Run Girls Run

After they had finished eating their meal Luka had found a large boulder not too far from the mouth of the cave. He had laid his back against the rock and fallen asleep. As for the others they had found their own spot around the rock. Alex had settled for sleeping atop the rock sprawled out in all directions.

However, through the middle of the night, Luka was awoken by some movement in his surroundings opening his eyes. His sword materialized in his hand. Quickly swinging the sword still in its scabbard. As fast as he had reacted, he stopped his sword in its spot. Kneeling before him was the young human girl to whom he had first offered chocolate.

She had a scared look on her face as the sword had stopped mere millimeters from her head.

Seeing who it was Luka had stopped his blade from making contact.

However, he was still on guard. Believe it or not, it wasn't easy to sneak up on them. However, this girl had done just that. While they weren't particularly alert this night. They were actually, mostly, completely, in a deep sleep.

You could see this from how the other four were still sleeping. Looking around Luka had found Alex still sleeping atop the rock. However, the girls had moved in the night. Alice had moved closer to Luka and her head was now laying on his lap as she was facing the night sky. Emily was using Alice's stomach as a pillow. And Lily was resting her head on his shoulder.

After confirming the safety of his friends returned his focus to the girl who was still looking at him with worry evident on her face.

Luka had dismissed these girls as innocent and powerless girls. However, this girl had changed his view. In Luka's eyes, this girl was now worthy to keep an eye on.

Luka, still with a sword over her head. Motioned his head lifting his chin just a few centimeters. Gesturing for the girl to state her purpose.

The girl quickly fumbled and reached into her clothes. However, she stopped in her tracks when she felt the sword pressed against her head. Moving slower she took out a small bag from within her clothes.

Luka quickly recognized it as a spatial treasure. Much like his bracelet but far lower quality and value.

The girl handed it over to him. Knowing they didn't understand the same language she started doing a lot of gestures with her hands.

Luka tried to understand what she was trying to say and after a long while of playing charades, she thought she understood what she had said.

Lowering his sword. The girl finally relaxed. She knew that even if the scabbard was on, had Luka wished it she would have been dead long ago.

Luka allowed his sword to vaporize and return to his soul, to which the girl was surprised but didn't think much of it.

Luka then fell into thought. What he had gathered from the girl was not much but he put things together and analyzed it all creating a working scenario in his head.

The girl had started by saying she had stolen the bag. From who, Luka was able to guess slave trader, but he wasn't sure. Then she continued gesturing that a few minutes ago she had looked through it and found something. Motioning for Luka to look into the bag, Luka looked through it and found what appeared to be a small red glowing totem. It was one of many things in the bag, which apparently the girl stole to sell it off so they could escape. However, after the men found them she was afraid they were tracking them so she looked through the bag and found it. She had described it as best she could under the moonlight; which if it weren't for it, it would be pitch black.

Luka looked at the totem and understood what it was. Once someone reached the Lord Realm they would be able to allow for their mana to leave their bodies and still have control over it. Typically before reaching the Lord Realm once you cast a spell you would lose control over it until the spell either was completed or ran out of mana.

One such use was for tracking. A mage could imbue their pure mana into a totem, which would keep the mana from dissipating into the air. They could then track that mana within the totem within a certain range, tracking it themselves or creating a compass for it. Since they weren't currently dead, he assumed that the men were the ones following the compass and not the creator of the totem.

Luka immediately upon realizing what happened. Immediately yelled

"Guys Wake Up!" waking the others from their sleep and jumping to their feet. Before they could ask what was happening Luka answered their doubts.

"The girls were being tracked. We got to move now!" Tossing the totem to Alex who had just landed on the ground. The others, now aware of what was going on. Quickly set out to clean up.

Alex went on to retrieve the Hive. The totem had been passed to Alice somewhere along the way and she was now attempting to smash it with a rock as once the totem broke the mana would disperse into the air and lose its tracking function. However, it wouldn't matter at the moment if they didn't move immediately.

The girl was now freaking out on the ground looking at all the movement.

