Chapter 208 (2/2)

Did they hear that? Is it over?

A thousand h my mind until I finally noticed the translucent tint around me and the blurred view on the other side of Cole’s barrier

Great Vritra, that was close! I breathed,a mental note to thank Cole for the nice save

“Hurry!” Maeve urged while Cole focused on reinforcing his barrier

I quickly grabbed the caster’s outstretched hand and used her help to pull myself up onto the branch My heart felt as if it were about to break out of rew ather her I followed close, using the same handholds and footholds she had used to climb up the tree while Cole took the rear

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The three of us had to be extra careful as we traversed up the giant tree Going too fast ht give away our position

My arue and half out of fear I desperately wished my mark had allowed so for that noas stupid

Finally, Maeve stopped at a particular branch and helped h up were too thin for all of us to be on one altogether, so we each sat on our own tree lied the trunk in order to lessen the burden on our seats

Cole, as about to strengthen his barrier stopped on h,” I whispered We needed his barrier at its full power if they got near

The two presences were heading toward us but were still a few hundred feet away I narrowed the focus of my second crest and with it, I was able to faintly hear the two elves talking

“We should head back, Albold We’ve already strayed far enough from our survey route,” one voice said

“Just a second,” the second voice, Albold, replied lightheartedly

“You probably just heard a forest hare or so,” the first voice said

“It wasn’t really a sound,” the elf na where ere hiding “It was ”

“I swear, if you weren’t a Chaffer, I would’ve just left,” the first said “Either way, it’s good to have you back—quirks and all”

“Thanks Double thanks for pro not to tell our head about this little ‘detour’,” Albold said with a soft chuckle as he continued to lead his partner closer to our location

“We can only afford a little detour,” the partner stressed “That damned Alacryan is still on the loose How are they even this far up north, anyway?”

I bit down on ed to escape He’s alive!

“If I kneouldn’t be out here like this,” Albold scoffed

Prying myself away from the perceptions of htened his veiling barrier to barely encothened his ic allowed him the spare nited ic on the two elves approaching They were less than fifty feet away now

Please, Vritra, let them just pass like the other scouts

I wiped away the sweat rolling down ht fall down and wet the ground

I held my breath as well I kneasn’t necessary I knew the barrier would mask most of the noises made but even Cole and Maeve were as still as the tree ere perched on

Holding up both my hands, I mouthed ‘ten feet’ to my teammates Cole sed hard and Maeve’s expression turned even more fierce

I looked down at the base of the tree, hoping—praying for the nearby made stiffen I looked at Cole and Maeve but both of theround below us

Thenthehtly behind his neck while the other one had cropped hair and ears slightly longer than his co around aimlessly, the short-haired one kept his head down as he walked

The latter slowed his pace, his head still dipped down like he had lost a coin on the ground

Please, just keep walking

Please

He was now adjacent to the tree ere on

I let out a sigh when suddenly, the elf’s head jerked left He looked at the base of the tree

More accurately, he was looking at the moss on the root The moss that I had stepped and slipped on

The fear that I had been pushi+ng down bubbled up, threatening to s me

Please

The short-haired elf stopped walking and his head turned up until I coulddirectly at me