Edward had an agitated night, he dreamed that he was pursued by zombies and that he had to run and climb buildings to escape from them. That nightmare is definitely the fault of those Teleportcrows. Being purchased is really a bad feeling. I wish I had a power with an area of attack. This way I wouldn’t have to run away, be it Teleportcrows or zombies I would be able to slay them all. Though teleporting is nice too, I bet they didn’t expect that I would teleport above them when they saw me falling. Somehow, I feel like this trick will be useful in the future.

He harvested some mushrooms for breakfast, once more noticing their decreasing number. I have to make a decision today. I won’t be able to sustain like that for very long. I need to either go back to the village, crossing through the Bloodmaws-infested ruins, or find another source of food. The ruins in Oshle Tirion are dangerous but so is this forest right now. If there are these many Teleportcrows just at the edge of the forest, I won’t be able to explore it. I could still go inside during the day when there are no monsters, but that won’t lead me anywhere. I need to kill monsters to grow stronger.

During the day, the forest is safe but there are no monsters either. Well, there are some acid beetles but they are too deep inside, if I go over there, I won’t be able to leave the forest before the night. I guess my exploration is at a stopping point. I can’t go exploring at night, and if I want to go deeper inside during the day, I won't be able to come back before the night. so that means I would need to have another safe place to spend the night inside the woods. I can’t go further away than one day of travel from my base. That sucks.

I wanted to improve my skills before risking going through Oshle Tirion, I think I have managed this objective. I won’t be able to improve my skills further in the short term. And since I don’t have much food either, I only have one choice, I need to risk it and go back to the village. I hope they will accept me back, they must think that I’m dead by now. It has been what, three weeks? At least I will be able to bring closure to the villagers who lost a loved one. Having someone close to you disappear, not knowing if they are dead or alive must be the worst.

I need to prepare, it will be quick I don’t have many things with me, but I need to at least have a stock of food for a few days. Should I take the two books about auras with me? They could have some value, but I’m the only one who is able to read them since they are written in the Damkinan language. Forget it, it’s better to leave them here, I could lose them or they could get damaged in a fight. Moreover, I don’t know how rare they are, if they are rare but still not too uncommon, I could sell them to a specialist. But if they are very rarely found and have a lot of value, it could bring me trouble instead. I’m an awaken but there are other levels above me, I don’t want to paint a target on my back.

After I cross the ruins, I will also need to go through the forest. By now, even if I encounter a pack of black wolves, I should be fine. However, I don’t think I can prevail against a regal wolf, nor against whatever creature made it flee away. It will be safer if I can go through the forest during the day. This means I may have to wait for the day while staying in the ruins.

I hope those beasts didn’t destroy all the doors. The door to the library was closed when the power shut down. Since I can now teleport behind walls, I should be safe once I teleport behind it, at least if I don't get spotted. And if I do get spotted, it will give a few moments of delay before I have to run for my life.

Edward waited for the middle of the night before risking himself in the ruins, back then the expedition had taken one day of travel to reach the ruins from the path in the forest. This way, even if he wasn’t able to find a secure location to stay in the ruins, he would be able to flee to the forest during the day or at the end of the night. He hadn’t had to explore that long in the ruins before finding the teleportation mural. He shouldn’t take that much time to cross them back, the main risk was him getting spotted by the Bloodmaws and having to enter a race to save himself.

He stopped in front of the teleportation mural. He looked behind him one last time, seeing the name of this place, Shele Nalore, before taking a deep breath and pressing his hand against the fresco. Once more, he felt something being drained from him, before being surrounded by kaleidoscopic lights and appearing in Oshle Tirion. This time he was able to cope better with the teleportation, he was stronger than before and he could teleport himself too, which allowed him to land on his feet instead of crashing on the floor. Uggh, I will never get used to this. I never get those kinds of light when I’m teleporting. How far is this place from Shele Nalore exactly?

He looked around him and stopped his breathing, he immediately suppressed his aura. There was a Bloodmaw currently resting only a few meters from him. It was staying here with its head resting on its front paws, its chest slowly rising and falling. It was blocking most of the corridor with its sheer size. With how many of those things are in there I guess it’s not a surprise that I’m meeting one when I barely reached this place. After seeing the Bloodmaw, he also noticed human bones remain inside the room. He gritted his teeth, struggling to control his aura, anger seething inside of him.

