Chapter 41: Who is this girl?
Kazuka's eyes now were heavy as if wearing a thousand Veyls. His body needed a rest. But his will did not want that.
"Damn... damn it... I need to stand up..."
Kazuka's eyes were slowly closing. His body was very tired after unleashing that strike.
His voice grew small with exhaustion:
"Quickly... stand up. I... I need to get to... Takeshi's place."
Just after finishing the sentence, his eyes closed slowly and he fell into a slumber.
On Airi's side, she was blown very far and was standing up with difficulty. Her face was scowling, teeth gritted in self-reproach.
"Damn it, I was too hasty. Those two met danger because of it."
Airi looked around. The only things in her vision currently were trees and bushes. Raising her head to observe, there was only a bit of light from the sun outside, but that was enough to know it was still daytime.
Though it was sunny outside, the thick canopy almost entirely blocked it, making it quite dark inside. It could be said it was only slightly brighter than a night with a full moon.
"It seems only in that black land with those phantom trees does the sky change. That place must be cursed."
"Now how do I find those two? Getting lost in the forest like this is not good at all."
"Deep in the forest like this, I don't even know how to distinguish directions anymore."
Airi began moving. She summoned a sword of bright blood-red. She used it to slash the vines and bushes blocking her path.
She walked while swinging her sword at vines, her face showing clear irritation with this dense place.
After walking a distance, before Airi was a large tree trunk. An arrow was stuck in the trunk. Airi stepped forward, her gaze carrying suspicion.
"An arrow?"
Airi took the old and crude arrow, gripped it tight, and yanked it hard from the trunk. This was quite an ordinary arrow with no special points, but it looked quite old as if it had been pinned in this trunk for a very long time.
Airi's scrutinizing gaze scanned the arrow once.
"It looks quite old, doesn't it? It must have been here a long time."
Airi paused for a beat as if realizing something. Her eyes widened, looking at the arrow.
The image of Kazuka catching the arrow outside flashed back.
"This arrow is just like the one from earlier. It's an arrow from the same person. And that person is still in this forest."
Airi glanced around alertly.
"Who exactly is living in this forest? And what is the meaning of firing arrows at us?"
"Could this person have special abilities, controlling trees? Is it the extremely rare wood element?"
"It's also possible the root that just attacked me was controlled by this person."
"This person lives in here. So maybe they want to drive us away?"
Airi stepped deeper into the forest. She was still immersed in her thoughts.
"Could be a local living here, wanting to drive us away. But we're lost. How can I think of a way out? There are still my two friends."
"Right I'm not even sure if I'm going deeper in or heading out."
"Whatever, just keep going. Better than sitting in one place."
Airi continued walking. She swung the blade, cutting several vines ahead blocking her. Her left hand still held the arrow.
Her mood was a bit worried.
"I hope those people are okay. Earlier Takeshi was hit; he must be quite badly injured. Unless it was a vital strike, he should be safe. As for Kazuka, surely he can take care of himself."
Airi raised her head to look at the sky again. Through the large leaves, she saw only a bit of the sky's blue.
Her face was a bit irritated. Her eyes had been squinting to see clearly in the dark.
"This damn forest is too overgrown. Can't even see the sky. If I could see and notice the sun's direction, I'd know the way out. This forest is too dark."
"Inside here it's like it's night. At night it must be as dark as when eyes are closed."
Airi glanced around alertly, with a small prayer that no creature would appear and attack.
"Maybe I should find a place to rest first? What if some phantom creatures appear in this forest and attack me while my senses are down? That wouldn't be good."
"This is a forest. I should find a nice tree, right? I still want to find a cave, but a tall tree works too."
"I hope those people will be safe."
Scene shift to Takeshi's place. He was hanging on some vines, his body constantly coating itself in energy to heal.
Takeshi gritted his teeth against the pain, wincing.
"Damn it, two ribs are broken. It hurts so much. Healing internal parts takes too long."
"I need to use energy and control those broken pieces to reconnect, then I can recover."
"Recovering randomly with misaligned bones wouldn't be good at all."
After a while of healing, Takeshi opened his eyes and jumped down, landing on the ground.
He used his hand to touch his right ribs to check.
"Though healed, the feeling of pain remains."
Takeshi turned, looking around the dark and dense forest.
"This forest is too overgrown. Fortunately, the bushes and vines caught me. Otherwise, I'd be more seriously injured."
He propped his hands on his hips and glanced with some worry.
"I wonder where everyone is?"
Takeshi looked around as if searching for his two friends. But in his vision were only large trees and dense canopies with large, deep green leaves.
He scratched his head in confusion, not knowing what was reasonable to do.
"It seems I'm lost. Looks like this will be quite difficult. How do I find them now? I don't know the way out either."
"Fighting didn't use much energy, but healing just now consumed a lot. Probably nearly one part of energy gone."
"My energy gate is also quite small. If it were super large like Kazuka's, it'd be easier to absorb and use."
Takeshi knelt on the ground, pressed his ear down, and listened.
"Must try to see where they are."