Luka called out to the girl in his language as he pointed towards the cave.

"Wake them up we're moving now!"

The girl clearly didn't understand his words but she understood what was happening. She knew what the totem meant which was why she had come to him in the middle of the night. She quickly made her way into the cave.

Luka was now cursing under his breath. He had been too careless. He knew there was this possibility but he had disregarded it. He was too conceited thinking he could deal with anything that came their way. However, now that at the very least Lord Realm mage could be on his way here he couldn't do anything but regret. At this moment hundreds of little balls the size of a ping pong ball made their way back to the large cylindrical device stood in the middle of their campground.

Once all those had been retrieved Luka took out larger spherical objects which were the size of a basketball throwing them into the air each one started floating and flying away in different directions. It was then, that all the girls came out of the cave running. Most of them had scared looks on their faces. The younger ones were even crying. The last to come out were the two oldest ones. The one with animal ears atop her head was carrying the unconscious one on her back.

Seeing them carrying the injured girl on her back Luka called out to Lily who was putting away all their camping supplies.

"Lily do you have a stretcher?"

Lily looked up at Luka and then towards the girls and nodded he approached the girls and took out a girl and put it on the ground. The girls looking at her didn't know what was going on. Lily motioned to the girl carrying the other one. Understanding what was meant the two oldest girls approached and set down their friend on the stretcher. Once they did Lily left to continue her work. The two girls picked up the stretcher after they had tied her down as Lily had instructed.

The girls were ready to go. Luka looked to his friends seeing they were done.

"Were moving."

He was about to start running when he remembered that the girls were now with him. Looking at the girls he pointed in a certain direction and started jogging at a reasonable pace. His mates followed and the girls chased after them. Thanks to the moonlight and reasonably sparse canopy. The girls were able to keep up without much problem. They had been running for a week now so they were more or less used to it.

The girls tried to keep up with the boy and his friends, they were most surprised at how there were more than the two they had seen, however with no time to think about it they just focused on running.

Their friend had told them what was going on. She had said that they were being tracked and that they had to move immediately or they would be caught again. So in fear for their freedom, the girls chased after them.

The girls were surprised as they ran as suddenly four of the shadows they were following disappeared. They had no idea what happened. They thought they had been caught. However, the remaining shadow stopped and waved his hand gesturing to keep running. They listened to him as they kept moving. Every now and again one of the shadows would return only to disappear again.

However, they eventually found out where the shadows were going. As they ran past a dead beast, pierced with two arrows. Luka stood before the beast and urged them to keep running so they wouldn't stop.

Emily would usually retrieve her arrows as she had a limited amount. Once she reached the Lord realm she could create an arrow at her will but until then she had to do with the amount she had. They currently didn't have the means to make more mana conducting arrows. While she had thousands of them she would eventually run out. However, now was not the time for wasting time.

The girls had kept up their pace for about an hour. Thankfully they had a full meal and some rest otherwise they would have tired out long ago. However, they were beginning to tire out.

Luka stopped and put out his hand in front of them telling them to stop. Coming to a stop the girls were struggling to catch their breath. Luka waving his hand down communicating for them to sit and rest.

They had run about 10km which was the sensing range for a Paragon Emperor. They would be out of the sensing range of their original location. While they could sense within 10km the further out the less clear things got. They were still not safe however they were no longer in the hot zone. Hopefully not but if there was someone on their way he hoped they were not coming from his direction. And very hopefully the person that may come wasn't in the Sovereign realm otherwise nowhere in the entire forest would they be able to hide.

Unbeknownst to Luka and the others and in his luck 10 km away. A figure appeared in the campsite where an hour earlier he had been resting.

After the first, two more appeared.

One of them spoke

"Boss what happened you just ran out on us? We could barely keep up."

The man who was addressed as Boss replied.

