The convoy was equally spooked when they reached the fog area. Edward wasn’t the only one that felt watched. The villagers huddled together, forming tight-knit groups. In the same way, the guards restrained their perimeter and kept close to the convoy.

The mood was already not terrible, but while crossing this area it worsened. The small chats stopped, and only eerie silence loomed above the convoy as they advanced.

At first, it wasn’t that bad, although the ambiance was unsettling, nothing happened, and the group continued to advance while staying on guard. However, the further they went, the further the fog increased. At first, it was only a few centimeters hovering above the ground, but one hour later it had reached up to their knees. It was also thickening, the mist had become so dense that the travelers couldn’t even see their feet anymore.

Edward had the unpleasant surprise to realize that his senses had trouble piercing through the fog. Normally it shouldn’t have made a difference. His aura didn’t care if the visibility was bad or not, it simply didn’t rely on sight. However, this mist seemed to be imbued with a strange energy that was dissipating Edward’s aura senses. When before his aura could reach up to two hundred meters, in the fog it could only go as far as ten meters. Right now, it wasn’t that troublesome since the fog wasn’t that high, but if it continued to rise, it would become problematic.

Edward jogged to Caspian to discuss this situation with him. He could have sent him a message through telepathy, but Caspian would have been unable to respond in the same way. Edward whispered “My aura can’t pierce through this mist. It can only reach up to ten meters.” In this silence, even if he had whispered his voice traveled farther than he would have liked. He didn’t want to spook the villagers any more than they already were.

“So, it’s the case for you too. My aura can’t even begin to cut through this fog. Not even talking about ten meters, I’m losing control over it as soon as it enters. This mist is blinding me and the guards. If it rises any higher, we will be as good as blinds. I had hoped it would be different for you.”

Edward winced, the situation was even worst than he had thought. “We have to keep going. We have to leave Agripin for Gobéliard and we are already halfway there. If we go back now, I don’t think we will be able to make a second attempt. The situation with the monsters will only worsen as time goes by.”

Caspian nodded sternly. “I know.”

The convoy had no choice but to grit their teeth and continue, hoping things would be all right. But as for many situations, just hoping things would be fine didn’t solve the problem. The fog continued to rise as they progress, now reaching up to their waist. The landscape was transfigured by the mist. At this point, the ferns and undergrowth had disappeared under the fog. Even the path’s position could only be guessed by the absence of trees on the way. The people could only see tree trunks seemingly floating in the mist, their roots out of sight under the thick mist. Coupled with the eerie silence, the villagers would have believed if someone told them they had somehow walked into another world.

The advance slowed down to a crawl, and walkers often stumbled on unseen rocks or roots. The horses pulling the carts were begrudging and had to be calm down to continue onwards.

Edward stopped in his tracks.

This can’t go on. Already wolves or other creatures could hide through the mist without our notice. And if it continues to rise, we will be stumbling around completely blind. I have to do something about it. This will probably draw attention, but for all I know, we are already spotted. I doubt this mist is natural. And the feeling of being watched is only increasing. To me, it feels as if we are only walking into an ambush. Whatever is creating this mist is playing with us, making sure the situation is to its advantage before ambushing us.

Edward walked to Caspian and Balin and told them his intention of blowing the mist away with his aura. Regarding the circumstances, they agreed it was better for a confrontation to happen now than later. The convoy stopped and the word was shared for the villagers to brace themselves as Edward would take care of the fog.

Edward steadied himself. The trick I use to force the Regal wolves out of their smoke form won’t be enough. There is much more mist here, and it has an energy of its own. I need to produce a much more powerful blast. Edward looked around him, he was currently in the middle of the convoy, surrounded by vulnerable civilians. It would be for the best to put some distance between me and the convoy first. Especially if I’m drawing attention to myself.

He ran forward, leaving five hundred meters between himself and the convoy. The convoy was out of range from his aura but it was still visible, at least for the part not concealed by the fog. Edward closed his eyes, gathering his attention internally on his aura. He let out a breath and gathered as much of his aura as he could control, forcefully concentrating it, containing it inside of him. And then he added even more aura and released the whole, letting it explode around him, blasting his surroundings with a powerful blast of air. Edward couldn’t help but roar as the energy left him.

