Chapter 31 - Ygnolia Forest
Woosh! Fsh! Fsh!
Three arrows streaked through the air searching for their targets. Each was after a different human.
Seth evaded the green arrow targeting him, but Lilian and Caizhi didn't expect such a welcoming gift just after they had been teleported.
Those arrows were not meant to be lethal, but they had a paralyzing poison coated on them.
Seth saw the abnormal green light they emitted and moved to protect Lilian and Caizhi. He controlled the Mana Infront of him, sending a shockwave made of Qi energy to disrupt the arrow flying towards Caizhi, but he saw that he wouldn't have time to save Lilian with the same method.
If they weren't caught by surprise, Seth would have easily dealt with it, but now it was a critical moment, so he opted to block it with his own hand. Using the back of his hand, he repelled the arrow, but it left a light injury on his skin.
He had no time to use Mana for protection but even without it, the arrow could only leave a shallow cut on his hand. Through the contact with the arrow, he felt a Profound Qi energy imbued on it. His body was already strong enough to not be heavily injured with attacks at that level, only someone stronger would be able to hurt him for real.
"What?!" A surprised male voice came from inside a forest ahead.
This forest was like no other Seth has seen before. It had really thick and tall trees that could hide the presence of those who had climbed it. The ancient feeling coming from inside it was really strong, even the smell present in the air here, gave off the feeling of old.
Seth and the girls looked at the direction of that voice, and saw three people standing on top of a tall tree. They had a short bow pointed at the group and were ready to shoot again. What caught Lilian, Caizhi and Seth's attention the most weren't their weapons, or their intent to fight, but their pointed ears, a racial trait of the Elves.
"Who are you?" The male elf threatened to shoot another arrow, reinforcing his aggressive position.
"Why are you invading our Ygnolia forest?" A female elf positioned her bow towards the intruders.
"Ygnolia forest? Didn't you say we would be teleported to somewhere within the human territory? It seems we have entered the elf lands." Seth would never expect they would travel so far from their initial point.
"No, we are not inside the forest, this must be the frontier between the human and elf territories. We traveled all the way to the western parts of the human territory." Lilian quickly guessed their position based on the information so far.
"It will take us at least two weeks to get back to the Blazing Phoenix Sect." Caizhi had traveled a similar path before.
"They are not going to answer. Shoot!" The elves were an extremely territorial race. If people tried to enter their lands without authorization, they would promptly attack them.
Woosh! Fsh! Fsh!
More arrows started raining down on the invaders, but this time after the first wave of arrows, they didn't stop shooting.
However, for the elves misfortune, Seth was more than prepared. He had previously sensed that they were Profound Qi realm cultivators, for him it would be an easy task defeating these arches, but he would rather not reveal too much of his strength.
Instead of using Mana to fight these archers, with the bracelet on, he had limited his cultivations back to the Qi Gathering realm late-stage and used his enhanced physique to dodge he arrows coming his way, while advancing and accumulating Qi on his legs.
Seth arrived at the tree trunk the elves had climbed and kicked it, making a deep dent.
The three fiercely shook, falling right after that. The archers on top of it hastily tried to jump on the trees around, but it was a t this time that a bolt of fire intercepted them in the air. Lilian was wielding her sword and sending flame slashes to stop them from changing their position.
Caizhi had long ago abandoned her sword training and felt repulsed while training those kinds of weapons. It was probably a scar left behind by her past, so she changed her weapon style just after entering the Blazing Phoenix Sect.
A red orb appeared in front of her and this time, she felt how complete was her connection with her Qi, transforming it in a fire technique that used her orb as a catalyst.
The red orb glowed fiery, and flew at a fast speed towards the entrapped elves.
When the fiery orb entered the male elf field of vision, he knew they were going to suffer heavy injuries if not stopped.
This male elf was Ilbrien Faerel, a young cultivator from the Faerel clan. He was he genius of his entire clan and was taking part on a younger generation practical training within the borders of the elf territory. He would never expect to find humans attempting to invade the borders here, and even less to actually lose in a fight against them. Hell! One of them was still at the Qi Gathering realm late-stage.
Ilbrien Faerel would not accept defeat here, so he took out the gift his father gave him, an elfic rune made for his protection and carved out of precious jade. It could protect them from the attack of Mana realm cultivators for a really short amount of time; however, he was forced to use it here, against a Qi Gathering realm late-stage trash.
A green shield enveloped the elves and Ilbrien Faerel kept channeling all his Qi on the elfic rune.
Boom!
A loud explosion occurred after the orb made contact with the green shield. The flames slithered through the forest, burning the vegetation all around.
Ilbrien Faerel and his friends were alright inside the protective rune shield, but it would be impossible to maintain this shield active for long. The rune was being consumed at a fast speed and it would only protect them for a minute longer.
"Retreat!"
The elves took the opportunity to leave the area and started to go for deep within the forest. They took advantage that the explosion would disturb their enemies and advanced while still protected with the rune power. When it finally ended, they were already far away from Seth's group.
Seth didn't desire for a fight here, he wanted to get back and get prepared for the upcoming event. They were at the entrance of the Ygnolia forest and just a few miles away from it, there was a human city where they would be able to sleep and acquire some mounts for their journey.
"Let's head back, we can rest for today and start our journey back tomorrow morning." Seth suggested.
"That's a good plan. I heard that the city near this forest is a really luxurious and magnifying place, since it often receives guests from the elf race." Lilian, more or less had a bit of knowledge of these important human cities.
"Then it's settled."
"Seth, you better take care on your next time confronting those elves, that arrow you previously repelled was poisoned. And... Thank you." Lilian thought Seth had perfectly defended that attack, but he actually got a shallow cut.
"Do not worry, I am sure you would be able to dodge that."
Seth didn't bother on dodging that arrow, because he knew that Lexi would purify the poison within his body.
However...
Thud!
His vision started to blur and he fell unconscious on the floor.
"Seth!!!"