Pillar of Yita

She could only say it was lucky the Nightingale wasn’t specialized in Shadow Dance—otherwise the other side would have taken her life already.

Even so, the bloody wound on her right shoulder was left by him—that was the keepsake from his first ambush. That time she only survived because her Shadow Mark had warned her ahead of time—otherwise the wound wouldn’t be on her shoulder but twenty centimeters further to the left, cutting into her throat.

Alice had used Shadow Walk Technique once to escape from close combat, but a Shadow Dancer can only Shadow Walk one hundred and twenty feet in a day; she’d already used half that distance before, and now she only had one more use left.

The wound kept oozing blood, which was bad news for her in two ways—blood loss was draining her strength, and it would also draw the enemy. Even though the Light had gone out and everything around had fallen into darkness, to a Nightingale with such Keenness, darkness itself wasn’t really an obstacle; they could track enemies within a certain range by scent alone.

This was different from the natural keen sense of smell cats and dogs were born with; a Nightingale’s tracking ability came from acquired training—the higher the Level, the stronger the tracking. And that opponent of hers just happened to be anything but low Level.

But she had no time to stop and treat the wound. She could only take out a bandage, clamp one end in her teeth, and use her uninjured hand to tug the gauze back and forth, roughly wrapping it up. It could only stop the bleeding for now, but at the moment she could only take things one step at a time.

What made her even more tense was losing her sense of direction—she still remembered where the Hall of Trees lay before the Light went out; she knew Ade and the others were over there. But that Ranger with the better sense of direction kept forcing her to change course, and after groping around in the dark for a while, Alice no longer knew if she could trust her own instincts.

She could even faintly feel that there was another eye in the darkness, watching her.

She had been through a scene like this before.

She even still remembered that feeling of helplessness from back then—

Alice only learned later who had been standing opposite her at the time; the military told her that person’s name was Kaka, a newcomer in the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team… a mere newcomer had thrown their Rain Listener brigade into chaos.

Still, the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team counted as one of BBK’s first-tier reserve Guilds. Word was BBK already had the strength this year to break into the top ten; the ones about to fall from the altar would be either Silver Forest Crown or the Alliance of Gods, which was ranked ninth.

But Alice suddenly startled, realizing how could she be spacing out at a time like this; her nerves were so strung tight her thoughts were starting to tangle. She shook her head hard, trying to wrench herself out of this straitened state.

And right then, a horrifying chill suddenly rose in her heart.

Without thinking, she dove forward; a sharp shriek tore through the darkness as an arrow shadow swept over her head, shaving off a few strands of hair. The feathered arrow slammed into the trunk of a tree behind her with a dull thud, its fletching still trembling under the tremendous force.

But Alice had no time to look back there.

She understood she was far from out of danger. In that instant she had already confirmed her suspicion—there was a Combat Artisan, and in a flash she knew how she’d been exposed. But her Shadow Mark was completely useless against detection coming from midair; her heart sank a little, feeling she might not get very far.

And just then, Alice saw a flash of snow-bright blade light flare up within her Vision.

The blade thrust forward, as if cutting into a phantom Shadow; the Nightingale Girl dissolved into smoke, melting into the darkness around her—Shadow Walk Technique, this was already the second time she had used that ability.

If she still couldn’t escape their pursuit, then all she could do was close her eyes and wait for death.

The pursuer was clearly a bit vexed, a low curse carried from the distance: ”Annoying Shadow Dancer.” He obviously hadn’t pinned down her position yet and shouted toward the Forest: ”Stop running, you won’t get away anyway, why waste everyone’s time?”

Alice leaned against the back of a tall ash-gray tree, not daring to let out so much as a full breath.

...

Fang Hong and the Big Cat People stopped, the two of them staring at the murmuring river in front of them, trading looks despite themselves. The person they were chasing was quite experienced; abilities like keen scent were most afraid of flowing water. They’d chased all the way here, only to have the trail broken.

The two couldn’t help turning to Miss Scholar coming up behind them. She had lost her glasses and could only grope her way along in the dark to keep up. The Big Cat People had asked if she needed help, but Gita had shaken her head; she had truly tracked them here on her own abilities.

”I can try to use a Spell to find footprints,” Gita squinted at the river in the darkness and answered softly, ”but if he’s walking upstream, then there’s nothing I can do. Magic only enhances our abilities—it can’t conjure something out of nothing.”

”Well, it’s not impossible,” she paused, then added seriously, ”it’s just that I’m not capable of it yet.”

”Then give it a try,” Reed looked across the river and said. ”If it really doesn’t work, we’ll head back and regroup with the others first. The inn side should still have clues, assuming Cuiye can keep an eye on those people.”

The three of them all understood that the moment the Light went out, the enemy had most likely already slipped away.

But just then, Fang Hong suddenly raised a finger, making a hush gesture to the other two in the dark.

He stood at the river’s edge, tilting his head to listen toward one direction, and could faintly hear a sound from somewhere in that part of the Forest. The sound wasn’t loud, half drowned out by the roaring river, but once they fell silent, the three of them could still make out the words:

”Stop running… you… why waste time?”

Without a word, Fang Hong released three Clockwork Fairies, sending them flying that way.

He raised his right hand, watching three heavy threads of Silverlight cross the river’s surface and shoot into the Forest on the far side.

...