Step!

  Creak!

  A few minutes ago, in a part of the forest near the border with the Human Empire, Amaryllis fled desperately.

  With her dirty right hand, she gripped her exhausted younger sister, Aveline, who was crying silently, and pulled her forcefully to keep her running.

  The broken shackles rattled around their bare, wounded feet, and far behind them, the terrifying sound of barking dogs echoed, growing louder by the second.

  Amaryllis gritted her teeth and began to mutter a few strange words. As she did, she tightened her grip on her little sister's hand, causing her pain.

  Even so, Aveline said nothing; she remained silent, staring at her sister's back and pushing her feet forward as hard as she could.

  Bark!

  Despite their great efforts, they were soon overtaken by three large-bodied dogs the size of normal tigers.

  One of them emitted a terrifying E-Rank aura, while the other two were F-Rank. What distinguished them even more was that they all wore spiked metal collars made with great craftsmanship.

  "No!"

  Aveline screamed in terror, her steps faltering. At that exact moment, the pale-faced Amaryllis spun around, raised her left hand, and said in a voice full of hatred and killing intent,

  "Die, you filthy beasts!"

  Dozens of razor-sharp, freezing ice blades formed around her hand and shot forward at high speed, piercing through the dogs’ bodies and even the trees behind them.

  Groan!

  The two F-Rank dogs collapsed lifelessly, while the E-Rank dog groaned in pain, severely injured. It staggered back, limping, barely able to remain standing.

  Even though her attack had succeeded, Amaryllis didn’t take even a second to catch her breath. She forcefully pulled her sister again, and they resumed running.

  “Aveline, just a little more. If we go deeper into the forest, the humans will lose our trail. So endure it.”

  Aveline fully understood how dire their situation was. Despite her young age, she didn’t want to become a greater burden on her older sister. She nodded slowly, forcing a faint, exhausted smile, and replied briefly,

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  “Okay.”

  Amaryllis couldn’t even look at her because of the overwhelming guilt. She fixed her eyes on the path ahead and prayed with all her heart for some kind of miracle to save them from their misery.

  But life, unfortunately, doesn’t work that way.

  After only a few more minutes, Aveline’s strength completely gave out. In the end, her small body could no longer continue.

  Her legs stopped moving, and she collapsed, nearly unconscious, her chest heaving violently as she tried to draw in as much air as possible.

  At first, Amaryllis didn’t notice that she had fallen. She dragged her across the ground for several meters. When she finally felt the weight behind her, she realized what had happened.

  She stopped in panic, turned around, and lifted her with trembling hands. Staring into her blurry eyes, she begged desperately,

  “Please get up. Don’t give up now. Aveline, please, endure it. We can’t let them enslave us again.

  They’ll torture us. They’ll do even worse. I… I can’t go back to that life. Come on, get up. Don’t you want to see our home again?”

  Amaryllis’s eyes welled with tears as many painful memories flashed through her mind. This made her tremble and choke up, unable to stay still any longer. She carried her sister on her back and ran as if her life depended on it.

  However, her struggle was pointless. Eventually, her strength gave out too, and every step she took required incredible effort, until she stopped, unable to continue.

  Standing in the middle of the silent forest, she raised her head and looked at the distant clear sky, letting out a very long sigh.

  Then, she caught a quick glimpse of her younger sister's face and muttered with a small smile.

  'It seems we won't survive, at least not together.'

  She felt intense sadness and an urge to cry, but she didn't allow herself to. A cold expression appeared on her face as she carefully scanned her surroundings, spotting a large bush with thick leaves and branches.

  She walked toward it slowly and hid inside, placing her sister on the ground among the leaves.

  She reached out hesitantly, placing her hand on her little sister’s burning forehead, and began muttering a few mysterious words as a warm green glow appeared at her fingertips.

  A thin barrier of green light surrounded Aveline, and her presence gradually faded. Her scent changed, camouflaging with the bush around them.

  Before she finished the spell, Aveline regained some of her consciousness. She opened her eyes and said in a faint voice, "Sister, what are you doing?"

  Amaryllis showed a warm expression and replied, "Nothing, just go back to sleep. Everything will be fine when you wake up. Just keep moving forward, don't stop until you reach home."

  Aveline didn’t understand what her sister meant, but she sensed that something was wrong.

  Still, she was too exhausted to think clearly. On top of that, her sister’s spell made her feel a soothing calm that made her want to sleep.

  Slowly, she began to drift off. Just as she was about to lose consciousness completely, the warm aura around her body flickered and then disappeared suddenly, which annoyed her.

  She opened her eyes and looked at Amaryllis, noticing that her expression had turned very dark, sweat dripping cold from her forehead. Innocently, she asked,

  "Sister… what’s happening?"

  "Be quiet," Amaryllis trembled. Quickly, she adjusted her posture, hugged her tightly, and then raised her hand. Using nearly all the mana she had left, she formed a few weak ice shards.

  At that moment, from between the leaves, a pair of evil red eyes appeared, followed by a terrifying growl that made their hearts tremble with fear.

  Aveline nearly screamed, gasping loudly, while Amaryllis managed to keep a small part of her composure and unleashed her spell.

  The blades flew at insane speed.. Despite the incredibly narrow distance between them, the terrifying beast retreated gracefully, dodging most of the blades while the rest caused only superficial cuts to its face.

  'What do I do now? It’s over.' Amaryllis's mind was filled with chaos, while Aveline could no longer suppress her fear and burst into tears.

  But contrary to the sisters' expectations, the beast did not attack them immediately. Instead, it backed away further, watching them with a strange expression.

  'What is it doing?' Amaryllis was shocked; she couldn't wrap her head around it.

  'No, this isn't the time to think about that. As long as it doesn't attack, this is our only chance.'

  They couldn’t escape without provoking it, so she resorted to the only skill that might help. She channeled all her mana until her body felt drained, silently casting a special spell that required time.

  Inside, she prayed the wolf wouldn't make any sudden moves, as that would ruin everything.

  — — — — — — —

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