The Astral soul system-Chapter 140: Wait for it!

"Grrraaawwk!"

Looking up,Jade clicked her tongue as she realized she’d been spotted, the raven hovering above her a grim sign of her vulnerability.

She quickly turned, dashing into some trees while carefully looking around, shadows dashing left and right in the corner of her eyes.

She suddenly came to a halt and aimed her bow to her side and fired,a portal appearing in front of it and taking it somewhere

She heard a whoosh and the sound of the arrow striking wood and immediately kept running,her breath heavy as she looked around like she was being hunted, not daring to stop in one position for more than a few seconds.

A faint clicking noise could be heard as Jade suddenly ducked,a huge boulder flying over her head and barely missing her head and slamming into a tree.

’Damnit, I’m being tailed’

She quickly changed directions, running to the left and dashing through the trees like a trained acrobat,or at least a fairly good one as she still stumbled a bit but quickly picked up her speed.

*Crack*

Hearing the sound of a twig snapping, she immediately opened a portal towards that direction and fired blindly, running as she did and changing course so she was running in the opposite direction to the one she fired.

It wasn’t long before she heard another snapping sound, this time in front of her and she quickly realized she was being toyed with like a mouse by a cat.

She quickly changed tactics, determining that her hunter was either south or west. She quickly fired two arrows, one to the north and the other to the west, making sure to gently hit soft bushes so it would sound like rustling caused by running and accidentally hitting them,it also disposed of the arrows, leaving no trail to follow . Once that was done, she ran north east, looking back occasionally, certain that her deception would only buy her a few seconds to make a strategy.

*BOOM!*

She suddenly heard a loud sound followed by the woeful creaking of a tree tumbling down, and although it was a relatively small tree,it still made a loud sound, alerting her to her hunter’s likely location.

’Hmmm? Getting careless?’

Before she could think of anything else her eyes suddenly widened as she saw the massive body of a tree, flying in the air towards her.

Terrified, she jumped and rolled, barely escaping getting crushed.

Breathing heavily as she got up,Jade thought

’H... how could I have been...? I thought I had a few seconds. I-’

She suddenly looked up, noticing the same black raven hovering in the air.

’Dang it!’

She quickly realized her deception would continue to be fruitless if she let this tail follow her so she pointed her bow at it, nocking an arrow while pulling back into the bushes, remembering she was still being hunted.

Her emerald green eyes focused, shining like gemstones in the shade of the trees as she let go of the string, the arrow flying through the air towards the raven that quickly spotted it and just flew higher and watched as the arrow falled powerlessly to the ground.

’Dang i-’

Her ears suddenly picked up some faint movement and like she was in a burning building during an earthquake, she jumped down to the ground, lying flat on the ground.

The second her body touched the ground a barrage of rocks started barreling in from behind a few bushes, flying in as fast and numerous as bullets from a machine gun, ripping into thick trees and shredding bushes.

Jade groaned and opened a portal in front of her head and another in front of her torso, although the portals were only around the size of her head,it still gave her some sense of protection.

Jade took a deep breath,her emerald like eyes moving up and down assessing the situation.

’Okay, with the way the attacks are stretched out.... my exact location is still unknown,all that’s revealed is that I’m somewhere in this general area ’

Her muscles tensed up as she mentally reminded herself that she was being hunted and could actually die here. A lot had changed.

She suddenly slung the arrow on her back, pulling out two small knives as she used them to pull herself forward on the ground, making sure to stay low.

She was almost out of the rock bullet storm when she noticed that they suddenly stopped. Instead of being overjoyed and stopping to relax,she moved faster and quickly got up and out of the way, scrambling up a tall and bushy tree as she tried to get eyes on the raven again.

Just like she expected, the storm of rocks continued, only this time it was a huge boulder crashing down, destroying the general area of where she previously was. A few seconds passed and another was thrown, this time from a different location.

’Covering your tracks’

Jade put down her quiver,aimed her bow,a portal appearing in front of her to shorten the distance of her arrows as she fired multiple times, using a mix of calculation and guessing. If her hunter could try it,why couldn’t she?

As soon as she released a volley, she grabbed her quiver, gripped a knife and jumped to a nearby tree, using the sharp knife to make sure she didn’t slip. She did this a few times, zigzagging before sitting on another branch, making sure the leaves obscured her figure before looking for her target in the sky again.

A few minutes passed and she switched trees a few more times before finding that pesky little raven,in the sky, looking for her as well.

Seeing that she had the element of suprise on her side, she quickly nocked an arrow, decisively opening a portal before firing.

With the agility and grace you’d expect from an avian, the raven dodges, swerving in the air before cawing loudly to announce Jade’s presence.

Frustrated,Jade bit her bottom lip, realizing she’d just wasted an opportunity that was hard to come by.

She quickly dropped her bow and was about to move trees when she felt a loud impact beneath her and the tree began to shake and lean. She’d been found.

She considered leaping to the nearest tree but with how close her hunter was, they’d just follow her.

Her mind raced, thinking of what she could do now. Deftly, her hands reached for a small pouch at her side, she felt it’s weight in her hand, noting it was light and pulled out a small marble.

