Heylel was still gazing down at the creature while he burst upward to escape when all of a sudden he heard Araziel.
"Heylel look out!" she shouted.
Heylel turned his gaze upward and saw a group of thick humongous vines from the branches above them rapidly approaching. He quickly changed the direction of his flight to avoid the incoming threat. Araziel did the same but went in the opposite direction. Heylel continued to fly upward and thought that he had finally escaped it but to his dismay, the vines changed their direction and continued to follow him. He accelerated but the vines were able to match his speed, perhaps even faster. He decided that it must be stopped so they could escape unharmed, thus Heylel used his gift, "All for One" which allowed him to use all of the gifts of his brothers and sisters. He chose Elemental Fusion, the gift of his sister, Remiel. It allowed him to combine basic arcanic elements such as earth, water, air, fire, and lightning.
HeyIel turned and faced the vines. He extended both of his arms and started to visualize earth and water being combined. As a result, a massive spray of blueish spores came out of his hands and was directly propelled towards the vines. The vines then were frozen in place binding them on trees, making them unable to move. Heylel was assured that he had already taken care of the threat and started to look for Araziel. He caught a glimpse of her from afar, firing enhanced arrows in mid-air. He was about to rush to her when another group of vines flung towards him from several directions. The attack was so sudden that he didn't have a moment to react. The vines grappled him on each limb and started to crawl all over his body. He struggled to get free but his strength was not enough. The vines were able to cover his entire body except for his face, hindering any movements that he would make.
"I never knew that vines could be this strong," he humored himself.
Meanwhile, Araziel was fighting fiercely on the other part of the forest. She saw that Heylel was already caught and was waiting for him to be translocated at her side.
"But why are you taking so long?" She impatiently thought while dodging three vines that simultaneously dove at her. She fired an enhanced arrow at the middle vine. As the shot traveled in mid-air, it split into three, incinerating all the vines it went through. She was about to relax when she heard a rustling of vines above her.
"There's no end to this," she sighed.
She swiftly glided to other branches and saw that the giant creature was gazing at her. She noticed that a tremendous amount of arcana was flowing from the creature's feet towards the ground. It seemed like the creature was controlling these vines remotely from the trees. Araziel again jumped to dodge a couple of diving vines and was about to land at a trap. A pair of live vines were waiting for her at the bottom but she was able to avoid the trap at the last moment by adjusting her wings. The vines were not just diving at them mindlessly. It was also trying to anticipate her moves. She realized that the more they prolong this chase, the creature would have better chances of catching them. Besides, it was tiring enough to maintain her current speed and agility without taking a break. "We have to leave now," she thought.
"Heylel!" Araziel shouted. "The giant is able to predict our movements. We have to leave now! We can elude these vines by running on the ground."
"That's not a bad idea." Heylel thought. "We can outmaneuver the vines by sprinting through the trees and sprinting with arcana is less tiring than flying. We'll go further."
He was about to translocate when another thing caught his mind. "The giant is able to predict our movements? A creature capable of critical thinking." Heylel then took his moment to assess their situation.
There are a lot of creatures capable of hunting other creatures by laying traps but predicting the movements of a higher being like them, an Iauntaur, was an unbelievable feat. He remembered the sensation he had earlier, the giant seemed to be expecting him to touch the ground.
"This is definitely not an ordinary creature," he thought. "This ancient being must have acquired knowledge and wisdom through its entire existence. But is it capable of speaking? Perhaps it is worth a try. Besides, it's not killing me. I am already covered in its vines but it is not crushing me enough to hurt me."
Heylel was about to translocate again to Araziel with the intent of convincing her to stay when he remembered Gabriel's words, "... be careful. If your guess is right, a creature that big can easily harm both of you." He couldn't risk their safety just because he wanted to interact with the giant and alleviate his boredom. With that in mind, Heylel looked at Araziel to confirm her location then finally translocated beside her. He arrived in mid-air while Araziel was rapidly shooting the vines in several directions.
"So what's the plan?" he asked, then shortly cast a spherical shield around them. The vines lunged at it then bounced back, giving the shield minor cracks.
"Let's get some distance from the vines first. Plunge ourselves to the ground then run."
By the moment Araziel finished talking, the vines were starting to envelop the entire shield. But they already knew what to do. She pointed her bow to the ground and started to charge huge amounts of arcana to her arrow. Heylel slightly raised his body from the bottom part of the shield for he knew what was going to happen.
"Ready?" Araziel asked. She looked at Heylel who gave her a slight nod then all of a sudden, a burst of viridescent and amber ray flashed through her bow towards the ground crumbling away anything in its path and creating a fissure below them. As soon as the ray faded, both of them plunged towards the fissure by exerting arcana from their ethereal wings. They landed like a small meteor crashing on the ground but they weren't hurt because of the arcane enhancement on their body. Araziel quickly turned in the direction away from the giant and prepared to sprint by charging her feet with more arcana when suddenly Heylel grabbed her arm. She glanced back at him gazing into the sky. She recognized the mirror-like figure hovering above them.
"Of course he'll come," she said, "and looks like he brought someone else."