Chapter 73 - Find Them

I walked to where Kimi was while holding Chloe - who is fainted - on my back. My little sister became the second person that was close enough to me after we separated.

Heat Perception told me that she was fighting a monster right now. This useful skill also told me, currently, Alan is approaching three monsters. And on the other hand, Ruciel had already get out of the detection range of this Skill.

I have to pick up those two kids as soon as possible and catch up to Ruciel as soon as possible too!

My footsteps became faster as this problem got worse.

I walk past the trees for few minutes before I got to where Kimi was.

"Big sis! Stop it!" Kimi shouted to the monster.

Right now, the little girl was fighting against a Gray Head Ape. An ape-like monster that has long fangs and claws. The monster was known for its speed. And right now, that speed overwhelmed Kimi.

My sister has trouble following the Gray Head Ape's movements. She got a wound every time the monster launched an attack.

"Argh!"

"Khii! Kii!"

Kimi gets a new wound and the Grey Head Ape dodges my sister's Fire Sword with ease. The monster jumped to keep its distance when the little girl's attack showed danger.

Kimi was always late moving her hand whenever she wanted to block the Gray Head Ape's attack. My sister's situation became even more unfavorable because she was too slow when launching counterattacks.

The fight made me realize how lacking Kimi's level and Basic Statistics were.

"I need to be more serious about raising the little girl's power," I whispered as I ran to my sister.

I raised my left arm and pointed my palm at Gray Head Ape. "[Wind Cannon]"

Bwosh!

The huge air pressure shot quickly towards the monster. 

Gray Head Ape can think. Therefore, the monster dodged when it found out an attack was coming. However, it didn't know that the Wind Cannon had a quite large attack area.

So, the monster was thrown a few meters after being hit by some parts of the air pressure I fired.

"UKYOO!"

"Huh?" said Kimi, who stopped.

The little girl moved her head to look at the monster then looked at me.

A moment later, her body jolted. She made a mixed expression between shock and fear. And in a hurry, she prepared her Fire Sword.

I don't know why she became so cautious.

"Kimi!" I called her.

"No! Don't get close! [Fire Javelin]"

In an instant, a fire javelin formed and shot quickly at me!

Luckily, thanks to my high AGI and Kimi's poor aim, I didn't receive the fire javelin.

That's very dangerous! I and Chloe on my back will become steaks if that fire javelin hits us!

"What are you doing, Kimi! That's extremely dangerous!"

"Shut up you wicked monsters! Don't call my name as if you knew me! Go away or I will burn you alive!"

Monsters? Why does she think of me as a monster? And I remember, Chloe also thought of me as a monster. Does the illusion in the forest make me look like a monster to them?

As I daydreamed because of those questions, Kimi ran away from me.

"Wait," I cried.

Then I chased the little girl. 

"KHI!" 

The roar of the monkey was heard. And Heat Perception told me that the monster was chasing us.

So… I gathered Mana and then pointed my palm at the monster once again.

"[Wind Cannon]"

Bwosh!

"UKYO!"

Grey Head Ape was thrown and disappeared behind the trees, again.

I nodded in satisfaction when I found out that the monster's heat wasn't moving anymore. With this, I can focus on pursuing Kimi.

And yes, that little girl was still screaming monsters at me and attacking me using her Fire Javelin.

It took me quite a long time and quite a lot of effort to capture Kimi. 

I even accidentally dropped Chloe to the ground because of my sister's wild behavior.

"NO...! LET ME GO! BIG SIS, HELP ME! BIG SIS!" Kimi shouted hysterically. At the same time, she cried loudly and thrashed with all her might to get out of my clutches.

The little girl finally calmed down after I forced her to eat the Puppet Lemon.

"Stupid big sis! Stupid! Stupid!"

Kimi shouted again and she beat me again.

The reason?

I don't quite understand. She suddenly becomes angry like that after I told her about the thing that the mist in this forest could do and about the Lemon Puppet.

"If big sis knows all of that, why didn't big sis tell us from the beginning! I was so terrified when the monster that turned out to be big sis managed to catch me! I had a bad experience because of big sis stupidity!"

So she's angry about that...

I can understand it and I made a nod.

Then, after I apologized and promised to make a super large portion of grilled sausage to ease her anger, we went looking for Alan.

"Is Chloe okay?" asked Kimi. She was peering at Chloe who is sleeping on my back.

