Chapter 283 - The Illusion And Determination?
As he continued to look at the body, his curiosity got the best of him and he decided to check to see if his theory had indeed been correct.
Rather impatiently, the man quickly made his way to the body.
'Second thoughts...? Am I really, having second thoughts? There was no way my analysis was incorrect.' he thought to himself
When he finally reached the body, Ignoring the blood, he quickly dug his hands deep into the cold, chilling snow, shoving it aside with haste.
He was desperate, anyone could tell from the confused look in his face. Without showing any signs of slowing down, he continued to shove away the snow with his hands, forming a small crater on the ground, right next to the leader's body.
Blood got on his hands, but he ignored it, and after a small crater had been formed in between the cold, reddened snow. His eyes widened. There was nothing there. Nothing.
The leader's legs weren't there, but he could still feel it there. However, as if he had never felt it in the first place, the feeling disappeared.
"Huh?" Laurence asked as he began to hastily look around.
'It was here, wasn't it? The leader's legs... The wandering devil buried it underground, after cutting it off...'
"That's what happened, right? Just a second ago, I could still feel it... Wait... What's going on?" He asked
For ends without stopping, he racked his brains trying to come out with a solution, and before he even realised it a wide smile was displayed on under his short brown hair as he stared at his blood-covered hands.
"Ah... Now I get it..." He muttered as he slowly got up
He looked up and stared at the dark blue sky with his eyes wide opened. The hair from his neck down to his legs had risen as he felt chills race through his spine.
"I was wrong... It was all an illusion... Ha... Hahaha...."
Laurence started to laugh in the middle of the bloody open field before suddenly stopping. The smile on his face had now disappeared, and turned into a rather cold look.
"He got me..."
As he returned to his path, questions flowed through his mind, but the one which he cared about the most was simply, when? When was he put under an illusion? Most people wouldn't even know such a spell existed, but he had experienced it before. But even then he could tell.
This illusion felt way too real to be called an illusion. It had fooled even him, someone who was considered one of the best trackers.
For a moment, just one moment, he thought about tracking the young man once again. But right as the thought came up. A cold sweat poured down his face.
"Maybe another day..."
-------
Once again the girl was running, straining her legs so that they would catch up to the figure of the young man who had saved her.
His footsteps left no path and she ended up losing sight of him thanks to Laurence. Either way, she continued to run.
The cold was however, starting to get to her. She had almost forgotten they were in a snow storm due to how hot the area had become due to all the action.
No matter how hard she tried thinking about it, the only conclusion she could come up with was that the young man must have done something.
But not only did she lose him, but she could barely feel her arms and legs. She had lost track of time and felt as if the faintest breeze could blow her over.
However, she kept moving. And as she did so, as her consciousness began to fade, she made sure to focus on her objective. After all, there was something she needed done, even if it costed her, her life.
'This much pain is... nothing compared to what he's going through...' She thought to herself as her legs continued to move
But shortly after, her pale ashy brows were starting to freeze. Her nose was bright red and her teeth along with her whole body, wouldn't stop shaking.
The storm was much stronger than before. No, the current intensity was much stronger than before, it couldn't even be compared.
Even with the snow robe she could barely breathe. Starting a fire wasn't an option, with each passing second the distance between them would only grow larger. She couldn't afford to let that happen.
She staggered as she dragged her legs through the cold hell of snow. How long had she been walking for? Why was the path in the forest so unrecognisable?
Before she even knew it, she could no longer move on. She was well past her limit, and as she took her final steps her eyes began to close.
She lost balance and slowly fell over, her heart sunk but at the same time, she felt relieved. Relieved that it was finally over.
And as her ashy blue hair seemed to blend in with the snow, she remained still on the ground. She had done, her best. But there was something strange about the situation. No matter how much she walked, the snow only got worse.
It was as if she was stuck in a trap. What was the point of going if no matter how hard you tried, you wouldn't get anywhere?
As she continue to lay there, her frozen trembling mouth began to move as it tried to force out words. With her head facing straight, her eyes squinted and little remaining strength she continued to move her mouth.
As this happened, the snow blizzard only continued to get stronger. The snow continued to flow down from the heavens as if trying to cover any impurities which could be seen.
"Saint Class Wind Magic... Rotating Gale Burst"
The dense fog around her, made her lose track of her direction. She didn't know where she was going nor could she see how far she needed to go to catch up.
So with the last bit of strength, she a rotation sphere made purely of wind, was formed around her. It gathered air and slowly compressed itself before bursting out.
For a moment, just a single moment. The fog was pushed aside, but came back right after as the snow on the ground was also blown making it even foggier after.
But that one moment was all she needed; she saw it. As if she had finally found her light in the pitch of darkness. She found him.
It was the young man again. She was able to see his back, he was still walking on the same direction as before, following the same path with the same speed. He truly resembled a lost soul.
But for her, he was hope. Seeing this, she could feel her strength return to her. She tried moving her arms to get up, when suddenly, she noticed it.
It was too late, her arms wouldn't move. Her heart rate had slowed down due to the cold. Her finger tips had stopped responding. Her arms and legs both numb. On top of that, she couldn't even gather enough magic power for just a single push.
'No... I can't... I need to get...'
"W-Wa...it..."
But before she even realised it. Everything turned pitch-black.. She ran out of strength and within that rampaging blizzard, she lost consciousness.