Affinity:Chaos

The Jaguar was enraged when it saw this and charged at them.

The group among the three that charged forward retreated hastily. It was the group consisting of two Ninth stage Venerables. The second they saw the Jaguar advancing towards them, they retreated in a haste. They knew getting hit by one of the Jaguar's attacks would be detrimental to them, but they needed to create the opportunity for the person who hired them to take the treasure.

The duo retreated, but the Jaguar followed. It was enraged they were able to force it back, and this made it look weak compared to the Armadillo and the Hawk. They were originally battling the Hawk, but they then switched to it and forced it back which made it angry.

The Hawk and Armadillo maintained their stance, but the Jaguar had taken a step forward, creating a space there. While they were fighting with the group, they sensed a figure moving at lightning speed towards the Seelie's essence.

It was the figure of a young man who was bolting towards the Seelie's essence. He was luxuriously dressed, unlike the group of eight that were fighting with the Magical Beasts.

With the young man making the first move, the others who were hiding all charged forward, Alice included.

She couldn't take the risk of letting this guy get his hands on it first. Once he did, the chances of getting it off his hands were not high. Not just that, but there's also a good chance he might have other mercenaries that will protect him.

The three Magical Beasts tried to rush back, but the group of eight forced them to stop momentarily, that was all the time the young man needed to take the Seelie's essence and retreat.

The young man was fast, but Alice was faster.

The moment he was about to lay his hand on the Seelie's essence, with a wide smile on his face, he was left speechless when a smaller figure than his own blew past, he could barely even get a look of the face of the figure who grabbed the Seelie's essence right in front of him, all he saw was her side view.

"Stop!"

He yelled and rushed after her, but Alice's figure, like a dandelion danced in the wind, with the help of the snow using her Seelie's ice ability, she created afterimages made from snow, not just one, but over ten, all heading towards different directions.

This was an escape technique she learned after watching the battles between two Sovereigns a few years ago while she was still in the Sage Plane. She already had it in mind and started practicing it with her fire and lightning element, but none of them were as effective as the ice ability of the Seelie turned out.

The young man paused, trying to sense which one of the afterimages was the real Alice. It took a few seconds, but he managed to find it.

However, all Alice needed was a few seconds before she disappeared from this area.

The young man chased after her, he had caught her aura, but she was too fast, and her aura vanished in an instant after he kept chasing her. He was forced to stop when he saw the area Alice ran into.

"The natural arrays. Stupid! You'll die and destroy the Seelie's essence as well!" The young man fumed.

"Such an idiot!" He was incensed.

He didn't leave the place in a hurry, the group of eight soon caught up to him.

The duo who were in the Ninth stage were injured, although not a life-threatening injury, they needed to rest if not it would become serious.

"She ran into the natural array?" One of the Ninth stage Venerables asked with a frown.

"Her aura disappeared here." The young man replied.

"So you didn't see her enter?" The Ninth stage Venerable asked again.

The young man shook his head and soon understood where the Ninth stage Venerable was headed. Since he didn't see Alice enter the natural array, there's a good chance she was hiding close by and only wanted to trick him into believing she entered so he would stop his chase.

"Smart girl. Spread out, she's not far. We'll have to rest to heal up." The Ninth stage Venerable said to the other Venerables.

Both Ninth stage Venerables were injured trying to block the Hawk and Jaguar from chasing after the young man. The other six didn't argue and did as told, before they left, the young man warned them.

"If you see any sign of her, don't try to take her head-on, notify us immediately. She's faster than I am, which means she should also be at the Peak as well."

The young man's words made the others realize they weren't going in search of just any person, but a Peak stage Venerable. If they were alone, they had almost zero chances of escaping such a figure if they started a fight with said person. However, they were confident together. The only problem here is that they aren't moving together, but alone since they would be able to cover more ground that way.

….

Somewhere in the edge of the natural array.

Alice hid as she watched these people search for her. She couldn't help but feel hateful towards the two Ninth stage Venerables. She thought she had already escaped from their chase, but who knew those guys would be smart enough to figure out her plan. This was the benefit of experience, those guys had enough experience to know that only a suicidal person would charge into the natural array, especially when they're at the Peak of the Venerable Plane and has risked their lives to get the Seelie's essence.

What was the point of getting it if you're going to commit suicide?

And their thought process was absolutely spot on. No matter what, Alice would rather fight this group than to rush into the natural array.

This was tagged a forbidden zone in the forbidden zone. It was the main reason this place was called a forbidden zone to begin with. She has already seen the danger in the forbidden zone, she didn't want to take the risk of seeing how dangerous the natural array was. Once trapped in there, she might never make it out alive.

She stayed hidden and after a few hours of searching, the young man was starting to grow impatient. After all, there's a good chance the person indeed ran into the natural array.

Alice heaved a sigh of relief when she saw them turn to leave.

She didn't come out the moment they left, rather, she waited a few more hours. Staying motionless in the same spot wasn't the most fun thing to do, but given the situation, she didn't have a choice.

After waiting another four hours and not seeing any signs of the group as well as the young man, she stepped out. She looked back at the edge that led to the natural array area and shivered. Unless she was forced in, there was no way she would actively enter that place.

Alice bolted out of this place and headed to the place she had been hiding. Her plan was simple: consume the Seelie's essence before leaving.

If she tried to leave, the possibility of being blocked at the path leading out of the forbidden zone was really high.

This place was built in a strange one. There was only one path in and out. One could fly up, but it was very dangerous, only Magical Beasts like the Lightning Hawk could take such risks since they were already used to the dangers that hid in the sky. According to what Alice knew, the chances of a spatial crack appearing as one was flying was very high, and they could be thrown into a spatial turbulence, dying almost instantaneously if they aren't strong enough. There's also the possibility of being sent to a foreign world, or even the natural array in the forbidden zone.

In short, using the sky was very dangerous for most people.

Alice went back to consume the Seelie's essence.

As soon as she brought it out, the Seelie in her body reacted, she could almost feel a certain emotion from it. She didn't know what it was, but it contained sadness.

'I'm sorry, it's dead and I need this to grow, we need this to grow stronger.' Alice thought internally.

The Seelie's emotion soon changed, and it was as if it became excited all of a sudden. Alice doesn't really know much about how the Seelie reacts to things, even though she has spent so much time with it, she still didn't understand it since it didn't speak. It only occasionally shows emotions.

She didn't think too much about it, and just as she was about to consume it, the Seelie made a move and the lightning Seelie's essence entered Alice's body with ease, and settled, slowly spreading inside her body.