Chapter 672 - Fly: You’re My Wind

Green's Perspective, just after leaving the group.

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Green took off at a run dashing into the village as quickly as possible, making sure to push her mana and enchantments to the limit. The screaming stopped the experience from being enjoyable or freeing. Part of her wanted to stop and assist the few people she saw, especially one who stumbled or another walking with a cane for support… but ultimately, they weren't near the fires and they were mere copies. The chance they would get out of the city was quite high, and the chance of being attacked by monsters presumably non-existent.

Green sped past what the first fire and felt the strain on her body from keeping up her maximum speed so long. Even still, she was used to it and was able to push forward without too much trouble. The slight curves to the streets the main cause of her issues. While she was rather good at long distance running, short bursts was where she really shined. Still, this was part of a scouts job and she could managed without trouble.

*I wonder how Nix plans for this to play out. If this fire is anything like a real one I'm not sure there's much to be done until the reinforcements come. Then again… if this is part of the tournament maybe Thyme has plans? Could all be about damage control. We were told that we'd gain points based on how many people and buildings we save… but not that we lost any if we failed or that we needed to save everyone. Hmm… then again this is a strange task. I do not believe there has been anything similar in the Tournament to compare it to.* 

Green started to turn off, following the smoke she could see from over the nearby roofs. Part of her wanted to jump up and run across them, but experience taught her it was actually a rather poor idea. As cool as it looked, and as much as you wanted to as a kid, the truth was most rooves weren't well maintained. What running across rooves got you was injured. Falling through was common, with slipping on a loose tile as a close runner up. While if the rooves were lined up well it could be fast, at the end of the day, the risk wasn't worth it to any proper scout. You used them for sneaking if you had to, but never travel.

Green was snapped out of the zone when all of a sudden, the houses just vanished and all that was left was forest. Cutting off the flow of mana slowly Green managed to slowly drop her speed until she was jut running under physical power before reducing herself to just a walk and finally stopping. Looking around she saw that there no houses whatsoever in front of her, but behind her there was a billboard with fake trees on it. *Well this is weird.* 

Looking up, Green found that the fire was somewhere in the forest. *Why is there a forest in the middle of town? Also… do trees count as buildings? Surely not right? Do… do we care? I mean… does it even matter if this whole section burns down?* Green looked over to the nearest set of houses and saw there was another road between the trees and any of the houses. The chance of the fire spreading out of the forest looked quite low. *Hmm… I don't really hear anything… but the crackling of the fire might be masking things… dammit. I guess I'll have to go check this out.* 

Green first gave her legs a light stretch, working out the slight muscle pains and hoping to ease herself into things properly. She'd just taken off without really warming up because of what she thought was the necessity of the situation. Now that she'd properly internalised that this was just a task, she decided a couple stretches wouldn't go amiss. *While I'd be willing to risk injury to save a real life, injury during the Tournament is different. Especially when it's just the first round. Nix is alright with things like pulled muscles but not the best.* 

Once the stretching was done Green dusted herself off and powered up her items once again. Launching herself forward and leaving a small whirlwind in her wake Green kept her eye on the ground as she moved through the forested area. The pathway, what little there was of it, was at least clear of debris. In a normal forest jumping from tree to tree is often safer than braving the underbrush. Piles of dead leaves, burrows and just random sticks can be overlooked if not exceptionally careful.

Around a minute into the forest, Green started to hear the sounds of panicked screaming. *Well shit there are actually people in here…* Green gave herself a last boost of speed, not something she could keep up for extended amounts of time, but for now it'd be enough. Just moments later, Green started to see the fire. Individual trees set alight, mostly around the canopy which she was pretty sure wasn't right. Combined with the fact the fire didn't seem to be spreading all that much.

Her confusion was only amplified as after passing around a few more trees she came face to face with a massive wall of fire. Slamming her heels into the ground Green cut all of her mana off in an instant. Her body continued forward, sliding on her heals for a bit before it started to pitch forward, taking an awkward step forward to prevent faceplanting Green felt the momentum try to push her further forward but she just dug her heel in a bit further.

It almost worked, but she was forced to take one more stumbling step forward, and counted herself luck that was all. Within touching distance was a great burning wall of fire. It was about twice as high as she was tall and the heat of the flames was already starting to cook her where she stood. Green backed up a few paces as she took in the massive flaming wall that certainly wasn't spreading. Even to the branches the fire was practically licking.

*Ok… this is super weird. I can hear people screaming on the other side but this CANNOT be natural. Hmm… is this just part of the test… or is there a fire mage controlling this? A fire artifact could also be on option… this is a pretty common dungeon trap as well… hmmm… I guess the question is. Do I go over it? Or try to find a way around?*

Green looked to the side and tried to see around the trees blocking her sight. It was… successful enough. She could make out the fact the fire was curving. *Hmm, well if they are going to the trouble to change it from 'wall of fire' to 'curved wall of fire' I'm gonna bet they just made the thing encircle the people trapped here. Green thought for a moment of what the best course of action would be. So… I can clear this jump… but I think I want to climb a tree and jump from there. No telling what's on the other side and while I can jump the fire, what's to say the landing zone is safe.* 

Green looked around at the nearby trees and saw that a couple of them were very much on fire when you tried to get to the top half. Luckily there was actually a nearby tree without any fire… unluckily it didn't have any branches until the very top. *Well that's just making things annoying.* Green was a good scout and while it was a bit mana intensive…

Green took a few careful steps to the side and two steps back before activating all her enchantments, letting mana burst from her as she sprinted straight for the tree. Three steps away Green leapt and flipped around to land on the bark and kept running, pushing her mana so that the wind further reinforced the grip her boots had on the trees. Green felt her mana drain quickly, wasting plenty to keep herself stable. It was worth it in the end though when her hand reached up and wrapped around a thick branch. Flipping herself up and over it, Green landed on the branch steadily and inched towards the fire.

*Well… that was quite a bit harder on my mana then I would have liked. Now I have to deal with whatever this shit is with… about a quarter. Shit. I didn't realise I'd burn all that already! At least it'll recharge quickly… shit. I'll need to burn MORE to soften the landing… and maybe to get a boost on the jump to prevent myself touching the fire. Yeesh that run was longer than I thought. Hmm… maybe I need to get the enchantments checked out.. That really does feel like too much mana.*