She realized she was actually falling. For a brief moment, Elise thought she was floating, but panic set in when she noticed she was descending. She had just been thrown into the air to an extreme height.
Falling from that height was not what she had expected. She could feel the wind around her body, but something was missing. She had jumped from various heights before, as she had been a restless child, yet that usual ticklish feeling in her stomach was absent.
When she decided to check if something was wrong, she noticed a weird feeling in her chest—an unknown Energy. It was not flowing; instead, it felt more like a solid structure inside her body. Was it reinforcing her body? The only logical conclusion was that the Traveler had done something to protect her. Unfortunately, she also noticed it was slowly dissolving.
That missing ticklish feeling slowly returned. It quickly turned into a disturbing sensation, as if all her insides were pressed against her back. She tried to stay calm, but the height she was falling from could not be ignored. She could see the borders of the forest she had just been in, what lay beyond the mountain range, and even a strange curvature at the horizon. It was even more beautiful from up in the sky, but that was the last thing on her mind.
She was falling right back into the giant dust cloud in the middle of the forest. There was no way she would survive that fall, but surprisingly, not knowing exactly where she would land prevented her from fully panicking.
What would have caused that explosion? Did the creator of this Realm change its mind and attack them? While she tried to assess the situation, the dust cloud dispersed from the middle. The rest of it began to be disturbed by forces Elise could not see from that far. What was even going on there?
These disturbances slowly caused the cloud to dissolve, even as new, smaller ones were created at the same time. As it dissolved, Elise saw that the beautiful forest she had just been in was no longer there. A huge, shallow crater lay in its center, and the surrounding trees had been destroyed by the impact. The crater might have been a perfect circle at first, but now a bunch of openings and cracks lined its borders. And in the middle of it all, an intense fight raged with all its fury.
A white figure—Elise assumed it was the Traveler—clashed with an unknown number of black figures. They surrounded him, attacking nonstop from all angles. Every clash created flashes and impacts that destroyed the terrain around them. It all happened at such an insane rate that Elise couldn't even see their movements. They were mere blurry figures to her eyes. Yet, the Energy mass coming from them could be felt even from that height.
Based on the last strong opponent they had fought, these were not as strong individually, but the gap was not huge. Just two of them could probably overwhelm that Demon based on raw power alone. Yet, Elise could not tell exactly how many were rapidly attacking the Traveler from all sides.
As she got closer, a white blur dashed into the air to catch her. Before she could react, she found herself flying toward the edge of the forest at an extreme speed. For a moment, she thought it was all over, but she suddenly slowed down drastically right before hitting the ground. Instead of being squashed to death, she rolled over some bushes and stopped after hitting a tree.
"Stay there and don't even think of interfering. These guys are the real deal," the Traveler's voice filled her head from nowhere.
She quickly got up and checked her body for injuries. She only felt the same Energy structure placed by the Traveler to reinforce her body. Just like last time, it slowly dissolved and disappeared.
She turned toward the sounds of the relentless fight. It was still dusty, but she could identify the blurry Traveler by his white clothes. The disturbances in the dust cloud were caused by his explosive movements or by blocking his opponents' attacks, clearing a wide area around him. In contrast, the black figures left absolutely no trace in the dust cloud.
Their movements made no sound, and their bodies seemed entirely formless. They were like liquid darkness flowing through the dust. Although Elise could not see the details of their movements, focusing on them revealed that their attacks were not limited to melee. Some tried to pin the Traveler down in close quarters, while others harassed him from a distance, frequently switching places.
Their ranged attacks varied from clusters of small explosions to tiny, rapid projectiles Elise could barely see, and complex Energy forms she couldn't even comprehend. They tried everything to create the slightest opening to deal as much damage as possible. Clearly, this was not their first manhunt.
The battle continued in the same relentless rhythm. Elise could only follow the fight through the seemingly unlimited Energy she felt from them. Yet, even with all that Energy, she felt absolutely no intent. They were entirely silent. Focusing on their Energy to keep up with the chaos, she realized something: while she still could not sense any Energy from the Traveler, there was something else. How had she not noticed it before?
It was just a small shift within the chaotic Energy maelstrom. It was not easy to spot with so much happening around it. Perhaps she only felt it because she had grown familiar with it.
A small, stable space moved along with the white blur of the Traveler. It remained undisturbed by the chaotic Energy around it; on the contrary, it only slightly disturbed the surrounding Energy. The outside Energy simply slid along its surface before disappearing into nothingness. Perhaps it was due to Elise's incompetent understanding of Energy, but the space itself seemed like nothing but emptiness.
Energy could not be seen or felt with regular human senses unless converted into something else. This made it even harder to describe, but the thing she felt from the Traveler was just... empty. That was the only thing it resembled.
While focused on this, she noticed the Traveler slowing down or even stumbling after another combination of their attacks. That was the only opening those shadows needed.
It all happened in an instant. The shadows attacked simultaneously to seize the opportunity. But instead of escaping, the Traveler stopped. That was the only time Elise saw him clearly, and only then did she understand what was going on. He had baited them almost perfectly.
His body had returned to its tall and muscular form, riddled with scars, bruises, and holes. A knife was stuck directly into the side of his waist. Various projectiles, like arrows and throwing daggers, stuck out from his entire body. Dark corrosion spread through him from every wound.
Elise couldn't believe what she saw. This was the first time she had seen the Traveler injured to this extent. The only other time she had seen him injured was after he killed the Marw Demon, and that injury had healed almost instantly. Even though the Traveler was restrained by the Bind he made with the God of this Realm, Elise had never imagined seeing him in such a state.
But something was wrong. All the shadows instantly backed off as soon as they noticed this, except one.
Elise saw the wicked smile on the Traveler's face right before he punched the one shadow that couldn't react in time. The shadow burst into pieces as if it were truly made of liquid, splashing across the forest area right next to Elise.
"One down, five to go." The Traveler opened his arms as if inviting them to attack. "BRING IT ON, YOU EDGY BASTARDS!"
They didn't attack right away, probably assessing their situation. Even with all those injuries, the Traveler was a serious threat, appearing no more worn out than usual. After a short pause, they attacked, and their relentless dance resumed.
While they kept fighting, Elise noticed a slight movement to her left. She carefully looked at what had caught her eye, realizing that the parts of the one who had splashed across the forest were moving and coming back together. Elise could only watch as the scattered pieces formed a person trying to get up on all fours. Could she do anything before he fully recovered?
She tried to feel if there was an Energy flow she could disturb to hinder the process, but it was beyond her capabilities. She did not even know how to use her Energy outside her body. As a humanoid figure formed from the gathering pieces, she drew her sword.
The creature wore strange, black full-body armor with a fully closed helmet. The armor was thinner and comprised smaller parts than usual armor, but they were closely integrated to cover every possible area. It featured weird ridges made of different materials, small enough not to disrupt the wearer's natural movements.
The helmet was as weird as the armor. It had no visor, and the front was perfectly oval and solid, making it impossible to discern any facial features. It also featured a bunch of ridges and indents from different materials on the sides and back.
It turned toward Elise as soon as she drew her sword. Reaching behind its waist, a long dagger formed from shadows. After that, Elise didn't even see its movements. Only a flash of darkness passed before her eyes. She tried to raise her guard, but knew it was too late. She thought this was it for her—the end of her journey before it even began.
But then she heard the sound of clashing metal. The dagger was right under her nose, stopped by a small sickle held by an unknown hand.