Max starts to run as they leave the mist without saying anything, Claude looks at the direction Max is running at as it's the opposite of where they came from and running in this direction would get them nowhere in this wilderness.
"Max…Max this isn't the right direction, where we came from. We will get lost the further we go in that direction."
"We have to get to the settlement before they reach us and call the adventurers for help." Claude said with a worried expression on his face and he still didn't mention about Brian 's death yet to Max.
'Should I tell Max about Brian death or wait for the right time when we get as far away as possible from the bandit?' Claude's face becomes sad and emotional thinking about Brian death and his eyes become watery.
Max kept running for a while and when he looked behind him, he saw Claude far behind him gasping for air as he seemed to out the air as this wasn't something his body was able to handle. Running on the snow isn't his thing but they don't have any choice right now.
If it was someone else Max might have abandoned him a long time ago but this is Claude, he can't just let this kid die here or else Grandma Marry would kill him. Max ran back to Claude and looked at his face.
Claude's head is full of sweat as if he ran a long marathon and gasping for air as if this is his last breath, Claude holding his stomach like he couldn't take this pain anymore after running for 10 minutes at full speed in snow.
'I can't imagine how this kid survived by himself in this forest, when we first met him or how he grew up with this weak body that couldn't even handle the pain of running in snow.' Max thought inside his mind with a visible expression of irritation on his face.
"Claude climbed on my back, we can't waste more time like this." Max said with clear irritation in his voice.
"You want to give me a piggy back?" Claude asks with a bit of embarrassment in his voice as a teenager getting piggyback by others feels weird as he's not a child anymore but he can also understand that he can't run faster and he is really tired after running all day.
Claude can feel his legs muscle screaming in pain after a few more minutes of running he might collapse from lack of strength and stamina and the undeniable fact is that he is holding back Max here, without him Max would have run faster or come up with better but now he is here. Max has to make plans for his survival too.
"I'm sorry, I know that I'm holding you back Max. You can leave me behind here that way you will be able to reach a settlement quickly and bring help to get rid of these bandits." Claude said with a heavy voice and tears swelling in his eyes and falling slowly like melted snow in sun heat but here there is no snow.
All one can see is the white gloomy clouds full of sadness and despair that let misery of snow falls on to the lives of people living on this planet.
SLAP!!!
Loud and clear sound of slap resounded through the forest as red hand print became clear on Claude face with eyes full of tears Claude looked at the eyes of man in-front of him who just slapped him now. The man's eyes are full of anger in them. It isn't directed towards those bandits or the beast or this cursed world but for him.
Max didn't try to hide his anger towards Claude, his eyes were wide open in anger looking at the young boy in-front of him. He isn't angry about the young boy being a liability and dragging him down while he can escape faster by himself. He is angry at the fact that even after him doing everything to secure his life and not letting him die out here in nowhere.
The boy wished to be left behind and die out here by hands of bandits or the beast.
"Don't you ever say that to me or anyone else, everything I'm doing right now is for you."
"You think, you are the only one who's life is the worst, we don't feel sadness and pain as you do."
"You think; I don't understand why you are behaving like this. Why are you feeling this overwhelming sorrow and pain?"
"Claude, I'm also sad about Brian death. I wish I can do anything to bring him back, I'm even willing to trade my life for him to be back with us but there's no way one can bring back the dead."
"I know this better than anyone boy, Brian was like my brother to me but I know if he was still alive he would have done the same to protect you."
"So, there's no-way in hell. I'm going to let you die as long as I'm alive." Max said everything loudly in anger. So, his words will always stay with Claude and he won't ever forget that.
Claude silently climbs on Max's back and Max holds Claude both legs tightly and starts running. Each passing tree disappears from his vision as further they go leaving behind the trail of footsteps.
"Don't worry, we will surely find our way back to the settlement." Max said with a gentle tone.
"Max… How did you know that Brian isn't with us anymore?" Claude asked with a sad and soft voice.
"We will talk about this later Claude, let's focus on the main issues." Max cut Claude to talk anything about Brian as it might make them distracted and they ended up making mistakes.
It's almost been one hour since they were running without taking any break, Max finally stopped running and put down Claude on snow. Just as Claude lands on snow Max lies down on snow and starts to breathe rapidly gasping for air. As running for hours isn't the small matter for mage, Max looks completely exhausted and out of stamina.
Max closed his eyes for few minutes without saying anything and as time passes he breathing become normal and max sat down on snow in meditating position at first Claude guard their surrounding caution but after walking around and checking the surrounding he didn't felt any danger and he also sat down in meditating position to recover his mana.
Time passes quickly without their knowing as two hours went by and a thunder strike resound in the air, hearing thunder strike noise Claude and Max open their eyes. They saw yellow lightning was heading straight towards their direction and hit the cliff not far from their position up ahead. Destroying the cliff single strike that's the power of nature.
Huge boulders fall down from the cliff. Those boulders look scary as whoever gets hit by them won't make it alive but it wasn't the end. They look at the sky but it's just white there's no dark cloud lightning would continue to strike.
After hitting the cliff one time, lightning has died down and Claude couldn't come up with a better explanation for this but Max's expression became serious.
"Claude stands behind me now and stays alert." Max said with a serious tone as he looked at the top of the cliff, where a lightning strike happened.
Last two hours went by smoothly without any disturbance but now they can't tell the same thing after a big noise of lightning strike sure is going to attract unwanted attention but Max seems to be concerned and alert about something else.
Soon enough both of them got the answer to their questions in their mind. Claude was curious about what possibly can make Max act light this, while for Max what beast or behemoth they might have encountered right now.
At the cliff edge stood the majestic creature with yellow glowing antlers with yellow lightning. Max got speechless for a moment as he stared at the lightning antler.
"That's a buck, one special variant within the deer species."
"The lightning snow buck." Max with a bit of fear and awe in his voice.
"That's a bit of a weird way to name someone." Claude said with confusion while his eyes are mesmerized by the majestic antler and fur of this buck.
As they stared at the buck, the buck also finally felt their presence here return the gaze with intense coldness in his eyes. Max and Claude felt like cold shivers run through their spine as lightning snow buck looked at them from top of the cliff.
As second goes by the pressure they felt on them seems to become heavier, this is what like when someone faces a creature with higher bloodline power but that wasn't the end as Max the eyes of snow birth lightning is turning colder and colder as if its considers them as its arch enemies.
Suddenly realisation struck Max that the buck on top of the cliff is none other than the one snow deer they were hunting before until a bandit came and they had to run. The presence of lightning snow buck implies one thing that remaining bandits didn't stand a chance against the evolved buck.
Max's mind raced, instincts battling strategy. This isn't the same creature we were chasing before… it's stronger, faster… evolved. The thought sent a ripple of dread through him but he pushed it down.
'No time for fear. Think.' Max's eyes become serious as he looks at the lightning snow buck.
Now, it's their turn to face evolved snow deer wraith as it is no longer once weak and desperate to run for its life but lightning snow buck.