Chapter 163 Fear (1/2)

Snowcloud looked at Arran as if he'd gone insane

”You want to fight them?!”

Arran shook his head ”I want to kill them”

”You can't…” Snowcloud's voice trailed off, and she cast a glance at the city ”You found so in the temple?”

”I failed to reach it,” Arran replied, then added, ”But I gained so”

”But there are—” Snowcloud began, but suddenly, her eyes ide and her expression turned panicked ”They're here,” she said in a soft voice

When Arran looked, he saw that a large group of people had eed from the tree line There seemed to be at least thirty, and they were just a few hundred paces removed from him and Snowcloud

Despite his earlier confidence, Arran could not help but feel so more numerous than he had expected, they see with a fluid certitude as they approached

Earlier, Snowcloud's uncharacteristic fearfulness had confused hihtened her so much

There was an aura of inescapable power around them, almost as if they were fated to be victorious Their approach had an air of inevitability, and Arran's confidence began to falter Against enemies like these, there could be no—

Suddenly, a smile appeared on his face

”Those crafty bastards,” heof panic faded away almost instantly

The sense of dread had briefly affected hi was a familiar one — it was the same sensation he felt when he encountered the eyeless creature in the Academy prison and at the deserters' fortress Only this tiic caused it, Snowcloud's pursuers were clearly less skilled at using it than the creature was

Just knohat it was helped Arran resist it, but he was further aided by the effects of his Te With the increased physical andthis attack barely took him any effort at all

Snowcloud, on the other hand, was visibly affected While she had already looked panicked earlier, now, she seeht, Arran began to head for the group ofSnowcloud behind hiic would be to kill those ielded it, and until they were dead, the further she was from the battle, the safer she would be