The moment Nora gave the green light he jumped from the tree, his magic working already to create a cloud of snow under him. So for the first few meters he just accelerated in freefall only to land on a magically hardened snow cloud that carried him downwards with its improved speed. Suppressing a grunt from the pain he felt after the impact he managed to somehow stay silent for now. Once he stood firmly he accelerated his descent even further.

Nora stayed silent during the whole time, not risking to reveal herself as an intelligent being but her emotions were relaxed and quiet so he continued, for now the plan was working, his approach wasn't noticed and soon only a few meters separated him for the archer's position. Ethan prepared his magic for the attack and closed the distance, taking a deep breath before reaching Nora.

Listening to Nora's emotions one last time to make sure everything was still alright before he jumped from his snow cloud, arms outstretched he fell the last three meters towards the elf. When he was an arm's length away he saw her turn around, eyes wide in disbelief. Nora pounced and wrapped her body around the elf's neck while Ethan slammed his hand into her face, the moment his fingers touched her skin he pushed his mana outwards. Holding his staff in the other he used it as an amplifier to strengthen his magic even more.

Her entire face got covered in a thin sheet of ice and it even invaded her mouth to stop her from screaming, she looked like she wore a porcelain mask that was a perfect copy of her face. Once he was sure she couldn't scream, he melted the ice over her eyes and nose so she wouldn't just die from a lack of oxygen, Ethan was sure the wrath of the elves would be endless if she died.

Before he could give Nora a mental high five an awfully loud noise escaped from the elf woman's body. It was like a high pitched shriek that repeated over and over again. Ethan clamped his hands over his ears and looked over her body, there in a pocket on her hip something moved, he flinched when he needed to use one hand to grab whatever was inside. The moment his fingers entered the pouch he was bit by something but the awful noise stopped, he inhaled through gritted teeth, that little pest was biting him hard.

Pulling his hand out he saw a tiny bird that looked comically proportioned, a beak that was too big, a fat body with small wings and feet which looked totally unusable to walk or fly with. It was some form of magical construct or familiar, the green swirls in his eyes looked like nature magic he saw the other woman use. Ethan shrugged and just froze the fucker and flicked it away like it was a dead bug.

Nora jumped on his shoulder and wrapped herself tightly around his arm, down to his wrist. Ethan shouldered the elf once he froze her wrists and ankles together. She was rather short and weighed less than he expected, even with his awful strength he could carry her easily. Ethan created a snow cloud and jumped on it the moment it was dense enough, looking almost casual as he floated away with her. Nora watched his back while he focused on his magic. Carrying to people and not falling off was hard enough, his one real concern was that they noticed the magic he radiated right now and the bird that screamed.

Burning mana like cheap firewood he quickly gained more distance but his channels were burning up again from the strain he put on them, he still wasn't back to one hundred percent and he feared it would still take even longer to get back into fighting shape. With a grunt he pulled through, a large tree in the distance was his new target, he would soon reach it. With the elf struggling more and more he wasn't sure if he could make it so he did something rude but very necessary, he knocked her out with a bit of ice magic infused straight into her brain, because why not. It was just a stronger form of brain freeze.

The moment Faylin woke up she was ready for combat, her eyes opened wide, she tried to jump up and attack whoever captured her. But she couldn't move a muscle, her arms were frozen to the bark of a tree, same with her legs. Like a video game character in the iconic T-Pose she stood there totally unmoveable, her extremities numb from the cold, the ice around her mouth didn't budge either no matter what she tried.

She didn't stop fighting though, struggling for as long as she needed to make her escape, the pale elf that caught her was nowhere to be seen, only the snake that approached her on the tree was there, she realized it must be his companion. The snake's long body was easily her own height in length and those cold piercing blue eyes made even her, a hardened warrior, feel uncomfortable.

She tried to speak, but the only thing that came out of her mouth were muffled sounds that barely managed to get through the ice. In frustration she hung her head and while she would never admit defeat she knew when it was pointless to get a reaction out of someone and waste energy pointlessly.

The elf was gone, she only remembered the annoyed look moments before he knocked her out somehow. He couldn't be too far away, the snake was still here after all and they wouldn't capture her just to let her die in some tree…right?

Another hour vanished and night had conquered the world once again, the darkness felt oppressive to Faylin for the first time in her whole life. She was one of the Tharn'ari and being captured was something she never experienced before, being free was the most important thing in their entire culture. The night was silent for the most part, her thoughts circled around and she still couldn't figure out what they wanted from her. Then later, she didn't know how much time passed, she heard a crash, trees getting destroyed by something. The old trees creaked and groaned when they dropped to the ground, their life sniffed out by some unknown force.

Faylin lifted her head and looked over the forest, in the distance she could see magic explode, pale blue against bright green, she would recognize the magic of the matriarch everywhere. It seems the wizard was fighting against her, sealing his fate forever. She would grin if she could, the elf had no chance against her, the matriarch commanded the whole jungle and nobody would beat her in her home!

