Free Web NovelChapter 30: Chapter 30- The People Of The Woods (Part 2)
Chapter 30- The People Of The Woods (Part 2)
Cipha didn’t react in time, and all she could see were these silhouettes slamming into the bear, sending it flying back as it hit a tree violently.
"Huh?" Cipha looked up, only to see several people appear before her. She couldn’t see them properly in the darkness. However, what she immediately noticed was that they were all tall... Very tall. Each one easily towered over her, and that only made her confused.
The individuals didn’t look back at her and instead focused on the monster as they spread around it and then attacked it ruthlessly. The creature couldn’t even react in time to their abnormal speed and brutal attacks that sent it flying everywhere.
Cipha couldn’t even follow them with her eyes. They appeared like ghosts, perfectly coordinated and flawless. The bear was on its knees within seconds, and before she knew it...
*Swish*
Its head fell off its shoulders as a fountain of blood exploded everywhere around her. Cipha could only watch with wide eyes, completely shocked beyond words.
"..."
’What... What happened? Where did they come from?’ She asked herself as she finally snapped out of it and gripped Zen’s shoulder as she started retreating. However, the individuals appeared before her again, this time, their weird eyes were looking directly at her.
Their looming figures eyed her silently as they closed the distance.
Cipha’s face paled, and she tried to look left and right. However, there was no escape; they had surrounded her. ’What should I do? What should I do?!’
A hand stretched from the darkness toward her and all Cipha could do was grip her sword and put it forward. Even though she could barely stand, she wasn’t going to fall without a fight. She will protect Zen till her last breath.
’Come at me!’ She clenched her teeth. ’I will slice all of you into pieces!’ freeωebnovēl.c૦m
***
Everything felt cold for Zen. Cold and numb. He was in a state of complete slumber. Meanwhile, his body was in a panicked state, trying to fix all the damage and save his life. His Soul Essence worked over time, as it accelerated his healing speed several times.
He didn’t realize that soon after, his bleeding slowed down to a halt and his body started regaining sensation again.
"Hnnng..." Zen’s eyes opened partially as he grunted. He slowly regained his senses, and with it, a train of pain came back that made him squint. Swallowing the urge to cry, he noticed a source of light next to him.
His eyes moved to the side slowly, and he saw a fire burning brightly next to him, warming him up from the cold of the forest. He frowned and instinctively tried to move, only for him to realize that he was covered in something.
’Huh?’ He frowned as he looked down. Every part of his body was wrapped in what seemed to be some sort of tree leaves. It was tightly pressed against him, and it oddly felt good, easing his immense pain.
"Where... am I?" He asked with a tired voice.
"You’re awake!"
At that moment, he heard a familiar voice. Looking up, he saw Cipha rushing toward him with her eyes wide open.
"Ci... pha?" He asked in a daze.
"Yes, it’s me. Don’t talk too much, you’re still heavily injured." She said. "We are safe."
"Where... are we?"
"It’s a long story. I will tell you later when you feel better." She replied. "I have found a safe place for us where you can rest and recover without worrying."
"Huh..." Zen muttered. ’I remember losing consciousness as that bear started chasing us. Where are we even? This looks like some sort of house or hut...’
He stared dazedly around him, trying to figure out if they had reached their destination or not. However, his brain was too fuzzy to think straight, so he ended up struggling to understand where they were.
At that moment, he heard the sound of the door opening on the other side. Zen stared down, only to freeze in place at the sight he witnessed. An extremely tall creature entered the house. It looked like a human, except it was at least 15 feet tall with skin that looked like it was made out of hardwood. Branches protruded out of it everywhere as if it were a moving tree.
"..." For a second, Zen didn’t know what he was looking at before he finally remembered. ’Is that... A wood folk?’
The moment that name came to his mind, suddenly, everything made sense, and he understood what had happened.
"I came to check on your friend." The wood man spoke with a deep, nasal voice. "Is he ok?"
"Mm, he just woke up. He is still far from good." Cipha said. "Thank you for taking us into your house, Mr Garn. We truly owe you our lives."
"Please..." The man said as he leaned next to Zen. "We are just glad we found you two at the right time. Moving through this forest in the darkness is no good idea. You two were lucky that you didn’t encounter something dangerous."
Then, the man named Garn stared down at Zen. His eyes gentle and serene. "How are you, young man?"
"I’m... alive..." Zen replied. ’A Wood folk... I didn’t know they lived in this region... They’re such a rare race to come across... Almost unseen before except by certain individuals...’
All Zen knew about them was their name and how they looked. They were a race of creatures that lived deep within the jungle, far away from the human eye, and they loved their privacy. However, they were also very gentle and friendly creatures.
The fact that they met them was already a miracle in and of itself.
"The Akaya tree shall help relieve your pain and heal you. You will be better in no time." Garn said. "Do you two need some food?"
"Yeah, please," Cipha said. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
"Of course. I will be back in a minute."
The wood man then turned around and walked out of the house, disappearing somewhere. Seeing that, Zen grunted and rose from the ground.
"Hey, don’t move yet. You could open your injuries." Cipha said as she tried to gently push him down. However, Zen signaled for her to stop.
"I’m really ok. I can move a bit." Zen said. "What happened, Cipha? How did we end up here?"
"Well..." Cipha looked over her shoulder. "After you lost consciousness, I kept running. But, I ended up at a dead end and a cliff, and the bear made it there in time. I sustained some injuries and I truly thought we were going to die. I couldn’t escape its grasp. However... That was when these people appeared and killed it. I thought they were monsters, but when they started talking and asking me if I was fine or if I needed help... I was shocked. I have never seen them before."
"Yeah, those aren’t... human."
"Yet, they have been nothing but kind so far. I was wary, and I didn’t know if I could really trust them, but... If they truly wanted to hurt us, they probably could’ve done that immediately."
"..."
"I’m just glad that we made it out alive," Cipha said with a dark look on her face. "Had they not been there, I would’ve been completely powerless against that bear..."
Her fist clenched as she felt the frustration and bitterness fill her mind. That feeling of weakness she experienced was one of the worst experiences in her life. She truly could not do anything, and it was all because she was weak.
Cipha hated that. She hated it very much.
’In my first challenge, I almost died had I not been rescued. If I truly want to be the strongest Hunter in the world, I can’t let this happen ever again. I can’t put my life and the life of the people around me at risk because of my lack of power.’
Cipha was aware that it had barely been a few days since she awakened, and yet she didn’t expect anything but brilliance from herself. She needed to be strong, now, and in the future.
She needed to be the one who would topple down all the pillar clans, and to do that, death was not an option. Only victory. Endless and unstoppable victory.
