"Alright, we had gone straight after the entrance of the forest..."

One hour passed since the darkness engulfed the world, Alex and the others, except Momo, had been discussing how to escape from their predicament, they were out within the reach of the hellhounds as those puppies couldn't climb.

"Then continued the path toward the west... I think we took several turns?" Alex wrinkled his eyebrows, it's hard to remember when the environment of the forest was mostly similar, and you were constantly under attack.

"I remember a big rock before we stopped to take a breather..." Dick frowned, "oh wait, maybe two?"

"It's two, I remember because that's where a rodent tried to eat my little brother..." Jason bitterly said, couldn't believe such a traumatic experience actually became helpful.

"So many fightings... I couldn't even tell North or South..." Damian sighed.

"Alex, we also jumped from a higher ground when we first encounter the treant..." Shizuka said, the corner of her eyes caught the figure of Momo that was sitting on the edge of the tree, had long been in silence, she thought couldn't add anything else in the discussion, thus she decided to leave the men alone and walked toward her.

"Oh, right... but don't we also took a beeline toward here?" Alex scratched his head, but he thought it made sense since the tree possibly wanted to lose them in the forest.

"Oh, why don't we just trace the corpses?!" Jason exclaimed, surprising the rest, suddenly an urge to beat down their own selves rose from inside their guts, yes, why none of them thought that idea?

"But possibly the hellhounds had eaten them..." Damian said.

Oh, yeah, for that reason... the group once again distressed.

Momo stared at the dark horizon with an empty gaze, the horrible singing from the trees still rang in her ears despite her attempt to shut them down, she contemplated the excuse behind these creatures' cursing of them to die, believed the natural being was incapable of something so hideous and cruel, unlike plant-based race which she had encountered a lot, these trees might talk or consume in their own way, but they certainly didn't have the emotion to feel.

Therefore, Momo was more comfortable around them than her own kinds instead, happy to converse with them more.

"Hey..." she heard Shizuka's voice from behind, didn't know when she had walked toward her.

Momo kept silent, even until Shizuka also sat beside her, looking the same view.

"..." Momo heaved, her eyes flickered downward, the corner of her lips lifted slightly, said, "it's all my fault..."

"..."

There was no response from Shizuka, but Momo didn't particularly need one.

"Alex had his doubt, and I chose my own beliefs instead, thinking I was so smart... knowledgable... expert in this..." Momo shook her head, said in a mocking tone, "how stupid..."

"You didn't know..." Shizuka softly said.

"But I should have known better, I meant we are living in the world of magic, odd like this ought to be possible..." Momo's chest drummed in aching, it's like every cell of her body screamed how a fool she was, "for me... believing in the tree or plants was like a sort of dependency you know... I mean... if we can't trust a being that was so incomparably pure..."

"How can we even trust anything in our life again?"

Momo's voice was choking, she could feel her nose turned sour and eyes blurred slightly, it's hard for her to even talk past this point, hoping all of this was just a bad dream.

"..." Shizuka dangled her legs, leaning toward her behind with the support of her both hands, looking upward despite saw only nothingness.

"For me, trust is not something instant, their species or race doesn't define their trustworthiness..." Shizuka said, "the most crystalline water can even turn black once you drop ink into it, therefore, there is no such a thing as a 100% pure."

"Action speaks louder than words, that's how I try to make someone to believe me, and vice versa..."

Momo slowly looked at her, trying to grasp and accept the words she had uttered...

"But that's my belief, and I understand your feeling..." the corner of her lips lifted upward, said, "my village had a law that in order for a female to marry someone, we must venture outside and sought a male that could defeat us in a battle..."

"At first, I didn't think that rule as something strange, until one day, I met him..."

Shizuka might hold a smile in her lips, but she could hear deep guilt currently smearing her tone.

"His name was Sagiri, a common merchant, I met him during my training and we... developed feeling for each other..."

Usually, Momo would giddy and became mischievous whenever talking about romance or stuff, but now she just... calmly looked.

Because she knew this not a love story...

"I started to think the law of my village was wrong, there was no need for a male to be strong and defeated us in a battle in order to be together, I and Sagiri wanted to change the rule, we resisted it..."

"But at some point in time..." Shizuka paused, she felt a sick feeling rose from her deep inside, "someone murdered him..."

"!" Momo gasped as she covered her mouth, she had expected such a thing but still shocked her to the core.