"Yes, she's fine. The little girl is just exhausted."

Especially after she was captured by Decaying Illusion Peshrooms. Her HP and SP must have been drained a lot.

We continued to walk towards the east.

Minutes passed and...

"Um..."

A soft voice that suddenly appear made my fox's ears twitch. I moved my head and I knew, Chloe woke up from her sleep.

"Chloe! Are you okay? Do you still feel pain?" My sister asked, shortly after she approached the little girl.

"Kimi..." Chloe replied. 

She is still half-conscious. A moment later, the girl's eyes were wide open. And suddenly she jumped off my back to hug Kimi.

"Kimi! I'm scared, there's a creepy monster trying to eat me," she yelled then cried in my sister's arms.

Kimi calmed Chloe down and we continued our journey in search of Alan. And in the middle of this journey, Kimi retells the story about this forest to Chloe.

And it didn't take long enough for the two little girls to give me a resentment gaze.

"I'm sorry, okay?"

"No!" replied the two little girls together.

In the end, to get their forgiveness, I made another promise. I have to treat Chloe to the food she likes as much as she wished.

We kept going and we found Alan.

The boy fought against three Cone Peshrooms. He fought well and could keep up with those three monsters. He could have defeated those monsters but he didn't.

It's because.

"Mom, Dad, stop it! You're too Chloe! We don't have to fight!"

Yup! The boy was affected by the illusion.

"You two, pull Alan out of the illusion. Use the Cure to make him conscious for a moment and use that chance to give him the Puppet Lemon. Meanwhile, I will face those monsters, understand?"

"Yes!"

"Clearly."

With that, our plan begins!

I ran up to the Cone Peshrooms to challenge them. 

And yes, Alan tried to stop me. But, after he got the Cure from Chloe, he stopped.

Alan - who had eaten puppet lemon - decided to help me. Kimi and Chloe don't want to miss out on their chance.

In a matter of minutes, we managed to defeat three Cone Peshrooms.

We waited for Alan to retrieve the Magic Stones of those monsters before we started looking for Ruciel.

The south is the direction we're headed.

Finding that Fallen Elf girl wasn't as easy as looking for kids. We had to explore the Mist Forest Ebua for tens of minutes and defeat a dozen monsters before we finally saw her gorgeous figure.

Right now, the Fallen Elf girl was standing in the open space in this forest. 

Around her were dozens of monster corpses! 

Judging from the arrows that adorned the corpses and the White Long Bow in Ruciel's hand, I know, it was that Fallen Elf girl who carried out this massacre.

And to be honest, I was quite surprised when I saw some of Grey Head Kong's corpses!

The corpses of that monster indirectly told me that Ruciel was a powerful adventurer.

I made a satisfied nod.

Ruciel is a girl worthy of me.

"Ruciel!" I shouted then waved my hand to attract the girl's attention.

A moment later.

Swosh and Splat!

An arrow stuck in my right shoulder.

I froze because of the pain and the shock. 

I wanted to ask her, why she did this to me but didn't so say it. I realized, the Fallen Elf girl was ready to shoot another arrow! I need to get ready for the attacks!

I unsheathed the Silver Spear.

Swosh! Clang!

I hit Ruciel's arrow.

"You three! Hide behind a tree! Quick!" I gave the order at the same time I fended off the other arrow.

"Okay," Kimi replied.

She, along with Alan and Chloe, ran straight to a nearby tree. And in an instant, they got shelter.

"Don't come out of your hiding place!"

I warned them one last time before I ran to get close to Ruciel. And never did I expect, approaching Ruciel was such a dangerous thing to do!

The dozens of arrows she shot were so accurate. I had trouble avoiding the arrows even though I was already using my full speed and running zig-zag!

"Stop, Ruciel! It's me! Eclaite!" I screamed, trying to tell the Fallen Eld girl who I really was.

Unfortunately, my efforts were unsuccessful. Ruciel only raised one of her eyebrows for a moment before she began to shower me with her arrows, again.

"Ruciel! You're so cute! I love you! Therefore stop attacking me!"

Shortly after I finished saying those words, Ruciel kicked the ground. She sprinted to get close to me. And that becomes more threatening because she did it while shooting her arrows.

A few moments later, an arrow stuck in my thigh.

I fell to my knees and Ruciel who was standing in front of me was ready with her bow! And I don't need to say that the arrow in the bow is ready to pierce my head!