Stray

It was getting dark.

Night is usually the most dangerous time in the Frontier Forest. But after the baptism of Worm and Pandora, Nemo has lost the concept of "dangerous". Whenever he thought the situation could not get any worse, fate always gave him a new surprise. Less than a week after he left his old life, he had almost forgotten the concept of "normal".

The ice shield that Oliver erected was still standing strong, emitting bursts of cold air. Nemo peeked out from the gap between the ice cracks - the demons who had just fallen into madness because of the flesh and blood of the superior demons did not disperse. They start bumping into each other, tearing at each other, trying to devour their enemies for some extra flesh. The night was getting darker, and the scattered corpses and blood seemed to be just dull shadows, giving people the illusion of safety.

Unfortunately, battles in reality never pick a suitable time to end. It comes with misfortune, and the target's exhaustion, fear, or pain doesn't slow them down.

There are still sparse demons marching to the place where Pandora was once, hoping to pick up some leftovers. They weren't so anxious this time. From time to time, lanky demons burrowed through the thick gaps in the icicles and showed them unfriendly fangs or claws. Whether it was because Oliver was bleeding, the demons unanimously chose him as their primary target.

Oliver once again showed his terrifying perseverance. He broke the horn of a small demon with his bare hands, and when the next demon tried to bite off his head, he wrapped his wounded left arm around its neck and inserted the horn precisely into its throat. The viscous blood sprayed both of them, and the stench instantly wafted away.

And Nemo also had to start dealing with those sticky tongues or malicious fangs empty-handed, fortunately they didn't seem to be interested in him, relatively easy to attack from the side - strengthened His physical strength finally came in handy, though the tactile sensation of snapping his spine made him uncomfortable.

The corpses of the demons were quickly dragged away from the ice by the smaller demons, competing for food, and the flesh and blood residue attracted more monsters to stop near the ice shield.

"This is not the way to go." Oliver panted. The ice shields began to shatter, and he and Nemo had to stick to each other back-to-back, just to guard against a sudden attack of malice from nowhere. He didn't dare to use spells any more, and simply used the broken horn as a dagger - only relying on physical strength to stab the strong skin of the demons, his physical strength dropped rapidly.

"That's right." Nemo gritted his teeth and twisted something in his hand that he didn't know was his neck or his tongue. "Sooner or later they'll find that there's nothing to grab there, and they'll have to go back to their homes and eat some common dishes to restore their stamina - like us. They can even pack on the way."

"Escape?" Oliver poked the broken horn into a huge eyeball, and the owner of the eyeball hissed in pain.

"...escape." Although it's not known if Ann is still there.

An did not move, the milky white brilliance of the shield had long since disappeared.

The alternating between hope and despair can be very torturous. The Seymour worm appeared and died, and the superior demons came and left. When the gathered demons began to scatter and attack frantically, several people around her completely collapsed - they curled up, put their hands on their heads, pressed their foreheads against the soil, and shed tears. Pray to their respective gods.

And Ann doesn't care about the ordinary demons that fly away, it's better to say that this is the true level of the test. The superior demon left, and she was still alive, miraculously not even out. But the female warrior did not feel the joy of the rest of her life. On the contrary, some unknown grief gripped her heart.

The worm she had cursed countless times, the worm that ran through her countless nightmares, was repelled so lightly.

The grief was not out of envy or jealousy. It is more like a grave dug before a loved one is buried, a dark void filled with remorse, anger, and disgust at one's own incompetence.

She can't remember when she started giving up, and when she began to believe that "the Seymour worm is unbeatable". Her world was full of corpse stench and gunpowder smoke, and it had long since solidified and was indestructible. Those insurmountable things gave her some kind of dark power, allowing her to calmly ignore cries and calls for help.

No one can save them, they are doomed.

Then there is nothing wrong with me who doesn't reach out again. She has tried and failed, she owes no favors to anyone, and naturally she has no responsibility. It should be like this. She thought about it countless times, and thought it better than anyone else.

But the pain almost ran through her heart.

She wanted to scream, wanted to scream hysterically. There are still people around her being torn and devoured by demons—people praying to God for a savior, revealing their defenseless backs to hungry demons. Cries and chokes crept into her ears from time to time.

Why? She thought painfully and blankly, you have been sheltered by miracles.

Why not stand up? Why are you giving up now?

Like herself all along. Feeling at ease with his own incompetence, for the countless dead laws on the world frame, he never takes a single step beyond the border. Ann suddenly had a strange feeling—for some reason, she took the test over and over again, perhaps for this very moment.

