Jules had been running for minutes now.
The cuts on his body were only becoming more concerning as time went by. The arrow stabbed into him was bearable compared to them.
His body was gradually succumbing to the poison too. Mana was barely sufficient to reduce its effects anymore.
Soon, he reached a river that was so wide, he couldn't hope to jump over it.
The distance between him and the river had a bit of grassland, so he refrained from going further to avoid being in the open.
Then, he began casting a spell.
This spell was hard to cast, as it wasn't something the original Jules had practiced much, so memories relating to it were entangled amongst others.
The paralysis poison made it hard, but his control over mana helped make it less hard.
Jules's heartbeat seemed to be the loudest thing at that moment as he didn't relent in casting.
Finally, after making progress, Jules ran across the grassland, but before he could reach the river, a knife dug into his back.
Jules fell to the floor, his blood coating the grass.
He suddenly turned, spotting Mark and a few others approaching.
Jules frowned as he sat on the floor and faced them, his hands on the ground, supporting him.
Walking beyond the trees, Mark said sternly, "If you come with us, I'll give you a cure for the poison."
"Huh?" Jules, visibly shocked, replied, "Come with you and meet a fate worse than death? I'd rather kill myself."
Then he extended his arm to them, revealing a black orb with glowing red runes he had been holding ever since he ran.
"Quite literally," Jules added, throwing the charged bomb between them.
Then, he completed the spell he had been casting since.
A white magic circle appeared beneath Jules, a translucent orb appeared and protected him like a shell.
This was a tier 3 barrier spell.
Mark showed displeasure as he took a large jump back, concealing himself behind a tree.
Boom–!
A large explosion was released, a heavy gust of wind accompanying it and spreading its range.
As the explosion engulfed him, Jules removed the arrow from his shoulder, the sound of his barrier cracking ringing in his ears.
The instant the barrier sounded, Jules ran towards the river and jumped into it, sinking deep in and leaving a large amount of blood in his wake.
The blood only increased as he plugged out the knife at his back.
Sinking deeper, Jules's vision became dark, feeling a dreadful darkness absorbing him.
'Ryan must be dead by now…I wonder…is that peaceful?'
But before he could lose consciousness, he bit on a pill he had stuffed in his mouth the same time he prepared a bomb, then he felt the flame of his vitality return.
[Quest "Survive your mission" has been completed.]
Holding his breath, Jules thought, 'Cid… Ryan… your sacrifice was not for naught.'
- - -
Looking at the dissipating smoke, Mark walked away from the cover of the tree.
The surrounding grasses were burnt, parts decorated with fallen branches with charred leaves falling delicately.
Mark stared at the point Jules was before the explosion, his brows tightening.
"He escaped," One of his partners said, walking closer to him.
"I can see that." Mark replied.
"Fuck!" Another attacker exclaimed. "What was the information we were given? All your 'teammates' were different from the information one way or the other."
"Especially that Captain! How did he get a skill that powerful without any of this Clan's higher ups knowing?
"That skill is not only strong, it's usually deemed forbidden because of its cost of usage!"
The first partner sighed. "I see why they feel threatened by the heir though. If they give him the time and resources to grow, he'll be a force they can't handle."
"Naturally, that's how the heir of this Clan is meant to be perceived," Mark chimed in. "If it took Jules that long to be perceived this way, he isn't fit for the position."
The others looked at Mark for a second, recognizing the feeling of hatred in his tone. Out of them all, he's one of the few that's actually born and raised in this clan.
They all knew Mark bore hatred to this Clan for one reason or the other.
At that moment, Joel and the remaining two caught up to them.
"What happened?" Joel said, his face barely containing his annoyance.
Someone quickly recounted the story to Joel.
"Fuck! Damn! Fuck!" Joel fumed, pacing around.
"Calm down." Someone said, "He was at the heart of the explosion, he would have taken a lot of damage. The river is filled with his blood."
"Yeah. I don't think he'll survive the waters with the state he was in."
"He wasn't supposed to survive our attack either," Mark stated, his eyes boring to those who had just spoken. "Yet he did… We have to move before they get here."
Joel turned to Mark. "What are we to do next? We should chase after him and make sure he doesn't survive."
Mark turned back into the forest as he spoke.
"That'll take time; and we don't have that. I have another plan. I'll tell you as we move."
- - -
In the dark depths of the river, Jules let himself drift for a bit.
'Next is to recover the sword...and that Heart.'
He opened the system and navigated to the quest reward.
He then used his reward, a yellow translucent trail leaving from his body and leading him to Noctharis knows where.
'I wondered how it was going to direct me. Also…it's just one trail, are the sword and Heart together?'
Using the little mana he had left, Jules enhanced his body and swam.
Down the path he was going was further Northeast of the island. If he went far enough, he could eventually end up in the sea.
He moved with silent worry because of the few beasts that dwell in the waters.
At the moment, he just relied on the blood he left behind there to distract them till he got out.
Following the trail, he moved closer to the surface of the river, swimming for about 5 minutes.
Then when he reached the position where the trail was leading up, he shot his head out of the water, the golden glow of a setting sun beating him gently.
Jules gritted his teeth seeing how high up he needed to climb to get on land.
'That's prolly around 10 feet!
'It's going to be even harder with this damn poison within me!'
The pill was a low-grade recovery medicine that only closed his wounds to the best extent possible.
The hole in his shoulder, for example, wasn't completely closed. To Jules's dismay, it seemed to have even affected his bones.
It was adrenaline that was still keeping him active. The idea of obtaining those two items made Jules damn it all and move.
Jules used his sword in his weak arm and his other barehand to climb up.
He had to first fall back into the waters three times, before getting the hang of it.
Upon reaching land, he cut a part of his shirt and tied it around his shoulder to avoid leaving a blood trail.
Jules wanted to dart toward his destination, but his legs felt like lead as he tried to lift them.
'I should have put the pills in my pocket instead of the bag!'
He sighed as he glanced at the trail of yellow light weaving through the trees.
Walking deeper into the forest, Jules thought, 'What was Jules looking for? Don't tell me he was actually scared of returning to the clan…'
Jules walked a bit further, noticing the trail's glow growing stronger.
At that moment, Jules felt a sudden mental assault.
What lay in the forest had come after his alluring scent.