Adrien…I will avenge you…soon…very soon. Once I leave these ruins, I will come back to kill all of those beasts, one by one until the last of them. I won’t let your death be in vain. Once this is done, I will take your remains and dig you a proper tomb, so that you can rest in peace. Edward shook his head to refocus on the present, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself. He had to concentrate, anger wouldn’t help him right now, he needed to stay discreet. He couldn’t fight all of those monsters head-on.

Near Adrien’s remains, he also noticed a dagger just like his, it was the second dagger that he had lent to him. Edward bent to pick it up. You were right, at our level back then, those weapons weren’t enough to fight with those monsters. But now that I am an awaken this is another story. The dagger set was complete again, the daggers had never meant to be used separately in the first place. They were designed so that the holder could close his fist around the dagger, the blade an extension of one’s fist. Fighting with only one dagger, was like fighting with one arm tied behind your back.

Since the monster at the entrance of the corridor was too big, Edward didn’t have much space to go around him. To avoid disturbing it, he chose to teleport past it. He looked behind him, the Bloodmaw was still resting, not reacting to the teleportation. Good. Edward thought before continuing onward. Right now, he was in a corridor with a different set of stairs leading further down inside the ruins. There weren’t other Bloodmaws inside the corridor for now. Edward advanced with a jogging pace. He was exposed in the corridor and there were no rooms to hide in, he wanted to spend the least amount of time possible here. He didn’t want to make too much noise either, so he refrained from breaking in a full speed.

It would be better once he reached the next corridor with different rooms on the sides, he wouldn’t even have to open the doors, being able to teleport directly inside. But before that, there was this corridor and also the bridge to cross over…This would be the most dangerous part. While he was thinking about what would come next, he spotted another Bloodmaw further away in the corridor. This one was awake and jerked his head towards Edward, noticing his presence. Before the Bloodmaw had the time to react further, Edward teleported on a set of stairs that he had just gone past. The stairs were perpendicular to the corridor, so he was now out of sight from the Bloodmaw.

Shit, I think it saw me. The Bloodmaw shook its head in a confused manner, trying to understand where the shape he saw one second ago had disappeared. He approached closer to investigate this strange phenomenon. As he was getting nearby, Edward was able to sense it with his aura senses. Okay, at least it didn’t roar yet. It still seems more confused than anything else. Edward waited for the Bloodmaw to go as close as possible without being seen. Ten meters…eight meters…three meters. Let’s go!

Since the Bloodmaw was less than ten meters away, Edward was able to teleport behind it without being noticed. Instead of running, he teleported a few more times until he reached the next set of stairs that would hide him from the corridor. He checked on the monster with his aura perception, watching it turning in circles wondering where Edward had gone. After a few moments, the monster chose to give up, and to continue on his way, moving away from Edward’s hiding place. Phew, that was close. I didn’t go far, but I already encountered two of them, but with all of their numbers, it’s not that surprising. The ruins must also continue deeper, otherwise, this corridor would be packed with them.

Edward continued his progression in the corridor with the same method, occasionally hiding in the stairs to avoid a Bloodmaw standing in the way. This corridor was quite long, he hadn’t spent much time in it when he had fled with Adrien, but that was because they were running as fast as they could. He was able to progress for a good length of the corridor this way, avoiding the lone Bloodmaws standing in his way.

As there was once more a Bloodmaw in the aisle, Edward teleported to the nearest stairs that he had passed by. Waiting for the monster to come close enough so he could teleport behind it. This is more difficult than I expected. I’m lucky that I got this teleportation power, there is no way I would have been able to sneak past them otherwise.

Once the monster was nearby, he once more teleported behind it to scurry to the next stairs, on the way to hide. When he was about to reach the stairs, he noticed with his aura another Bloodmaw coming from this direction. Edward froze. Jesus! I almost teleported right in front of it by reflex. He took a glance behind him. The other monster was already turning in his direction. Shit, my infiltration is busted. There is nothing to do but to run now. He teleported after the stairs junction to avoid the Bloodmaw coming in from the stairs and then sprinted as fast as possible.

He kept his teleportation in reserve for now. He had a slight delay between each teleportation and he preferred to save it to avoid an attack rather than to gain a few meters of lead. Especially when other Bloodmaws would perhaps come from the front too. The Bloodmaw in the aisle, behind me, had finally turned, and roared in anger, realizing that it hadn’t dreamed and that the prey he had seen earlier was trying to escape. His roar was answered by countless more, coming from everywhere in the ruins. Here it comes. I have a feeling of Deja Vue though.