"I don't know if it was some bandits or other people..." she sighed, now hugging her knees, "but I learned my lesson..."

"Loving someone weak... just brought you pain... I began to accept the village's law..." she glanced toward Momo, said softly, "thus I know the feeling when your belief crushed like a bug... it's like the whole world avalanche."

"..." Momo didn't know what to say, only gazed back toward the horizon, but her eyes lost in thought.

"Hey, we have made a plan!"

They could hear Jason's voice from the distant, Momo and Shizuka looked each other in eyes, a bit smile rose from their lips as they stood up and strode toward the group.

(***)

Elliot had seen many times how dangerous Alexis could be, but this was the first time she brushed off any enemy like nothing.

They ran all the way toward the Old Woodland's direction, also leaving behind corpses of Wild Hogs along the path.

"Hat!"

*Splash!*

Alexis avoided the rush of a Wild Boar while thrusting her sword toward her right, the tip easily stabbed the boar's thick skin then it sheared the rest of its body.

Afterward, she continued running, didn't let a single chance for Elliot to take a break, well, he's not exactly weak per se, but a moment to catch a break seemed very awfully nice.

Alexis, in many ways, was a competent combatant, had she not dedicated herself to protect him, she would have soared and accomplished most of the knight at her age couldn't possibly imagine.

What running down their vein was sometimes a curse or a gift, the so-called [ Will ] that was passing down for generation, their bloodline.

When someone [ Will ] aimed for greatness, such as conquering the world... or become the strongest in the world, they would benefit greatly not only in talent, even their physique, battle prowess, intelligence; in short, it gave them a boost to achieve their goal.

But Alexis [ Will ] was simply basic... that was to protect his life... while it was beautiful and touching, she would hardly gain benefit...

Because in her mind was not how to defeat the enemy in front... but how to make sure they didn't harm him... so if they could escape to get him out of the battle, she wouldn't hesitate to do it, including sacrifice her own life as long he was saved.

She would never be in peace as long as she hadn't seen it with her own eyes he was in no harm, forever be tied down to him.

"..." Elliot sighed while watching her blond hair fluttering as she swiped her sword toward another Wild Hog, cutting down its head with barely an effort.

After some time that felt like forever, both of them came out from the Dawn Forest, arriving at the plain field before the Old Woodland that now covered in an entire black dome.

Elliot just immediately fell onto the ground while gasping for air, boy, that was the longest run he had ever done, and he would never do it again...

Alexis also seemingly out of the air, her chest heavily rose up and down while her throat let out a dry hum, she stabbed the ground with her sword and leaned to it, so much for a family heirloom.

She took out the bottled mineral water and drank it, Elliot always thought this product was fascinating, didn't know which land or continent had produced such a creative item.

Taking a brief moment to rest, she ran again toward the black dome, Elliot tried to catch up...

...

On the second thought, lying was pretty nice this time... he caught up in a few minutes.

Alexis approached the black dome and stopped a couple of feet away, she gently swung her sword but it passed through the surface like an air.

Damn, as she expected, she couldn't do it from the outside...

She had a plan to break the black dome, but she must focus and would be no in any capacity to fight for a while, she could freely do it from the outside but that's not possible now.

There was no other way but doing it from the inside of the black dome, but with all the hellhounds on the tail, she wouldn't be possible to execute her plan.

That meant she had to find Sir Star and his group first, asked their assistance to protect her back.

She was confident to fight the hellhounds, probably could sustain half an hour, she had to find them before the hellhounds overwhelmed her.

But two things became her main concern; first, if this black dome was the result of the fight between two Grandmasters, then it would make her very difficult to proceed, one single fluctuation of their energy could rip her apart and turn into ash.

Second, how far Sir Star had gone on his journey? If he had arrived at the ravine, then her chance to find him within half an hour was not possible...

Actually, never mind finding him, making her way in the darkness would already difficult task.

Alexis immediately hesitated, thinking probably it was already too late for her to do anything... maybe Sir Star and his group already...

*Smack!*

Something soft hit the back of her head, Alexis tilted slightly and looked over her shoulder, saw Elliot holding a Paggapuff with one hand while looking at her with deadpanned eyes.

"You thought they died, aren't you?" Elliot said.

Alexis nodded slightly, thinking where her little brother gained this ability to read minds...

"Sister, you hear me carefully..." Elliot seriously said, his eyes even didn't have the slightest playful vibe.

