Tivana vanished into the darkness of the night. Now only the two of them remained in the Forest of a Thousand Deaths.
"Are you sure you want to cooperate with her? We only met Tivana a few minutes ago." Keira hissed anxiously.
Zevaron turned around, "I'm sure she can be trusted." Zevaron stated firmly.
Keira's eyebrows furrowed, "Why?"
"She made a blood covenant with you." Zevaron answered.
"What does that have to do with me?" Keira asked.
"When making the blood covenant with you, she said 'I will speak all the truth that I know', which means she was telling the truth earlier."
Keira's right hand clenched into a fist, then struck against her open left palm at stomach height. "Oh, so that's how it is."
"Oh right, Keira, don't show yourself to outsiders. If they know your condition—that you're still alive—you'll be suspected," Tivana's voice suddenly echoed in Keira's head, "and perhaps you'll be dissected by those crazy people." Tivana blurted out flatly.
Keira froze on the spot. Cold sweat drenched her face. She swallowed her saliva hard.
Her goosebumps stood on end, her hands rubbing the skin of her own arms.
NO! DON'T LET THEM USE DISSECTION METHODS WITH INSECTS. Keira screamed in her heart.
Zevaron tilted his head, "What's wrong? Why are you acting weird?"
Keira smiled stiffly, "It's nothing."
Zevaron raised one eyebrow, "You might be able to lie to others, but you can't lie to me."
"But if you don't want to say it, I won't force you," Zevaron turned back then waved his right hand, "see you again, Keira." He walked away.
"Hey wait, I'm coming with you." An instant later, Keira was already beside Zevaron.
Keira looked at Zevaron beside her left, "So where are we going?"
"We are going to—" before Zevaron could finish his words—a massive explosion occurred.
Zevaron and Keira looked at each other, then nodded at the same time. They ran, tracing the source of the sound.
Once close to the source of the sound, they immediately hid behind the bushes. Both of their eyes peeked through the gaps between the shrubbery.
A few meters from them, two men were fighting. Their speed was extremely high; only when they stood still to look at each other for a moment did Zevaron and Keira see their figures: one man aged around forty with a scar on his face, and one man aged around twenty were fighting.
The gazes of both adult men suddenly shifted toward where Zevaron and Keira were hiding. Their gazes were sharp, carrying an intimidating aura.
Zevaron's and Keira's goosebumps stood on end, sweat flowing and drenching their entire faces.
"Run." Zevaron said quickly, yet his voice was nearly swallowed by the night wind.
Zevaron and Keira jumped backward; while floating in the air, their bodies turned, and after landing on the ground, the two of them immediately ran at full speed.
Keira looked back; Zevaron was left dozens of meters behind her. She stopped running, and when Zevaron was within her reach—Keira's right hand grabbed Zevaron's wrist.
"Open ruins." a soft voice was heard from the darkness.
That voice was not around Zevaron, but from a far away place....
Before Keira had time to run, suddenly cracks spread from the ground she was standing on; the sound of cracking earth echoed in Zevaron's and Keira's ears.
The ground they stood on collapsed. Keira bent her legs—preparing to jump using the small foothold that was still beneath her feet.
Zevaron's right hand pulled Keira's right hand that was gripping his wrist.
Keira abandoned her intention. Her legs returned to their initial standing position.
Zevaron's hand embraced Keira's head to his chest as the two of them slid downward.
They were now below the ground surface. The ground that was previously cracked and collapsed began to return to how it was before.
The man aged in his twenties laughed, "A deer considers a tiger a threat, while an ant doesn't consider a tiger a threat even when it's already near the tiger's mouth."
Inside the darkness of the ruins, Zevaron and Keira were still falling in a horizontal position—Keira twisted, positioning herself below Zevaron. "Let me be on the bottom; my body is now much stronger than yours, so I can definitely withstand the impact."
Even though Keira could not see in the darkness, through air resistance she could tell which was up and which was down.
Keira's body struck the ground hard; the sound of bone colliding with a solid object echoed directly inside both of their skulls.
Their lungs were squeezed instantly. All the air inside was forced out in one hard, agonizing breath.
Zevaron's body was on top of Keira, his left hand still holding Keira's head. When he looked down to check Keira's condition—what he saw was Keira unmoving with her eyes closed.
Zevaron's pupils shrank for a fraction of a second before returning to normal after Keira's eyes opened again, "I'm fine." she said casually. "I only closed my eyes so my eyes wouldn't get poked by your clothes."
Zevaron let out a sigh of relief.
Zevaron gently pulled his arm from under Keira's head. Zevaron stood up, and as he stood, crystals on the stone wall lit up brightly, illuminating the area around them.
Zevaron extended his right hand to Keira.
Keira took that hand, and then Keira was pulled by Zevaron to help her stand up.
As they looked around, a long stone hallway stretched before them, about four meters wide and four meters high.
The stones constructing the hallway appeared ordinary, yet when Keira and Zevaron struck the stone surface—there was no crack at all; instead, it was their bodies that ached after hitting the stone.
Zevaron narrowed his eyes, "This stone doesn't shatter even after landing on it from dozens of meters." Zevaron muttered.
Although Zevaron's and Keira's bodies were not the absolute strongest in the world, among the young geniuses of the same generation on the continent of Humb, it could be said that their bodies were currently the strongest.
"Oh, Zevaron and Keira." a familiar voice resounded.
A figure of a woman suddenly appeared in front of them; the next second, Zevaron's and Keira's hair and clothes fluttered backward, blown by the strong wind created from the woman's movement speed.