With Nyx in a princess carry and Caelia hanging limp over Avelyne's shoulder, they made their way towards the river. Even without using her essence Avelyne still moved pretty fast, and within a minute they had covered hundreds of meters.
‚Wouldn't be able to outrun my ass.'
He didn't know how fast the Broodweaver was or if it would run after them with all its might too. But the speed at which they moved through the now barren landscape was astonishing.
If Avelyne had been alone she would have probably been even faster. With nothing but barren plain in sight, Avelyne was able to move at top speed without any obstacle slowing her down.
Nyx really started to doubt the existence of the river, as there was literally nothing around them—not even the faintest elevation or dip in the terrain.
But if that was her small lie because she didn't want to decide who of them would live and die, then Nyx wouldn't complain about it. If he had been in her shoes he would have definitely let himself die.
A few minutes later the border of the barren plain came into view. Looking at the few small hills and the treeline at the horizon, Nyx was once again rather speechless. This whole barren plain only came into existence because of Caelia's attack that obliterated everything.
And the range of it was at least some kilometers. From the speed they had been moving with and the time they needed to come so far—Nyx estimated that it was at least a two-digit number, probably around twenty to thirty kilometers.
As Caelia had killed everything around them, her attack had an estimated diameter of 40 to 60 kilometers. Which was a fucking lot.
But the Broodweaver still survived.
Nyx still had the faint hope that the abomination didn't pick up their scent or at least had some respect or fear for them, as they were the ones that had unleashed so much destruction and hopefully wounded it.
Getting closer and closer to the boundary, Nyx's shadow senses picked up a few shadows within the bushes and trees.
There was still some distance between Nyx and the entrance of the greenery. But somehow Nyx's perception through the shadows had expanded a lot after he got tortured for even being able to do something like that.
He didn't notice it at first as there had been no shadow no matter how far he looked except his, Avelyne's, and Caelia's, but those were only a couple of steps away from him at most.
When he managed to do it in the carriage by accident Nyx was only able to perceive around fifty meters from himself. Now it was around a kilometer. But not in a straight line or something like that—one kilometer was the radius of his perception.
Meaning he would always know what happened one kilometer around him, and always meant always, all the time—every detail, every movement. No matter how small or big. If it had a shadow, Nyx would be able to notice it.
‚I need to get control over this as soon as possible. Otherwise things like earlier when we were within the tide could happen again and again.'
Truth be told—now that Nyx's perception had a diameter of two kilometers, even a normal forest or grassland could overwhelm him if he didn't manage to sort out what to pick up and when. It was truly a useful ability to have, but also dangerous if one didn't have the capacity to process all the information.
Inspecting the shadows at the border a bit closer, Nyx was able to deduce that they were human—or a species that had the same body as humans. They also had some kind of light armor and weapons, but not all of them.
For now Nyx would let Avelyne know and decide what they should do.
„A group is hiding at the boundary within the bushes and trees."
It took Avelyne a bit of time to contemplate their options and give her judgement without bringing them into even more danger.
Humans were no benevolent creatures after all, and their situation was dire enough for even the weakest kid to have some kind of thoughts about ripping them off. Or, if a little bit stronger, straight up robbing them.
Even if those people knew that Avelyne and Caelia were some high nobles, they wouldn't care at all. It would probably just increase their greed and change some of their intentions regarding how to handle the females.
Who didn't want to sleep with a noble and on top of it a real beauty like those two? To top it off, there wouldn't even be any consequences as long as they killed all involved afterwards.
It was the perfect opportunity for some poor people.
Avelyne slowed down until she came to a stop. She gently laid down Nyx and Caelia before sitting herself down. Noticing Nyx's frown she cleared her throat.
„It might be a bit risky but I wanna let it look like we need a bit of rest before we can continue and, well, rest. Because even if it's a deception we really need some."
If one thought about it, it was probably really the smartest choice right now. The Broodweaver might close the distance while they were resting, but it also worked in Nyx's favor, as he already had an idea on how to deal with the current situation.
Nyx had nothing to do with the people hiding at the border. Unlike Caelia and maybe Avelyne, he didn't care if they died or not, even if their intentions were good towards them. But Nyx doubted that they had.
Otherwise they would have already left their hiding spots and approached them. They could even do that with bad intentions, but that was why this position they were resting at was so genius. No one would be able to approach them—not without getting spotted first.
‚Heh, if we wait until my shadow senses pick up the Broodweaver, we can escape without a problem.'
The people hiding had been a bit tense after Avelyne stopped, thinking that they might have been spotted—which was true after all. But how could they know that Nyx was able to observe their every movement?
„Let's wait until you have recovered a fourth or third of your essence, if the Broodweaver enters my senses, or until the guys hiding make a move. But make sure to really look exhausted while recovering."
Seeing no reason to object, Avelyne nodded at his suggestion, laid herself on the ground, and closed her eyes.