Escape from Dragonspine Forest
Using their past experience in wilderness survival, Al and Arlene quickly led Sorea to a stream in the forest. It was noon, and they needed to find a suitable place to spend the night before sunset.
Arlene picked a large leaf from a nearby tree, washed it, and then drank some water from the stream before feeding it to the unconscious Sorea.
Then he sat down with Al to recover his strength.
There are two power systems on the continent of Singri:
The first type is divine power, which is possessed by the offspring of gods. These offspring obtain power by praying to their parent gods. They cannot restore it on their own and can only obtain divine power through prayer.
The second method involves all living beings, including divine children, learning magical inscriptions based on their own attributes and advancing by drawing inscription patterns for hierarchical magic arrays.
There are thirteen levels of magic arrays. The first eight levels can be learned in various places on the continent. The most special one is the drawing of the ninth level inscription. When you learn to draw the inscription totem of the ninth level magic array, you will enter the demigod stage. The ninth level inscription can only be comprehended by yourself. The drawing methods of the tenth to thirteenth level magic arrays will be given by the gods you believe in in the main churches of various gods.
The power of the inscription totem required for promotion must be the same as that of the owner. Those who can draw inscriptions can also learn other inscription totems, such as those that increase power or hide totems.
All those who can draw hierarchical inscriptions and totems are called inscription mages. The divine child becomes an eighth-level inscription mage after being incubated by divine power from birth. Divine power incubation must be carried out as soon as the child leaves the mother's body, otherwise the divine power cannot be used.
The inscriptions at each level are different. The higher the level, the more important the previous level is, as it determines whether the artist can attempt to become a demigod.
Reaching the thirteenth level grants one the divine status to become a true god, but most people die from their bodies exploding while comprehending the ninth-level inscription.
Al and Arlene did not belong to this category at first, as both of them possessed the power of the eleventh level. However, demigods were commonplace in the heart of the Dragonspine Forest, and some lord-level monsters could even reach the thirteenth level.
The most fortunate thing for Soraya and her two companions is that the northern part of Dragonspine Forest connects to the ocean, and within the ocean, no creature can cause trouble for the children of the Lord of the Ocean.
After a period of rest, Sorea regained some consciousness after emerging from her coma.
"Arlene, help me to the middle of the stream."
Upon seeing the stream, a light appeared in Solaya's eyes; upon closer inspection, it was the reflection of tears in the sunlight.
With Arlene's help, Solaya knelt shakily in the middle of the stream, clasped her hands together, closed her eyes, and prayed:
"The great ruler of the seas,"
Your Majesty, the Lord of Hurricanes
Holy Father of War
My dearest loving father,
Please turn your gaze to your only daughter.
May your divine power protect her and keep her safe.
Prayer requires a medium to communicate with the gods, and the medium for communicating with the Lord of the Ocean needs to be something related to the ocean.
Coincidentally, the streams of Dragonspine Forest all eventually flow into the ocean, which could be considered a medium for communication between the god of the ocean and the hurricane.
A few minutes later, the creatures that had been playing and frolicking in the stream beside Soraya seemed to sense something and hurriedly fled. Those that could swim swam away into the distance, while those that could go ashore crawled onto the bank.
Sorea listened intently as if she had heard something, and finally, a golden light climbed up the stream and onto her body, and her face turned from pale to rosy.
The divine power of the god of the ocean and hurricanes healed Soraya's wounds.
Just then, a howling wind and the sound of lightning suddenly came from the northern sky above the Dragonspine Forest, and the golden light on Soraya's body disappeared.
She opened her eyes, and Arlene, who had been watching Soraya's condition, quickly helped her up. Al, who was on the shore, also asked:
"Your Highness, what did my lord say?"
Sorea shook her head:
"I didn't quite hear what my father said. The power to control water resources on land belongs to the Goddess of Fertility. I only vaguely heard what my father said before I was interrupted."
Then she frowned and looked at the northern sky. "The divine power my father gave me was interrupted by the Goddess of Abundance because my father is fighting against her."
Because the Emerald Sea is the divine kingdom of Veldrian, the power of other gods cannot penetrate it. Sorea has not seen her father for 120 years. Now that she has finally heard her father's voice, she was interrupted before she could even speak, which made her feel sad.
Soraya is only a little over three hundred years old. Apart from the time she spends in the Emerald Sea, she spends the rest of her time playing with her brothers in her father's and mother's divine kingdom.
Thinking this, Sorea suddenly realized that she had been away from home for a hundred years, and tears welled up in her eyes.
Arlene helped Solalia ashore. Having been with her for over three hundred years, she knew very well why Her Highness was crying, and hurriedly and clumsily offered her comfort:
"Your Highness, do not be sad. We will soon be able to return to the Sea of Death and meet with our lord and the other princes."
With Arlene's comforting words, Sorea quickly adjusted her mindset.
Something's not right, something's really wrong here. Sorea suddenly felt a chill run down her spine.
Although Soraya's divine power had not recovered much, her physical exhaustion disappeared due to the nourishment of divine power. Moreover, because she gave birth to a divine child, her strength had greatly declined to the tenth level, only reaching the stage of a demigod.
However, she had received personal instruction from the gods and possessed the highest-level inscription totems. After recovering her strength, she left feeling a chilling sensation that sent shivers down her spine.