He closed his eyes in concentration. After a while, Takeshi stood up, his face disappointed. He brushed the dust off his knees.
"Sigh, can't hear anything. Must be too far. Was that root a monster? The striking force was truly strong, to be flung this far?"
He looked up. A protruding branch caught his eye. He stood still for a moment observing with hesitation.
"Try climbing up to see if there's anything?"
Takeshi channeled energy into his feet. Both legs crouched like two large springs, then he leaped onto a high branch.
Standing on the branch observing, but in his vision were only leaves.
While busy observing on the branch, a large snake was crawling toward him from behind.
Takeshi knit his brows. He sensed something behind and turned. He was startled and shouted:
"Aaaa!"
The snake opened its mouth wide and attacked him. But he quickly leaped to another branch and dodged.
He turned with a furious face and cursed the snake:
"You damn snake, you dare sneak attack me? If I, Takeshi, meet you again, I'll show you."
—"Damn it, lost focus too much. Kept observing without sensing the surroundings."
Takeshi glanced at a branch opposite. Without hesitation, he leaped away.
Ahead were vines and branches. He continuously jumped and swung, grabbing vines and branches. He was like a monkey jumping from place to place and enjoying nature.
He grabbed a vine and swung far. His face showed clear excitement.
"Ya hu!"
While jumping across high branches, Takeshi cast his eyes down. Bushes and clear ground had become something rare.
His eyes darted continuously like an eagle searching for prey from above. Then his eyes stopped at a large tree trunk. Behind a base was the silhouette of someone, only revealing one arm. But that was enough for him to recognize it was a person.
He landed on a branch to observe. Because if he swung vines while observing, he'd lose focus and could fall. His face showed clear tension and suspicion, his gaze pinned to that tree.
—"There's a person?"
—"Is it the one who attacked Kazuka earlier? So this person really lives in here. But what are they doing here?"
He swallowed a gulp of saliva. He was bit worried, not knowing what this person's intent was? And why they attacked Kazuka. His gaze was glued to the small shoulder of this person poking out.
—"Is this guy stalking? Is he hiding behind the tree to dodge me? Does he have a motive?"
Currently, he was quite far from this person and could almost not sense their energy.
Takeshi glanced at the branch opposite. He wanted to go there to observe more easily. His current angle from the branch he stood on was quite limited; he needed to change positions to see who this person was. He decisively jumped to another branch to change the angle. But unexpectedly, the person immediately ran and ducked into a bush just one step away.
"He's moving!"
Takeshi jumped down, grabbed a vine, and slid down to the ground. As soon as he landed, he ran to where the person had stood. No one was there. He ran to the bush and pushed through. This side was less dense than the other. He glanced around, but had lost the person's trail.
"Huh? Lost the trail. Who was that?"
Takeshi recalled the scene as the person ran off. It looked like a girl with long, pale purple hair. Hand holding a bow. Clothes were quite simple with green combined with white.
"What exactly is this person plotting? Why stand hiding there? Stalking me?"
"I don't know her and have no grudge."
Takeshi returned to a state of uncertainty. He didn't know what to do and considered the danger of this forest. He began walking straight forward.
"This person lives here? If so, they must have a house. Should I try to find it? Just go straight. Maybe it really exists. I can confront this stranger."
"This forest is too dark, hard to observe. If I had discovered her earlier, maybe I would have confronted that girl."
"I only fear she has traps. Otherwise, I'm not very afraid. I'm quite strong now. Not sensing her energy earlier is hard to say, but looking at how she shot Kazuka with an arrow, she might not know how to use energy. If that's true, it'll be easy. If not, I'll just fight. I've trained with Airi using a whole rain of swords; at most she can fire five arrows."
Takeshi began running straight ahead. This area had fewer bushes, so Takeshi moved quite easily. There were only bushes about half a tharn high and trees with quite thin canopies.
He ran very fast. After a while of seeing nothing but large trunks and leaves, he was a bit discouraged.
"Why is there nothing? Maybe not this direction. Or maybe it's even further."
"This forest is huge. If it's too far, I might give up. Go a bit further. If there's nothing, I'll try to head back to the old path and find the other two. Going deeper inside like this will lead to getting lost sooner or later, and there's no food."
"Surely those two are searching for me. Go a little more."
While running, before Takeshi's eyes appeared stone pillars and ruins. He stopped and stepped closer to observe.
"What place is this?"
Amidst the green forest appeared pillars of white, turned yellow with time. They were quite large, about the size of a tree trunk, scattered everywhere, piled over each other and shattered like a handful of sand. Signs of something very ancient. Beneath his feet was a white brick floor with bricks only slightly larger than a human hand. In the center was a low stone pedestal (0.6 tharn). Atop the low pedestal was a black hand with coarse, scaly skin. The fingernails were pitch black like ink, long and sharp—just imagining them stabbing skin could make one feel pain and fear. The hand was placed on thin white crossbars supporting it. Looking from Takeshi's side to the hand, one could even clearly see the cut severing the hand, as if it were cut from someone's wrist, with white bone still visible.
