Ember was sucked in by the tornado.
After a dizzying ride for hours on end, she finally managed to land on solid ground.
“Master?!”
The first thing she did was call for Will, who was nowhere to be seen. Since she could still feel the connection between them through the link, she knew that he was at least safe.
“I need to go to Master’s side!”
Ember resolutely declared this as she stood up from the ground. However, right now, her clones are spread wide and far from her. As it was technically still a part of her body, she could guess their distance and direction. Using that to her advantage, she started her search for Will’s whereabouts.
The chances of finding him without a clue were slim. Given that her closest slime was a little over 50 kilometers away, Will may have landed somewhere even farther.
“If I could find Fang at least…”
Ember muttered.
Suddenly, a strong gust passed, sending her hair fluttering with the wind. When Ember raised her hand to pat down her hair, she felt a burning sensation on her cheeks.
“…!”
She was attacked! The wind wasn’t something naturally occurring but was probably brought forth by the enemy’s skill. Ember kept her stance low, raising her hands to cover her head and neck.
She kept on searching around but couldn’t see even a shadow of her assailant.
“Invisible?”
The thought quickly entered her mind.
Based on the damage she received, the enemy shouldn’t be far off from Ember’s level. At best, it should be around the fourth stage. However, if it’s an invisible enemy, then the story is different.
Ember doesn’t have senses as sharp as Fang’s, and her only weapon, her clones, are far from her main body right now. Honestly, fighting in her current state is almost impossible.
‘But I don’t need to fight myself,” Ember thought as an idea crossed her mind.
She quickly hid behind a large rock; however, the strong gust of wind followed her almost immediately. When the wind caught up to her, she moved to another nearby boulder, hiding in its shadows.
When the gust caught up to her again, she repeated her previous actions and selected another nearby rock to hide. The wind chased her almost nonchalantly as if snickering at her futile attempts.
When Ember was caught up again on the fifth rock, she smiled.
“Got you.”
Before the enemy realized what she meant, it noticed that it couldn’t move anymore. All around its body, fine threads that were almost invisible were wrapped around him before he even noticed.
“Well, too late.”
Ember muttered as she motioned with her open palm. From each of her five fingers, a thin thread extended to a rock before leading back to the center of the gust of wind. The invisible being, in the shape of a chameleon, was wrapped up and unable to move.
Beyond the enemy’s perception, Ember set up the threads behind the rocks every time she hid. After she let the end stick to the rock firmly, she let it flow along with the rapidly shifting airflow, tightening it around the enemy. It literally tied a noose around its own neck.
When Ember closed her palm, blood splattered as the gust of wind dispersed. Although there was a pool of blood right in front of her, she still couldn’t see the corpse of the enemy she killed.
“Troublesome bug…”
Ember walked away, not even paying a single glance to her enemy. She quickly moved far from the spot they fought, afraid that it may have caught the attention of a stronger demon.
When Ember was convinced that nobody was following her anymore, she heaved a sigh of relief. Her clones, searching in a circular manner as they approached, were still unable to find traces of the others.
One of her slimes, located about 120 kilometers south of her, found the familiar 13th attack squad fighting a large nest of insect-like demons. They seemed to be having a hard time, given that they were already starting to retreat. Their numbers didn’t match the initial count, leaving them with only five tamers and no mercenaries. 𝒷𝒹ℴ𝓿𝓁.𝓬𝓸𝓂
With this information, Ember finally grasped her current position. With that out of the way, she immediately resumed her search.
First, she sent one clone to their previous position, checking for clues that could be left there. For the other five, she sent them toward the immediate surroundings of the frontline. Ember herself carefully traversed the dangerous lands, heading for the location of the 13th attack squad.
While on the way back, about a few hours later, Ember felt Will’s thoughts through their link. He was currently panicking, with fear and pain mixed in. Ember quickly understood that he was currently fighting.
“Oh no! Master needs help!”
Ember rushed ahead. She didn’t know where Will was, but since she could now sense his thoughts so clearly, he should be nearby.
As she was rushing around, Will’s thoughts turned to resignation, then peace, before they got cut off.
“…!”
Ember panicked. Will didn’t die, for sure, as their link was still present. But she can’t detect his thoughts anymore. That must mean that she got farther from him.
Ember quickly turned around and ran. “Master!”
However, even after spending a few minutes searching around, other than the few powerful demons roaming about, there’s not a single trace of Will anywhere.
“He’s not here… Where are you, master…?”
Ember felt like crying already. The link between them was getting fainter by the second. He seemed to be going further away at a rapid pace.
“If he’s not in here… underground?!”
When Ember finally noticed this, she quickly realized the meaning of Will moving away at a fast pace.
‘Master is falling down rapidly?!’
In a panic, Ember used a skill that she hasn’t completely mastered yet. It was a skill under Space Energy control and is one of the hardest techniques to learn from scratch.
A portal formed in front of Ember, leading to a place underground.
“Master, wait for me!”
She shouted as she jumped inside the portal.