Rein shattered the barrier that was made by the artifact.
The destructive force was so high that Ryker, who was being protected by the barrier, was dealt an almost fatal wound.
He was struggling to breath, and losing tons of blood.
"How did you find us so quickly?" Ciel asked
"We got permission to use a tracking artifact from the king." Ryker said
'He's willing to talk? Maybe he's buying time. Still, I might as well get some answers.' Ciel thought inwardly
"What was the anomaly that made you chase after us?"
"I don't know. I only know that there was an influx of Spirit Energy a few days ago." Ryker answered
'Influx of Spirit Energy… could it be the reason why we were transported here?' Ciel guessed
"What about -"
Ciel was cut off before he could ask the next question
Ryker threw a ring towards Ciel. It suddemly created a cracked, damaged and deformed forcefield around Ciel. It was the artifact Ryker had.
Ciel movements were slowed down for a few moments.
A second later, there were hundreds of Feral Ants running in their direction. They didn't seem to care about the humans, and ran past them.
'Shit... I was too careless.'
Rein rushed towards him and kicked the barrier, causing the ring to be completely destroyed along with the cracked barrier.
Ryker was already running. They didn't have the strength to chase him, they could only watch.
[ We need to get out of here quickly. Whatever that monster is, it will probably defeat the Feral Ants back at the anthill and come here anytime soon. ] Rein said
They saw Ryker running away from the Feral Ants in the distance, but at that moment something unexpected happened.
A massive bear, at least 5 metres tall, shot through the air, its maw filled with hungry saliva.
The bear was dark brown in colour with a few red stripes, and had a few red spikes all around its pelt. Its eyes were filled with malice and chaos.
It was Soul Tier 3 Forsakened, a Blood Bear.
It easily grabbed Ryker in its maw, and started eating him alive. It was a horrifying sight.
The snapping of bones with flesh being torn apart could be heard over a muffled scream.
Just like that, Ryker — a Radiant Sorcerer — was killed.
'What the fuck… that thing is a Soul Tier 3 Forsakened. What is it doing here? There's no way it could defeat all those ants so quickly…'
Ciel didn't know why it was here, but he knew that it didn't matter.
All that mattered was that they had to run. Run as fast as they could, or they would end up just like Ryker.
[ Rein! Run! ] He shouted mentally
[ Got it. ] She said with slight panic
He entered her shadow as she started running away. Since her legs were in better shape, she was able to run way faster than Ciel currently.
The Blood Bear started eating the three other human corpses.
After finishing the last one, it looked into the distance towards Rein with madness. It ignored all the Feral Ants and ran towards her.
It appeared to have found it's new favorite type of meal.
[ Head back to the kingdom. It probably won't chase us if we get close to the Great Enforcer. ] Ciel said
He didn't believe in the power of the Great Enforcer, but there was nothing else they could do.
It didn't seem too interested in the Feral Ants, but if any of them were in the way, the Blood Bear wouldn't hesitate to stop and eat them.
They were also almost out of Spirit Essence and were physically exhausted.
Rein ran towards the Floren kingdom at full speed.
[ Wait! Go right! Something else is coming from ahead! ] Ciel quickly warned in an alarmed voice
Just as Ciel said that, the Blood Bear appeared in front of them.
Thanks to the prior warning, Rein started running to her right and avoided running into it.
'How is it here… no… it's a different one. I can still sense the presence of the old one behind us.'
'This must be the one that was fighting the Feral Ant colony near the anthill.'
'Shit. We're completely trapped. No… there's a chance.' His brain was moving rapidly
[ I'm exiting the shadow. We'll run together. ]
Ciel sent Rein a few mental images of his plan, and exited her shadow.
He summoned some of the Feral Ant meat they gained during their first hunt and left it on the ground to distract the Blood Bear.
Then, he summoned the 40 metre long rope and used it to quickly climb a tree branch over 30 metres in the air.
The bear munched down on the ant meat, and while it was distracted, they made it up the branch.
A 2 metre long spear appeared in Ciel's hand, along with some more ant meat.
The Blood Bear finished eating the ant meat, but still looked to be starving.
[ This is going to be rough. Get ready. ] He said
Rein nodded and wrapped her arms and legs around the spear.
Ciel wrapped the rope around ant meat and threw it towards the Blood Bear that was about to climb the tree.
Using the rope, he changed the direction of velocity, causing the meat to fly towards the direction of the first Blood Bear that appeared in the distance before dismissing the rope.
