Columbina had hoped to use her power to let them both land as lightly as a feather.
However, while their falling speed did decrease, it was far from slow enough to guarantee a safe landing.
Seeing the deceleration was far less effective than she'd expected, Columbina began to panic. She increased her energy output, and the red glow on her hair blossomed, its color growing more vibrant. The crimson light dyed their bodies red, making them exceptionally conspicuous in the air.
The wind howled in their ears as the cliff receded rapidly from view. Coppelia knew the danger was not over. She held Columbina tight, twisting her body in mid-air to position her own back towards the ground.
Columbina's power could certainly slow Coppelia down, but the girl who wanted to help had overlooked one problem: Coppelia had already consumed a great deal of power experimenting with the wind current. Most of the energy Columbina was now releasing was being devoured by Coppelia's "hungry" core to recharge itself. It was a charging process that even Coppelia couldn't control.
Feeling a massive surge of energy pour into her core, Coppelia didn't let the opportunity pass. She swiftly redirected it to her back, converting and concentrating it into wind elemental power.
A pushing sensation came from behind her as their descent slowed further. Coppelia twisted her head back, catching a glimpse of the ground out of the corner of her eye to estimate the distance.
Only a little over a hundred meters to the ground.
"Not enough time!" Coppelia stopped creating the wind current and instead used the wind element to gather the air, molding an oblate sphere-shaped air mass beside her and solidifying its shape with the wind element to create an air cushion.
The air cushion carried them as they crashed to the ground. The release of their immense kinetic energy compressed the cushion even flatter, and the wind elemental shell maintaining its shape looked like it was about to burst.
At the critical moment, Coppelia manipulated her power, simultaneously thickening the wind elemental shell while commanding it to contract inward with all its might.
The crushing feeling of deceleration lasted for two seconds. Just as their speed was about to hit zero, Coppelia released the wind element holding the cushion's shape. The bursting air mass threw them several meters away.
Coppelia held onto Columbina and gathered another air mass to envelop them both.
After landing and tumbling a few times, Coppelia extended an arm and hooked it around the trunk of a tree, finally bringing them to a stop.
Coppelia's clothes were only slightly dirty. Columbina remained spotless.
Columbina pushed herself up from Coppelia's embrace and sat beside her, the glowing strands of her hair now dull and lightless. Releasing so much power at once had taken its toll on her.
Coppelia also got up, patted the dust off her clothes, and checked her core. During the fall, the core had absorbed a considerable amount of energy from Columbina and was now back to its full capacity.
"I thought I could do it..." the weary girl said apologetically, clutching her dress with both hands. "I'm sorry."
Her body tensed up as if bracing against some dreadful, impending thing.
"It's not your fault. Look—" Coppelia raised her arms and spun around in place. "Didn't we land safely?"
"But that was because of your power, I didn't..."
Before she could finish, Coppelia knelt down on one knee, reaching out to take the girl's tightly clenched hands in her own.
She brought herself level with Columbina and asked with a smile, "My power certainly played a part, but think carefully, where did my power come from?"
Columbina carefully recalled the process of their fall, recalling the changes in her power. Her brow quickly unfurrowed, and her tense body relaxed. She asked, "My power was useful, wasn't it?"
"Of course it was." Seeing Columbina relax, Coppelia felt relieved as well. She continued, "But next time you want to help, remember to ask 'Do you need help?' first, okay?"
"Okay."
"That's right. So then..."
Coppelia stood up, pointed to Columbina's rumbling stomach, and asked:
"Do you need help?"
...
Coppelia carried the weakened Columbina on her back, walking along the outer edge of the valley in search of a place that could serve as a shelter.
They found several caves. However, the insides were filled with the excrement of wild animals, reeking of a foul stench. Numerous tracks, which looked like they belonged to wild boars, were scattered around the cave entrances.
In the end, all they found was a boulder as tall as three people. The boulder leaned against a rock wall, and the gap underneath was large enough for two people to rest.
Numerous pine trees grew around the shelter. Coppelia gathered a large bundle of pine branches, laying the fresh ones on the ground to make a simple bed and piling the dry ones nearby as fuel for a fire.