She suddenly lined up three arrows at once, using her thumb to seperate them and make sure they hit different locations. She quickly calculated the most likely spot the tree had been hit from using the force of the impact and the direction it was falling and without thinking much, she fired all three arrows.

’Come on,give me something ’

She quickly tried again, waiting for some movement, now digging the knife into the tree to make sure she didn’t fall, and just when she was about to abandon her plan, she saw the slightest hint of what looked like a silhouette.

Immediately she dropped the marble, using a portal to make sure it got where it needed to be,fast.

She quickly closed her eyes and jumped in a random direction and less than a second later,a loud boom rang out followed by an insanely bright light.

’Flashbang. That’s a few seconds to run and...’

She suddenly stopped her thoughts as she noticed the raven in the air, slightly affected by her diversion. She considered letting it go due to the risk but remembered she’d just wasted one opportunity, and decided she wasn’t going to waste another.

Pulling out another marble, she prepared to use it as she prepared an arrow, this time waiting before opening a portal,that was what alerted the raven to her attack last time, and she wouldn’t make the same mistake again, this time, she’d make sure to wait until the last moment to use her ability.

She quickly threw the second flashbang and closed her eyes before nocking the arrow that was in the same hand and firing. This was INSANELY irresponsible, but she had to take a chance.

She didn’t wait to see the results and kept running, scattering what looked like mini spike traps on the ground while Zigzagging in the opposite direction, leaving most of the traps on her false path and only a few on her real one.

On her retreat path, she looked back and managed to spot a certain black raven going down with an arrow stuck in it.

A small smile of accomplishment appeared on her face before she wiped it off, reminding herself to stay serious.

She weighed her pouch one last time and noted

’One last flashbang’

She looked in her quiver as well

’Three arrows....’

It wouldn’t be long before they were back on her tail. She didn’t have enough arrows to use tricks or stall for time, this had to end soon.

So after running for a few minutes, she felt like her hunter was most likely already on her trail again and turned around, heading for a small clearing right next to the mountain so she was basically surrounded with trees from all sides except her back.

She was all out of aether at this point so using her ability was out of the question, and even if it wasn’t, she didn’t see a way it could help her now.

In her eyes, this was either going to be really embarrassing,or really stupid of her.

She basically boxed herself in since her hunter could now strike from almost any direction, but she got herself a bit of free space to react and a visible area, not like she was fast enough for it to matter. All she could do at this point was wait.

’Wait for it’

’wait for it’

Just then a large boulder started flying in the air towards her, ducking down, she fired an arrow before rolling away.

’wait for it’

Before she could rest, she noticed the huge body of another small downed tree flying towards her and she barely dodged it this time, getting grazed a bit.

’Gotcha!’

She threw the flashbang into the trees are closed her eyes aiming her second arrow,her brows strangely relaxing as she was about to release the bow. At the last second though, she suddenly shifted the loaded bow to her right and released.

"Huh"

Hearing the curious voice next to her she suddenly opened her eyes and looked to the side, the first thing she saw being Zyro who was looking at his chest with a purely curious expression. She slowly looked down and was briefly horrified as she saw the arrow she fired planted deeply in his abdomen

"That..."

Jade hurriedly tried to explain

"I wasn’t...I didn’t...i thought you’d -"

"...Was BRILLIANT!"

"Huh?"

"I give it a seven out of ten. What do you think Elaine?"

"I think you have an arrow in your body and a screw loose in your brain "

************

Zyro sat down on the broken tree while Elaine was wrapping bandages around him, the bloody arrow already on the ground as Jade caught her breath on the side.

"Good job,i honestly thought i had you" Zyro said, seeming quite upbeat about just getting shot.

Jade still seemed exhausted as she just sat there breathing heavily.

"You’ve progressed a great deal in the past few weeks"

"Really? Because it feels like I’m still behind"

Zyro chuckled. Nothing could be further from the truth. Although he’d said this was weapon training, he’d actually mixed in combat training,basic wildlife survival, and a whole lot of other things. The fact that Jade seemed to be keeping up was insane. He was originally shocked when Zen of all people told him to watch out for this girl’s talent like he was praising her, because he knew very well Zen would never praise anyone. But seeing it now, he understood.

"I still think you should slow down with her. Even if she’s still clumsy, she’s doing things she never would have dreamed of a week ago"

Freya’s voice rang in his ear

"This kind of thing is meant to be gradual, there’s a -"

’I know,i know, there’s a process. You don’t want me to overwhelm her,i won’t. What do the rest of you guys think’

"She seems quite capable. Intelligent too, but still naive "

Lilith’s regal and slightly seductive voice echoed.

"Alright,done. Put on your shirt"

Elaine gently slapped Zyro on the back when she was done, moving on to give Jade a few vitamins since she wasn’t scratched up too bad. Zyro hadn’t gotten injured at all aside from the arrow,so she decided to not do anything special and just disinfect it before patching him up the normal way, saying it’ll "serve as a reminder "

"You kids and your dangerous games. You’re going to give me a heart attack one of these days" Elaine said softly patting her chest gently.

