Chương 412: Chapter 385. Forests Are Creepy At Night

John Ericsson's Point Of View / Whoosh! /" Come on! You can Summon me now, Kid!"" No, I just left the city limits, I need to get to the other side of this forest, I don't want you to hurt yourself flying blind in a forest at night! These trees are taller than some of the buildings from that city! I just need to make it out of here, once I do, no one should be able to see us take off. Just give it some more time, Hank, we're almost free."

It's taken 3 hours, but I've finally entered the forest in the Southwest of the city I've been escaping. Now with the information I have, I can say that this city is about the same size as Blackstone... No, maybe slightly larger... Surely, it's bigger in a vertical sense. Unlike Blackstone or the architecture in Diablos, which is more like the Middle Ages. Lots of stone and wood, without much fuss to look good as long as it functioned, the only outliers being the places Noblemen would spend their time.

My mansion back in Paradise for instance, looks as if it could've been built sometime in the 18th or 19th century... Minus all of the weird accents to the house to show off that the Noble who built it was richer than the original inhabitants like the Flameskin and Iceskin Families. It's almost like they wanted the original inhabitants to start a rebellion or something?

Regardless, unlike Diablos and their building philosophy of doing what's effective, Alfheim seems to take after trees, since the glowing buildings in the city remind me of skyscrapers from my world, along with that, like branches on a tree, whole floors shoot out of the vertical buildings and then there were more branches. I guess the rooms would be the leaves on the branches in this analogy? But I have no clue what those leaves are...

Really, I've no idea what's on those floors at all, but it looks like it works for the Elves. I guess it's fine if that's the case? All I really can think about when I looked at the people in those buildings were how much I wanted to get back to Paradise and see everyone... Sarah... Anna... Emily... Ruby... Charlotte... Fall!

"!" / BANG! / pain..." Ow!" I lost my balance and fell..." Dammit!" It's all cause of what Ryan said before... As soon as I thought about Charlotte's face, I flashed back to what he said! What does he know!? He can't just expect to know everything about the people in my life just from seeing my memories! No... I shouldn't be thinking like this about him... He's passed now, I need to let go. I'll just put it in the back of my mind... It'll be fine."

I'd hate to interrupt as you're trying to calm yourself down, but you're an escaped P. O. W in a foreign country. You need to get a move on."" You're right... You're right... I can tell you all think the same as well... Sorry... It's just a lot." Gil reminded me about what was important. I started to move forward again. I mean, who cares about what's going through my head at the moment, it'll all leave my thoughts as soon as I finally make it back anyways. I just need to keep moving.

I stand back up and start to run at a decent pace... Well, I say decent, but I bet I'd break the Olympic Record for marathon running. No... Not just that, but for sprinting as well. I feel like I'm running as fast as cars go on a highway right now. I don't know though, it's not like I have a speedometer to track it. But I must be running something like 50 miles an hour. The trees are passing me by so quickly and I can react to it all... It's kind of amazing when I think about it.

It's even better for me since I've been locked in a cell for so long and when I was out of it, I was still in chains, I'm still not completely used to not hearing chains clinking as I take a step. It's so... The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation." Freeing!" I can feel the moonlight on me! I can feel the wind going through my hair and I can see the trees passing me by like I hit fast forward on a remote! This is great! Jump! / THUMP! BANG! WOOSH!

/ I can jump off of the ground step onto a tree and launch myself off of it and not lose my speed! I can jump off the ground and swing from a branch and barely lose speed! This is great!" John! Stop messing around before you hurt yourself!"" Relax, Lily. I'm just having a bit of fun! There's no way anyone can catch up to me now anyw-... WOAH!" / WOOSH! CRACK! BOOM!

/ Before I could finish my thoughts, an arrow came buzzing at me from my left side, if not for the fact I stopped in my tracks, it would've gone right through my neck. It shot right past me and then hit a low hanging branch of a tree then lodged itself into the ground... There... There's a small crater in the ground around where it landed. I haven't seen anyone do something like that besides Crest. / WOOSH! /"!" Shift! Another! From the right!? / BOOM! / I dodged it and started running to the Southwest again.

Obviously, someone's after me now. I just need to make it to out of the forest and then I can Summon Hank and place a giant Barrier behind us as we take off. Then I can use a Portal to take us above the clouds! There's no way they can make an arrow reach us from there. / WOOSH! / Another arrow!? From behind!? Who is this guy!? I keep running forward as I try to piece things together. / WOOSH! /" BARRIER!" Another arrow came from the front.

I quickly activated my Barrier Spell since I couldn't change direction and stopping wouldn't matter. / BOOM! CRACK! / My Barrier survived, but it did crack. That's good. It means I have another option besides dodging. But where is this guy? Where is he attacking from? The arrows are coming from all over the place. I need to figure wher- / WOOSH! /" FUCK!" I dodged this one... It came from behind me... No, slightly curved, it was to my left and leaning right as it shot past me. What is this? No!...

I can't worry about that... I need cover for now. A tree... Then I can use Gil's Earth Magic. I looked left and right, the closest tree was to my right. / WOOSH! /" Dammit!" The arrow came from in front of me again, I quickly moved to the tree." Earthen Wall!" I cast one of Gil's Spells that I can use. A thick giant wall formed around me as I took a breath for a moment." John, put your hand on that tree." Lily told me to put my hand on the tree. I listened. Drip.

A sound like a drop of water hitting a still pool of water entered my mind. I couldn't see the tree that I placed my hand on anymore. It was like I saw the forest as a blueprint in front of my eyes. Suddenly, I moved. Not me physically, but my mind. It branched out. I was like a sheet that someone stretched out from side to side. It all happened so fast, but eventually, after being pulled in every which way, I finally found my enemy. He's about 500 feet behind me... How the hell did he catch up with me that fast?

No... It doesn't matter. My next order of business was simple." Thank you, Lily."" Just don't play around with this one. You need to quickly defeat him and get back home, where it's safe."" I know. I'll make this as quick as I can!" / THUMP! / With that finished, I quickly made a hole in the wall and started running to where the guy that I saw was. I'm closing in! / WOOSH! / He shot an arrow! I dodged it easily." SCARLET! JULIA" I quickly equip Scarlet and Julia's Armor to myself." Julia!

Color the armor to match these trees and accent it with black highlights!"" On it, Little One!" I quickly had Julia camouflage me so I can hide in the forest better. Maybe too little too late, but if one guy could catch up with me, others could too. I didn't want to use Julia's Armor since it'll drain my stamina quicker. I mean running in armor is bound to do that, but I don't think I have a choice anymore." Found you!" I see the guy! He's up high on a branch!

It'd be a shame to be alone on such a nice night, I thought I should join him! Jump! / THUMP! /" M-Monster!" He yelled... Swing! / SHING! SPLAT! THUMP! / And I cut him in half. I guess as an Archer he isn't as well-honed as people who fight in close quarters. His lack of pain is my gain, I guess." Enough thinking of stupid analogies! Get going this instant!"" Okay, okay..." Lily nearly screamed at me as she told me to get moving, I did as I was told, I don't want to upset her too much after all.

I start running back to where I was before I turned around to finish off the Archer... / SWOOSH! /" Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" Another arrow came flying at me from my right... There's more..." Great... This is going to be a long night isn't it!? Lily! I'm going to need you again!"" On it! Touch a tree! Or a plant! Anything you'd find in a forest!"" On it!" I quickly ran for a tree as I tried to figure out how many Elves were actually after me.