153 In the forest. (1/2)

On the cliff, the Rank-7 Mages started to fight again after confirming the ground's stability this time.

Raven did not even have the time to think about something else when a Mage attacked her. She and Blaze fought together against that Rank-7 Mage.

Only a couple of Rank-7 Mages could not make it, while most of the people who fell were the mercenaries. Raven and Blaze were not the only two grieved at the situation. Almost everyone was because Clara had fallen down the slope as well!

Though Rufus was anxious to go down the steep to look for Clara, he could not do so because the old man in white robes did not let him do anything. Moreover, he had seen Ozul jumped down willingly at the last second when the cliff was about to fall, and that made his heart have a little peace.

He knew that Ozul was at least as strong as himself, if not even stronger, although he would not admit it.

Since he couldn't look for Clara, he decided to leave that for Ozul to handle while setting his heart to get things over with the old man quickly.

”Let's settle this, you bag of bones!” Rufus shouted before rushing towards the old man in white robes.

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At the same time, Ozul had wrapped Clara in the Ball of Purity by her waist.

Even before the cliff fell, he knew that it couldn't be saved, so at that moment, he had thought to use this moment as an excuse to get some time away from Raven and Blaze. Both of them needed to learn some things that couldn't just be taught by words.

The only downside in this plan of his was that he would be stuck with this girl for a while. Not only was the girl annoying, she even had the Light Element. How worse could it even get?

Even while falling down, he could easily fly back up using the Ball of Purity. Even bringing Clara together with him up wouldn't be a problem for him. However, it would cause him to be stuck with the group for some other months before something interesting happened again.

Clara had lost her consciousness because some rocks hit her while she was about to fall, so she did not know what was happening.

If she were awake, she would be shocked to see that instead of falling normally, she and Ozul glided far away from the Dividing Mountains towards the forest in the direction of the Fer City.

He was sure that it wouldn't be long before Rufus dealt with the assailants. Although both the old man in white robes and Rufus were Rank-8 Mages, the latter was visibly stronger than the former.

Even if Rufus couldn't kill the old man, he would at least be able to force them to flee. And once he was done with that, the remaining party would spread out to search for them.

After getting hundreds of meters away, he finally landed on the ground, surrounded by trees from all directions. He was sure that even if Rufus searched day and night, he wouldn't be able to locate them till here.

As he landed, he hurriedly dropped Clara on the ground before closing his eyes to sense the area around him. A few moments, he opened his eyes without finding anything unusual.

The sun was almost about to set, so he climbed up the tree to rest his back against the tree before going to sleep. He didn't even do anything about Clara, who was unconscious on the ground.

A few hours, and it was the middle of the night.

At this time, Ozul was still on the tree, sleeping to his heart's content. Clara's eyes twitched as a small groan escaped from her mouth.

A few seconds of squirming later, she suddenly opened her eyes and stood up in shock. Few scenes of her fall played in her mind right before she had lost consciousness.

”What?! Where am I!?” She shouted after realizing that she must've fallen from the cliff. However, she could not understand how she was in a place with no hills or mountains near?

”Would you shut up and let me have some peace!?”

Clara suddenly heard a familiar voice. She turned around and looked at the branch of a tree. Ozul lay there with his eyes closed, not even bothering to open his eyes to talk.

”O-Ozul!” Clara said, while stuttering. She had never called him that, and it felt weird saying it for the first time.

”What is it?” Ozul replied with a little annoyance noticeable in his tone.

Clara visibly flinched before replying, ”Uh... Where are we?”

”In the middle of the forest,” Ozul replied with a sarcastic tone. He couldn't help but treat her this way because of the Light Element.