Chapter 8: Verdant Maelstrom Spring (1)

Meanwhile...

Siwaliw blazed back to the king and unwaveringly slumped on the ground, uttered everything what happened and consequently owned all the blame.

"Hmmm..."

However, King Nāga simply brushed his springy beard and furrowed his eyebrows. His pupils deepened just as his mind ruminated.

Awaiting his doom already, Siwaliw could not help but creased his forehead when he was taken aback by how the king responded. It was his 'son'… only 'son' who lost in this treacherous forest and yet did he just made a peculiar reaction?

"I did not expect that little one would really manage to get caught from it. Hahaha!!"

Instead, boastful laugh suddenly hurtled, plucking distant flocks out of their slumber.

Paluti and Siwaliw who were standing next to the golden carriage immediately shot glances to each other, with the same question piercing their heads.

Even the whole troupes who were already on their feet waiting for a recon, were totally confused.

Did...Did he just laugh? Was he already expecting that to happen?

"Your Highness? What should we do?"

Never been able to hold back his fear, Siwaliw called out.

"It was the Wandering Forest. Even if our entire group would search, we would never find him. It is only a one man trip."

The king cleared his throat and looked at his royal servants outside. A glint of light surge from his iris matched up his leered eyelids.

"..."

Lixardo immediately froze once he caught it up.

"Wandering forest? What is that? Heard of it?"

A kneeling female servant whispered on her side.

"No. No clue."

A male servant immediately shook his head slowly, not making any noticeable gestures.

"I-I thought that was just a myth."

Just a line before those two servants, a soldier blurted out his thoughts.

Well, in the first place, he was just actually going to talk to the general, Lixardo, but it seems the king had caught his attention.

"It ain't any myth, young one. It is just simply made it that way to keep hunters and collectors from finding it. If we go now… hurrying over searching for him, it will be a waste of time."

The carriage suddenly pitched when King Nāga strode out of the carriage.

"Wandering forest…hmmm"

Lixardo cupped his chin, lowered his right eyelid.

"Your Highness... from what I can recall the legends only tell one such forest and I'll never dream for it to be true just as you said."

Siwaliw and Paluti crossed their eyebrows and perturbed when Lixardo suddenly turned anxious.

They felt it, how the one-eyed general gripped the reigns of his contracted beast, White Ghost Horse.

But the king only threw a gaze, as if he already knew about this forest from the very first step they made upon entering the seven summits of Ruzas.

"Tell me it was not really bad. Maybe it could be bad but not that bad right?

Paluti quavered and swallowed a fist of saliva. He simply could not endure what Lixardo would tell them.

In fact, both he and Siwaliw did know nothing about the said forest or even the myth alone so, theres nothing they could do but anxiously wait.

With that, Siwaliw grew even more worried. As he thought, from the very first place, it was his fault; he could not even protect the prince who was just a leap before him nor find a way to save him when he was lost, instead he just scurried back to the king flapping his damn wings begging for mercy and help.

'Damn it!'

A burning execration kept swelling in his heart when his mind believed this would not happen if he did not let his guard down or if he did not ponder on the prince private matters, about his best friend.

"It's not that bad."

Lixardo blew a sigh then pointed his pupils towards the rainbow robed guy, Paluti and continued...

"...because its worse."

"G...aah... what?!"

Cold swallowed Paluti's body.

What? It was worse than he thought? Is is it a Legend tier beast?

However, it wasn't impossible to be true.

Come to think of it, they were still in the second mountain of the seven summits of Ruzas and adventurers and merchants called this place as the Graveyard Road because they often heard eerie cries among the gargantuan trees like scream from ghosts.

While collectors and hunters named this place as the Guardian Mountain as they believed this was where a pearl treasure could be found, unfortunately, guarded by a powerful deity, they said.

******

Crimson colored fluid crawled on the side of her lips that eventually cupped her chin.

With Ziros eyes leered where she came from and being anxious whether sigbin would make another frontal attack, she staggeringly raised her arms circling her chest where she couldnt feel if her rib bones were still intact. Then she squeezed it gently.

Prrikk!!!

"...!!"

Her chest immediately hitched up when tremendous pierce of twinge pummeled her body.

At first, searching for escape routes would be the best choice, as she thought, however never in her mind she would end up like a punching bag.

After all, she was like a bicycle incomparably racing about a bullet train.

"Damn it! If I was just a little bit stronger than this... just a little..."

