PIK...PIK...

The harsh sound of metal cutting into rock came from the sky as the tenacious climber continued on her journey up

'Skyscraper hight I said, yeah right'

This tension climber though was whining in her thoughts as she threw her self up again for what felt like the thousandth time, wondering when this endless cliff would finally show its top

'My sense of proportion must be skewed'

She couldn't help but feel so as she had been climbing this cliff for a total of three hours, covering between one to two meters with each lift, while she did indeed take a few seconds between each one she must have crossed two kilometres already

It wasn't all bad news though since the further up she went the less poison there was in the walls, by this point the black hazy walls turned dark brown, the poison within them incapable of going through her aura which prolonged the life of her weapon, at least until it was chipped by the now harder rocks

She was tired though and cold as well, so she contemplated taking another rest on the handle of the harpoon, weighing the need for rest with the embarrassment that came along each time she sat in that position

Click click click click ....

She wasn't given enough time to decide though as weird noise came from above along with the earth shaking slightly making her sway harder a couple of thousand of meters above the ground

Having felt a similar thing before her face turned serious, tightening her grip on Anput and her feet around her master's she stuck herself to the wall and prepared to let go of the harpoon and free fall in case the worst came to be

A few seconds later her expectations came to be as a dark cloud covered the sky above her, turning her head up she could barely make the figure of a long-tailed insect several meters wide among the large swarm that jumped from the cliff, these insects free dived in the air, seemingly attempting mass suicide, at least until she saw them unfurl their rather large wings midway, flying in the sky and forming a huge dark cloud just like the one she saw to the east and west from the poisonous plain

The swarm kept on spewing from the top like a drink dispenser, their huge numbers cause Ellis to cease her breath momentarily, afraid these winged bugs would discover her

Her worries were unneeded though as they didn't even look toward the cliff's walls, their attention focused on their exciting new journey toward her home, much like every other creature she met thus far

Once the swarm passed overhead the soft glow of the moon peered once again on Ellis's cold face, she reminded motionless for a few seconds before resuming her journey, any thoughts of rest chased away

Twenty minutes later the cliffs slightly protruding edge finally came into sight, giving her the extra boost she needed to push onward even further, finishing this horrendous experience after another twenty minutes, bringing the total time it took her to reach the top to almost four hours

When she was finally at the edge she threw Anput up, then stabbed her harpoon into the flat ground, using her now free hand she adjusted her master so that he was warping his arms around her again, forgoing the need to hold him with her legs and finally giving her the freedom to use her feet

"Hnn~"

Now standing at the edge of the cliff she let out a groan as she stretched her painfully overworked muscles, then looked over the cliff, gazing on the empty dark plains

Looking over it from above, in the dark of the night, one couldn't help but feel immensely small, at least she as a human did, but at the same time she felt pride, pride stemming from her perseverance through this harsh trail

'I wonder if Master would be proud of me'

She found herself hoping as she ended this self-respect moment, picking up Anput and turning around to continue her journey

But the sight that greeted her gave her a momentary shock, her eyes wide in surprise

"....Beautiful"

A forest lay before her, covered in green and blue, its trees twined around each other like lovers from afar, leaves swayed in the cold wind while shining under the moons dim light, reflecting it onto their surroundings, as they moved the light moved with them as if the forest was breathing

Of course, it was beautiful if one ignored the line of destruction and the black rocks that ran through the forest in a straight line

Deciding to steer to the west a bit she avoided the destroyed path and walked into the beautiful forest, enjoying the serene view and fresh cold air, though it was the same air that caused her pain as she climbed she felt blessed to have it now, it was truly one's perspective that changed reality

It didn't take long for the blue light to disappear though as the morning sun finally peeked at the world, giving it it's warm blessings

'Along with the short thirty-minute walk I just had it has been around eighteen hours since Master had feinted'

Almost a day, she was now getting very worried about when he would wake up

'Do I feed him? Is it still necessary for us to eat after levelling up?'

She asked herself but she already knew the answer, her stomach never once shut up about it after all, in fact she felt like she could eat a cow, or two...

'Does it have to be mouth to mouth....wait don't I also have to feed Anput then too?'

Her original shyness about practically kissing YuJu was overcome by her thoughts of having to kiss a dog, she didn't mean any insult to Anput but kissing a dog felt weird even in these absurd times

With her thoughts askew like always she arrived at a small pond without realizing it, the pond was in a moderate-sized clearing and had weird blue flowers that looked like braids flowing in and out of the water, as if they were dancing

Giving the place a slight smile she decided to think about this later and came to the pond instead, she first checked if the flower were normal and not some bloodthirsty flora beasts by cutting off one of the braids, seeing no response she decided it was safe and gently put the two heavy sleepers down

Scooping some of the cold water she splashed her face to feel refreshed, then she drank it slowly, enjoying its clear and pure taste

Woosh!