"A week ago one of our caravans used for smuggling slaves was attacked and the man responsible for the slaves died. In the process, the slaves escaped. Our men were able to fend off the attack however the girls had already escaped. While they were cleaning up they noticed that the girls had stolen the slaver's spatial pouch which contained some of the more expensive merchandise he was to sell off, with such valuables I didn't trust him. He's only been working for me for a few months after all. So I put a tracking totem within it and gave the compass to my trusted subordinate within the caravan. However, using that they chased after the girls. However, earlier in the day the soul slabs for the man who was under my direct command broke. It was then I set out to chase after them this is the last place the totem was located. I can still feel the aura of the totem dissipating, it seems we just missed them."

The boss man said

"Let's go back."

"Shouldn't we chase after them, boss?"

The boss responded

"Whoever killed my men isn't dumb. Assuming that the girls are with them there is not a single trace of which way they went. Whoever it was, knew how to hide their tracks. We would have to search the entire forest to find them. It's a lost cause for now. However, those slaves and the items they stole will emerge sooner or later we will get them then."

The men disappeared once more back the way they came.

Luka who was now miles away was looking at the resting girls. They were sprawled out on the ground still breathing hard

It was then that the others finally returned. Looking at the girls.

Lily still a bit worried asked.

"Is it ok for us to stop here?"

Luka looking at the tired out girls answered

"The girls can't keep running non-stop and we've put enough distance between us. The only problem was the totem. Due to the enhancement of the runes, it has a tracking range of about 100km. Which is why we had to move. We couldn't be certain our position wasn't compromised. Ten kilometers is the maximum sensing range for an Emperor. So we should be safe for now that we've put 10 km between us."

Emily then asked

"So that's why we stopped now. But what if they've got someone stronger than the Emperor realm?"

Luka responded with a solemn voice

"Then there would be nowhere to hide in this forest."

There was a moment of silence before continuing

"However, I doubt a King Realm Mage would mobilize for these girls much less a Sovereign. The 10 km was just insurance. The most likely scenario would be a Paragon Lord to come looking. For the lost merchandise."

Taking out a few bottles of water and opening them, he gave them to the girls to drink.

Turning back to the others.

"We will let them rest for 15 min then we'll keep moving. We should be okay walking the rest of the way. However, now that we have extra luggage it will take us approximately four to five days to reach the edge of the forest. Huh, it's back."

Stretching his hand up to the sky one of the drones he had sent out returned and landed on his palm. The girls curiously stared at the round blob that had descended at the sky but they didn't say anything.

Looking through the data gathered. Luka said.

"It seems we were right to move out. Someone showed up not too long ago. The drone isn't able to pick up their power output. So it seems it's at least a Lord. Seeing as how Lord's can manipulate the ambient mana and hide their mana signature. Since he isn't chasing after us we are safe for now."

After finished analyzing the data Luka once again sent the drone out to keep monitoring their surroundings.

"However, things have become troublesome now."

Alice agreed and gave her point of view

"Indeed before we assumed that the men would just be buried in the forest and be lost to the world. However, now someone knows they died. Which is why those men showed up. Not only that it could have been the same for the girls. People would just assume they died in the jungle. However, now someone will be out looking for them. And they aren't precisely easy to hide. One maybe would pass unnoticed, but eleven. Someone will notice especially in the state they're in. We need to treat them and get them new clothes before we leave the forest. As for the rest, I'm still not sure how to deal with it."

The others listening to her agreed.

Luka taking over the conversation said.

"We need to first learn the legality of slavery in this place. If illegal we could leave it to the hands of the law enforcement of this place. If legal, then things will only be more troublesome. For now, let's keep moving it will take us at least four days to leave this jungle. We can't stay in this place forever. We have things to do, if the girls serve a purpose they can stay with us if they bring more problems than benefits we'll have to leave them behind. "

They understood that while it might be cruel they weren't here to run an orphanage. They came here with a goal. While the girls could provide help. If they weighed them down and failed they would be letting down the billions of people that had put their hopes in them.

Luka standing up signaled for the girls to stand up. After a bit of struggle, they all stood up and were ready to start running. As tired as they were they knew better than to fall behind. However to their surprise the boy and his companions. Only walked in front of them. Leaving the girls relieved that they didn't have to run anymore.