She has been waiting for its death, she has been waiting for this pain.

The female warrior straightened her back and gradually revealed a distorted, not so pretty smile on her face. She grasped the last page of spells with trembling hands, and countless names and faces long gone flashed through her mind. Those who held out hope until the last moment of being run over by a worm, those who staunchly threw themselves to death for their loved ones, and the youth today who clumsily attacked for atonement.

How stupid.

Ann Savage lit the final spell.

The dazzling electric light pierced the night, and the purple-white brilliance even had a bit of bright red. Ann slammed the hunting spear into the dirt, holding it firmly in both hands so that he wouldn't fall over. Ann coughed out a mouthful of blood, and the severe pain that went deep into her bones made her unable to tell whether she was still alive - after all, she had never had the courage to use it for so many years.

Her soul is burning, her spell potential is fully open, and it is a delicious bait for demons - just pass through that lightning cage.

The wisdom of ordinary demons is no different from that of beasts. They pounced straight at the light cell, then turned into charred charcoal and smashed into powder on the ground. The air was filled with a disgusting scorching stench, and the lightning cage remained motionless, piercing the night sky sharply, and from time to time huge arcs of electricity flashed and disappeared around it.

From a distance it looks like a flag.

Ann knew that if she kept going like this, she couldn't make it through tonight. She also knew that she couldn't kill all the demons in the forest, and couldn't save everyone. But at the moment she wanted to do this stupid and pointless insistence—perhaps doing nothing would make her more miserable.

The lower-level demons kept dying in the electric light, and those who had some brains dared not approach. People began to shiver toward the electric light, and even people in the distance came over because of the light. Ann couldn't see them clearly, she couldn't even keep her eyes open for long - her blood was burning, the skin on her arms was cracking, and her mouth was full of the sweet taste of blood.

How long?

The legs of the female warrior began to soften, and her head seemed to be filled with red hot molten iron. Terrifying lightning was swallowing magic from her, and she couldn't hold it any longer.

Something went through the cage and hit the back of her head, and Ann passed out before she was surprised.

"I won't kill her...?" Nemo squeezed An Ruan's body.

Oliver seemed to have the same doubts, and he sniffed Ann's breath with a little trembling. "…should not."

The two sighed heavily.

Nimo carefully made the female warrior lie down on the grass - Ann was almost a **** person, and the skin that was not covered by the blood showed a terrifying blue and white, and her whole body was as cold as ice corpse.

Nimo and Oliver looked at each other, helpless. If it is a simple bandage, that's all, at present, no matter how the situation looks, it needs to be done by professionals. And the practitioners in libraries and hotels obviously do not have the knowledge reserve of medical direction. Nemo tentatively sprinkled it with the wound medicine in his backpack, thinking that he was sprinkling seasoning on barbecue, and it didn't work at all, so he stopped his hands angrily.

"...I'll come, I'm the therapist." A voice interjected with a trembling voice. Nemo turned his head to the side, and a small man was holding his hands tremblingly—his face was still covered in snot and dirt, and he must have been crying. "Give her some space... This lady is not serious, she just needs proper treatment and rest."

Nimo and Oliver hurried away.

"Then...the guy's arm, I can see too. I mean, if you don't mind..."

"Let's take a look at Ann, thank you very much." Oliver quickly thanked.

The man grinned, revealing an ugly smile.

"No, you're welcome. You were the one who saved us...Speaking of which is that? I've never seen any kind of spell."

"We don't know either," Nemo scratched his head. "To be honest, I don't know if she started that thing herself or was attacked."

"No, not about this lady. What the **** is that gentleman..."

"You mean Oliver?"

"Yes, yes."

Nimo turned his head and looked around, his face was a little numb. "I know it's a bit exaggerated, but we can only think of this stupid way... At least it will block most demons. Hey Oliver, do you have a name for this trick?"

"'Lack of imagination breaks people'." Oliver grimaced, his left arm hanging limply over his shoulder. "Just call this."

Nemo almost laughed out loud, considering the occasion, he tried his best to turn the laughter into a cough.

The skinny therapist shook his lower lip, and finally buried his head in the treatment without saying a word.

Most of the survivors of the test gathered here because they were attracted by the lightning. Around them, the edge of this vast lawn—the ice thorns more than ten meters high melted into a solid wall of ice, standing upright, and surrounded the people tightly.

The thunder and lightning banners that illuminated the night were extinguished in the silence, replaced by a huge ice crown.

(m..=)