Chapter 31: 31 Staying. 

The green butterfly leads her way, and the whispering wind keeps telling Iris to go toward the east. Without a shred of hesitation, she chases the figure of the wolf.

Iris, detached from the adventurer force, kept her eyes on the wolf shrouded in a black aura, which blended with the night.

All of a sudden, the wolf figure sped up and disappeared from her sight. Iris was baffled, but she gritted her teeth and hastened her pace. Her body was cloaked in a green aura for a second, as her feet flashed like blurry shadows, and her body pierced forward like a spear without resistance.

The wolf lunged itself into the green scenery and disappeared from her sight.

“Tch, what is the wolf doing?”.

Iris proceeded until she arrived a while later, her face hardened because she could smell the thick scent of battle. The tension brought utter madness that drove nature away by impurities that wilt the land.

‘This is?!’. Her ears twitched once she entered further ahead, and she heard the wild, untamed energy clashing between hard objects that created a spark. She witnessed Jin fighting two figures, the wolf and the man, in a robe with which she was familiar. ‘Jin?! Spirit, lend me your strength…’.

The green aura around her body flowed into the arrow she took. She swiftly drew the string bow and released it to intercept the battle.

“Go!”.

A green line flew through the wolf’s head, and it managed to pierce its way toward its left eye.

*Auuu!

Black blood spurted, and the wolf had to stop its advance and distanced itself for a while.

Jin, who witnessed the familiar green arrow, glanced to the side and found Iris, who was ready with another arrow and shot it toward the robbed man.

“Tsk, another nuisance, but I couldn’t be happier than this, Khihihi…”.

The man gloated at Iris’s appearance and distanced himself, dodging the arrow. Reluctantly, the man canceled his magic and regrouped with the wolf, still suffering from the earlier wound.

“Jin, what are you doing here?”. Iris came from the side, still oblivious to Nina’s appearance, which was hidden beneath the tree roots.

Jin, who regained his freedom, jumped to Nina’s side and opened his mouth.

“Iris, take Nina with you and leave the place!”.

“What do you mean, Nina? Is she here…?!”.

Iris’ words got smaller after noticing a girl breathing softly under the care of barrier magic. Her brows knitted in anger as she glared at Jin.

“I’m sorry; it was my fault for my negligence. Nina got kidnapped. But don’t worry, she has only lost her consciousness”.

“You…!”.

Jin bowed his head and shifted his gaze toward the two enemies, and his gaze hardened as he looked at the malice mixed with madness mixed apart. The wolf, with its eyes blinded, glared with wrath, while the man, his eyes kept glancing at the mother-daughter duo.

‘So, his target was the two of them all along. I will distract them!’. Jin focuses his mind, connecting it with the atmosphere.

As his gaze focused ahead, the flow of mana around the place began to get sucked at his palm, and slowly, it accumulated, forming a clear mental image before a step away from manifestation.

“Mrs. Iris, please leave this place with Nina”.

Jin’s solemn voice and the thick atmosphere within the place intensified her glare as she felt something big was about to happen. She sighed, shifted her attention toward the battle before her, and stepped forward.

“Ha, what are you talking about? You would be the one that took her away…”.

“Please, and I’m sorry about this!”.

With a clear image and the accumulation of mana in his hand, Jin pushed Iris to the back and slammed his palm to the ground.

A gust of violent wind manifested on the battlefield. It pushed away the land and uprooted the tree in the surrounding area, creating a massive, round open space between Jin and the two opponents.

The atmosphere within the place turned chaotic as Iris saw a tempest form a barrier that trapped the three individuals within it. Her heart thumped when she saw the familiar scene.

‘…Go, Iris! Please protect, Nina! I will handle it from here!’. A flash of memories she sealed years ago resurfaced, leaving a deep wound still engraved in her heart.

Iris stared at the boy’s back within the wind barrier and found him staring back at her with an apologetic expression. Blood drained from her face, and a chill began to creep up her heart. She saw Jin extend her hand to lift the barrier in her daughter’s.

“Go, Mrs. Iris! I will handle them from here!”.

“Ah…”.

For the second time, the nightmare that tortured her sanity began to replay before her.

However, before she could do anything to act, a rustling sound beside her distracted her mind.

“…Mom, where are we?”. Nina groggily stared at her dark surroundings and then at her mother’s figure.

“Nina…?!” Iris crouched on her side and looked toward the wind barrier that completely isolated the three inside. She gritted her teeth in frustration.

“What is the matter, Mom?”.

The daughter tenderly touched the woman’s face, giving her heart a bit of warmth that dissolved her frozen heart. Iris stared at her daughter’s anxious expression, yet Nina still tried to endure it. She smiled warmly, took Nina in her embrace, and stood up.

