Chapter 73: A Pillar of Fire Saves the Moment

’Why is this skeleton following me?’ Magna wondered as he walked through the trees, glancing back now and then at the figure behind him.

She wasn’t an immediate threat to him at the moment, so he didn’t care much, but he still knew he had to stay cautious.

He also didn’t want to kill her by shattering her skull, not because he was showing mercy.

For someone like her, the only mercy he could show would be to kill her anyway.

What he was afraid of was that if he broke the skeleton and killed her, he might trigger some kind of detection mechanism that could draw the Faceless Witch’s attention.

Still, to be more careful, he quickened his steps and moved through the trees, trying to lose his trail so she couldn’t follow him anymore.

A while later he succeeded. He could no longer feel her presence nearby or see her coming.

—

"O Vein of the Living World, River that has flowed since before the First Dawn, Silent Mother of Rain and Sea... Chill your touch, form a frozen skin, and hide my presence within."

Faye cast her camouflage spell as her body slowly turned into transparent ice.

Once the spell took effect, she peeked her head out from behind the tree she was hiding in, her calm eyes searching the direction the Faceless Witch was coming from a while ago.

’My mana is about to run out. If I can’t find a way to escape, I’ll be caught.’

It had been hours since she found herself in this place and realized a faceless Witch was following her.

Since then she had cast her camouflage spell many times, so now her mana was so low that she could only cast it once or twice more before running out completely.

She still wasn’t sure if the Witch following her truly couldn’t see her thanks to the camouflage spell, or if she was just toying with her.

Every time Faye grew tired from running and crouched under a tree to rest, the Witch would suddenly appear.

Soft footsteps came first, and then that eerie, hollow skeleton face would show itself.

It was so frightening that many times Faye even felt her serene state break under the fear, only managing to keep it active thanks to the acting technique Magna had taught her.

’I wonder where he is.’ She leaned her back against the tree, just trying to gather her strength and calm her ragged breathing a little.

She no longer knew if anyone was even coming to save her, or if they had already realized she was lost.

But she just hoped Magna was nearby searching for her. That hope had been the only reason she’d managed to hold on this long, aside from her serene state.

While she rested, lost in thought, she began to hear those soft footsteps again.

Knowing what would happen next, that the Faceless Witch would suddenly appear in front of her and terrify her all over again, she immediately started running from where she stood.

She didn’t look back to check if she was still being followed. She only ran as fast as her legs would carry her.

She never even thought about turning to fight, since she was sure the Witch was someone she couldn’t even dream of facing.

Running nonstop, she picked up new scratches on her arms, legs, and face from the tree branches and sharp bushes along the way. Some were already dried, while others were bleeding freshly, joining the ones she already had.

Her lungs started to ache so badly that her vision began to darken from the lack of air.

And as if that wasn’t enough, the camouflage spell slowly began to fade, her body turning from transparent ice back into warm flesh.

Before the spell could fully end, and before she lost consciousness completely as her vision darkened, she ducked behind another tree and sat on the ground, gasping for breath.

She tried to steady her breathing quickly before chanting the spell again.

But this time she couldn’t find the time, as those footsteps started coming again.

’No, no, no.’ Her mind collapsed into despair in an instant.

She didn’t even have enough time to catch her breath, let alone chant the camouflage spell.

This time, with no time left, she felt it was the end.

She still got up, refusing to give up, and tried to run, but the Witch was already standing right in front of her.

With her face carved into a hollow oval shape, showing only a blackened skeleton with empty sockets, the Faceless Witch stared straight at her.

"Why..." Faye’s serene state wavered again as her eyes began to well up.

She found it so unfair.

She believed she hadn’t done anything to deserve torture like this.

She felt so angry, so desperate, so scared and helpless, that her body finally collapsed to the ground under the weight of it all.

As the Witch reached toward her with a filthy hand and long, chipped nails, Faye shut her eyes tight, just hoping it would all end in an instant, without any pain.

At that moment she heard a loud bang ring in her ears, and felt a wave of heat crash into her whole body.

She opened her eyes wide, not sure if it was her survival instinct kicking in that made her look up, or something else.

What she saw was a thick pillar of fire passing right in front of her, its heat washing over her entire body, striking the faceless Witch dead center.

It was wide and so powerful that it scorched everything in its path in a long stretch of flame, burning the trees, the grass, even the ground itself.

As it slowly faded and died down, it left behind nothing but a charred, flat, pitch-black strip still trailing smoke.

Even the Faceless Witch was no longer standing in front of her, likely thrown off by the impact of the pillar of fire.

"Are... you alright..."

Still too shocked even to cry, Faye heard a voice speaking to her.

She forced herself to turn and raise her head, looking instinctively at the figure speaking to her, and realized it was the one who had just saved her life.