plats started to grow out of the ground and bound everyone in place except for me. The beast tilted its head towards me.
Once our eyes met, I immediately knew what it wanted.
("It wants me to kill it. And its prepared to do everything in its power to get me to do it.")
I knew that I had to either kill the creature, or the creature would kill everyone besides me, and sill find a way to get me to kill it.
("This thing probably has lived for thousands of years; it will find a way to get what it wants. The only difference is what it is going to cost me for as long as I refuse.")
Whit this in mind I jumped at the creature. Ripping its back open with my black fiendish claws. The creature did nothing to stop me and just looked at the sky.
However, the same could not been said about the rotten plants on its back. Those fiercely fought back struggling to keep the host alive. They were coming from left and right like when you put down a bowl of candy in front of a large group of kids.
I eventually managed to reach the heart of the creature and rip it apart while still in its chest. The creature fell down the moment that its hart was no longer able to beat.
It could just have been my imagination, but I could swear that it looked at me one last time with watery eyes. As if it knew what I was going through.
("Well, maybe it did. it could have been that in its many years it encountered a similar case.")
With the last breath escaping the lungs of the beast the plants holding the others down began to whiter away. And as the plants died and crumbled up, left to be blown away by the autumn wind and used in the circle of life, the soul was released.