Chapter 20: Chapter 20: Monster of the North (8)

“What?” Lucius paused. “Can you repeat that?”

Raya opened his mouth and started explaining from the start. As the Duke ordered, he secretly followed Aurora to protect her. He thought it would be easy since she was just a young girl. But it didn’t take him long to figure out that she was anything but ordinary.

As though sensing his presence, she tried to change directions multiple times to lose him. However, as the Captain of the well-known Rizar Knights, his experiences on the battlefield wasn’t something to be ridiculed.

Aurora knew right away that she couldn’t lose this seasoned soldier on her tail. She had no choice but to let Efil go. To confuse her pursuer, she took out the shoes in her bag and put it on the horse’s front two feet.

She'd seen that man who was chasing her before in the Duke's study room. He was 190cm tall and gave off the impression of a sharp blade. She didn’t expect Duke Rizar to send someone so capable after her.

She had her suspicions when she was easily able to escape the mansion. The Duke had long seen through her and her plans. And yet, why did he easily let her escape?

Aurora chuckled.

No wonder the mansion was nearly empty.

To counteract this, she had long come up with a plan to delay her pursuers.

“Efil, it’s…goodbye for now.”

Hearing this, the horse breathed on Aurora’s hand with a huff.

“Mhm, I’ll miss you……too. The shoes might……be a little uncomfortable, but once you return the people there……will take it off for you.” Aurora patted the horse and urged her to return to her home using a different path from which they came from.

Efil turned around and left.

With this, the horse will leave behind another set of footprints, confusing that Knight and giving her at least a day’s worth of time. And as Aurora predicted, Raya was indeed bewildered at the extra set of footprints heading in two different directions. Although it didn’t take him long to figure out what Aurora did, it was enough to lose sight of her.

Aurora didn’t plan on searching for the Corrupted Region. Since the map didn’t show where it was, she needed to first gather money and information. Since there was a barrier around it, going there would be pointless in the first place.

Her plan was to first reach the closest village and change her disguise. She’d search for work and stay there for a few days to gather more food and water.

After gathering enough money and resources in one village, she’d move on to the next. Aurora planned on repeatedly doing this until she saved enough money, and hire mercenaries to escort her.

Taking out the map in her hand, she traced her current distance and calculated how long it’d take her to reach the nearest village. The food and water she packed were enough to last a while.

The further Aurora walked, the darker the forest became. She didn’t think anything about it at first. After all, forests were closed off from the sun. Especially a forest with tall trees and widely spread branches. But soon, her vision began to cloud.

Was this...fog? It was dark and thick fog.

Afraid she’d bump into a tree, she slowed her pace and carefully walked forward. It wasn't long before she completely lost her vision. She thought of returning from where she came from, but when she turned back, she saw only darkness.

Her foresight wasn’t working at all.

Reminded of that time she spent in that dark void, she became frantic. Her breathing turned rapid, causing her pulse to increase.

No.

No.

No.

Not again!

She walked faster and faster, not caring about the branches that scratched her or that she kept tripping over the roots. Standing up, again and again, she hurried her footsteps, wanting to get out.

Just as she thought she’d pass out from exhaustion, she hit something hard. It was as though there was a wall in front of her. She put her hands on the invisible wall and pushed. Her hands, then arms, and then legs walked right through without any pressure.

The black fog vanished, and in its place, rain appeared.

The moment the rain touched her, Aurora hissed in pain. “Aaaaa!” She covered the wound on her arm, and instinctually reacted by quickly cloaking her entire body with mana. Fortunately, it worked, and the acidic rain no longer hurt her.

The color of Aurora's fire has always been a bright red, like a flame that never dies out. It was rare amongst Witches for their mana color to be so bright, even before their awakening. When using any of the elements, their mana was usually darker in color, giving off a murky appearance.

Except, her ability in using fire magic was even weaker than the other spells she could use. It didn't burn anything. It didn't freeze anything. It didn't purify anything. There was no use to it at all.

This was why, even back before her 2nd awakening, she was called the Zero Flame Witch.

After protecting herself, Aurora examined her surroundings.

Rotting trees with dead branches.

Puddles of blood-red that came from the acid rain.

Bones of both humans and animals littered the ground. It was like a scene straight from hell.

Aurora realized where she was.

The Corrupted Region.

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Then the wall she felt earlier was the barrier?

...Isn't this bad?

She heard a large slithering sound coming closer and closer. Out of nowhere, a large purple centipede appeared behind her and opened its wide ugly mouth, intending to swallow her whole.

A few seconds earlier…

Aurora’s foresight warned her of her upcoming calamity. To not give herself away, she kept calm and hid behind a tree not far from where the centipede appeared. She noticed that the centipede’s eyes seemed to be injured. It couldn’t see and was using its other senses to find her. So, if she didn’t make too much noise, it wouldn’t find her even if she hid close. 

Just in case, Aurora took out the knife she stole...borrowed from the Duke.

But thankfully, her layer of mana also concealed her scent, so it didn't come to a fight.

The centipede slid right past her without noticing. Aurora clutched her thumping heart and stood up.

It worked! Her foresight was working! Even though this place was very frightening, she should be able to evade the creatures in this place with her foresight.

Although she didn’t plan for this to happen, she was able to enter this place without a guide. The only problem was food and water.

"I'll just...take a little look and...come back prepared next time." It shouldn't be too difficult, right?

Still, why was the Duke’s main residence so close to this horrible place? Who in their right mind would let a noble of importance live here?

She knit her brows, the corners of her mouth turning down.

Why was she thinking about that person? It didn’t have anything to do with her.

In the next half hour, Aurora was able to successfully make her way through the forest. She bypassed a pack of small moles with horns on their heads and ducked low when she saw a large bird that had the appearance of a lizard. She started thinking surviving here was easier than she thought. Aurora decided to take this chance to go a little deeper.

Unfortunately, her luck was about to soon run out.

She saw a vision of herself getting slammed back to a tree, with blood spurting out her mouth. Aurora tried to stop this from happening, only to be too late.

Before she could do anything, she felt herself get hit by something hard. Her feet left the ground, and just like in her vision, her back hit the tree and spit up blood.

Even though she encased herself in her aura to protect herself, she still took on damage.

When she opened her eyes, a shadow passed right in front of her.

Whatever it was, it was too fast for her to escape. Or to even see its outline.

She tried to predict where it would go and threw the knife at the place she projected its head to be. It was a normal kitchen knife that wasn't even weighted properly, but she still threw it accurately due to her foresight and her talent with knife throwing in the past.

But...

It melted!

She watched incredulously as the steel knife turned into a puddle of liquid.

Before Aurora could get her bearings, the shadow once again passed by her, this time from behind the tree.

It was playing with her!

She could tell, this monster saw her as prey.

And it was enjoying it. It was the cat, while she was the mouse. When her fear reached the highest point, that's when it'll rip her apart.

She underestimated the monsters here. And she overestimated herself, even though she was aware of her limits. She made a fatal mistake due to her hastiness, and now she was going to pay for it.

Was it going to end without her changing anything?

She couldn’t get revenge. In the end, she could only run again.

Nothing changed.

Just like that, was she going to die again?

.

.

.

The shadow stopped playing hide and seek, ready to devour her.

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