Chapter 38: Something Is Off

’Hey, what do you think this place really is?’ he asked, his eyes flicking from normal to a strange pair. It was as if he was scanning the whole forest.

[I am not sure either, but whatever it is, there is something off here.]

’Exactly. There is no end to the mana I am sensing. How far did you say the city was?’

[Around 1000 miles, maybe more. Why do you ask?]

He looked defeated. ’Now that I think about it, that is an outrageous distance. That will take us weeks, maybe even a month. Has anyone ever made it to another city?’

[It is indeed far, but it was the only option then. I do agree that it is strange. It is almost like this section is cut off from the world.]

His gaze narrowed as he scanned around more, the flickering shift in his eyes intensifying. ’Cut off… Yeah, that is exactly how it feels. Like we are stuck in some kind of… bubble.’

[Now that you mention it…]

He crouched low, he brushed his fingers against the grass. The air around him seemed to come alive, a resonance that was not quite natural. ’Something is so off here. I am not sure, but there is more to this place… I feel like we are being watched.’

He sharply turned around, he stared off in the distance, as if he was seeing the things that were watching them. He forgot Yenna was behind him, she saw his pupils, she fell down in fear. His eyes turned downward to her, he eyed her like a predator, this scared her even more.

“V-Vell, are you okay? Are you being possessed?”

His pupils slowly went back to normal, he saw the fear on her face. ’Crap, I turned on my instincts.’ He reached out his hand, he had a warm smile, he was showing he meant no harm. “Do not worry, it is a skill I got last night. Those eyes allow me to scan areas and see further than is humanly possible.”

“O-Oh, sorry about that. You just caught me off guard… they are scary though… those eyes.”

“Heh, do not be a baby. I could teach you how to get them if you want.” He looked at her with a teasing expression.

“No, thank you. I think I am better this way.”

He smiled at her, before turning around. ’Well, I could not really teach it to her anyway.’

“By the way,” he turned around slightly, “we might be stuck here for a while. It seems this place is a lot bigger than we thought.”

“It is? I thought it was just a small forest with strange monsters?” She scratched her head in confusion, but this was not a surprise. She was only going off what the association had made her believe.

“Hmm… hey, I want you to think about this carefully. Has any player ever left the zone? Not just rumors, but a player who stated themselves that they left the zone?”

This hung in her mind for a while, she thought carefully but nothing, there was no proof of a player ever leaving the zone. This was something strange that people should have been able to pick up on, but they were being controlled.

“Have our entire lives been a lie? Just how much do we not know? If what you are saying is true… then where are we going? I thought you mentioned something about a city. Is it beyond the forest… are not we just going to end up dying in here?”

Her words were starting to get to him, he had been suppressing his rage all this time, but her words were beginning to push against the fragile walls of his composure. He clenched his fists, his nails digging into his palms, he took a slow, deliberate breath to steady himself.

[Calm down, master… her reaction is completely normal… master?]

’I know… I know, dammit.’

“Yenna,” he said, his voice was quieter than before but it carried an unmistakable weight, “I get it. I do. But panicking will not get us anywhere. We have to think clearly if we are going to figure this out. I told you before that we are here to train and that I will look out for you, so please just trust me. We will make it out of here.”

She knew by the tone of his voice that he was on the edge of snapping, so she had to be careful. “I am sorry… I will not complain anymore.”

“Good, let’s-”

The feeling from earlier was closer, way too close. Before he could react, he was knocked away, a blow so heavy his eyes went blurry, it almost knocked him out. But he gritted his teeth, he flipped his body and landed, sliding on the ground.

“The fuck was-” Another blow connected with his cheek, it sent him crashing to the ground and knocked out a few teeth. He raged, he swung blindly, but this was useless. He found himself in the air, his torso in pain.

He crashed to the ground so hard his body bounced right off. Pain spread through his body, but despite all this, he was still trying to track the enemy. ’Fucking hell, whatever it is, it is toying with me. Heh, this is actually good… really good.’

The expression on his face twisted, his pupils became slitted. The air around him hummed as he spun off the ground, he landed elegantly.

“Vell, wha-”

He signaled for her to be quiet and to stay back. She froze, she watched him as he stood there, his posture tense yet composed, he exuded a strange, feral confidence.

His body language was unnervingly calm, but his aura had shifted entirely. It was no longer the steady reassurance of a leader, it was primal, like a predator cornered yet thrilled at the challenge.

It sent chills down her spine.

His eyes scanned around at an insane speed, he was picking up every little movement, every shift in the air, he was analyzing it all. He locked on to its movements, it was moving around, being stealthy, looking for an opening, but it seemed to see none.

’A smart one, huh? Let’s test that.’

He let down his guard, it wasted no time, it lunged at him. Its body was not visible to the naked eye, but it made a mistake, its opponent was not normal. He dodged to the side, his body twisted in midair with uncanny grace, his movements were impossibly sharp, like a coiled spring unleashed.

His predator’s grin widened as he clenched his fist tightly, veins pulsing as raw energy coursed through his arm. He brought down his punch, it tore through the air with scary precision. It connected, a shockwave of mana spreading in all directions as the creature landed on the ground, the ground cracking massively under it.

“Hmm…” He looked at the creature, its form lying motionless in the crater, but he was not satisfied. He leaped up and came crashing down, he landed another attack… just to be sure.

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