Boom!
Petra crashed through the fog-filled thicket, her two little legs blurring with speed unbecoming of her small figure.
"Go go go!"
She continued running through the forest at top speed!
Branches whipped past her face while roots and rocks exploded beneath her feet. The fog blurred around her as she darted between the trees like a frightened little rabbit.
She really messed up this time!
She really, really messed up this time!
It was even worse than the last time!
Behind her—BOOM!!
The historical echo of the Azurefell Family's patriarch, hot on her heels, obliterated another section of the forest, his enraged body bulldozing through the trees without showing even the slightest sign of slowing down. The horrifying pressure continuously spiked, while his blood red eyes locked onto the little green-haired menace with extreme focus.
"Why is he still following mmmeeeeeeeee!?" Petra cried.
Wind, carried on Mells' back, shot through the forest beside her with a black face.
"Because you assaulted him! He was going to let us go after he scared you a bit! It was obvious!"
"That was only one slap!"
"That was not a normal slap!"
"I won't be intimidated for nothing!"
"Then you definitely did it on purpose!"
"Proof…!?"
"I think I can still see the handprint on his face from here!"
Petra: ヾ(ﾟдﾟ)ﾉ.
* * *
An unknown amount of time later…
Petra panted heavily while leaning against a massive tree.
"Hah… hah… hah…!"
Her hair was a mess; leaves were lost throughout her hair, while dirt and twigs adorned her crown.
She was completely exhausted.
"That old bastard is insane…!" Petra cursed while gasping for air.
Wind, still being carried by Mell, weakly replied, "You're lucky that we can slip away using the fog, if I were him, I would definitely chase you to the ends of the earth!"
"Tsk!"
Petra clicked her tongue unhappily before glancing back toward the endless white fog.
Thankfully, this strange fog filling the Secret Realm seemed to interfere with the historical echoes' senses as well, otherwise, Petra genuinely felt that old monster would still be chasing her right now!
Wuwuwuwu…
Absolutely unreasonable!
Wasn't it just a little slap? No need to be so ruthless!
So what if her hands were imbued with a little pain-packing poison? Hump!
"What should we do now?"
"We're definitely lost, so…"
Petra looked around. Seeing no sun, she understood that their only option was to pick a direction and advance. She looked to the two red cats, and the sisterly duo shook their heads in unison, declaring their helplessness in this situation.
Petra pursed her lips.
Wind was out of commission, and Mell was waiting for her command.
After some time to think, she trotted over to a nearby bush, broke off a twig, held it vertically in place, then slowly let it fall to the ground.
Pat!
After falling, she nodded to herself, then looked in the direction the twig was pointing, which also just so happened to be the place where the murderous old man had last been seen hunting for them.
Smacking her lips, Petra performed this directional divination one more time, then again, and again. Eventually, after concluding that she had no skill in stick divination, she asked Mell to perform it.
Pat!
The stick pointed behind them…
Petra: "…"
Mell: "…"
Wind: "…"
Rose: "…"
Lira: "…"
It would seem as if something in the forest fog really wanted them dead…
-
After some more nonsense and a few games of rock-paper-scissors, Wind chose a direction. Petra and the others slowly returned to wandering through the fog-filled forest.
Time passed…
At one point, Petra and the girls discovered a giant patch of glowing green mushrooms growing around a dead tree. Naturally, Petra immediately became interested. After poking one with a long stick, the entire mushroom exploded into a cloud of sleeping spores that instantly, with the sole exception of Petra, knocked out their group of girls.
Petra's eyes immediately brightened.
Ten minutes later, she was seen happily collecting mushrooms into her satchel while Wind repeatedly scolded her not to accidentally poison everyone again.
Later, while crossing a shallow ravine that ran through the forest floor, Petra found the skeleton of an enormous bird tangled between the roots of several trees.
The skeleton was old, ancient enough that pale blue moss had started growing throughout its bones. Petra immediately climbed all over it while muttering things about 'rare materials' and 'seed bed.'
Meanwhile, Rose and Lira fought over who got to keep the skull, while Mell, knowing that it would take far too long to completely strip its materials, silently dragged Petra and the two red cats away before she could attempt to loot the entire thing.
The third strange event of the day happened when Petra found what appeared to be an abandoned campsite hidden deep within the fog.
The campfire was still warm, yet nobody was there; only several bowls of untouched soup remained beside a circle of stones. It was very inviting… Petra suspiciously sniffed the soup before immediately realizing that it was poisonous, despite this actually mattering very little to her and her people.
Mm, those mushrooms were a very rare exception.
While taking a seat to break for a few minutes.
A massive snake burst out from beneath the campsite in an attempt to ambush them. After stomping on it with her petite foot, Petra proudly crossed her arms, acting as if she had predicted the entire thing.
Small little things like this continued to happen one after another…
-
Eventually, the group stopped beside a river.
The water quietly flowed through the fog-covered forest while several smooth grey stones lined the riverbank. Petra sat down near the edge of the water, soaking her aching little feet in the cold river.
She hummed while rocking back and forth happily.
"Finally~!"
After spending so much time running, they were all exhausted!
She could feel the stress from the days slowly slipping away.
If not for the inappropriate environment, she really wanted to strip naked and take a dip…
Fortunately, she wasn't that kind of girl!