Takeshi knit his brows. He stepped carefully and softly closer, trying not to make any large movement.
He knew this place might hold something dangerous and needed to be as cautious as possible.
"What the hell? Why is there a hand here? Looks like a summoning altar."
Around Takeshi now, a chilling sensation spread—gloomy, forcing one instinctively into a state of alert. No one knew what would happen.
A light breeze blew, making leaves sway gently, and drifted toward him. Takeshi knit his brows at the light cold touching his body; every hair on his arms stood up.
A place surrounded by leaves, where sunlight couldn't even pierce through, yet there was a breeze. This was too illogical.
"What the hell? Why do I feel so gloomy since stepping in here?"
"A chilling sensation. Did I do something, or is someone there?"
He entered a state of alert and looked around. Energy began to leak out for defense, protecting his body.
Now, several large trees began to show strange phenomena. They vibrated in pulses. Trees with massive trunks grew around this place strangely. While outside, trees were large, they were only half the size of the trees growing around this summoning-like altar.
Takeshi stared blankly. He glanced around. His footsteps continuously pivoted and changed positions to meet his need to turn. And those footsteps were also gradually retreating, backing away from these white ruins.
—"What... what's happening? Why are the trees vibrating? Ghosts? Surely someone is behind this. Trees with trunks this large cannot vibrate as violently as they are now."
He suddenly felt something wrong in his body, a sense of loss. He looked down to observe. His energy was flowing in a line, as if being sucked away and directed forward. His eyes moved with the flow of his energy; it was being absorbed by the hand on the large stone block.
Looking closer, that was his energy.
He panicked and backed up. The ground vibrated lightly. Tree roots pierced the ground and stabbed upward like sprouts sown from seeds, but these were strange. Before his eyes were rows of tree roots hovering and undulating like giant pythons.
Suddenly, a fairly large root rushed at him like a sharp tip wanting to stab him.
He was terrified. He gritted his teeth, raised his right hand to take aim, and swung a punch overflowing with energy into it. The root bounced back. That strike was like an opening move; now rows of roots attacked him from all sides. Some roots rushed straight, but others lifted higher and lashed down.
Takeshi was quick-witted. He created two types of energy—turbulent and normal—and let them clash.
Takeshi gritted his teeth, pouring energy outward. It surrounded and radiated everywhere, then his entire body glowed intensely.
Boom!!!
A horrific explosion made dust fly everywhere. The ground caved in a large section. Along with it, stone pillars and bricks were blown up and shattered.
Takeshi took the opportunity and jumped out of the thick black smoke, running away. He didn't look back and ran straight ahead.
The roots and several trees near the explosion had all blown apart. A large tree was slowly falling, its base blown out by Takeshi's explosion.
Thud!!!
The white stone pillars were also blown up, shattered into pieces; the scene was extremely chaotic. Yet the hand had not been destroyed, only buried in the ruins.
Takeshi ran, teeth gritted. He turned his head to observe. His expression had not yet escaped the panic.
"What the hell? This place is too bizarre. All these incomprehensible phenomena. Too creepy."
Though he only saw the thick dust cloud, the fact that nothing rushed out calmed Takeshi's spirit a bit.
But the tree roots were restored as if nothing had happened, intact without a scratch. They immediately rushed off, piercing through the thick smoke toward the panicking, running Takeshi.
Takeshi turned back to see the mass of roots had emerged from the smoke, as many as a swarm of pythons hovering and slithering in the air. He gritted his teeth, channeled more energy to his legs, and accelerated.
Whoosh!!!!
Suddenly, an arrow flew. It was surrounded by blue energy, launching extremely fast as if to shred the air. The arrow zipped past Takeshi's head.
It was fired toward the roots trying to close in on Takeshi.
Boom!!!!
On impact, the arrow immediately exploded, blowing away the roots. Takeshi was bewildered and looked around.
"Who's that? That arrow just now..."
A silhouette from afar shouted toward him.
"This way!"
He looked toward it, but was still suspicious.
"It's the girl from earlier. Does she want to help me? Is she a good person? Or has a motive? But she's helping me escape; temporarily, I'll trust her."
The girl ducked into a bush. Takeshi ran to it and also ducked in. Both pushed through to the other side of the bush and continued running. Far in his vision, the girl was still running, leading the way, her hair swaying with every step.
After a while of running, the girl stopped and turned. Takeshi ran close and stopped to observe.
—"Finally, I see this girl's face."
The girl was very young, seemingly the same age as Takeshi. With pale purple hair and eyes of amethyst purple—extremely eye-catching like glowing amethyst in the dark forest. White skin. Wearing a white shirt interspersed with green as if wanting to blend into the forest. Pale green pants, long and wide-legged, but short enough to avoid snagging on bushes while moving. Carrying simple brown shoes.
She frowned with a look of irritation at Takeshi. Her gaze carried the unwelcome look for a stranger trespassing in a forest that should not have been entered, despite the warning.
The two sides stood silently looking at each other. Both were very alert and observing the opponent.