Carrying Lin Gui on her back, Elvia stumbled and ran through the forest.
Beneath her feet were gravel and dead branches that crunched with every step, threatening to sprain her ankle at any moment.
She didn't dare to stop.
But she didn't know where to run, either.
Darkness surrounded her on all sides.
There were no paths.
There was no direction.
There were no landmarks.
Only the twisted shadows of trees and the occasional distant roars of demons.
Every roar made her heart squeeze in terror.
She had never truly traversed the wilderness alone.
In the past, whenever she traveled, she was always accompanied by an entire knight order.
Silver-armored knights would clear the path, Gold Rank adventure groups would guard her, and logistics staff would handle camping and cooking.
All she had to do was sit in her carriage and wait to arrive at her destination.
The wilderness?
That was merely scenery.
It was a distant, irrelevant landscape she would only glance at through parted carriage curtains as she passed by.
But now...
She carried Lin Gui on her back, panting heavily as sweat and dirt caked her face.
She looked down at the bundle slung across her chest.
Plant ash.
Dry rations.
Herbs.
Spices.
These were the things Lin Gui had pulled out before he passed out.
What had he said back then?
Plant ash... to mask the smell of blood...
Herbs... apply to the wounds...
Spices... scatter around... to ward off Low Rank magical beasts...
Don't light a fire...
Don't make a sound...
Wait for him... wait for him to wake up...
Elvia racked her brain, trying desperately to remember.
Those words swirled in her mind, tangled like a ball of yarn.
She had been completely dazed at the time.
Seeing Lin Gui fall from such a height, covered in blood with broken bones, collapsing unconscious onto the ground...
Her mind had gone completely blank.
She had heard his words.
But how much of it had actually registered?
How much did she remember?
What was the plant ash for again?
Masking the smell of blood?
How was she supposed to mask it?
Just throw it on?
Or smear it over their bodies?
And what about the herbs?
Apply them to the wounds. But which ones were meant for wounds?
Out of the pile Lin Gui had pulled out—leaves, roots, and dried grass—she didn't recognize a single one.
And what were the spices?
Scattering them around could ward off magical beasts?
What kind of spices?
How should she scatter them?
How much?
Countless questions flashed through Elvia's mind.
She recalled the adventurers from before.
Those seasoned veterans who had survived the wilderness and ended up serving under her.
When they drank, they loved to boast about their experiences in the wild.
Stuff like, “If you run into a pack of magical wolves, run north, never south.”
Or, “Never light a fire at night, and use plant ash to cover the smell of blood.”
Or, “This grass stops bleeding, and that root relieves pain.”
Had she listened back then?
She had.
But what was she doing while listening?
Sipping red wine.
Thinking about which dress to wear tomorrow.
Plotting how to squeeze more commission out of those adventurers.
Now...
Now, she wanted nothing more than to strangle her past self.
All of those things, those crucial matters of life and death, she had treated as mere background noise.
Elvia grit her teeth and kept running forward.
As she ran, another question surfaced in her mind.
How did they get out?
From the Withered Rift.
From the encirclement of so many demons.
From the very awakening site of that Demigod demon.
How on earth had they escaped?
She remembered a white light.
A blinding, all-consuming white light.
And then, they had appeared here.
Where was this?
She had no idea.
But at least...
She glanced back toward the south.
That darkness was still there.
But it didn't seem as close anymore?
Had they escaped the radiation zone of the Dark Tide?
Lin Gui had said they were “out of the radiation zone.”
How did he know?
Could that sort of thing even be seen with the naked eye?
Furthermore...
A thousand kilometers.
At least a thousand kilometers.
The straight-line distance from the Carter Royal Capital to the northern borderlands was easily over a thousand kilometers.
What kind of magic could instantaneously teleport someone a thousand kilometers?
It was absolutely unheard of.
Elvia's mind was in utter chaos.
Right then...
Roar!!!
A roar suddenly echoed from behind her to the side.
The sound was terrifyingly close.
So close that all the hairs on Elvia's body stood on end.
She whipped her head around.
A figure emerged from the darkness.
It was a demon.
It was humanoid, but hunched over on all fours like a beast.
Its head resembled a dog's, but its mouth was packed with outward-curving fangs.
Its eyes...
Blood-red.
A frenzied, crimson red.
Those eyes were locked onto her.
Locked onto the blood-soaked man on her back.
Elvia's mind cleared instantly.
She squatted down abruptly and set Lin Gui on the ground.
Then, grabbing the plant ash from the bundle, she threw handful after handful over herself and Lin Gui.
The grayish-white powder caked their bodies, faces, and wounds.
It choked her, nearly making her cough.
But she covered her mouth tightly.
The demon moved.
It took a few steps forward.
Its snout twitched, sniffing the air for any scent.
Elvia held her breath.
She stared unblinkingly at those blood-red eyes.
The madness in those eyes made her scalp tingle.
It was the distinct madness of demons caught within the Dark Tide's radiation zone.
A madness that sought only to slaughter, destroy, and tear every living thing to shreds.
Its presence meant...
The Dark Tide was catching up.
Damn it.
Damn it, damn it, damn it!
Her worst fear had come true.
The direction the Dark Tide was moving was the exact same direction she was fleeing.
It was spreading north.
It was chasing her.
And she couldn't even see the so-called radiation zone.
She didn't know where it was.
She didn't know how far it was from her.
She didn't know when it would overtake her.
What should she do?
What should she do, what should she do, what should she do?
Elvia's mind went completely blank.
She looked down at Lin Gui.
He was still unconscious.
His pale face was covered in blood and plant ash.
He wasn't going to wake up.
No one could help her.
No one could tell her what to do.
She was all alone.
In this godforsaken wilderness.
Carrying this damned fool on her back.
Facing the encroaching Dark Tide.
What should she do?
Right then...
A voice suddenly echoed in her mind.
“Run east.”
Elvia's body froze instantly.
The voice didn't come from her ears; it resounded directly inside her head.
Fear welled up like ice water from her spine.
She didn't dare make a sound.
She didn't dare move.
She didn't dare breathe.
That demon was still nearby.
Those blood-red eyes in the dark could look back over at any moment.
She grit her teeth, forcing herself to remain silent.
But the voice spoke again.
“If you don't want to die, run east.”
It was a woman's voice.
Calm, detached.
Elvia's heart pounded wildly.
Who was it? Why?
But in the next second, her thoughts ground to a halt.
“If you keep going north, you will be overtaken by the Dark Tide. If you are caught, you will die.”
“It doesn't matter if you die, but he cannot.”
Him.
Lin Gui.
This voice knew Lin Gui.
Countless possibilities flashed through Elvia's mind, but she had no time to ponder.
She had no other choice.
In the darkness, those blood-red eyes were still wandering not far away.
Elvia grit her teeth.
She squatted down and hoisted Lin Gui onto her back once more.
Then, she turned her head and looked toward the east.
It was a stretch of even deeper darkness.
But she did not hesitate.
She broke into a run, heading straight in that direction.
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