____
As Grey and his friends were escaping into the forest, the Darkness Elementalist chased after them trying to stop them. The attack Grey sent his way slowed him down at first, so Grey and his group had gotten to a considerably far distance before he started his chase, but he didn’t want to allow them to escape just like that.
But just as he stepped into the forest, his heart skipped and a feeling of danger welled up on him, without daring to wait and see what was the cause, he quickly retreated as fast as he could.
Boom!
A loud explosion rang from where he was meant to step next. Although the Darkness Elementalist retreated quickly, he was still caught by the force of the explosion which threw him over twenty meters into the air.
Bang!
Crack!
“Argghh” The Darkness Elementalist screamed in pain when he landed hard on the floor.
His body ached from the hard fall, and he was sure the bone on his left arm was cracked. Although it didn’t break, it was still painful.
Looking at the edge of the forest, he shivered in fear and a chill ran down his spine when he saw the result of the explosion. Had he not retreated quickly, then he knew he wouldn’t have survived that explosion.
His companions quickly rushed over to give him the tonic they had with them.
“Those bastards, they better pray they don’t cross my path again.” The Darkness Elementalist murmured coldly.
“But, there’s something strange about that black cat,” He thought out loud.
Just before the explosion, he recalled seeing a small black shadow. Only now did he remember where he had seen it before, on Grey’s shoulder.
From what happened, he guessed this was all planned by Grey. Now, Grey was the one he hated the most. Because, had he not been alert, he would have died some moments ago.
____
While the Darkness Elementalist was still thinking about the explosion, Ellis was currently in a bad condition.
Klaus used a technique the Darkness Elementalist was all too familiar with on Ellis, ‘Sub-Zero’. Since Ellis wasn’t a Fire Elementalist, the attack was much more effective on him than it was on the Darkness Elementalist.
Ellis was even more unfortunate and was struck by hypothermia, before long, he started shivering from the intense cold. Soon, he started mumbling things none of his companions could hear.
Within two minutes, his breathing became shallow, and he started becoming drowsy. At first, he tried to use his element to help relieve some of the cold, but he couldn’t. Now, he couldn’t think properly and was also in a state of confusion.
“We need to keep him warm. Fire, we need a Fire Elementalist.” One of Ellis’s companions yelled.
Looking around, he realized none of them was a Fire Elementalist, the only people that he recalled using the fire element here were Grey and the Darkness Elementalist. Grey had escaped, and even if he were here, there’s no way he would help, he might even kill him quicker.
With no other option, they turned to the slightly injured Darkness Elementalist whose face was still somewhat slightly pale.
“Please, help him.” They came begging carrying Ellis along.
When the Darkness Elementalist looked at the shivering Ellis, he quickly sensed the chilling cold coming off his body. Being a victim of this attack, he was able to quickly connect the dots and figured out what happened.
“Hmph! I have no business with him, he can die for all I care.” The Darkness Elementalist snorted coldly and turned around preparing to walk away with his group.
Losing the nine drops of Great Earth Essence Liquid had placed him in a bad mood, when he thought he would be able to finally kill Grey and his friends using the excuse of them not agreeing to be searched, they escaped, not just that, but they almost killed him as well. This was the third time he was facing off against the group, and he had been injured on all three occasions, the last one was even more deadlier since he might have lost his life.
After taking five steps, he stopped and turned back to look at Ellis.
“Move to the side,” He said and walked closer to Ellis.
Ellis’s companions were elated and quickly moved away from Ellis.
The Darkness Elementalist took a glance at his companions before squatting and placing his hand on Ellis’s chest.
He sent a warm stream of essence into Ellis’s body which quickly started to provide the heat necessary for Ellis. Soon, Ellis started recovering.
The moment his head cleared up, the first thing he saw was the Darkness Elementalist squatting close to him. His heart raced a bit, but when he realized that the Darkness Elementalist was trying to help him, he calmed down.
“What? Are you surprised I’m the one helping you?” The Darkness Elementalist asked coldly.
Before Ellis could reply, he started hearing screams filled with pain around him. Looking at the Darkness Elementalist, he noticed a grin had formed on his face.
“Initially, I wanted to let you die from the cold, but then I realized something, it wouldn’t be as painful as dying by burning from the inside out.” the Darkness Elementalist said emotionlessly.
“Please…stop,” Ellis begged weakly when he realized his previously cold body was starting to burn up.
Due to suffering from hypothermia previously, he was currently very weak and could barely speak properly. There’s no way he could defend himself against the Darkness Elementalist. In other words, he was totally defenseless, and his companions who could’ve helped him had all been killed.
“I sensed the killing intent you had towards me when you said you wanted to help previously. I initially planned on disposing of you after I was done with them, but since they’ve escaped, you’ll have to suffer for your foolishness.” The Darkness Elementalist increased the heat he was releasing inside Ellis’s body.
Three minutes later.
The Darkness Elementalist and his group could be seen walking away from the wreck the valley had turned into because of the fight that took place here not too long ago. On the ground of the valley were five corpses, one of them was particularly attention-grabbing due to how the body looked.
“Quinn, I think those four are connected to the disappearance of the Great Earth Essence Liquid.” One of the Darkness Elementalist’s companions said to him.
“Hmm, why’d say so?” Quinn raised a brow.
“I remember seeing that cat you spoke of inside the pond.” the youth explained.
He recalled when they were still fighting against the protectors, he saw a small shadow that fits the description of the small cat that Grey had with him. But due to the intensity of the fight and how things later turned out, he forgot about it. It was only after Quinn spoke of seeing a small shadow did he remember seeing something like that.
“You mean they have the nine drops of Great Earth Essence Liquid?” Quinn didn’t want to believe what he was hearing.
“Since that cat entered the pond, then there’s a chance it took it. And since it’s the pet of that Multi Elementalist, he should be the one who has it.” The youth pondered before answering.
“Then why didn’t you say so earlier?!” Quinn yelled angrily.
Had he known Grey and his friends had the nine drops of the Great Earth Essence Liquid all along, then he wouldn’t have tried killing Grey alone and would’ve accepted help.
“I only remembered about it just now,” the youth tried explaining.
“You good for nothing! This is the reason we came here, now, someone else has gained the reward of our labor.” Quinn exploded in rage and veins started appearing in his head.
“Calm down, there’s no way they can refine it in a short time. And given how exhausted they are from the battle as well as the slight injuries they’ve sustained, it’ll take a day or two before they’ll think of refining it.” Another one of the youths interjected.
“Damn! What are you all still standing here for, go find them!” Quinn ordered.
“Wait, take this. You know what to do right?” Quinn passed a two inches long object that had weird symbols all over it.
The group nodded and all disappeared into the forest. They all faced different directions since they couldn’t be sure Grey and his friends went in a straight line.
“Guess you all can’t escape death.” The Darkness Elementalist said coldly before walking in the initial direction Grey and his friends went.
_____
At a ruined building four kilometers from the valley.
Inside of the rooms.
“We should fully recover before using them,” Alice suggested.
“Yeah, they’ll be better then.”
The others all agreed to her suggestion.
Grey wanted to give them their drops, but since they should wait till they recovered, it was safer with him.
After the others left, Void who wasn’t present appeared on his shoulder.
“How was it?” Grey asked.
‘He’s very alert and managed to escape. Although he was injured, it’s something he can quickly recover from.’ Void replied.
“Oh! What did you use in the attack?” Grey couldn’t help but ask curiously.
When they were running, he overheard the explosion.
‘It’s none of your business.’ Void replied before going to the corner sadly.
When Grey was about to escape, he asked him if he could stop Quinn momentarily, which he agreed to. But he never expected he would have to ignite three of the lotus petals to generate enough power. When he ignited the third one, his heart was bleeding due to the loss.
‘From the looks of it, it seemed like the attack he did took a lot from him.’ thought Grey.
He shrugged and started his recovery.