Beneath her back was a bleak medium-sized rock punched her spine with excruciating pain.

Instantly, her august visage grimaced with her eyes already half way from closing and her consciousness towards blacking out.

"Such useless body. I couldn't even stop that strong impact."

Her back incontinently arched to relieve its pang. Another attack and her body might not take it anymore.

At that thought, she gazed her skin sweating with crimson bloods tinged with colorless sweats spilled over her robe.

"Poor thing. How I loved to see you clean but no help for now. I would care for my life rather than being a neat conscious brat."

However...

"This smell!"

...a strange familiar scent tickled her nostril.

It was the same smell from before.

The strange stench which lingered on the root of her nose, an abundant redolence of calcium and magnesium, yet not so tangy when paired with a slight hike of temperature and humidity.

It urged her to make a turn of her sight towards her back.

"There is a spring in here!"

'Just as I thought. I knew my nose wasn't wrong from before.'

Her quivering eyes were immediately filled with amusement as though she was never in a life and death situation.

There was indeed a spring behind her. But it wasn't just a spring it was more like a spring beneath a precipice!

"What's with the green color?"

Blazing with heat that scorch up humidity, the sward-like cliff were filled with thick mist extended towards the Wandering Forest, nevertheless, it didn't help covering the tinges of greens, even the steaming water itself was verdantly lush.

"… Are those. mosses? Thank goodness, I wasn't thrown in that. I cannot imagine myself swimmi--... G...ah!"

Shhhk!!!

Within a second, sigbin came slashing her arm hugging her chest. Ziro's eyes went bulge as blood flew out of her gaping mouth.

"The hell!"

She clenched her fist and at her most speed, flew it on to her front, then landed a huge blow on sigbins face blasting it several paces back as it growled with extreme agony.

"Youre persistently annoying, little faggot. Why won't you come back to your mommy and get… breastfeed... Argh... Uho! Damn it."

Her body trembled even more. Having no any bandages on, her body lost tons of blood already.

But it didn't even gave sigbin a scrape of pity towards her, instead seeing Ziro incomparably weaker than before urged it even more to kill her.

Without taking any chances, sigbin squint its crimson eyes as it wore nefarious grin which tore its lips up to its ears; it was more like a raunchy maniac ready to devour a helpless innocent young prince.

"Damn it! What should I do?"

Ziro couldn't be more desperate, her eyes briskly rolled for every possible way she could ran to as fast as possible, though probably gaiting would rather impossible for her any longer.

She didn't even know if she could make a step before collapsing on the ground.

And in the end, her gaze fell on to her back, the spring she had just ridiculed.

"Theres no other choice maybe that is far better than being a cannibal's snack!"

While she was still absorbed pondering her escape, sigbin made a quick step back and like a volatile liquid quickly evaporates, its body melted into murky air. That again!

"Like hell you could!"

With her entire strength, she just obliviously ignored the tremendous pain, straddled her feet with countless cuts and pushed her whole body up until found herself just dozen inches towards the cliff.

"It's now or never.?

Shhkkk!!!

"...!"

But, she was caught off guard when sigbin suddenly flickered beside her.

Not able to stop its frontal thrust, a huge strike gored on her back and pierced through her abdomen.

"G... Aaah!! D-damn you!"

As the thick crimson fluids gushed out from her mouth, her left hand glided towards her front until she found sigbin's arm still thrusting its rusty weapon.

At that time, sigbin had just realized he was screwed, it immediately floundered out from Ziros grasp, yet no good.

Once caught, there's definitely no way Ziro would let it escape!

She'd already been sabotaged, might be better if she return the warm welcome.

"Y-you freaking screwball!"

Together with a cracking grunt, she bit her lips and briskly stepped one of her foot back...

SWOOSH!!

... then lashed sigbin in an enormous speed until it was expunged off the brink!

However, staring at sigbin how it horrifyingly wobbled as it descents towards the spring, she found her legs tangled to a tree root, losing her balance.

Her pupils deepened. In an unfortunate moment, her foot slipped out on the cliff and inevitably fell off next.

"Haa... t-the hell… should have brought a life jacket..."

Splash!!!

Several ripples broke the water surface as long as Prince Ziro's body plunged into the spring. It did not even take a moment 'till the fresh verdant liquid turned into cerise bath, like a poison blisters crawled at its victim at seconds.

As she was slowly drifting towards the bottom, her copper hair lithely danced together with her silver ripped robe which the cloud patterns was unrecognizable already.