Then, using almost all their remaining Spirit Essence, he used all his strength to throw the spear in the opposite direction, and entered her shadow at the last moment.
The spear tore through the air, travelling over 100 metres.
It hit the ground with a small shockwave, causing Rein to fall to the ground in agony.
Ciel immediately exited her shadow and put her on his back. She was in no state to move.
He would also need their last bit of Spirit Essence for the last push, so she couldn't enter his shadow.
The reason he decided to throw the spear instead of running was to confuse the Blood Bears.
He had left the corpse of one Feral Ant on the tree branch,which would distract the two Blood Bears.
They were mindless beasts after all, they wouldn't instantly figure out that the humans had already escaped.
Instead, they would be fighting for the ant meat, giving them a few minutes of time.
If they just ran, there was no doubt that the Blood Bears would catch up to them.
Ciel took the spear and sprinted forward, ignoring all his bleeding wounds and battered limbs.
Even with the extra weight on his back and wounded body, he was running at an insane speed due to an adrenaline rush. After a while, he could hear the sound of flowing water.
Ahead of him, the great Pearl River was flowing with great speed.
'Finally… just a bit more…'
Running in that condition made him feel like an eternity had passed. The backlash on his body would not be fun to handle.
At the riverbank, he used their last reserves of Spirit Essence to summon a 2 metre long and wide wooden board.
He could hear threatening roars and the forest being trampled in the distance. The Blood Bears were approaching quickly.
Ciel pushed the wooden board into the river and jumped onto it with Rein.
It was nearly impossible to keep his balance, but he was able to use the spear to push the wooden board towards the center of the Pearl River.
The Pearl River was 1 kilometre wide, but he was now only 50 metres from the shore.
Still, it was enough. The river automatically pushed them towards the center and carried them downstream, away from the Blood Bears.
They gradually moved to the center of the river, with their backs against the wooden board.
Even though the river was flowing at a high speed, it wasn't too rough.
They would be able to rest a bit.
[ Rest for a while. We are fine for now. ] Ciel said
[ That was crazy… by the way we are at 22% Spirit Charge. We gained 20% from that ordeal. ]
[ We were probably not meant to survive that. ] Rein said in a slightly good mood
She was too tired to joke around much, and instantly fell asleep a few seconds later.
Ciel brought her close to him and put an arm around her so that she wouldn't fall off and closed his eyes, but didn't fall asleep.
If they died from falling off a wooden board after that encounter, he would never forgive himself in the afterlife.
A few hours later, Rein woke up in pain. She could move her arms around again, but the pain that could be felt was much more than it was before.
"Don't fall off. I've treated our injuries, but I'm no doctor." Ciel said
Rein's arms were covered in cloth with wooden splints, while Ciel looked like a half mummy.
His injuries were quite severe after the battle, but luckily didn't have any fatal wounds.
"Also, you should enter my shadow. You'll heal faster." He continued
"Why didn't you enter mine then? Oh…" She realized the reason
If he did that, she would have likely fallen off the makeshift raft.
"As Soul Sorcerers, our regeneration and vitality has greatly increased. I'll be fine."
"But you need your arms to fight, so it's better if you enter the shadow." He explained
He was in a worse state than her and she wanted to retort, but in the end, she nodded and entered his shadow.
He gave her a look that made her believe in his words.
[ Also, what are we fighting now? Surely those bears aren't following us… ] She said in a half joking manner
"They sure are. Also, we'll need to take a right turn ahead."
There was a bifurcation where the Pearl River split into two up ahead.
Going forwards would take them to the Azure Sea. There would be a village around the point where the Pearl River and Azure Sea met, so they had to go right, deeper into the Emerald Forest.
"I put a few tiny fragments of Eternal Stone in the ant meat. I can track the bear's movements now. They are a few kilometres behind us, moving at a constant speed." He explained
[ Damn… why's our luck so bad? How long until we reach the distributary? ] She asked
"I don't know, I only saw it on the map. But it could be at any moment. Be ready." He replied
An hour later, Rein felt something in the distance. It was the bifurcation.
[ The distributary is up ahead, we'll be there in a minute. ] She said
Ciel nodded and she exited his shadow.
Her arms were still not fully healed, but she could move them around decently well. She removed the wooden stilts.
Being in the shadow truly increased the regeneration speed.
"We need to time this well." Ciel said
If they missed the timing to reach the distributary, they would crash into the stone cliff that was in front of them.