Using the shadows cast by the towering trees and the trees'' branches partially covering the sun''s rays, I silently made my way toward the area.


    Climbing up a tree next to the misced leaf, I peered again through the forest, finding even more signs of a disturbance.


    While no footprints were left behind, I could see parts of the ground barely less elevated than others, indicating that pressure had recently been ced on that area.


    Jumping from branch to branch, I followed the path of the uneven area until the signs finally became clearer.


    Now clear footsteps were left in the ground, and the leaves were scattered about, indicating they no longer cared about hiding their presence.


    What had changed? Were they in a rush now?


    The attack on the World Tree was tomorrow, so what were they doing now?


    Speeding up, I manifested a blood-red and night-ck wing on my right shoulder before raising my right hand.


    Tapping my hand, I pped my wing five times in session, using my eyes and the slow-down time to perfectly calcte the best route despite going faster than visible to a human eye.


    Releasing no noise, I appeared on one branch, perfectly avoiding another tree''s trunk, before appearing on another branch over 10 feet away.


    I went so fast that speed mirages were being left behind on the previous branches. I went at maximum speed until finally, after 8 seconds, I felt my mana starting to run low due to the dragon''s eye.


    On the other hand, the orb in my right shoulder, which was attached to my wing, seemed to be able to hold up for another 15 seconds.


    But that was because Ibined the red substance with corruption instead of mana, so I wasn''t using any mana but rather my corruption.


    This would mean that after 15 seconds, I could still use my wings, but I would begin losing corruption for every second it manifested.


    As for the difference between using mana or corruption with the red substance, that was something I had yet to figure out.


    The only visible one was that my wing changed to blood-red and ocean-blue or blood-red and night-ck, depending on what I used.


    Feeling my perception of time slow back to normal, I almost crashed into a tree after pping my wing a final time, as even my eyes couldn''t keep up with the speed of these wings.


    Turning back around to spot more signs of unusual activity, I realized that in these seconds, I had sped through over half the gigantic forest of the Elven territory.


    Yet, despite that long distance, the footsteps and scattered leaves remained.


    Why were they traveling this far...?


    Seeing the trail of footsteps halt, with only a couple of trees in front of me, I stood still, perched on an elevated branch, and used my eyes to scan everything like a hawk waiting for its prey.


    Unfortunately, there was no prey in sight...


    *THUMP~THUMP*


    Hearing the sudden sound of pressure on the ground, I pushed back my ck mask, adorned with the same blood symbol I had used during the cruise ship and coliseum incident, before immediately turning around.


    But there was nothing there.


    Using my eyes, I scanned the area below me for the source of the sound, but to my surprise, there was nothing.


    Nheless, sounds like that doesn''t just magically appear and disappear.


    Every effect has a cause.


    After taking out my corrupted daggers, I equipped my cloak and prepared to use the shadow cage in case anything happened.


    With my hands enveloped with corruption and my mana a second away from colliding with the blood-red substance, I waited for any signs.


    *...*


    Pure silence.


    Like a leaf in the wind, the sound hade before immediately vanishing.


    The trees rustled in the breeze of the soft wind, the sun''s rays peeked through small holes in the forest to illuminate small spots, the asional chirping of birds as they flew by, and the sound of squirrels knawing at the wood.


    Something was wrong...


    Unable to put my mind onto whatever made me uneasy, I stood still, hunched over and perched on the tree branch with my daggers in hand, aware of any sudden attack.


    No... the sound.


    If whoever made that sound was trying to kill me, they wouldn''t have made that sound in the first ce...


    Why would they make the noise, then?


    They had to have known I was here.


    If they had the hiding skills to evade my eyesight, they could see through my guise easily. It couldn''t be some passerby dark elf...could it?


    If it was a single dark elf, I could take them... but if they were multiple.


    Using my cloak to blend in with the darkness, I slipped down the tree trunk, hiding in its shadow.


    In front of me stood one of the small areas illuminated by the sun''s rays, the grass being dyed orange instead of dark green.


    Leaning with my back against the tree, I studied the small circle of light in front of me and the footsteps that ended right inside it.


    Earlier, I thought there were multiple footsteps due to the countless lower-elevation areas, but now there was just one set..?


    There were multiple footsteps earlier... I was sure of it with my eyes.


    The path also had no diversions; this was the only way it led.


    Rather than being happy upon realizing there was only one set of footsteps, my suspicions grew.


    The other footsteps had been created by that one person as well, then...


    Why would he want to create false footsteps to indicate more people and that noise..?


    A trap...?


    If they were trying to catch my attention, it had worked perfectly.


    *RUSTLE~RUSTLE*


    Hearing the leaves around me rustle for a split moment, I immediately looked upward, keeping the mask on tightly, and spotted a figure.


    Levitating in the air right above the center of the illuminated spot, the figure of a tall man with a top hat and horns peeking out of it was visible.


    With the sun sitting right behind him, he looked as if he were some protagonist or chosen one, as the rays perfectlyplimented his floating figure.


    Tilting his top hat downwards, the djinn gracefully began slowly descending down from his spot before asking.


    "Oh? Did I keep you waiting for too long? You must have been quite fast to get here before I even realized someone took the bait."


    Ignoring his question, I locked my gaze on the upper part of his top hat.


    The symbol that Astrid showed me and the teacher held was sittingfortably on the top hat, the sun''s ray illuminating it perfectly.