Language update (2)
Quite unlike the paladin's dangerous thoughts, a figure loomed motionless many meters above his head. Branches and leaves concealed part of her body, but with a little effort, it was easy to spot her.
'Don't look down, don't look down, don't look down,' the veiled woman repeated to herself over and over again as she hung in the air.
Moments before the paladin attacked, the vines grasped her waist and lifted her into the air as though she were a feather. A scream was stuck in her throat when she felt her body float, but greater was the fear of being on the ground upon witnessing the state the tree had been left in.
The turquoise-haired girl cursed inwardly, trying to remember if she owed money to the slanted-eyed man who kept looking for her. Perhaps she had ruined one of his relationships? Otherwise, why else would he go after her life with such viciousness?
Any scenario was possible anyway.
It hadn't been many days since she had woken up on this deserted island, and even worse, her head was a complete mess.
Fragments of memories flickered back and forth like flashes of light before sinking into the haze of her mind. Only after speaking or thinking about something did she really remember what it meant, such as when she watched them trying to lift her scepter.
Minutes before she didn't even know what the 'Avengers' was, but the scene was so familiar to her that the memories naturally surfaced like water coming out of a broken faucet.
For that very reason, she was so desperate to find other humans and observed them minutely in order to stimulate her chaotic memories.
Despite herself, all she could see from this man was basic data that evoked nothing.
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*Name: Zagan (22)
*Profession: የልረጎክ ᘑረ ርዪᘑ នኗዪልᘑ
*Skills:
ፕቿረҞጎክនጎ (?)
ፕቿረየፕዘሃ (?)
ዪክጎርጠኗጎር (?)
*Status: Normal / Stealth (passive)
*Threat Level: None
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This was displayed on the transparent screen before her eyes. The woman blinked in confusion at the information that seemed to be straight out of a video game. Some of it was easy to understand, but other parts were just strange symbols that were impossible to read.
The first time the screen popped up there were no mechanical voices or a beginner's guide, just a faint, pleasant sound that echoed inside her head.
[ ጔጎክሆቿክል ዪቿኗዪន! ]
Those were the first words written in an unknown language that she saw floating in the air as soon as she opened her eyes inside a kind of underground cave. Even more unusual was the fact that her brain gradually interpreted the letters and they slowly took on meaning until she could read them fluently.
〚 Welcome back! 〛
〚 Reconnecting systems… 〛
〚 0%... 18%... 27%... 〛
And until now that same loading bar was minimized in a corner where it did not hinder her field of vision, the only difference being that the number 35% flashed on the small screen.
After several days, she observed that the percentage increased slowly, sometimes stagnating for days. Yet she was also able to confirm that as it increased, so did her senses as well as her reactions and movements, becoming lighter and more agile.
This is why she had managed to survive on an island full of dangerous creatures.
She honestly couldn't trust the fact that every creature posed a "none" threat level, but after living with them for several days, she could finally admit that what the screen displayed was true.
'Don't look up, don't look up, don't look up,' she repeated hastily as the man began to raise his eyes, scanning the tree for something.
The woman stared at her skirt uneasily, criticizing her bad luck.
Of all the clothes a person with any brains could wear in the wilderness, she had to be wearing a long, uncomfortable dress like the one the blue-haired girl who came in last was wearing. The difference between the two was that the other girl's clothes, apart from being a little dirty from the dirt, were completely intact. In contrast, several parts of the skirt of the veiled woman's dress had been torn off when they got stuck while walking, leaving her ankles and muddy bare feet exposed.
And the worst part of it was that from below he could see everything. Everything.
At this rate, she was going to be found out in a rather embarrassing position.
Before the captivating violet eyes reached her, the vines acted once more, lashing out at the man as if to drive him away. Baffled by the unexpected attack, he nimbly backed away and established a safe distance before activating a barrier around his body.
Not many people could control the vegetation and, at this time and on this island, there was only one person capable of doing it.
Zagan snapped his head towards the second hilmir, giving him an accusing look.
Duman, who had witnessed the whole thing, looked back at him and quickly shook his head, indicating that what transpired had nothing to do with him. It would be stupid of him to target his own team member, let alone one of the Creed's finest paladins with whom he had established a connection after so many years of effort.
The vines continued to lash at Zagan, forcing him back toward his companions. With no other choice, he began to cut down all the vines that came near him.
"Great Hilmir, please do something about it!"
"I'm on it!" Duman replied gruffly.
Concentrating his power on the flora around him, Duman sought to gain control of the plants that were charging at the paladin but, to his surprise, they refused to comply.
Duman froze in place, his eyes wide with shock, and tried once more, but the resistance was even fiercer than before. Every time he tried to establish a link, he felt as if the flora was mesmerized by something and his own incantations were a nuisance interrupting their joyous time.
After so many years, this was the second time in his life that he had been spurned by the plants.
An elementalist repelled by their own element was considered a disgrace among their kind, and while there weren't many such cases, the few that did were quite famous, and not in a good way.
Aside from him, his father was the only person who knew his most humiliating secret. The reason why he felt that his right to the throne was not stable and was so obsessed with the Legacies of the Eloah.
Just like when he was a child, this was a sharp slap in the face to his swollen pride.
Panicking, Duman hurriedly searched for a nearby water source within the range of his area of effect, but other than finding nothing, he had a dreadful hunch that even if he found it, it would be of no use.
With his trauma rekindled and unable to use his powers, Duman was rendered unfit to engage in combat and became the very thing he so much despised: a hindrance.