At least, not on the surface…
Mell quietly sat nearby and removed her boots, revealing a pair of slender snow-white legs before slowly lowering them into the water. Her ponytail had already come loose during all the chaos from earlier, leaving several damp strands of dark hair hanging across her face.
Nearby, Wind looked noticeably more miserable.
Her silver hair was messy, dirt and mud smudged her long elf ears, while her pale face still carried traces of sickness from the fog. She sat carefully beside the river while massaging her temples, eventually allowing Mell to help wash the dirt from her legs.
Petra looked over and squinted her eyes.
Why did she not realize that these two were so close before?
Could she be the catalyst for some kind of Yuri relationship?
She's not that hard to handle…
Right?
She shook her head, fully believing that she was overthinking it, then turned.
Rose had already rolled into the shallow water while wrestling with Lira.
The two sisters bickered in the background.
Petra shrugged, then turned her full focus to the two beast girls as they aggressively splashed each other. Their soaked clothing clung tightly to their bodies, making their curvy figures easily visible. Lira's short red hair stuck messily to her cheeks, while Rose's uniform had nearly slipped off one shoulder during the struggle.
Petra almost drooled.
She watched the scene as she munched on some snacks she pulled from her sleeve.
"…How peaceful."
She leaned back.
"Hm?"
As her words fell, she turned to see several dead fish floating past from downstream.
"Hm…"
Feeling the change in the atmosphere, not only Petra, but all the others stopped what they were doing and turned toward the darkening water in the distance.
Only a few minutes later—
"…Something's seriously wrong."
Wind frowned.
They had all moved out of the water, and while drying off, they watched as the clear water slowly darkened. Thin streaks of green, purple, and black gradually flowed downstream from somewhere further ahead. The contamination spread unnaturally fast, causing the nearby aquatic life to float lifelessly to the surface.
Unlike a normal person, upon seeing this, Petra's eyes immediately brightened.
"Ohoho?"
Whatever could this be? Do my eyes deceive me? The water turned to purple, green, and black, as poisoned currents rolled down on their track. The fish floated up lifeless in the stream, but Petra didn't panic, cry, or scream, her eyes just lit up with a wicked gleam.
"These are poisons?" Mell asked with furrowed brows.
Wind crouched near the river before carefully looking.
"…I recognize one of these poisons." Her expression shifted slightly. "I saw the young master of the Barak Family, I think it was Oxin, I saw him use it once when I was young."
Petra blinked.
"Really? Then if we go upstream, will we find people from the Barak Family?"
She actually really liked that family!
Wind nodded, then shook her head.
"It's possible that it's a historical echo from the Barak family. Also, it's only one of the poisons mixed in here… but it's impressive and quite high-level."
Petra looked at the 'trash' that Wind thought was high-level and nodded her head slowly. People from Pillomal didn't seem to have high standards when it came to poison making…
What really interested her wasn't the Barak family's poison, no, it was the other colors mixed in with it.
As she began to follow the polluted water upstream with her eyes, she quickly discovered something surprising, there were many different poisons, some of which originated from different 'poison systems' entirely, all mixed together.
Petra felt as if she might have just found a treasure trove!
These half a dozen or so toxins were unique.
Some of the poisons were clearly alchemical creations refined through herbs and monster materials, but others were completely different. These poisons felt stranger, more unstable, almost biological and organic. Petra suspected that these were poisons bred through beasts and extracted for later use.
This was different from Petra's chemistry and Pillomal's alchemy; it was a different system altogether, one that required an extremely long time to evolve.
For such a thing to exist, it undoubtedly came from an extremely old inheritance.
As they followed the river, she examined the poisons that she could reach with her hand. Some corroded spiritual energy, some attacked emotions, and one of them seemed capable of lingering directly within the soul like a time bomb, only with a dash of mimicry.
Petra's eyes sparkled.
"…Interesting!"
It seemed Pillomal really did possess several unique branches of poison completely different from standard alchemy that she had still yet to discover! Petra had only seen a few clues before, but now she was certain that there were many more things to learn!
How fun!
Petra had no idea that what she was looking at was one of the many taboos instated by the Church of Light, but even if she did, she probably wouldn't care…
Mm, she definitely wouldn't care!
-
The group followed the river deeper into the fog.
Eventually, they found their way to a devastated battlefield. As they approached, even though the fog limited their vision, they could all see the scene of destruction that unfolded before them.
This was many times worse than what the Azurefell Families Historical Echo had caused.
The surrounding forest had completely collapsed. Massive craters melted the earth as countless miniature, spell-formed poison rivers cut through the landscape like festering wounds. Entire sections of trees had melted into black sludge, while those that hadn't were withered and hollow. Green threads, like those from a massive spider, intermingled throughout the surroundings like glowing lights, while patches of colorful toxin spread across the shattered terrain, and a sharp, acidic smell stung their noses.
Petra looked around.
"…Woah."
Her little heart fluttered.
Even just by taking a look, she knew that she had really stumbled upon a treasure trove!
This was clearly the aftermath of two extremely high-level poison masters from the Cross Continent. Perhaps this was a battle between the two top poison masters on the Cross Continent!
Petra had no idea that one of these so-called 'top masters' was the bratty princess whose underwear was currently stored in the fat frog's stomach.
Countless new things flickered in her eyes as she looked around with interest.
She was like a kid in a candy store!