Chương 55: Chapter 54: Chased Again to Freed’s Forest

We continued to run while Trisha closed in on us. She sometimes got close to us before backing off again. It seemed she was intentionally trying to scare us by playing around. The sheer confidence Trisha gave off was more than enough to tell me that she could catch up to us at any time, but chose not to do so. Since she wanted to play, I let her, as my only goal was to make it back to Freed's forest.

I didn't know if the forest could protect us anymore now that Trisha was level 10000, but it was the only choice I had. This made me wonder if this was what Trisha was up to while I waited for her to come for the past hundred years. She must have found a way to level up and had been working on getting stronger rather than chasing us. If this was the case, it made sense why she never came after us after over a hundred years had passed.

Leveling up was far more important, as she was now strong enough to kill us easily. I also wondered just what happened that allowed her to level up, as it couldn't be such a coincidence that she just so happened to level up recently. Sure, she had probably tried for thousands of years, but it was just far too sudden. No matter what I tried to think up, nothing sounded right. I just couldn't fathom what it would take to level up again to level 10000.

While I was thinking, I was still actively running away from Trisha, as she was still not being serious. As we got closer, though, she started putting more pressure on us. Now that we were getting closer, Trisha started sending out her spears of light. They were far more condensed and faster than when she was still at level 9999. Every casual creation of a spear of light was now as strong as the one that almost killed me back when I escaped into the forest.

The only upside was that I had gotten stronger too, as I barely managed to avoid any fatal hits from the spears of light. I did occasionally get grazed, but I managed to keep myself from sustaining any lasting injuries. After more running and the unending pursuit of Trisha, we were finally getting close, as the forest was in sight again. This reminded me of what happened back then when I had to escape from Trisha. I was annoyed that such a thing had happened again despite me becoming so much stronger.

Back then, having to escape made sense, but now that I was a level 9999, I still had to escape. I couldn't understand why, no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't become stronger than Trisha. Perhaps if I became stronger again, she would do the same. With my thoughts clouding my judgment, I made a mistake and suffered a heavy injury on my back as I was hit by a spear of light. The pain of having some of my flesh sliced off brought me awake from my thoughts.

My back was now heavily bleeding as my skin was completely torn off. The pain was almost unbearable, but the thought of death kept me moving. Trisha, who was still chasing us, was having the time of her life when she saw that I was now heavily injured. She started laughing hysterically, as her joy had reached an all-time high. Wanting to see my pain again, Trisha started becoming even more serious with her attacks, as the spears of light started to multiply and increase in speed. You might be reading a stolen copy.

Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. I didn't know how much more power Trisha was holding back, but the situation was already dire as it was. I started really regretting traveling so far away from the forest, as it had taken me far too long to travel back. Unable to dwell on my regret for very long, Trisha's attacks started to land more frequently as more of my flesh was ripped off and the pain increased.

Every new injury increased my motivation to survive, as I pulled out more energy that I didn't even know I had. Most of the attacks went on me, as I protected Selen from as many injuries as possible. If any of these spears of light landed on her full force, she would die, compared to me, who only suffered heavy injuries. Still, my efforts were limited, as Selen also had several cuts throughout her body. The spears of light were far too many to stop them all.

Some spears of light would get past me and cut Selen occasionally. Things got worse, though, with every step we got closer to Freed's forest, as Trisha continued to increase the difficulty of our escape. More spears of light would appear every second, and so did their speed. I was barely holding on, but it just kept getting worse. I was extremely worried about whether we could even survive anymore, as the power gap was far too large between me and Trisha.

My efforts, though, did not go to waste, as our safe haven was finally less than a hundred meters in front of us. The forest never looked so beautiful in my eyes as it did right at this moment. I always hated being in the forest, as it was so boring, but at this point it didn't matter, as it had always saved my life. This time, once I went in, I probably wouldn't be coming out for a long time. As I continued the last stretch of distance, Trisha began to have a serious face, as she decided to no longer play around.

The spears of light started to become bigger, and the number of them multiplied. Trisha was now going for the kill shot, and I knew I couldn't block even one of them. The sheer power they now gave off was completely different from what they were previously. The spears of light from before were practically a joke compared to now. With my motivation sinking, I had to force myself to ignore everything else and look only at my one goal, which was the forest.

Once the forest was only a little more than ten meters away, I threw Selen inside again right before all the spears of light were shot at us. I knew we wouldn't make it in time, and wanted to at least save Selen. In the next moment, all the unending spears of light hit my back, which caused extreme pain on my already heavily injured body. For some reason, though, they were all aimed at non-vital parts of my body. It seemed Trisha still wasn't done tormenting me yet and still wanted me to live.

Knowing her intentions, I made a drastic move and jumped off the ground. This caused all the spears of light that hit my back to launch me forward. I did this to push myself into the forest, as these spears weren't going to kill me. My guess was right, as I was finally pushed inside the forest and into safety. My body was riddled with holes as the spears of light disappeared from my body after entering the forest. I was a mess, as every inch of my body had some kind of injury.

Even the most minor injuries were chunks of flesh being ripped off. Me being alive currently was a miracle, as I could no longer stand up. With my body in such bad shape, my eyes started to close as I passed out with my adrenaline gone from escaping danger. In my last few moments of being awake, I saw Selen nearby looking fine but worried. In the distance, though, I heard loud banging as Trisha was trying to enter the forest.

I had barely made it in with the help of her spears of light, so I could only imagine how angry she was.

"How dare you trick me!" Trisha yelled while furiously continuing her loud attacks. That was the last thing that I could hear as my eyes were fully shut and my world turned completely dark. I was now completely separated from the outside world. I no longer cared about what happened around me, as I was simply far too tired to do so. I left whatever happened up to fate, as I was in no condition to do anything.

With that being the last thought on my mind, it was also extinguished while I fell into a black abyss of unconsciousness. I didn't know how long I was passed out for, but once I slowly regained awareness, my eyes started to twitch as I tried to open them. It seemed I was still alive despite everything that happened. Trying to look around, I saw the typical forest, but nobody was around. Wondering what had happened since I became unconscious, I tried to move, but something was preventing me from doing so.

As I looked down, I was completely encased in bandages, which stopped me from moving anywhere. The bandages were so thick they might as well have been a body cast. Wondering what had happened, I tried to look around for some clues.