Ethan hissed from the pain, that bitch injected him with poison and while he was mostly resisted due to his class she definitely had a higher level than him and it hurt like hell, the putrid liquid eating away at his body, he froze the spot of black and green poison so it wouldn't spread through his entire body, he hoped his body could destroy it fast enough.

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After they locked the archer up he ventured outward, still worried about possible pursuers, sadly he was right because when he was floating there in the sky hidden behind some clouds he was shot down by a green glowing javelin, the only luck he had so far in the entire fight was that the javelin missed him by a hair's breadth. After that it turned into a total shit show.

While his new staff was wonderful at dishing out high speed projectiles it also drained mana at an incredible rate so he quickly switched over to his normal magic and only used his staff when he had a clear shot and was certain he would hit.

In the beginning the enemy mage was supported by the patrol but when he managed to catch three of them by surprise, two getting impaled on ice spikes while the third lost a leg due to a chain ripping it off, she had them pull back, at least it looked like they survived. Nobody rescues corpses after all.

Now they bombarded each other with magic, Ethan using mostly ice spikes and needles, with the occasional chain when he got a clear view. She used sticks and rock empowered by some spell or just unformed blobs of magic that exploded in a shower of spark. When touching the ground new grass grew and plants blossomed.

When he was hit his skin started to grow grey and just straight up died, it was like the piece of him was missing. He was glad that it didn't penetrate deep, otherwise he would have died multiple times for such a magic bomb alone, alas it only hurt his skin for the most part.

Evading another stick that was thrown at him at incredible speed made him an easy target for a follow up attack, he now stood in direct line of sight from the elven mage. Ethan slammed his staff into the muddy ground and an ice wall rose a few meters into the air. A dull thud sounded out when something hit it and then the wall exploded outward from something hitting right in the middle.

He knew there wasn't much mana left in his tank and he needed to flee before it was too late. Sprinting away he made the gem on his staff draw a circle in the air and he forced most of his remaining mana into it, it looked like his [Icy Plague] skill but had a lot less power behind it. Mostly it was just to flood his surroundings with magic and make snow fall to hide his tracks even more.

The moment the first thick cloud formed he flew up and hid inside of it. Pumping more mana at a constant rate into his spell even if it meant to be running on fumes to keep him floating. From inside he watched the elven mage run towards him but when she stopped in his little snowstorm she seemed to be lost. After all, everything here felt like Ethan's energy, as a bonus her precious nature withered and died around her giving her less material to work with.

She still tried to find him, shockwaves of green magic pulsed from her, those green eyes searching everything. But Ethan was inside a thick cocoon made from his own mana, then he saturated the clouds he hid in so it looked like one big mess of nothing, at least to her, he started to shake from having no more mana to spare but he just needed to endure a few more moments.

He could feel her frustration and her rage in the magical attacks she used on the surrounding area but then she left the localized snowstorm, rage was emitting from her in waves of heat. Ethan waited a bit longer before he also retreated back towards the tree, he had no fight left in him for now.

Faylin stared at the tall elven man with his pale skin and blue eyes, those eyes looked even more unsettling, the reptile-like pupils in a humanoid face. He had this cold look on his face and the frosty air that surrounded him made her shiver. He didn't speak when he landed on the tree, he just looked at the snake and well, stared at her.

A muffled yelp escaped her mouth when both of them turned to her at the same time, he walked towards her, his hand reaching out to her. What did he plan to do to her?! The corpse-like hand touched her cheek and the ice melted away from her mouth, the water ran down her throat and she swallowed quickly.

She was prepared for everything, a Tharn'ari would never beg for mercy, especially not for the mercy of an enemy. She started into his pale blue eyes, defiance written all over her face. Then he spoke, his voice deep and indifferent.

"So you're one of those forest elves, you're not good at backing down. Well now that we have some time I'm sure you would gladly answer some questions right?"

His head moved closer to hers, the upper half of his face laid in the shadows of his hat, only those eyes were piercing the darkness. The snake slithered up his arms, its head right next to his.

"If not, I'm sure we will find some methods to make you talk. For your information I would gladly refrain from using violence but I'm not against it either. So, what will you do?"

She would never help him, this demon in elven skin would get nothing from her!

Gosh Nora, look at her she seems to be one of the stubborn ones, anymore ideas something better than doing a villain speech?

You could pinch her and say something stupid, you're good at that after all.

Haha very fun, she's not a child and the moment we let her go she would just attack us if necessary. I would rather not antagonise her. It would be easier if she just talked to us.

It would be funnier if you did it just because it would break the ice, do something silly for example. Ethan shrugged mentally. Fuck it maybe she actually talked. And just like that he grabbed the elf's nose and moved her head from left to right.

"I want answers so you better start talking and stop resisting."

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