The Sylph

Aiden was moving through the empty city towards the city wall, hiding in shadows as much as possible. However, he couldn't help wondering, 'What's wrong with the city?'

From time to time, he saw the skeletons wrapped in vines, but he did not notice any human being in the entire city. 'Could it be that all the dead humans turned into the things of the vine?' It made him worry a little.

The closer Aiden came close to the wall, more he understood that this was not the case. Most of the people were fighting with the vine-skeletons near the wall.

"It must be the work of those giants." Observing the part of the wall that had been smashed to the ground, Aiden could think of this only possibility. "And that's how a few of them might have entered the city."

"But how am I supposed to escape?" Aiden could see that many of the men and women were fighting over the wall, and many were trying hard to stop the vine creatures from breaking through the broken part of the wall. But that did not leave Aiden any way to escape.

"Should I join their ranks and escape when I get a chance?" Aiden was sure he could, but he wasn't willing to take the chance without knowing the number of the enemy outside. And he was not given a chance to try his theory.

"Human, come with me." The sensual voice attracted his attention, but Aiden could see no one around him. Just as he thought it was his mistake, the voice said again, "I don't want to hurt you."

Even without looking back, Aiden jumped away to create some distance between him and the thing that whispered in his ears. But, looking back, he didn't notice anyone.

'ESS, mark every living being in the vicinity.' As soon as he whispered in his mind, an uncountable number of red and blue lines, near the wall, overwhelmed his vision. However, even the ESS could identify no one close enough to whisper in his ears.

'I didn't make the same mistake twice!' Aiden was sure he didn't hear it wrong, but not finding the enemy made him worried. 'If it's invisible...'

Aiden couldn't finish his thought when something touched his legs. He tried to jump away, but it was too late. As he stumbled and fell to the ground, he found his legs wrapped in roots.

Before he could understand what had happened, the wind rose before him, and a human silhouette took shape.

'That's…' more than fear or shock, Aiden was curious. 'Could it be an elemental?'

[The being, in front of the host, is made of mana.]

'A body of mana, but it can act like a human. It's an elemental being.' Aiden was sure of it. But when Aiden thought such a magical being of fantasy could take birth on Earth, it surprised him.

'But why is it looking for me?' Aiden was curious. While he wasn't much worried about the bindings on his legs.

[The host is unable to initiate [Wind Burst]. Mana used:--. Remaining Mana:???]

As soon as he circulated mana in his legs the roots that bound his legs were frozen solid. With a powerful jerk, Aiden shattered the binding and stood up again.

"Child of a man, come along with me."

"Why?" Aiden couldn't identify its expression as the wind elemental spoke, but its tone made him frown. "Why should I come with you?"

"Our King has wished for you."

'King? An elemental King?' Aiden wasn't even sure that something like that could be possible. The thing in front of him, however, made him think otherwise.

"I don't have the time." Even if Aiden wanted to meet the king, he rejected the offer. His curiosity had made him pay the price once, and Aiden had no intention of committing the same mistake again. Right now, he has only one goal, that is to return to the planet Will.

"You are bound to obey the king's order."

With a deep frown on his face, Aiden wanted to say something, but he didn't get that chance. More roots came out of the ground and wrapped his legs again, as the vines broke out from the surface of the earth and bound him without giving him a chance to retaliate.

Soon every part of Aiden's body was wrapped in vines. He was having a hard time to move even his finger, but there was a smile on his face.

[The host is unable to initiate [Wind Skin]. Mana used:--. Remaining Mana:???]

"It would have been better if I had the blade, but…" Layers of ice formed on every vine and root, those were touching his body. "But now I have a better option."

He never had enough mana. He's always had this problem with mana since he first came to Earth. It was because of mana poisoning at first, and then he lost the ability to cultivate mana. But now it wasn't a problem anymore.

When he tried to probe the mana in his body, he felt there was no end to it. At the top, it was replenishing itself, nonstop. So Aiden had no intention of holding back, and all the pores of his body were releasing mana.

In a moment, he covered his entire body with a few layers of ice. Aiden didn't have to exert much effort, as the vines, trapped inside the ice chunks, came off like a shell of his body.

*Crreeeee*

The heart-wrenching cry startled Aiden. Before Aiden could look for the source, they came out of the ground.

The one meter tall, dried up tree looked nothing less than a hideous creature. And there were two of them. Covered with tentacle-like vines, from head to toe, they were staring at Aiden with their crystal eyes.

"You can't escape us." The wind elemental spoke in a confident voice, "Resistance is futile."

"Didn't you see what I did to him? Do you think that they can stop me from escaping?" Aiden asked with a smile.

