53: Chapter 1: Ruins

Chapter 1: Ruins

"Argh..." John muttered as he opened his eyes.1

He felt the light which was emanating from the sun slowly blind him as he stared at it.

"Where am I..?" John asked himself as he slowly got up from the ground.

'That's right... That guy was there and... We fell into a teleportation circle... What did he do..? Did he send us to a lower floor?' John remembered.

"Damn it! I wasn't able to do anything..." John said as he punched the ground in anger.

'No... He didn't send us to a lower floor... I recall him saying he wanted me to get stronger... Sending us to a lower floor would have killed us and this doesn't seem like any of the upper floors we've been to, which means…' John realised.

"We're outside! Where shou-" John shouted.

Before he finished, he realised Serena and Ariel weren't there. He looked around in haste and couldn't find anyone.

"We weren't teleported to the same place..? Serena!!! Ariel!!! Where are you guys!?" John shouted out loud as he got up.

John began searching around the ruin. It was a broken building which had black painted stones on the walls. It was missing a roof and had a few cracks. As he searched around the ruin, he finally noticed.

"You're kidding me, right..?" John muttered as he stared at what was outside of the ruins.

There were trees everywhere, and the ruin was beside a giant tropical forest.

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"Where am I..?" Muttered Ariel as she opened her eyes.

She had just woken up on top of a tree branch.

"A forest..? Where's John and Serena..?" She asked as she looked around.

Ariel, who had just realised that her friends were missing, did her best to stay calm.

"Serena said something about a teleportation circle... Meaning we were all teleported somewhere... Are we still in the dungeon..? Or..." Ariel muttered to herself.

She then looked down and surveyed the area.

"No monsters... It should be safe... I still have my staff with me... So I should be fine..." She muttered again.

'John and Serena were probably teleported elsewhere... I don't have any time to waste... I need to find them…' Ariel surmised.

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"Mn..." Muttered Serena as she opened her eyes.

She opened her eyes and began to hastily look around.

It looked like she was on top of a tree branch in the middle of a forest, which she didn't recognise. However, that was the least of her worries.

"I can't sense John or Ariel... Looks like they're not nearby... I knew it was a trap... I mean, why would we just enter a random basement which had no lighting..." She muttered to herself as she let out a sigh.

She then stretched out her arms and jumped down.

"Looks like I'll have to find them... They can handle themselves so I don't have anything to worry about..." She muttered as she landed.

Serena had spent most of her life living in a forest. The elf village she used to live in was isolated from other races, but she was rather grateful for that because it was what kept her calm in her current situation.

"Am I still in a dungeon..? No... It doesn't feel artificial... And I can feel the forest spirits in the air... That means we got away..." She said.

Serena began to look around and got an idea.

"Forest spirits, can you help me..? I'm looking for my friends... They should've been teleported to this Area at the same time as me..." Serena said with hope.

Serena also had elf blood coursing through her veins, even if it was half, Elves have the ability to communicate with spirits, and with enough practice they'd be able to ask them for help or even directions.

"I found Ariel... But where's John..? Who cares, he can take care of himself..." She muttered as she rushed towards Ariel's location.

Serena was both happy and hopeful once she found Ariel but at the same time was worried about John.

As Serena rushed, the Forest spirits informed her of something.

"What?! Isn't that? Ariel... Please until I get there... Stay safe..." Serena muttered with concern.

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"Levite, Velox." John muttered as he flew up into the air.

John looked around and found out that he was right. John was in the middle of a giant tropical forest. The size was slightly bigger than the one on Halfausts and this one looked much more like a forest compared to that one.

"Deprehendre" John muttered.

He set it to scan for every life form within a radius of 500 meters. John's eyes were filled with lights as he looked around.

"Deprehendre" John muttered again.

This time John set it to scan for every human within a radius of 500 meters.

"10... 20... There's around 100... Most of them are focused in that particular area... Maybe it's a human settlement?" John said as he focused on it.

'How will I find Ariel and Serena like this..? Looking through every settlement will take too long. Think... Focus on solely detecting both of them…' John thought.

"Deprehendre," John muttered a third time.

This time 50 lights popped up around the forest.

'Come on... Not good enough... Think harder... Focus…' John thought.

"Deprehendre," He muttered a fourth time.

20 lights popped up around the forest, but it still wasn't precise enough. 

'Think... Remember the flow of mana inside of Ariel and Serena... Think about their characteristics... Looks personality... Anything... Just try to get a precise image of them so that deprehendre can do its thing…' John pondered.

"Deprehendre!" He shouted for the 5th time.

'Come on... Work... Please…' John thought to himself as he placed all his hope in this spell.

As John thought that, two lights appeared, one heading towards the other. They were around 400 meters away from him.

Shortly after, He let out a short sigh of relief as he seemed to grab on to their location.

"Found them." 

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