“Let’s go, Nina”. Iris looked toward the barrier behind her and soon fled from the scene while muttering in her heart. ‘Jin, please hang in there. …I will not make the same mistake twice!’.

She enhanced her body using Elemental enhancement and blasted forward like a missile, zig-zagging within the forest before she witnessed a way out.

“Mom…?!”. Nina was dizzy from the blurry scene and the strong wind that pushed her body backward.

Thankfully, Iris hurriedly created a barrier to protect her daughters from the pressure and sped up toward the east gate. Iris muttered something inside her heart when she noticed the gate was closed.

‘Spirit, lend me your strength!’. With enough momentum from her run, her feet glowed green, and Iris kicked the ground so hard that it cracked, and her body was flung to the skies.

Nina, whose body tensed for feeling so much freedom for the first time, clung to her mother’s chest and buried her face deep.

Before landing, Iris cast a soft wind to cushion her way before softly touching the ground. Iris glanced around and noticed no eyes were seeing her earlier action. She resumed her run before arriving at the familiar neighborhood.

“Nina, listen!”.

*****

Trapped within his own magic, Jin faced the two opponents whose atmosphere worsened because of the disappearance of the two targets. He hardened his resolve and clenched the Katana on his left waist.

‘This place seemed to work’. He looked around the place, leveled ground with much-gouged dirt from the uprooted tree, a wide space with no obstacle.

Jin could showcase his abilities to their maximum potential, but it was also a minus because he had no place to hide. However, before all else, he wanted to regain his full battle sense. All those years of practice had left Jin feeling a huge gap in his mind and body, so he wanted to make sure of that now.

The magic he cast was perfect. Utilizing the mana in the surrounding area, the magic wouldn’t be canceled in any possible way because its power and fuel come from nature itself.

“It seemed I underestimated you too much boy!”.

Jin’s body shuddered at the chilling tone that echoed within the place; a malicious aura also showed itself from his two opponents, which slightly changed their appearance.

The wolf’s massive body shrank in size, and ominous blood veins began to crackle all over it. Hundreds of tiny bolts scorched the area around it before its body disappeared.

“Fast?!”. Jin drew his blade before a spark flew, followed by a loud ‘clank’ reverberating across the field. The wolf with jaws opened, and its fangs clashed with Jin’s blade.

Jin borrowed the mana in the atmosphere to strengthen his physique. As the glow in his body intensified, tremendous strength began to flow through all his veins.

However, Jin received a backlash due to his current physique. Blood started to trickle into his eyes like tears, nose, and even lips, while internally, his body was radiating enough heat to evaporate every cell and liquid in it.

Both the boy and the monster began to engage in a ferocious battle. Jin utilized his speed, dodging and deflecting every attack that came to his side. The wolf, with its current strength, easily overpowered Jin, waiting for a perfect chance to take out its enemy once and for all.

Ground charred every time both clashed, and the robbed man waited his chance to seize the boy as he prepared the spell.

Jin, who managed to sneak a peek at the man, grits his teeth as he dodges another claw from the wolf. He jumped to the side, only to see a black magic circle on his leg, so he jumped up and received a direct hit from the wolf paw.

“Kuh!”.

Terrible agony assaulted his nerves while his body flung backward with such tremendous speed before being slammed into the ground and rolled several times before gaining his footing back.

Jin grits his teeth and faces forward, only to feel chill all over because of the looming shadows and magic circle that surrounded him from all sides.

“Wind!”.

A green layer of barrier enveloped his body, but it soon cracked and shattered into pieces after making contact with the wolf’s claws. Jin’s body slammed to the ground, and the magic circles again started to bind his limbs.

“There is no one who can save you, boy!”.

‘Kahak?! This isn’t good!’. Feeling helpless by the overwhelming weight that pressed him down and the black chains that wrapped around his limbs. Jin conjured another spell, and soon, a green magic circle appeared below him, and he began to scream.

“Whirlwind!”.

A violent swirling vortex swallowed his body and the wolf, but a crackling and thunderous voice rang as red bolts electrocuted Jin’s body, paralyzing all his nerves and brain.

Jin’s body convulsed violently as searing agony tore his flesh and burned his intensities as each second passed. A crisp yet disturbing scent of flesh being burned spread in the field as they saw Jin’s, who is tattered, still flinches.

The robbed man approached his side, watching all the happening with boredom and anger for being his prey leaving his grasp, and all of that is because of the interference of the boy. He saw the chain that still firmly restrained the boy’s limbs and the sheer willpower that kept him clung to life.

“Don’t think I will let you die easily, boy!”.

A massive torrent of violent killing intent spread to the battlefield.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep