Into The Forest
Into The Forest
Meanwhile, although the professors at the academy had collectively assumed her to be dead, Donna was very much still alive.
Of course, the woman had no idea which one of the pillars won the fight, though she certainly hoped that it had been Mantis. But even though she hoped for such an outcome, Donna wasn't stupid enough to go back to check, because her fate would be disastrous if it turned out otherwise.
If Mantis had won, then neither Aurora nor her student would have survived, and Donna's vengeance against them for what they had done to her husband would be fulfilled.
But if Mantis had lost, then Aurora should already be looking for her, and her best bet would only be to go deeper into the wonderland to hide, or escape altogether.
In either case, going back to the academy made no sense.
The black haired woman couldn't help but sigh. "I wonder if it's foolish of me to be looking for Dane in the forest… maybe he already escaped…"
But whenever she thought about the fact that her husband had lost all of his artifacts while being cast out of the thunder array, she couldn't help but grit her teeth in rage.
Without any artifacts at all, was he supposed to wrestle with the beasts using his fists and legs? It would be a miracle if he could even survive against a slightly lower-level beast, and certain death if he ever had to face one of a similar level to his own.
How could she just leave him be?
"I-I'll just go around the central area once, and then check the outskirts. If I still don't find him, that means he must have already left… Yeah…"
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Donna had no idea that Craig and Dane had already been captured by Lord Mantis, and the artifact containing their bodies in a stasis had flown through a rift straight into the very depths of the wonderland's core region.
However, they had only escaped the lion's maw only to end up in a tiger's jaw. Because before they had even managed to awaken from the restraints of the mysterious veil used by Lord Mantis, they had already been picked up by a 'Tree Demon'.
Although it was called a 'tree', it was actually a beast that often disguised itself as flora in order to fool and ambush unsuspecting prey.
Its branch-like tentacles boasted a poison that was able to fully paralyze people even ten or twenty levels above its own.
Suffice to say, as a beast capable of surviving in the core region of the wonderland of doom, it was definitely capable of immobilizing even a senior professor like Dane.
Right now, the red haired man found himself dangling upside down helplessly as the poisonous branches of the tree demon continuously leeched off his spirit power.
Prince Craig's face was already pale, as other than paralyzing him and leeching off his spirit power, the tree demon had already torn open the wound from his destroyed leg. Without the ability to heal himself in this helpless state, Craig could only panic while both his blood and spirit power leaked from his body.
"P-Professor! Save me! You have to save me!"
The red haired man was still reeling from the fact that they had been captured by a pillar, and had no idea how they ended up in the hands of a tree demon, of all things, but when he turned his head to look at Craig, his blood ran cold.
The boy's face was already covered in blood, as it flowed down his dangling body from his foot, and dribbled from his hair. Even if the tree demon intended to use them as 'rationed food' for a while, it didn't really seem to care if the 'smaller morsel' expired a little earlier.
Their fates were already tied together, and he couldn't let Craig die.
Dane could only grit his teeth. "Calm down. This thing might have caught us in our moment of weakness, but in the core region, its strength shouldn't be too high. Tree demons are also quite dumb, and we can use this to our advantage."
Craig nodded shakily. "W-What do we do, then?"
The red haired didn't dare to turn his head around to check, though he was sure he could do so. After all, if the tree demon wanted to, it could easily paralyze their head as well. But this dumb thing seemed to like hearing its prey's screams.
"Wait, I have a plan. We just have to hold on!"
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Of course, Evelyn had never forgotten about Craig's escape from Aurora's hand that day.
Previously, she still had some hope of Aurora finding them in the forest. However, now that Donna had also escaped, and the search for the Terran prince had long since become the least of the academy's priorities, she couldn't help but worry.
Craig was injured and in a bad state when he escaped, while Dane was without most of his artifacts. That being the case, the two of them still had a low chance of escaping the wonderland without help.
Knowing that professor Donna was the wife of professor Dane, Evelyn assumed that the woman must have taken most of his precious possessions with her, along with those of her own. Since she had made such a move against her, knowing Aurora's stance, she must have long been prepared to escape the moment things went south.
And considering her luck, it was entirely possible that this woman would be able to reunite with her husband and Craig. With her resupplying and reinforcing them, it would be far easier for the three of them to escape the wonderland of doom together.
Once that happened, Evelyn would forever have to be wary when she went out to explore, and even have to consider the safety of her friends from these vengeful bastards. And with Craig's status and influence… it was entirely possible that she would be losing someone dear to her, no matter how thoroughly she prepared.
Such an outcome was unacceptable for Evelyn, especially now that she was growing by leaps and bounds.
"But Aurora already said she will be busy the next few days, making sure that the previous headmaster is able to operate the defensive array with them… her most optimistic estimate was a month…"
No matter how she thought about it, Craig and the two exiled professors would surely be able to escape in that time.
Evelyn shook her head. "No… Although Aurora will be mad, I have to take care of this. I can't let them go!"
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
At first, Evelyn had only intended to take Bree and Ruru with her, as she could easily protect them and hide using her advanced spatial manipulation when needed.
However, this time, her friends weren't quite as easy to convince.
Cecilia had her arms crossed in front of her chest as she stood blocking the door. "Little Eve… you can either take me with you, or stay here like a good girl."
Amara also nodded. "Although I understand why you feel the urgency, don't forget that Aurora won't be with you this time around. Plus…"
The pink haired girl waved her hand with a sigh. "Okay, Cecilia, you can come along. Actually, Amara… and you too, Vivian. Everyone can come along, however, I have certain conditions!"
She wasn't making such a decision hastily, of course. Evelyn had long since been debating about it after watching the other students entering the wonderland to gain experience.
Granted, yesterday's expedition was a bad example considering that everyone was probably dead, but it still meant that the students who wanted to grow almost always took the risk to venture out into the forest.
With Vivian and Amara having already learned their respective cultivation techniques, it would only be conducive to their growth if she allowed them to follow her into the wonderland of doom, provided that they didn't die.
Of course, with her ability to use the 'Eternal Ripple' to scout ahead, ensuring that they avoided the most lethal threats should still be possible.
Moreover, Cecilia wasn't exactly a newbie, and could also hold her own against many beasts.
Evelyn wasn't being overconfident in her friends, though. She knew very well that they would all be wiped out the moment they came across a level eighty or higher beast.
But… that was a risk they had to be willing to take, if they were going to choose to follow her.
If they couldn't grow stronger at a faster pace, then they would forever lag so far behind her that they would always find themselves helpless against the threats she attracted.
Protecting them by keeping them contained… would only hurt them in the long run.
The two Gilmore sisters had only wanted to prevent her from leaving, and never expected Evelyn to actually allow them to follow her into the wonderland. Vivian clapped, looking delighted, while Amara nodded gravely.
Evelyn gently rubbed Ruru's fur while giving her friends a serious nod. "If you choose to follow me, understand that I can, and will, venture out by myself to explore at certain points, and you're only allowed to move when I tell you to. Of course, you should escape if your life is endangered, but no exploration without my lead, understand?"
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━