She was falling. For a brief moment, Elise thought that she was floating at first, but then she realized in panic that she was starting to descend. She had just been thrown into the air to an extremely high height.
Falling from that height was not what she expected. She could feel the wind around her body, but something was missing. She had jumped from various heights before, since she was a restless child, and that usual ticklish feeling in the stomach was not there right now.
When she decided to check if something was wrong, she noticed a weird feeling in her chest. An unknown Energy inside her. It was not flowing and felt more like a solid structure inside her body. Was that reinforcing her body? The only logical conclusion was that the Traveler must have done something to protect her. But unfortunately, she also noticed it was slowly dissolving.
That missing ticklish feeling slowly came back. It quickly turned into a disturbing feeling like all her insides were stuck at the back of her body. She tried to stay calm, but the height she was falling was not something to be ignored. She could see the borders of the forest she was just inside, and what lies ahead of the mountain range. It was even more beautiful from up in the sky, but it was the last thing she could think of right now.
She was falling right back into the giant dust cloud in the middle of the forest. There was no way she would live after that fall, but not knowing where she was about to land was preventing her from falling into panic, surprisingly. What would have caused that explosion? Did the creator of this Realm change its mind and attack them?
While she was trying to assess the situation, the dust cloud dispersed from the middle of it. Then the rest of it started to get disturbed by some forces that Elise could not see from that far. What was even going on there?
Those disturbances in the cloud slowly caused it to dissolve, even though some new, smaller ones were created at the same time. As it dissolved, Elise saw that the beautiful forest she was just in was no longer there. There was a huge, but shallow crater in the middle of it, and the trees around the area were destroyed from the impact. Maybe the crater was a perfect circle at first, but now there were a bunch of openings and cracks around its borders. And in the middle of all that, an intense fight was going on with all its fury.
A white figure, Elise assumed it was the Traveler, was clashing with an unknown number of black figures. They had surrounded him and were attacking nonstop from all angles. Every clash was creating flashes and impacts that destroyed the terrain around them. It was all happening at an insane rate that Elise couldn't even see their movements. They were just blurry figures for her eyes. But the Energy emitted from them could be felt even from that height.
Based on the last strong opponent they fought, these were not as strong individually, but there was not a huge gap either. Probably two of them could overwhelm that demon from before based on raw power. But Elise could not understand how many of them were there, rapidly attacking the Traveler from all around.
When she got close, a white blur dashed into the air to catch her. Before she could do anything, she found herself flying down to the edge of the forest at an extreme speed. Just for a moment, she thought it was all over for her, but she suddenly slowed down drastically right before she was about to hit the ground. Instead of squashing to death, she just rolled over some bushes and plants and stopped by 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. She quickly got up and checked her body for any injuries. She only felt the same Energy structure for reinforcing her body, placed by the Traveler. Just like last time, it slowly dissolved and disappeared.
She turned to the sounds of the relentless fight. It was still dusty, but she could see the blurry Traveler clearly. The disturbances in the dust cloud were caused by his explosive movements or by blocking his opponent's attacks, clearing out a wide area around him. On the contrary, the black figures were not leaving any trace in the dust cloud.
Their movements had no sound, and their bodies seemed not to have any form. They were like liquid darkness, flowing inside the dust. Even though Elise could not see the details of their movements, when she tried to focus on them, she realized their attacks were not limited to melee. Some were trying to pin the Traveler down in melee, while the others were harassing him from a distance, and they were switching places frequently. Their ranged attacks varied between clusters of small explosions, to tiny, rapid projectiles Elise could barely see, to complex Energy forms she couldn't even comprehend. They were trying everything to create even the slightest of openings to deal as much damage. Clearly, this was not their first manhunt.
The battle went on in the same relentless rhythm for a while. Elise could only follow what was going on from the seemingly unlimited Energy she was feeling from them. But even with all that Energy, Elise did not feel any intent coming from them. They were all so silent. While she focused on their Energy to keep up with what was going on, she realized something: she still could not sense any Energy from the Traveler, but there was something else. How had she not noticed it before?
It was just a small change inside that chaotic Energy maelstrom. It was not easy to spot while so many things were going on around it. Maybe she felt it because she got familiar with it. There was a small, stable space moving along with the white blur of the Traveler. It was not being disturbed by all that chaotic Energy around; on the contrary, it was disturbing the Energy around it. The Energy outside of it was just sliding along its surface, almost like it was avoiding it. Maybe it was about Elise and her incompetent understanding of Energy, but that space itself seemed nothing but an emptiness.
Energy was not something that could be seen or felt with regular human senses when it was not converted to anything else. That was making it harder to even describe, but that thing she felt from the Traveler was just... empty. That was the only thing it resembled.
While she was focused on that, she also noticed the Traveler slowed down or even stumbled after another combination of their attacks. That was the only thing those shadows needed.
It all happened in an instant. All shadows attacked at once to make use of that 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 gone back to his tall and muscular form, and it was full of scars, bruises, and holes. There was a knife stuck right at the side of his waist. Various projectiles like arrows and throwing daggers were sticking out of his whole body. Dark corrosions were spreading through his body from every wound.
Elise couldn't believe what she saw. This was the first time she saw the Traveler injured to this extent. The only time she saw him injured was after he killed that Marw Demon when he was infusing himself with an unreasonable amount of Energy. His injury had healed almost in an instant after that. Even though the Traveler was restrained by the pact he made with the God of this Realm, Elise never imagined seeing him in that kind of state.
Of course, all the shadows backed off in an instant just as soon as they noticed something was not right, except one.
Elise saw the wicked smile on his face right before he punched that one shadow who couldn't react in time. The shadow burst into pieces like it was really made out of liquid, and splashed on the forest area right next to Elise.
"One down, five to go." The Traveler opened his arms like he was 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, and he did not seem to be any worn out than usual. After a short pause, they attacked again, and their relentless dance started once again.
While they were kept going, Elise noticed a slight movement on her left. She carefully tried to see what caught her eye and saw that the parts of the one who splashed all over the forest were moving and getting back together. Elise could only watch while all the scattered pieces formed a person who was trying to get up on all fours. Could she even do something before he fully recovered?
She tried to feel if there was an Energy flow that she could disturb and hinder the process, but it was beyond her capabilities. She did not even know how to use her Energy outside of her body. While a human -she assumed it was a human cause with two legs and two arms, but who knew- was formed out of gathering pieces, she drew her sword.
The creature was wearing a strange, black full-body armor with a fully closed helmet. The armor was thinner and had smaller but more parts that were closely integrated than the usual full-body armors Elise had seen. It had a bunch of weird ridges, made of different materials, small enough not to disrupt the natural movements of the wearer.
The helmet was as weird as the armor. It had no visor to see, and the front of it was perfectly oval, making it impossible to understand any facial features. There was again a bunch of ridges and indents from different materials on the sides and the back.
They turned toward Elise as soon as she drew her sword. They reached the back of their waist, and a long dagger formed from shadows. After that, Elise didn't even see their movements. Only a flash of darkness passed through her eyes. She tried to raise her guard, but she knew it was too late. She thought this was it for her. The end of her journey, before it even began.
But then she her a sound. The sound of the clashing metal. The dagger was right under her nose and had stopped by a small sickle held by an unknown hand.