The figure dashed at Draven the moment he stopped.
Instantly, Draven summoned his twin swords—Verdant Reaper. The blades materialized and fell to the ground. He yelled at the sprinting girl, "It was a mistake! I thought it was a monster! I'm sorry!"
But the girl didn't pause; her speed only increased.
'She's really starting a full-blown battle…'
Draven infused the blades with two Soul Vitalis, levitating them vertically in front of him. He pulled an arrow, its shaft gleaming with a nearly transparent blue hue.
'I need to end this quickly. Eiither I make her give up, or I end her swiftly.'
With bated breath, he waited as the girl closed in, entering a battle mode. When she breached about the fifteen meters mark, Draven released his shot.
The arrow streaked through the air with blinding speed.
He watched intently, anticipating her dodge so he could maneuver and strike. But instead, she ran straight at the arrow, allowing it to pierce through her. His eyes widened in shock and exhilaration.
Then, from the side, he heard a faint whooshing sound, almost missing it even in the silence. Tilting his head, he saw a black blur rushing toward his face.
His instincts kicked in, and he controlled his swords to block it.
The whip struck his swords, momentarily slowing before snapping them in half, then continued its blitz toward him.
Draven's eyes widened as he watched his broken swords burst into dispersing white motes, the whip expanding in his vision. The scent of death returned. Adrenaline pumped through his veins. His muscles contracted. Even his breath froze.
He snapped his head toward his shoulder to dodge, and the whip slammed into the upper side of his head with a battering force, sending him tumbling to the ground. He lost sense of himself as the world spun around him.
Draven shook his head to regain his senses despite the disorientation, finding himself lying on his back with a throbbing headache that made him feel woozy. He gazed at the sky, and his heart tightened at the sight of the black whip lashing down just inches from his face.
He knew this was unavoidable. In that instant, his thoughts surged to a peak, making it feel as if time had slowed.
As the whip was about to smash into him, he acted on an incomplete thought.
A blue firefly glow shot from his face and merged with the whip, freezing it in place. Draven rolled and scrambled back to his feet, catching the sight of the Soul Vitalis within the whip bursting into motes. The whip retracted into the fog the moment it was freed.
He continued to distance himself from it.
While backstepping quickly, Draven recalled his arrow and the remaining two Soul Vitalis hovering after Verdant Reaper shattered. He also summoned his whip—Phantom Lash.
Phantom Lash materialized beside him, and he caught it with a Soul Vitalis.
Coming to a stop in a ready stance, he pulled his bow taut with the arrow aimed, while Phantom Lash glimmered beside him in a blue hue, and a Soul Vitalis silently hovered at his other side.
But nothing attacked him; all he saw was an endless expanse of green fog and absolute silence. Draven remained alert, his mind racing.
'What I saw from the other side must be the person's ability, right? A phantom? Or is it false imagery? An illusion? A hallucination?'
He snapped out of it. 'Scratch that! The girl should be in the direction the whip came from. The way it moved—unnaturally elongated with precise control. And I only heard it when it was right beside me. Wait—I've exhausted my Soul Vitalis, and she's stalling. While stalling erodes Soul Vitalis slowly, it's still erosion! Is she waiting for my Soul Vitalis to exhaust itself?'
His heartbeat quickened.
Taking a deep breath to quell his rising agitation, his gaze sharpened. 'From Jude girl's previous reaction, I think only I can see Soul Vitalis, but from Vera's and Selene's reactions, I think others can see the blue hue when it wraps around objects. Though, they can't see the Soul Vitalis waning. So, she must be waiting for me to slip up and show an opening.'
Draven tightened his stance, anticipating an attack. Luckily, his helmet concealed his slightly antsy expression.
After waiting for about thirty seconds with nothing happening, he winced but maintained his laser-like focus.
'What a crazy girl! She still has time to play this game of patience, even with a Third Order monster roaming nearby. She can wait, but I can't! My remaining Soul Vitalis is waning. I have…' He quickly scanned his Soul Vitalis with a sidelong glance. 'Two whip strikes and a single arrow shot left. Plus a spare Soul Vitalis.'
He took a deep breath, and his eyes gleamed with a mix of madness and concentration.
Draven braced himself for impact and activated Soul Eyes. A powerful headache rammed into him, but he endured it with gritted teeth, his eyes spinning without turning his head as he searched the fog for his target. He maintained a false battle stance—merely a locked, stiff posture—to conceal his vulnerability.
He spotted a white flame flickering in the crown of a tree not far from his position. The moment he saw her, he deactivated the skill to stop the splitting pain in his head.
Taking a deep breath, he rested his whip on his shoulder to prevent the Soul Vitalis from waning, then cautiously trudged forward, his head swiveling as if he were searching for his target.
He kept up the pretense as he approached the tree.
He was just a few meters away but still couldn't see her; the fog obscured the tree's top. Luckily, all the trees were short.
'I thought I was selling the whip, and I didn't get to practice with it. But here we are! It should be sharp, right?' He continued moving forward, maintaining the ruse while watching for any movement in the branches.
But it remained absolutely silent. Draven even doubted if she was still in the tree; there was no sign of her presence. He wouldn't have suspected anything if not for Soul Eyes.
'Should I use Soul Eyes again? If I do, she'll surely notice at this close range, spoiling my ambush plan. Worse, the disorientation will make me vulnerable.'
He edged dangerously close to the tree, not stopping his steps to give out his thoughts.
'I better use it. It's better than striking blindly at the wrong target with limited Soul Vitalis.'
His muscles coiled, ready for action. The moment he activated it, the battle would begin for real.