The blast pushed the fog away, and the wave of air lifted the leaves from the soil and sent them tumbling into the surroundings. Branches in the trees shook from the force and ferns were flattened to the ground. The silence was broken by Edward’s roar, the rustling of the leaves, and the sound blast of the aura explosion.

The fog got cleared in a hundred-meter circle around Edward, in stark contrast with the rest of the woods. It slowly started to creep back in, the mist flowing down like liquid. Edward’s action wasn’t enough to get rid of the fog for good, but it seemed to be enough to gather attention. The presence that everybody felt watching upon them crystallized suddenly.

Trees shook from their left side as if something massive was moving their way, pushing the trees to make its way. Edward turned to face this direction, a long serpentine form rose above the mist, two huge slitted yellow eyes fixed on him. The wyrm he had encountered while feeling from Bloodmaws was back, and it seemed to have evolved.

The beast was even bigger than the last time Edward saw it. Its girth had grown up to three meters and its length was unknown, still hidden in the mist. It gazed at Edward before roaring in rage and launching itself at him.

Edward teleported away to avoid the sudden attack. However, the wyrm didn’t stop and simply slither after him, not letting him have a moment of respite. Edward swore. “Rèng khwāmrĕw”. He used his acceleration power just in time to avoid the next bite from the wyrm.

With more speed at his disposition, Edward was able to avoid the wyrm’s maw trying to eat him, he could see with precision the long triangular sharp teeth of the beast as he moved past it.

The beast turned to chase after him. Edward took out his daggers and imbued them with his aura, he ran away from the wyrm’s head while staying close to its serpentine body. He placed his dagger so that it would slice through the wyrm’s scales while he was running. However, to his surprise, even with the help of his aura the daggers only rebounded on the serpent’s scales. With each impact, the wyrm’s scales glow softly.

Shit, it can use aura too. It has reinforced his scales with its aura, my blades can’t pierce through it.

Edward continued to run away from the wyrm’s chasing head while continuously striking at its body. His strikes were ineffective.

I need to exhaust his aura to pierce through his defenses. But I don’t know how much aura it has. With its size probably a lot. Or I could try to –

Edward was sent tumbling away by a strike from the wyrm’s tail. He hadn’t realized that he had already reached the extremity of the serpent’s body. The beast had been waiting for him, ready to strike.

Edward stood up groggily, the force of the blow had him flipped over in the air disorienting him. Luckily his armor and body were sturdy enough to endure the blow with simple bruises, a normal human would have been killed by the force of the strike. By the time he regained his senses the beast was already upon him and he had to teleport away once more.

Wow, I wasn’t expecting that.

The snake launched itself at Edward, once more closing the distance. He had to move to the side. Backing away didn’t accomplish anything since the beast was simply following him, not even reducing its speed.

I’m faster than it. But I’m not able to open up the distance either. The safest place is alongside its body, out of reach from its mouth and its tail.

Edward continued to strike the monster even if it proved ineffective for now. If things go on this way, I fear that I will run out of aura before this beast. I have to concentrate on my aura and see if I can gather enough of it to pierce through its defenses. But I need time to gather my aura, and it’s not giving me any time.

Edward felt as if he was in a nightmare. A relentless monster pursuing him while he was unable to do anything but escape.

The situation lasted for several minutes before Edward had enough.

Fuck this. I’m not in a nightmare. I can fight back. And if this monster is not giving me any opportunity to gather my aura I will create my own. I don’t have to play by its rules.

Edward continued to run, but this time he created aura steps under his foot. He swiftly soared into the sky under the incredulous eyes of both the monster chasing him and the villagers.

The wyrm rise as high as it could but Edward simply continued to run higher into the sky. The beast decided to coil around a tree to pursue him. Edward didn’t care, with each step he was taking he was gathering aura into his daggers, their length increasing with the additional aura. When he reached his limit on how much aura he could control, