Srrrr Srrrr Srrrr
'Tsk. Why are they so persistent?' Eden thought as he ran past huge trees and bushes while the three humans followed him while occasionally throwing the same golden rope towards him.
Fortunately, there was a huge gap between them, as his previous plan of making them go blind for some moments worked out.
[Wooden spear]
The helmet wearing captain extended his hand as a wooden spear conjured up on his hand.
Whoosh
He carefully aimed and launched it towards Eden.
'Shit shit shit.'
Eden cursed in panic as he hastily hid behind a big tree.
The helmet wearing captain sneered as he looked at what Eden had done.
BOOM
The spear pierced through the bark, leaving a gaping hole as it hit Eden on his shoulder?
'Agh. That fucking hurts.' Eden thought as some energy disintegrated.
'Shit. At this rate, I'm going to die.' Eden thought as he heard the footsteps becoming louder and quickly ran while looking at his surroundings for something that could save him.
It was nighttime, so it was hard to see, but his glowing body helped him see around his surroundings.
Unfortunately, this was also the reason why the three humans located him so easily.
In this dark place, it was hard to miss something glowing.
…
"Damn, that monster is fast."
The helmet wearing captain muttered as the two humans beside him nodded their heads in agreement.
"According to those two, that monster was strong, but it looks like it was them that were weak." The one on his left said as he looked behind them.
"Where are they?" He asked as the other two also looked behind them to see that no one was following them.
"Leave them. They must be in the cave." The helmet wearing captain said this as he looked at the monster running in front of them.
"You go left, and you go right. Catch it before it can react." he said as the other two followed it and changed their course.
…
'What should I do? Isn't there something helpful? Eden thought as he looked around, but all he could see were trees and bushes.
Whoosh
Just as he was running while thinking of what to do, two figures suddenly appeared in front of him as they swung their palms towards him.
'Shit.' Eden thought as he quickly backed down.
[Formation one: Two hands seal]
The two figures quickly mouthed some words as a small circular reflective barrier formed around him.
'Annoying.' Eden thought that something Aiden had done recently suddenly appeared on his mind. Without wasting any time, he quickly put his hands on the reflective barrier as he closed his eyes.
'Don't panic. Remember the feeling you felt when Aiden did that' Eden thought as he calmed himself.
Srrrrr Crack Crack
The circular reflective barrier glowed a bit as small cracks started forming around it.
'Its working.'
The two figures' faces darkened when they realized what the monster was doing.
[Sealing gourd]
Suddenly, a big mouth with fangs appeared above the reflective barrier. Eden was filled with fear when he looked at the mouth that had what seemed like endless darkness inside.
'I'm gonn-'
Whoosh
In the next moment, the reflective barrier with Eden inside it disappeared as they were completely swallowed by the mouth.
The surroundings that were lightened by Eden darkened, as the only source of light in the forest was now the moon.
The huge mouth remained still for a moment until it started to move. In the next moment, the mouth started to shrink gradually until it turned into a purple gourd bottle.
"Shit. To think I had to use this artifact against it; it better sell for a hefty amount of gold." The captain appeared from the dark as he picked up the gourd bottle from the ground.
"Captain."
The two humans walked towards their captain as they looked around.
"We seem to have come a long way." One of them said this as the captain looked around.
"Shit. This is the red zone. Quickly retreat." Captain said as he realized how he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings.
Whoosh
A breeze of cold wind suddenly blew past the humans as they tried to go back the way they had returned.
KeKe
"Are you planning on returning?"
A voice suddenly called out to them from behind as the three humans raised their guards and looked in the direction where they heard the voice.
"Show yourself." The captain said this as he and the other two looked around, but they couldn't see anyone.
"I'm up here." The voice spoke as the humans raised their heads and looked at what it was.
A small brown fox with a hint of white at the end of its tail was sitting on a branch of the tree as the moon behind it shone.
Looking at the fox, the three humans shivered in fear, as they didn't dare act rashly.
It had the white mark at the end of its tail.
The three humans knew the meaning behind the white mark: it was one of the servants of the ruler of this forest.
An intelligent monster that served directly under the ruler.
The brown fox snickered as it looked at the human's reaction.
"You humans really know how to break rules." The fox said as it looked at the humans, trying very hard to stop themselves from trembling.
"We didn't realize we had entered here." The captain said this as he tried to keep his composure.
"Think about the treaty your city signed with us." The brown fox ignored the captain's words and said the things it wanted to say.
"…Forgive us for that. It wasn't of any bad will." The captain said this as he swiftly hid the artifact.
"Capturing one of us and thinking about selling it... sounds like there were plenty of bad wills." The brown fox jumped down from the branch and landed on the ground.
"Initially, it was in the green zone, so we haven't broken any rules." The captain said as he stared eye to eye with the fox.
"Oh? Then where do you think we are currently?" The fox said as it smirked.
The three humans felt a cold sweat running down their backs as the captain took a deep breath.
"Looks like we have no choice." The captain said this as the other two humans beside him became grim.
The captain moved his hands to his back as he touched a book that was tied to his belt.
"You really want to test your luck?" The fox said this as the captain instantly bent down and touched the ground with his hand.
[Ground magic: Tremor]
Vrrrrrrr
The ground suddenly violently shook as the two humans beside the captain disappeared.
The fox remained idle as the tremor increased some more until huge cracks formed on the ground.
The fox tilted its head as if taunting the captain.
The captain didn't miss that as he bit his lips in anger.
"NOW."
Whoosh Whoosh
He shouted as two daggers suddenly felw towards the fox.
The fox still didn't move as the daggers were about to just hit it, but they suddenly stopped mid air.
[Formation two: Shroud]
The daggers broke down as a dark cloud formed from both of them and surrounded the fox.
Just as this was happening, the captain quickly ran away, trying to at least make it to the green zone.
For a moment, the dark cloud kept surrounding the fox, as it looked like their attack was done and even the two other humans had also made a run.
The fox waited still to see if they would attack, but it sighed when it realized that all of them had run away.
"That's it?"
The fox said this as the surrounding area started to crack.
Crack crack
shatter
Like a glass, the surroundings shattered.
"Huh?"
The captain, who thought he had nearly reached the green zone, voiced his confusion as he suddenly found himself in front of the fox in the exact position from before.
Looking left and right, his members were also there, standing in confusion.
"Do you want to try it again?"
The fox asked.
It was no longer surrounded by the dark cloud, as it was sitting on the ground just as leisurely as before.
"…"
The captain looked at the fox in silence as he felt a sense of horror from its snicker.
"I-if we return what we captured, will you let us go?" He asked as he tried to consult for his life.
"Obviously not. You came here and violated one of our people. Are we supposed to just let it slide?" The fox said it as the captain had anticipated it.
"Then we can only fight." He said this as he took out the book that was tied to his back.
"Do entertain me." The fox spoke as it wagged its tail.
The two members beside the captain took out their shield and sword as they positioned themselves to fight.
The only thing awaiting them was their death.
All they could do right now was fight for the hope of survival.