Chapter 18

What’s going on?

These people had been keeping a low profile during the day. She thought they wouldn’t act right away. But after only a short nap, their murderous intent came at her without any disguise.

…Fortunately, Dusk woke her up.

Although her wrist was in intense pain, it was precisely this pain that kept Talli fully awake, helping her quickly recover from the lingering grogginess of sleep.

In the dense forest, the rain fell steadily, starting small but growing heavier. It washed over the leaves and the earth, giving off a damp, earthy scent.

Talli ran through the night, breathing heavily. She didn’t dare look back, relying solely on her strong instincts to dodge the arrows coming from behind her.

With every step, water splashed up from the ground.

“Hah, hah…”

Her vision blurred with the rain, and her arms and thighs were scratched by the passing arrows. Blood mixed with the rainwater, dripping down her skin.

Talli knew she was no match for these people, so she had no intention of fighting back. Using her agility, she weaved through the dense forest, gradually losing strength. Her lungs burned like fire, and her ankle was caught by a branch, sending her crashing to the ground, her face covered with rainwater.

“Ugh…”

She whimpered softly, propping herself up on a tree trunk, struggling to stand. She hobbled forward, though her pace slowed.

“Up ahead…”

Leaning against the tree, she stared ahead, not blinking. The rain soaked her hair, strands of it flowing down her cheeks.

—There was no way out.

The pursuers were getting closer. Talli took a few more steps forward, but felt lost and dazed. In that moment of distraction, an arrow brushed past her cheek!

Talli snapped out of her stupor, flipping sideways. She rolled twice before narrowly dodging the next few arrows.

She quickly grabbed the fox, which had been jumping nimbly beside her the whole time. “Dusk! Stay still.”

These people were too dangerous.

Talli knelt on the ground, panting. Behind her was a cliff, and in front, there were the mysterious assassins in black clothing and cloaks, holding bows and arrows, cautiously approaching her.

Only this few of them…

From the way she had sensed their gaze earlier in the day, Talli had expected more.

But fortunately, if there had been any more of them, she would have probably been killed by the intense barrage of arrows earlier.

Talli had been surrounded. She held onto Dusk, whose fur was damp from the rain and a little restless, carefully watching their movements. With her other hand, she gripped her backpack tightly.

She could feel the little creature in her hand becoming more agitated. It had unsheathed its sharp claws, crouching low beside her, ready to spring into action.

“Don’t act rashly.”

Talli’s gaze didn’t shift, but her voice clearly cut through the rain, reaching its ears.

“We don’t know their identities. If we act here, we might be accused of something unfounded once we leave.”

And…

She had a secret weapon.

Just a few seconds later, arrows were launched simultaneously!

Talli, moving faster than one could blink, grabbed Dusk and rolled backward. At the same time, she tore open her backpack, and with the sharp movement, she didn’t slow down at all, rolling straight off the cliff!

Seeing her action, several assassins exchanged glances and chased after her.

However, there was nothing to be seen, only a graceful shadow.

—Under the cover of the rain, the morning sun slowly began to rise, and the mountain gorge was shrouded in a faint mist.

The milky-white fog draped over the world like a light veil, and raindrops gently drifted in the air.

After falling for a distance, with a soft “thud,” Talli reached out, grabbed, and deployed the parachute.

The rapidly descending body was stabilized, and the falling speed slowed, as though the soft mist was lifting her body, making her feel weightless.

Dusk lay on her shoulder, still stunned by the shock, not fully recovering yet.

The cliff from which she had fallen was long gone, buried in the white mist.

Talli floated gently with the wind.

Through the hazy fog, she could hear the increasing roar of a waterfall, and as she slid down, the mist finally dispersed.

Talli looked up as a beam of sunlight pierced through the mist, shining down.

The morning sun had risen.

Talli’s heart seemed to tremble for a moment.

She had never seen such a scene.

A waterfall plunging from a great height, as if it were just a white ribbon, the bright morning sunlight, the lush greenery all around, the mountain shadows in the distance wrapped in mist, and the occasional bird flying by.

“…Dusk,”

She couldn’t help but whisper, “Look.”

How beautiful.

Deritz had indeed looked.

But what he was looking at was Talli.

It was the first time he had seen Talli smile. The corner of her lips curled up slightly, her violet eyes narrowed in a smile, dew still clinging to her eyelashes, and her pale, translucent skin had a faint pink hue from the earlier chase. Water droplets dripped, “pat-pat-pat,” from her forehead and the pink tips of her ears.

He was used to seeing her frown and cold demeanor. He hadn’t known that when she smiled, she could be so relaxed, like a clear mountain breeze.

…She had been on the brink of despair, but instead, it had given her a chance to break through to safety.

Deritz wandered off for a moment, but Talli called out, “Be careful, we’re about to land.”

As she spoke, she slowly controlled the parachute and flew toward a flat area, landing smoothly and packing it up, letting out a relieved breath.