An arrow went straight toward her Master's sleeping body while she was busy quenching her thirst only for it to be caught by her barehanded

Crack

Snapping the arrow it gave off the sound of bones breaking, when she gave it a look she found that it indeed looked like it was a bone arrow

Woosh! Woosh!

Two more arrows came from different sides this time, which she caught effortlessly

Giving her quiet surroundings a surveying glance she took the harpoon out of the ground and swung it into the air, causing the trees to flutter from the resulting wind, it was her warning to the hidden enemy

Whoosh Woosh Woosh!

Three arrows came at the same second all aiming at either Anput or her master, each one came from a different side, their sharp end met not flesh though but merely the steal of her weapon as she foiled their harming intent

'Fast, faster than my top speed'

She wasting catching the arrows because she was quicker than them but because from the second they came out the trees she noticed them, giving her enough buffer time to react

The sound of arrows wheezing through the wind was heard once more coming from the other side of the pond followed by a few coming at her from the front

She ignored the ones coming from beyond the pond and swirled the shaft of her weapon to interject the close ones, then depending on the harpoons spinning momentum she let it go, it spun around in the air and fell into the first bone arrows trajectory, deflecting it but also getting shoved away only to fall into the second arrows way, when it got pushed by this one it fell back into Ellis's hand

The precise split-second calculations and technique involved in this simple manoeuvre were beyond human reach proving just how much far shed come along

Ting Ting Ting! Ting Ting, Ting Ting Ting!

Bone colliding with metal produced a ringing sound that rhythmically rang in the clearing, much like a melody

"Kigigi kiki!" "Kigigigigi"

Laughter came from the swaying trees, at least that was what it sounded like to Ellis, whichever beast was throwing these arrows was having fun playing with her

As to why she knew they were playing, that's because she noticed the multiple attackers weren't shooting arrows at the same time but gave her a tempo that she could keep up with, otherwise, if all of them shot at her master at once then she would either turn into a porcupine protecting him or maybe have the chance to run away with him and Anput in hand

Ting Teng Ting Ting Ting Ting Teng Ting

The arrows shot kept increasing as the tempo got faster and faster, at some point Ellis started using her defensive stance to keep up with all of them

While it was pretty dangerous a smirk couldn't help but form on her lips, she was honestly having fun dancing around in the forest's clearing while getting used to her new reaction speed, this experience opened up many doors of which she didn't know existed when it came to weapon-wielding

'Kigigi Kigi!" "Kiki Gi!!"

The beasts among the trees were getting more and more existed with their game as they spiked up the speed faster and faster

The sudden increase in tempo gave Ellis a start, she wasn't fast enough to deflect all of them

'No!'

Her body instantly shifted into her counter attack stance, using her earlier deflecting moves to redirect the arrows she could get to toward the ones she couldn't reach in time, thus barely avoiding them hitting her master, barely since one stabbed right next to his ear

In her anger and frustration she sought to take control of the situation quickly, and violently, her response was to hit the very next arrow that came her way back at one of the shadows among the trees that sent that particular arrow landing near her master's ear

"Giiee"

A screech came from the shadows of the tree followed by a deathly silence that overcame the area, all the arrows stopped coming toward her but she didn't feel relieved at all

Inching closer to her master's body she readied herself to plunge down and escape with him and Anput, but first she needed to know which place the arrows were gonna come from

They didn't though, instead, many blue eyes blinked open in the forest, or rather she merely didn't notice them as they had been blending into the leaves previously, only now did she see the hundred pairs of eyes surrounding her

Gulp...

With a hard swallow her body stiffened while her mind raced with every possible escape she could think of, but to no avail, no matter what she did she would turn into a hive today

Crunk, Crunk.....

The sound of bones being dislocated and ground against each other came from all around, signalling that these beasts have become serious

In response Ellis let out her aura, while she knew she was certainly dead she would still fight to the last breath, maybe by some miracle her master would be saved

"Kii" "K!"

The beasts screamed, some falling off the branches while others jumping way in haste, in a matter of seconds her surroundings were cleared of the entire murderous pack

"???"

Her mind was filled with question marks, she couldn't understand for the life of her why they all suddenly ran away, could it be that some strong beasts were passing by and she didn't feel it?

Looking behind her and all around she didn't spot any such beast, perhaps this was their trick then? But they didn't need to trick her with their numbers and ranged attack capability, furthermore, she felt a real fighting intent from them just now

While her mind ran with tons of thoughts per second a feeling of emptiness came from within her, forcing her to turn to her master in haste and spot a look of frustration on it

Throwing all her current thoughts away she hurriedly kneeled next to him and lay his head on her lap, she couldn't wake him like before, but she may be able to provide him with the slightest comfort

'It's hard without you Master...'

She thought, wishing he would wake up as she brushed his hair as if she was brushing away the trouble