*Creeee*

But before the wind elemental could answer him, the pair of dried up tree creatures attacked him. Those vines slithered through the ground and attacked Aiden like a group of snakes.

[The host is unable to initiate [Wind Skin]. Mana used:--. Remaining Mana:???]

Despite the notification of failure, the result was obvious. No matter how many tentacles were there, as soon as they touched Aiden, they all turned into ice and fell on the ground.

However, that didn't dampen the aggressiveness of the tree creatures, and the increased number of the tentacles attacked him from all directions.

"Don't you understand that you can't touch me?" Looking at their desperate struggle, Aiden sighed and said, "Let's just put an end to it."

[The host has activated innate skill [Zone]]

[5.4972]

[The host has activated innate skill [Blink]]

Aiden vanished from the spot and reappeared in front of one of the tree-creatures and touched the main body of it.

[The host is unable to initiate [Wind Burst]. Mana used:--. Remaining Mana:???]

The next moment, he trapped the main body of the tree creature inside a large piece of ice, and all the living vines froze in the air. Before the frozen vines could fall on the ground, Aiden disappeared again. And the fate of the other tree creature did not differ.

Yet the wind elemental stood there as if the fate of her companions did not matter to her at all. She turned to Aiden and said, "My majesty said not to kill you. So survive."

But it wasn't like Aiden had any intention of letting the wind elemental do whatever she wanted.

[The host has activated innate skill [Blink]]

[5.4421]

[The host has manually deactivated skill [Zone]]

[The host is unable to initiate [Air Punch]. Mana used:--. Remaining Mana:???]

Aiden's punch found its mark, and the body made of wind burst, scattering ice shards everywhere.

Aiden looked at his hand as if he could see the mana running through his body. "This mana is powerful... Ahhhh!" As the wind blew, the self-satisfactory praise soon burst into a cry of pain.

Thin lines of wounds appeared on his body, and his clothes wetted with blood. Forehead, chest, hand, legs, back; it spared none of the surfaces of his body. The overwhelming amount of pain drew tears out of his eyes.

"You think you can touch me with that measly amount of power?" Before he could investigate the source of his wounds, the voice of the wind elemental whispered to his ears again.

[The host is unable to initiate [Air Punch]. Mana used:--. Remaining Mana:???]

[The host is unable to initiate [Wind Burst]. Mana used:--. Remaining Mana:???]

…

It wasn't just one or two. Gritting his teeth, Aiden sent an uncountable number of punches in every direction around him. Explosions from such amounts of ice mana have created an icy fog around him.

"Futile efforts." The voice whispered again as if she was standing just beside him. With the white fog around him, Aiden would have noticed any movement around him, but he saw no change in it.

No matter the direction he turned, he couldn't find anything. At the next moment, however, he was sent out to fly out of the white fog, with a powerful impact on his chest.

Aiden's body slammed on the wall of the building and slid down. "You should give up." The voice whispered again in his ears as he groaned in pain. But before he could reply, everything around him had turned into silence.

He was wrapped in suffocating silence. And that wasn't all; the surrounding air vanished, too. No matter how hard his chest muscles struggle, they could not draw any air.

[The host has activated innate skill [Zone]]

[5.44419]

[The host has activated innate skill [Blink]]

[5.4375]

[The host has manually deactivated skill [Zone]]

The skill was successful, but the result wasn't. He reappeared a little further away from the place he had fallen; however, he could not escape from the vacuum trap that was wrapped around his head.

"You will die." the voice whispered in his ears, but Aiden had no time to think how he could still hear the voice in the vacuum. He forced all the mana to his skin and initiated a skill that he hadn't used in a long time.

[The host is unable to initiate [Wind Gale]. Mana used:--. Remaining Mana:???]

An enormous amount of ice spikes formed all around him. If anyone was looking from above, they'd think it was a lotus flower with Aiden in the centre. But his attack hit no one.

He couldn't escape the vacuum, either. But all these efforts emptied his lungs faster, and the lack of oxygen cut off the connection between his body and his head. Aiden lost consciousness. It's only been a moment, though.

Aiden's eyes snapped open, and a chill spread out in all directions. All the ice scattered around him vaporised in the thin air as if they weren't there in the first place.

At the next moment, Aiden grabbed something, with his pale blue ice hand, that was above his head. As he did, a body formed in his hand.

Aiden held the throat of the wind elemental, but no matter how hard she struggled, she couldn't escape the grip. Aiden was calm, though.

Aiden looked at it with his ice-blue eyes and spoke in a voice that didn't sound like Aiden's, "How a mere Sylph dare to attack me?"