Chapter 253: Pursuit

“Captain Ansel, please rest for a while…”

After the subordinates who had surrounded the alley captured Selene, the emergency treatment of the wounds of Ansel Nelf, Captain of the Ranger Corps of the High Wind Forest Region in the western Sea of Trees, was also complete.

“It’s fine. Give me the box.”

She ignored the suggestion of the squad member who had cast healing magic on her and then bandaged her wounds without changing her expression, stood straight, and extended her hand toward the subordinate who had captured the Shadow Demon.

“Yes.”

That subordinate obediently handed her the Silver Box that had captured the Shadow Demon’s Base Form.

This was a metal box forged entirely from the Holy Nation’s Anti-Magic Silver… a precious tool specially borrowed from the Church in the city for this arrest operation.

The bandages wrapped around Captain Ansel’s waist gradually turned red.

Some of the subordinates around her panicked and wanted to step forward to stop her, but she herself paid them no mind and looked at the box, saying coldly:

“Where did you send your accomplice?”

“……”

“Don’t play dead. I know you’re still conscious. If you don’t want to suffer, cooperate with us honestly.”

The box remained silent.

“Not going to cooperate…? That’s fine too. From your previous condition, you don’t have enough Magic Power to transfer her over a long distance. We’ll find her soon. Marianne, Nicole, lead your squads to search the nearby streets.”

Two subordinates leaped down from the wall—these squad members in plain clothes were all her direct subordinates.

They received Ansel’s orders, blew their whistles, and prepared to gather the nearby squad members.

“Just follow the blood trail.” Ansel pointed at the blood spreading from the center of the alley onto the nearby walls and added, “The Shadow Demon’s Shadow Shift requires moving through nearby shadows. That girl took an arrow wound, she can’t have gone far.”

“Understood.”

The squad members followed the trail, and the box in Ansel’s hand suddenly began to tremble violently—

“Don’t touch her! Otherwise I’ll make you die without a burial ground!”

“You can’t do it.”

Selene’s scream full of resentment and desperation could not shake the captain’s cold expression in the slightest.

……

In an empty street alley, Luc was spat out by a shadow imprinted on the wall.

The crossbow bolt stuck in her back had its exposed shaft broken when her back hit the ground, but the arrowhead buried inside her body was driven even deeper.

This kind of pain was by no means easy. But Luc got up from the ground without a second of hesitation, reaching out to grab the shadow on the wall that had thrown her out—

“Selene…!”

The Shadow’s Magic Power had already disappeared. What she touched was only an ordinary shadow.

This shadow was the projection of a large tree in a nearby courtyard.

She stared blankly at this shadow, then punched the wall in front of her.

If it were the past, this punch of hers could have directly pierced through this wall.

But now her fist was only bounced back by the hard wall surface, bringing more pain to her already battered body.

Yet no matter what kind of physical pain it was, it was far less than the heartache brought by the helplessness currently tearing apart her heart.

Selene shouldn’t be this kind of person.

She had always been someone who thought highly of herself and looked down on everything, only ever relying on her status as a family member to mock me… If she still had any remaining power for Shadow Shift, she would definitely have escaped alone.

But why didn’t she do that? Why did she use her last Magic Power on someone as useless as me?

I’ve been receiving her care and her protection this entire journey, and now I’ve even gotten her captured…

“Jiaoning, I’d rather you were still that arrogant woman who looked down on me and imitated human nobles with that exaggerated voice… wuu…”

Just as Luc was about to cry, she heard a series of urgent sounds.

It was the sound of boots stepping on the roof tiles.

And after seeing the drops of blood scattered along the trajectory of the tree’s shadow, Luc immediately understood everything—

The pursuers were closing in. She had no time left to grieve or wallow in self-pity.

If she was caught here, Selene’s sacrifice would be completely meaningless.

So she tore off a piece of canvas covering a street-side cargo box nearby, wrapped it around her injured shoulder and back to stop blood from dripping onto the ground and forming a trackable trail.

She took off running in the opposite direction of the sounds.

She ran through several intersections along the way, but was eventually spotted by a group of squad members searching the nearby ground.

Those people immediately shouted and gave chase, and even fired crossbow bolts at her legs to try to take away her ability to flee.

During the chase, Luc was hit by several more arrows in her back, and even the canvas on her back was dyed red by the flowing blood.

She felt she was about to run out of strength.

She ran with all her might into the last alley, then her vision went black and she collapsed to the ground.

Too much blood loss…? It seems this is the end for me.

She heard the footsteps behind her gradually approaching, but she could no longer stand up.

I’m sorry… Selene, I’m sorry… Mother. If there is a next life…

“Lady Luc. Please do not give up.”

In the chaos just before her consciousness was about to disappear, Luc suddenly heard a voice.

This voice was so clear, which meant the speaker was right in front of her.

So she used her last bit of strength to raise her head and looked at the person who appeared before her.

“Who are you…”

“My name is Carol. If you feel very tired, you may close your eyes and rest for a while. But please, you must not give up.”

It was an elf woman dressed as a servant, tall in stature, with light green hair. She bent down and gave Luc a gentle smile.

“I… don’t want to give up either…”

“Mm, that’s right. I will take you to a safe place.”

A moment later, the plainclothes Ranger Corps members pursuing Luc arrived.

But other than the pool of blood on the ground, they saw nothing else.

“Where is she?”

“Did she jump over the wall…? Does she still have the strength to climb walls?”

“There’s no blood on the wall.”

The squad members conducted a carpet search of the entire alley, going door to door… but until nightfall, they still found nothing.

……

“Milin, are you all right? How about I take over and watch for a while?”

Deep in the night within Lin Palace, Lian approached the bed carrying a candlestick.

There slept the unconscious Nephtalia, and Milin, who had been watching over her without leaving her side.

“Sister Lian… she seems to be having a nightmare.”

After nightfall, Nephtalia’s condition suddenly worsened.

She began to run a high fever… this kind of internal illness was something magic could do nothing about.

Milin wiped the sweat from her friend’s forehead with worried eyes, and also wiped away the tears constantly sliding from the corners of her eyes.

“I’m sorry… it’s my fault… let me out… let me out… I want to see Sister, I want to see Father, I want to see Mother…”

The expression of the Fairy Maiden in her unconscious slumber appeared extremely terrified.

Unconsciously she held her own head and tossed and turned, crying and moaning.

“…What on earth is this child dreaming about?”

Lian set the candlestick down on the cabinet nearby and said with a grave expression.

“Natalie… just who is it that makes you suffer so much, that makes you so afraid?”

Milin’s towel was dodged by Nephtalia’s unconscious turning.

She withdrew her hand, and the expression on her face gradually became covered by a deep shadow.

“I will make the person who bullied you pay. I will burn him to ashes… no, not even ashes will remain.”