"I have run non-stop... just to come all the way here... and also sweat a lot... for what?"

"To save them," Alexis said.

"YES! So don't you dare to give up now!"

"But I am the one who will risk my life..."

"Hey, a spirit of union, I might not be there with you but you have my blessing and unconditional support!"

Alexis rolled her eyes but did let out a chuckle, easily the worst motivational speech she ever heard...

"Elliot... I might not come back, you know?" Alexis smiled.

"Nah... you'll be alright because you're Elliot's sister... Elliot's sister does not die..." Elliot shrugged.

Alexis grinned, then she faced the black dome again, took a deep breath then slowly walked in. Elliot saw her figure disappeared into the dark, his smile quickly faded away, replaced with a callous serious tone.

"Alexis... don't die..."

(***)

She couldn't see anything...

There was no right or left, up and down, it's absolutely empty here...

Just entered the area, Alexis felt nervous already, her sense told in front was nothing but danger.

"..."

"Grrr..."

Since her eyes were absolutely useless, then she had to heighten all of her other senses... ear listened to the sound of the wind, skin felt the coldness aura and imminent death point, nose smelled the nasty odor of those unholy dogs...

*Swoosh!*

Alexis moved her sword and slashed toward her left side, she could feel it cut some sort of flesh, followed by the scent of iron and a helpless yelp.

Then in a swift motion, she swung her sword horizontally, cutting another fleshes right in front of her body, several specks of blood smeared her gorgeous face.

Less than a second she had been attacked by two Hellhounds, this certainly not a comforting start.

Alexis took a deep breath, ignoring the rotting scent from the all around her, she shouted with all of her might.

"SIR STAR, WHERE ARE YOU?!"

Meanwhile, in a different place of the forest, Alex and the others had been walking on a branch from one tree to another tree, below them was a hungry animal with sharp fangs and dangerous claws.

These dogs resembled a Doberman with all dark skin, their flesh was rotten in various places, even one could see their bone sticking out from it. There was a ghastly smoke that surrounding their figure, presumably because they were an undead type of monster, their unnatural presence caused a strange phenomenon in the area.

"Um?" Alex at this moment startled, he glanced toward the soldiers in the back, said, "did any of you call me?"

They shook their heads, from the paleness and cold sweat that dropped from their forehead, it was best not to give them any more scary thought.

Shizuka had jumped several trees ahead, Momo clung onto her back as she flashed their path with her phone, they swept the ground to find the trace of their path, whether it was a used bullet or animal corpses.

"There!" Momo said as she found a dead deer with several bullets hole currently being mangled by several hellhounds.

Then she took out a used bullet from her pocket and changed it into a sturdy branch by pressing her palm into the tree they currently occupied, it extended into another tree which a couple of distance away from Alex and the soldiers.

Alex deeply grateful to give Momo this ability, at least they could walk now without having to worry about the hellhounds, hopefully, they could arrive at the entrance of the Old Woodland before they ran out of ammo.

"Grrrr..."

"Bark! Bark!"

Great lord, shut up already, did your master has not fed you anything?

The four of them walked on the silver lining between human and puppy's chow, couldn't help but feel giddy and apprehensive, Damian even had almost pissed himself.

*Shiuuu...*

At this moment, one vine sneaked up toward one of the trees, it made way toward their spot and curled itself around Jason's leg.

"Hm?" Jason startled but before he realized the problem, something had pulled him away from the branch!

"AH!!!" he screamed, flailing his hands to grasp the branch, managed to grab one, and he held onto it with all of his life.

They startled at the sudden event, looked toward Jason's figure struggled to grab a branch, they immediately became panic.

"It's the treant!" Damian ghastly said.

Alex clenched his teeth and used [ Telekinesis ] to draw out his kunai, quickly snapping the treant's vine and broke loose Jason from their grasp.

The treant let out a roar as if infuriated, tried to spring more vines to attack them all, but suddenly stopped half-way.

Because it felt a sudden rising of murderous intention, sharply directed to it, the treant slowly turned its face, noticed the pair of purple eyes coldly looked at it.

"Still want to hurt my friend?"

The treant shook its head, cold sweats drenched its body.

"I don't give a damn if you hungry, find yourself another meal ticket."

The treant nodded.

The four of them stared at Momo with stiffened expression, nothing scarier than one pissed off Alien Girl...

(***)

Angry Momo