“We’ve flown quite a distance. With the fog, they should be unable to see us or catch up,” Talli wiped the water from her forehead, packed her backpack, and crouched down. “How do you feel? Isn’t it amazing?”

The blue fox flicked its head, shook off the water on its fur, ignored her, and started walking away.

“…You’re not afraid of heights, are you?” Talli remembered how Dusk seemed to be lost in thought earlier and muttered to herself, then hurried to catch up. “Don’t run, stay with me.”

She paused for a moment, realizing the lack of persuasion in her words, but quickly analyzed the terrain and noticed some oddities.

She could sense that this area was rich in magical energy. It wasn’t something she just felt, but something she saw with her eyes.

The plants here were more lush and thriving than in other places. Just breathing the air here made her feel refreshed, and the fatigue in her body slowly faded away.

“Look at these leaves,” Talli said, lifting her head, unable to help but sigh.

A crystal drop of dew rolled off the tip of a leaf, and the vibrant green leaf dropped under gravity before bouncing back and slowly drifting forward again.

Even though Talli lacked magical talent and couldn’t see the flowing magic in the air, she couldn’t ignore how the air’s flow seemed to be guided by the plants.

“We’ll follow the direction the tips of these leaves are pointing!” Talli tightened the straps of her backpack and said to Dusk.

She jogged, carefully observing the direction of the leaves until she arrived at a long bridge in front of the massive waterfall.

The sound of the waterfall was deafening, like thunder, with water droplets flying like pearls falling from the heavens, scattering everywhere. The bridge was dilapidated, covered with wild moss and vines. Talli stood on the bridge, looking up at the waterfall ahead. Before long, her entire body was drenched.

She had just managed to dry off a bit earlier.

Talli sneezed, wiped the water from her eyelashes, and looked at the rainbow-colored arch formed by the sunlight refracting off the waterfall above.

She stood still for a moment, and Dusk slowly walked over to her side.

It seemed to dislike being wet, so it hid behind Talli, doing its best to avoid getting its fur wet.

“We need to find a way inside,” Talli said, grabbing Dusk.

The fox, sensing something was wrong, began to struggle violently, extending its claws to scratch at Talli’s sleeve.

The next second.

“Plop—”

Talli fell into the water, sinking, then rising back up, grabbing Dusk as she slowly swam toward the center of the waterfall.

The current was strong, but what was even more troublesome was that Dusk was struggling fiercely. It even let out a faint whimper from its throat. The last time Talli heard it make that sound was when she rolled over in her sleep and accidentally pressed down on its tail in the middle of the night.

Deritz swallowed several mouthfuls of water.

Being submerged in the water made it extremely uncomfortable, and that inescapable sense of gloom resurfaced in its mind. Its whole body tensed up, rigid, the collar around its neck tightened, and the sensation of suffocation overwhelmed its small, weak body.

It unsheathed its claws underwater, its red pupils flickering in the clear, azure water like flickering sparks, rising and falling like fire points.

The eyes, seemingly wrapped in something, became sharp and persistent. Under the intense emotions driving it, its sharp claw tip pressed against the pulse point on the girl’s wrist.

Just a second before it exerted force.

The pressure from the collar around its neck suddenly loosened.

Before Deritz had a chance to react, it dropped due to gravity, but then, just after, it was hauled completely out of the water by the girl, who was just as drenched.

“Ha, ha ha—”

Talli lifted half her body above the water’s surface, gasping for breath. She shook her head like a little animal, blinked her eyes, and lifted the little fox in her arms.

“A beast afraid of water?”

Talli sighed and slowly swam forward.

Deritz, still a bit dazed, was cradled in front of her. Despite the girl’s clothes being soaked, the warmth of her body and the steady beat of her heart clearly transmitted to it.

Full of vitality, energetic, and healthy.

It felt like it had just escaped from a nightmare, its head hanging weakly on her shoulder. Despite that, it still felt as though it had been burned, its unspeakable anger building up with no way to release it.

In a fit of frustration, it bit Talli’s neck.

Talli yelped in pain.

She freed one hand to touch her neck, where a shallow indent from its bite had appeared.

“Dare to bite me? Be careful, I’ll throw you back in,” Talli angrily threatened it.

It was unclear whether her threat had any effect, but Dusk indeed stopped squirming.

It seemed that, at that moment, it realized that Talli had already swum past the waterfall and into the shallow water beyond. Although the light was dim, the rocks under the clear water were still visible.

Not long after, Talli brought it to shore.

This was a vast cave behind the waterfall, and a “whistling” sound of wind could be heard from deep inside.

In the moment Talli was lost in thought, Dusk quickly leapt off her, distancing itself and adopting a “stay away” attitude, quietly shaking the water off its fur.

Talli, meanwhile, twisted the hem of her dress and listened carefully to the wind.

She paused for a moment, then spoke, “We’ll wait for a while and continue moving forward.”

Her intuition told her that there was something ahead.