Chapter 244 Ever-Nightmarish Goal

244 Ever-Nightmarish Goal

While Yuna and Everett kept watch, the young Dragonheart used healing once more, keeping the staff pointed close to Melisande’s leg as the wounds began to close up.

“…Thanks,” Melisande said with a scrunched nose, still feeling some level of pain.

After the recovery magic was finished, Emilio stood up, lending his hand to the girl to help her stand, though she limped a bit. It wasn’t a speedy process, taking a good few minutes even when trying to act in haste.

“Ngh…” Melisande winced.

“Sorry about that, but…healing magic isn’t perfect–at least, mine isn’t,” he said with a small frown.

“No, it’s alright…this is my fault anyway–if I was watching where I was going…” Melisande said, looking towards where they were initially going, “…Is it too late now?”

The look of concern she gave as she looked over at Emilio wasn’t met with a reassuring answer before she looked over at Everett and Yuna as well, who didn’t have too much optimism worn on their expressions.

“…They got away,” Yuna said.

“Hnnn…it’s just one thing after another in this damn place! Can’t we just have some quiet time for one day?!” Everett yelled out.

In frustration, the Milligardian shielder picked up a stone and tossed it into the depths of the forest, causing a few critters to scamper out.

“Sorry, it’s my fault…” Melisande looked down.

“Hey now, it’s not on you! If I was running in that exact spot, it would’ve been my leg that got chomped!” Everett assured her.

Emilio looked down at the shoddy bear trap, picking it up as he inspected it, “This wasn’t some accident. I doubt there’s hunters living in Parmesus.”

“We walked straight into this unknown person’s trap,” Yuna said, looking at the bear trap as well, “If I had to guess, the person responsible for attacking that man is another like that man from the underground dungeon.”

“Collector,” Melisande mumbled.

The memories of trudging through the abominable ‘research’ facility belonging to the freakish experimenter was something that none of them wanted to recall, bringing silence for a moment as they stood in the center of dense foliage, overlooked by tall, emerald trees.

Though the conclusion that Yuna came to sparked Emilio’s interest as he set the trap down, looking at the red-tailed woman, “…How do you figure from that bit of information?”

Yuna was quiet for a moment before answering, “Collector referred to himself as one of the ‘Three Devils of Parmesus’–whatever that means, all I can conclude is that with the existence of other humans kept imprisoned in this land, it refers to criminals of his caliber.”

“More people like Collector? I don’t even want to think about that,” Melisande shuddered.

“Well, if that’s the case…we’ll need to stay cautious,” Emilio said.

Before they continued to move on, agreeing that it would be best to abandon their camp as the enigmatic killer knew of their location, Emilio decided it’d be best to keep more eyes out to protect their backs:

“Undyne. Salamander. Gnome. Sylph.”

The four lesser spirits of elemental power manifested, hovering around the group of four as they began walking through the densely-packed forest of quiet trees and foraging critters.

“These things are really handy,” Everett said with a curious look.

As the blonde-haired bumpking poked at the verdant sphere, Sylph blinked in response and used a small gust of wind against Everett’s face, causing the shielder to flinch and back away.

“Ah! Hey! What was that for?!” Everett raised his fist at the lesser spirit.

The frequent blinks and jittering that Sylph did was almost as though it was quietly laughing, swirling around in satisfaction.

“Keep it down, would you?” Yuna looked back.

“Oh, right…well, if that criminal comes here, that just makes our lives easier. We can give him the good ol’ one-two!” Everett said, punching the air.

“Yeah, yeah…just stay ready,” Emilio said.

An eerie atmosphere laid thick as he moved forward through the forest, periodically checking around him to see that the expressions and fidgeting of his companions meant they felt the same. It was a different sensation than what was faced previously: in contrast to the mindless savage he faced initially and the relentless maniac that was Collector, the silence and elusiveness of this new enemy was something more unnerving.

–

“…Does it feel a bit chilly to anybody else now?” Everett asked, breathing out.

There had been utter silence for the past half hour they walked through the forest, somehow leading to a lapse in focus as they all came to a stop at the shielder’s question.

“Cold?…” Emilio muttered.

It was when that notion came to his mind that he watched a breath of frost escape his lips. As he turned around, facing the others in the group, they seemed as surprised as him that they were now breathing out cold air.

What was perhaps more startling wasn’t the frost they breathed but the state of the environment itself; the oak trees were clad in a layer of ice and the luscious, green grass was frosted to a snow-white.

“What happened? It was normal just a second ago…right?” Melisande asked, “Yuna?”

The scarf-wearing rogue looked perplexed, holding her hand out as a snowflake trickled down onto her glove, “I…don’t know. I can’t remember the last hour that well.”

“That’s weird…me too,” Everett said, rubbing his own head, “All I can remember is just walking.”

This was a concerning development, stepping from a normal, spring environment one moment and into a frosted forest the next. However, what was more questionable to Emilio was the lapse in memory and what this all meant.

I doubt we randomly walked into a new area…I think there’s a more likely possibility, he thought.

“This might be magecraft,” Emilio guessed.

It was merely conjecture, though with the evidence at hand, it was what stood as most probable to him as he watched droplets of snow trickle down from the branches above.

“Magecraft? Are ya saying…somebody did this?” Everett asked.

“I can’t say that for sure. This is a trial after all–there could be runic contraptions left throughout the valley, but…” Emilio glanced around.

“But?” Melisande looked at him as the snow blended in with her silver tufts.

As he thought about it, with the eyes of his companions on him, he looked around, trying to gauge the situation and if there were any apparent runes he could sense, but there wasn’t.

“From what I can tell, the ones running this trial have been ‘hands-off’ so far, so…I doubt they’d start now,” Emilio said.

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