Chapter 259: Paper Boat

After the Swamp Fury ended, I could still feel the residual pressure from the enormous wave of water slowly disappearing through the forest. Yet, amid all that destruction, Mitral remained unharmed.

He stood behind the enormous silver shield, which had directly withstood the impact of the Swamp Fury. It would be absurd to imagine that someone like him did not possess at least one high-level defensive magical artifact.

I shifted my gaze away from the shield and focused my attention on the Swamp Demon. The creature was still hovering in the air. But something was different. Its breathing was heavy.

My Biochip immediately analyzed the situation, and the information appeared in my mind.

[The Swamp Demon’s attack can only be used once per day.]

[Cooldown period: approximately 20 hours.]

[During the cooldown period, the Swamp Demon will enter a weakened state.]

So this was the opportunity.

I raised my hand. Golden light took shape before me, and a bow appeared in my hands.

I drew the string, and an arrow of light materialized.

I aimed directly at the Swamp Demon.

Whoosh!

The arrow pierced through the darkness like a shooting star.

BANG!

The small arrow of light exploded against the Swamp Demon’s body.

An intense golden explosion completely engulfed the creature.

— GROOOAAAR!

Its roar echoed through the forest.

I remained motionless and waited for the light to disappear. When the radiance finally faded, the Swamp Demon’s appearance had completely changed. Both of its claws had been destroyed. Its wings were riddled with holes. Dark blood flowed down its body.

It fell toward the ground as if searching for a place to rest.

But Mitral did not waste any time and rushed toward the monster.

— Die!!

The silver shield before him began emitting an intense white light. The liquid enveloped Mitral’s hands. Then it began taking the shape of a blade.

Mitral gripped the sword with both hands.

— Hah!

He leaped into the air, his body cutting through the air. The silver sword flashed and then descended directly toward the Swamp Demon’s neck.

Chi!

A line of blood appeared.

The next instant...

Slash!

The creature’s head was separated from its body.

A huge amount of black and purple liquid exploded through the air. Its gigantic body collapsed to the side, while its head rolled across the ground.

But then I heard another sound, coming from the acolyte who had contracted the Swamp Demon.

— AAAAAAH!

At the exact moment the Swamp Demon’s head hit the ground, the green flames glowing in its eyes disappeared.

Something happened to the acolyte.

His skin rapidly lost its vitality, and his face became pale.

— A life-linked contract.

The acolyte staggered. His darkened hair began turning white, and his skin aged before our eyes.

— Despite his mediocre strength, he managed to gain the loyalty of a creature like the Swamp Demon. Life-linked contracts are extremely dangerous. The contracted creature and the contractor share the same fate.

If one died...

The other would die as well.

He looked at the Swamp Demon’s corpse and then collapsed, without any sign of life.

— Ahhh!

The last remaining acolyte screamed. He immediately turned around and ran.

I probably would have done the same thing if I were in his position and knew the battle was lost. But while running, he pulled something from his robes.

It was a small paper boat.

He threw it into the air. Black light enveloped the object, and the tiny boat began to grow. Within a few seconds, it had transformed into a huge flying paper boat.

The boat rapidly ascended.

— Magical Summoning! — Toral shouted. — Don’t let him escape!

Toral pointed.

Vines shot out from the ground.

Chi! Chi!

They pursued the boat.

Marak attacked as well.

— Arrow Spell!

Several glowing arrows appeared in his hands.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The arrows flew forward, but the boat curved through the air. The turn was incredibly smooth, allowing it to easily evade the arrows. At a certain altitude, the boat began accelerating.

Toral gritted his teeth.

— We can’t let him transmit the news!

If that acolyte managed to inform another group of our location... our situation would change completely.

I conjured my bow of light again. The string began emitting a golden radiance.

— Biochip.

— Calculate wind speed, humidity, target speed, and trajectory.

[Processing.]

A series of data appeared in my mind.

[Target Located!]

I drew the string back further and released it.

The arrow of light tore through the forest, looking like a golden bolt of lightning.

BANG!

The arrow struck the center of the boat directly, and an explosion illuminated the sky. The paper boat began burning, then lost its support and fell.

— Good!

Mitral shouted happily as he watched the boat burn from the explosion of light.

— There’s still one more present.

I looked to the side.

The bushes parted, and Folbit emerged from within them. His appearance had completely changed, and his right arm had been destroyed. In place of flesh were dozens of white tentacles, while half of his face was covered in green scales.

A mutation experiment or a bloodline acolyte?

My surprise was genuine.

Little by little, his appearance returned to normal. In the end, Folbit was practically naked. He shook his right arm, and the dead acolyte’s head was thrown onto the ground.

Folbit opened into a wide smile.

— Now all the inconveniences have been eliminated.

Toral looked at him.

— Indeed.

— We’ve been friends for two years. I knew your talent for mutation was extremely high, but I never imagined that you had already managed to completely control your physical transformation.

Folbit shrugged.

— Acolytes need to have their own trump cards too, don’t they?

Mitral tucked his magical artifact back beneath his robes.

— Although we have annihilated our opponents, it would be better not to remain here.

He looked around.

— To avoid unforeseen circumstances, we should speed up our exploration and leave this place.

— I agree.

I spoke immediately.

— The other side may have transmitted our location before he died. We need to hurry and find the remnants in the Mundane Forest of the Distant Mountain.

Toral nodded.

— All right. Let’s begin immediately.

He was about to lead the group when Folbit spoke.

— Wait.

Everyone looked at him.

Folbit smiled.

— I found one more thing on his body.

He held out a pale yellow scroll.

Toral took it, and his expression changed.

— Biochip, record it.

The moment Toral completely unfolded the scroll, my Biochip began recording every detail.

It was a map of the Mundane Forest of the Distant Mountain.

But there was something much more important.

Among the symbols representing the dark forest was a thin red line.

It began at Lunar Belt City and extended deep into the mountains, finally stopping at a mark representing a cliff.

At the bottom of that cliff were two words.

Reneu Gardens.

Then my suspicion finally received almost complete confirmation.

I looked at Toral.

— Did their objective coincide with our exploration?

— Indeed!

Toral nodded vigorously.

His expression had become impatient.

— Damn it! I don’t know how many clues this remnant left behind!

He clenched the map.

— Let’s hurry! I don’t want to get there only to discover that another group has already completely cleared the remnant!

...

1301 Words