5 hours had passed since Iye slept.
On a dangling vine, one person and a corpse were forced to tightly embrace each other.
On the one still alive.
"..!!!"
Her eyes wedged right open. Though, because Iye was invisible, no one could really tell.
The first thing she saw was the fading figure of Cale, he was almost completely transparent by now.
Uuunnnnngggg
The bones in her body hummed a tune, she brought Cale closer to her embrace.
Hugging him like how a giant teddy bear would be hugged.
And she fell, her body. As if she wasn't part of the world's spotlight, glitched right through the vines.
Grab!
Grasping onto the branch, the sudden shift in weight made her almost lose Cale to the foggy abyss below.
"Hup!"
She grunted as she raised her body along with Cale a safe distance from falling.
"Shit"
'If I wasn't screwed before, I'm screwed right now'
The situation was utterly devoid of any hope.
Not only did she lose Am who knew where the Tierre Path was.
She was forced into sleeping due to how weak she had been left.
'I have to hurry!'
But she couldn't stop, if she did. She'd die.
Resurrecting Cale was a must, no matter what may happen.
No matter how many limbs she loses.
No manner of dirty tricks would shy away from her vision.
She had to resurrect Cale.
Otherwise, taking her own life may be a better option than letting humiliation taint her name.
"Huff!"
Exhaling a breath, she sprinted.
Faster, and more desperate than ever.
Side effects from the poison lingered still in her system.
But shedding tears for something like that could be saved for later.
Now she had to count on a miracle.
And miracles would only come to those who seek to move with purpose.
*
*
*
"Still though, a Wyrm?"
Famu held a surprised look on his face.
"That thing's rare to find brother!"
A Wyrm inside the Sabe Serotifio was an astonishing find, since in the first place.
"That thing is not even from Goddess's sacred forest!"
It wasn't part of Natura's forest's ecosystem.
An anomaly.
"What is something from 'Erymo' even doing here?"
"Who knows"
Am shrugged. He truly did not know, and there wasn't much of a reason to find out either.
Looking back, he saw the still slightly quivering Tiju follow behind.
"How are you holding up?"
He asked, only then did the sagging head of Tiju raise.
"Fine...."
Timidly answering, Am looked back at the front.
"Don't think about what you experienced"
Famu peeked back occasionally when Am talked to Tiju.
Scornful of his decisions.
'Why the hell is brother so hell-bent on saving this crap?'
They weren't even the same species. It truly did not make sense.
"Think about it when you are in a safe place where danger does not lurk when sleeping"
'What a waste, at least if we ate him, he'd prove with his useless life that he was of some use'
Getting someone who had a traumatic experience on the party was bound to lead to complications.
They would immediately have their mental state probed the moment anything that resembled their trauma appeared.
A true liability to them.
"We are almost there"
The Tierre Path was not far off from here. It was relatively close to them.
"Though we should proceed with caution"
There were many instances where monsters sat in wait at the entrance of the Path, waiting if anyone foolish enough to discard their meticulousness walked into what they thought was their safe haven.
Guoooo!
In the distance, a deafening roar reached them.
'Another Platys?!'
Am, Famu and Tiju stopped their advance.
They could only hope that the monster was far away and didn't sense them by smell.
Tiju's face was shadowed with fear.
His heart sped and revved up.
"Stay here"
"..!"
Famu immediately tried to protest but was stopped when Am held out his arm to him and shook his head.
"Tsk"
Famu clicked his long tongue, some of his spit left through the gaps of his mouth and touched the branch.
Szzzzzz
Seeing it sizzle right before his eyes, Tiju felt frightened about what would happen to him if he was directly injected with this strange acid.
Am ignored the two and wasted no time in jumping off the branch and landing on solid air his insight created.
Jumping away, he looked at what was in front of him.
The air bent itself under his will and turned into a monkey bar just for him.
This was the weakness of Am's insight.
He could only create solid, transparent objects through his line of sight.
What he created but couldn't be seen, would quickly dissipate.
Unless he looked back and tried to maintain it, it would flicker off.
As he dangled from the solid monkey bar in the air, he peered into where the roar came from.
Squinting and squinting in on where the sound came from.
Guooooooo!!!!
A familiar roar came out, the direction now precisely foretold.
Am inched closer to the sound, trying to at least see where exactly it was.
'Is that?'
Dangling from a safe distance, he saw the....roaring, dead bird?
"Wait...this...."
Sensing something off, he tried to leave but.
Drip!
Something cold dripped onto his shoulder at the moment of realization.
His entire body grew cold at what just happened.
Maintaining his insight became a labor.
His pupils quivered at the trap he had unknowingly stumbled on.
'I knew it was smart....but this?'
It was in the realm of ridicule.
A predator with one of the strongest jaws in the forest, sharp claws like the blades blacksmiths put so much effort in, senses that bordered on insanity.
And basic intelligence that could rival the average human.
As Am craned his head up, the image of the Platys camouflaging itself from sight in the thick leaves of the tree burned into his mind, it even suppressed its maternal instincts to kill when prey showed their back to it.
All just to wait for the perfect moment that would show up at least once.
The transparent monkey bar broke apart and gravity began pulling him toward the ground.
And the Platys only watched, riling its body up as if saying 'Not Yet' to its hunger that feasted for a banquet.
It partially took note of and understood Am's ability to a certain extent.
By watching closely.
It knew Am could create solid, transparent objects in the air and what it could be used for.
It didn't know how it was created.
But as it watched and prowled, it understood its weakness.
What could and could not be created.
Relied solely on what could be seen.
Grab!
Grabbing the translucent bar, Am launched himself away.
Creating solid ground, he was about to step onto it, until suddenly—
Thud—!
A giant branch had 'coincidently' fallen, the branch filled Am's vision completely.
Thus destroying the foot hold he had created whilst taking damage from the branch falling onto the platform.
In turn, he fell along with the branch.
A shadow fell onto his body, on instinct he gazed upwards.
The only thing he could see above him.
Was death.
And the Platys was the one to carry it.