"I'm going to find you something to eat. You stay right here and don't move. If the fire starts to die down, just toss a few more sticks in. If any wild animals or monsters show up, find a safe place to hide..." Coppelia instructed carefully before heading out.
Gusts of cold wind swept through the valley, carrying fine snow dust that sprinkled over the vast pine forest. The wind also shook the thick snow piled on the pine needles, which fell onto the soft yet resilient gray-green moss growing on the ground.
Coppelia headed through the wind and snow toward the lake in the center of the valley. It was always easier to find food near water. Along the way, she kept a vigilant watch on her surroundings for any potentially dangerous creatures.
She discovered traces of animal activity on the pine forest floor. The ground, which should have been covered by moss and pine needles, had been deliberately dug up into pits, revealing overturned turf. Black mud mixed with white snow, leaving the ground in a complete mess.
A few coarse, thick hairs and a mess of footprints left on the ground indicated that a herd of wild boars had seemingly plowed through this area.
"More boars." Coppelia recalled finding signs of boar activity in several caves while searching for a shelter. "Maybe we'll have that for dinner tonight."
It wasn't snowing at the moment, but distinguishing hidden objects in the vast expanse of white snow was quite difficult. Coppelia waited for the sound of the wind to gradually die down, then perked up her ears to listen for any sounds coming from the land.
Her sensitive ears did indeed pick up some information: grunting sounds, the dull thud of footsteps on snow, the rustling of fur...
Following the sounds, she saw a group of black dots moving slowly at the edge of the woods in the distance, about fifty meters away from her. Upon closer inspection, it was indeed a herd of wild boars searching for something. The black dots were the black fur on their heads and four legs; the rest of their bodies were covered in grayish-white fur.
Their mottled black, white, and gray fur served as effective camouflage, allowing them to blend almost perfectly into the snowy world.
Coppelia crouched down and tried to get closer, picking up a stone and preparing to throw it.
By now, the wind had completely fallen silent, and stillness enveloped everything. She was careful enough not to make a single sound. Yet, the herd of boars somehow heard something, got spooked, and scattered in all directions.
The hunt had failed. Coppelia decisively gave up the chase and continued toward the center of the valley.
Along the way, she spotted four more herds of boars. Including the first one she found, each herd varied in size, ranging from seven to eighteen individuals.
Coppelia also discovered a significant number of plots of land that had been "plowed" by the boars. The density of plants around these areas was visibly sparser.
Coppelia deduced intuitively, "The five herds I've encountered must be completely different groups. At this rate, there are far too many of them. It's practically a wild boar kingdom. They've clearly caused considerable damage to the local environment."
"No wonder I can't find anything to eat. The pigs have probably gobbled everything up."
"Wait," Coppelia looked back toward the camp, a sense of worry creeping in. "With so many boars, could they wander into the camp? Columbina is still hungry, can she handle them?"
"These boars are very wary. The slightest noise sends them running. There's a fire burning at the camp, so they probably won't get too close."
"No, no, it's still too dangerous. Columbina can't control her power for combat yet. Currently, she can only transfer her power to me, which this body can then convert into the seven elemental powers to be effective offensively. Right now, Columbina probably couldn't even beat a single wild boar."
"Even though I haven't found any food, and she probably won't get to eat her fill today, going hungry is better than getting hurt."
Empty-handed, Coppelia immediately started back to the camp. By the time she arrived, the sky had already darkened, and what she had feared had happened.
Columbina was sitting on the snow about ten meters away from the camp, hiding behind a tree with her arms wrapped around her knees. When she saw Coppelia return, she raised a hand and pointed at the camp behind her, trying to say something, but she was too hungry and weak to utter a single word.
Coppelia walked around the tree to look at the camp, and the bizarre scene before her made her doubt her own eyes.
Five wild boars surrounded the bonfire, lazing about beside it, occasionally rolling over. Another two boars were picking up the firewood she had gathered, carrying it in their mouths and tossing it into the fire piece by piece.
___
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