"Next time you try something so dangerous, I’ll fight you with everything I have to stop you. You could’ve gotten seriously hurt "

Zyro smiled, putting his shirt back on over the bandaging

"That’s why we have you Elaine "

Elaine rolled her eyes dramatically and picked up her kit, beginning to leave

"Get lots of rest, alright?"

Zyro and Jade waved her off, chuckling awkwardly once she was gone.

Truthfully, Zyro was completely healed up now. He’d intentionally been keeping his astra levels low during the fight so he would heal immediately, now that he’d had some time to recover, these bandages weren’t even holding anything, he just wore them so Elaine wouldn’t scold him. She was actually there for Jade mostly and not him.

"Good job " he once again congratulated her.

"Thanks. First time for everything,i guess"

Zyro noticed the faint disappointment in her tone and was a bit concerned.

"Hey, what’s the problem. You hit me and I wasn’t even holding back"

Jade’s voice lowered to a whisper.

"Yeah, but,you kinda were"

"Hmm?"

"Sure you didn’t hold back your strength but you basically did everything the way an experienced hunter would. "

"Yeah. I... don’t understand"

"You fell for my spike traps, were deceived by my diversions and got hit with my fladhbangs, but you did all that the way a regular fighter would. You’re the one who taught me all this and you acted like any other person would. You weren’t actually fooled,you just saw my traps, knew that they were diversions and followed the script , following my fake trails before ’realizing i tricked you’ and going back."

"..."

"You were acting like an NPC in a video game, following a set of patterns and predetermined paths. Even if you didn’t hold back your physical strength,you still didn’t treat me like a fight, just a play where you follow a script "

Zyro chuckled nervously, not knowing what to do now that he’d been caught.

Freya:"oof!"

"Haha! Smart AND stupid"

"Sylphie" Freya gently snapped at her

"What? We were all thinking it"

Zyro ignored the drama going on in his head and put his hand on Jade’s shoulder.

"Okay,you got me. All that stuff might be true, but you were still pretty awesome,i honestly got hit a few extra times and just didn’t tell Elaine. Listen, you’re a great archer, those skills would have had anyone else looking like preschoolers. Sure you’re a bit rough around the edges and there were a few times i could have ended the fight, but"

He suddenly pointed to his chest, specifically at the point she hit him with the arrow.

"Look at this. You,did this. You’re a great archer,Jade. And I’m going to turn you into the best hunter. Abilities don’t make a good fighter, for that you need tools, skills, and experience"

Jade looked at him, feeling a bit better.

"I’m guessing that’s how you had to fight before getting here "

Zyro’s mind briefly flashed back to the fights he had in his past, and a maniacal glint suddenly appeared in his eyes

"Uh... yeah " 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

"The point is that so many people think your ability defines you. You just proved it doesn’t "

Zyro said, gesturing to his bandages.

Jade perked up a bit, smiling even more now.

"So I guess next time we train hunting each other,you won’t hold back"

"Just because i didn’t take a few opportunities doesn’t mean I held back. You earned your win today Jade"

Sylphie:"He also never specifically said he didn’t hold back"

Everyone in Zyro’s head: "Sylphie!"

"What? We were all thinking it "

Over the past few weeks, Zyro had gotten to understand the green wind elf’s personality. She didn’t talk much, mostly keeping to herself, but whenever she did,her voice was laced with arrogance, nonchalance and regality, similar to Lilith, however she was actually quite childish and playful on the inside, often exchanging quips with Freya and occasionally Lilith and Zephyr.

She was very carefree, willful and free spirited. She didn’t seem at all phased by the high status of Lilith and Zephyr, often even forgetting it,of course it was possible she was someone of high standing herself but she refused to tell about her past.

"Alright, let’s go in, it’s getting dark" Zyro said, earning a nod from Jade. She was reaaaaally tired

They were about to get up when a large raven suddenly landed and dropped something from both it’s talons and it’s beak: arrows.

"Black! Sorry I had to shoot at you. No hard feelings?"

She tried to pet the bird but it moved back and gestured to the arrows it had gathered from the battlefield like it wanted her to take them back.

Jade sighed

"Don’t worry about it, they’re just practice arrows. My real ones are still at my dorm,silly. Besides, they’re nowhere near as important as you. Now come here"

She grabbed the big bird in her embrace, checking the spot where she shot him but it was already completely healed up.

"Amazing,i still don’t know where you found him or how you got him so calm" Jade said, light stroking it’s feathers as they got up to leave.

"Yep" Zyro replied, making it clear he wouldn’t answer

"Can we take a break tomorrow? My insides still hurt"

Zyro chuckled nervously

"Honestly i think we should stop for a while "

"What?! Why? Is it something i-"

"No no no, nothing like that "

Zyro quickly corrected

"I’m just worried Elaine might actually get upset and try to fight us if we get hurt again "

"Oh"

Honestly,Jade could relate. The nurturing woman that was their school nurse took their students’ wellbeing very serious, and got really upset whenever they harmed themselves.

"Maybe stopping for a few days isn’t so bad then" Jade said, already imagining the scenario as they walked back to their dorms