"Run!" Sorea shouted to Al on the shore as she pulled Arlene toward the woods by the bank.
Just as Sorea pulled Arlene up the tree, a huge mouth emerged from the ground where they had been standing.
It was a giant python. When its first attack failed, it turned its attention to Al, who was still on the shore and had not yet retreated.
Sensing the giant python's intention to attack, Al abandoned the idea of escaping, drew his sword, roared, and leaped towards the python's head.
As the saying goes, strike a snake at its vital spot; the same applies to pythons.
But the python was too huge. Before Al jumped on, the python turned its head to the left, and Al finally landed in front of the python's eyes.
The giant yellow pupil was almost as big as Al. Al realized that he was in the wrong position and had to abandon the idea of attacking the snake's vital spot. He raised his greatsword and stabbed at the snake's pupil.
The giant python struggled desperately in pain, trying to throw Al off, but Al clung tightly to his greatsword, hanging precariously beneath it.
At this critical moment, a blue icicle pierced the giant python's other eye. The python roared in pain and chased after the icicle from which it had come.
At this moment, the giant python's eyes were completely injured and it could not see. Al seized this opportunity, drew his sword, and jumped off the python's head.
After Soria threw out ice shards formed from water elements in the air using magic, and after seeing that Al was safe, she and Arlene disappeared into the depths of the forest.
Al followed in the direction the two had taken, chasing after them while simultaneously harassing the giant python, which, due to its enormous size and blindness, could not move nimbly through the forest.
Soon, Al and Soraya reunited and left the giant python far behind.
The three found a safe spot, lay down under a tree, laughing and panting. The mushrooms under the tree were stirred by their movements, releasing blue spores in a beautiful display.
"You know what, watching those elves practice archery during my years in the Emerald Sea has really improved my aim." After running around like this, Soraya's long-depressed mood improved considerably, and she finally had the energy to joke around.
"Don't you even consider how big the snake's eyes are? It's bound to be able to shoot accurately no matter what."
Seeing Soraya's smile, Al was also happy, and even the usually quiet person started to tease her.
Arlene also spoke up with a smile:
"If it weren't for breaking through the divine barrier of the Emerald Sea, and the fact that the three of us hadn't recovered our strength, we wouldn't have been chased like this by a demigod-level beast. If word got out, we would have lost all face."
Sorea was amused by their conversation.
Seeing that Sorea's mood had improved, Arlene hesitated for a long time before finally speaking:
"Your Highness, the Forest God would never bestow a concubine, you..."
Sorea interrupted Arlene's next words:
“I know he won’t betray me, but the problems between us can’t be solved in a short time. I just want to take this opportunity to leave Emerald Sea.”
"Alright, it's getting dark, let's find a place to rest quickly." Seeing that Soraya was about to fall back into the same despair and depression she had been feeling, Al quickly changed the subject.
"Um."
"good."
The three began looking for a place to spend the night.
As darkness fell, countless mushrooms on the forest floor emitted a faint blue glow.
As time went by, the three men's expressions grew increasingly grim.
Finally, Sorea stopped and pointed to the large tree scattered with blue spores, saying, "This is where we were just lying."
Al surveyed his surroundings, then nodded solemnly. "That's right, we've been going in circles. It doesn't seem like we've shaken off that beast; it's that the beast is too afraid to come in."
Sorea looked around and found that the three of them were already surrounded by a blue, eerie light.
"We can't stay here. We'll mark the way, and I refuse to believe we can't get out," Sorea decided after thinking it over.
Even after changing direction and marking their route, the three of them returned to their starting point.
After realizing she was back where she started, Sorea squatted down, pulled out a mushroom, and examined it closely.
"Did you find anything?" Al asked.
“I remember that guy from the Emerald Sea once told me that the Dragonspine Forest is named after the fact that it was once the burial ground of the dragon race, and the word ‘mystery’ comes from the fact that there is a kind of mushroom here that can bewitch the mind.”
As she spoke, Sorea showed the two people next to her the mushrooms she had just picked.
"Is there any way to deal with it?" Arlene picked up the mushroom, held it under her nose and smelled it. "It has no smell, so it's not because of the smell."
Sorea gave a self-deprecating laugh, "I never imagined I would be fleeing here in such a sorry state, so I never asked Him."
“However, haven’t you noticed anything wrong with our behavior all along?” Sorea looked at Al and Arlene.
Reminded by Sorea, the two immediately realized what was happening, exchanged a glance, and said at the same time, "Fire? It's so dark, there's only this little bit of blue light on the ground, we haven't started a fire."
Arlene's face turned even uglier as she thought about this. She was clearly a fire mage, but she had never thought of using fire elements since the giant python started chasing her.
"It seems that our perception was blocked when we entered the Dragonspine Forest. I probably still have the residual power of the forest god from the Emerald Sea in me, otherwise I wouldn't have thought of fire for a while."
Realizing this, Arlene quickly lit the first-level inscription, covered her hands with it, lit the dry wood she had just picked up from the ground, handed it to Soraya and Al, and kept the fire inscription on her hands burning.
The fire in the hands of the three men illuminated the surrounding area, burning away the spores of the blue mushrooms floating in the air.
When she saw the true situation around her, even Soraya, who had grown up in the divine realm and was well-read, widened her eyes and exclaimed, "This is incredible!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com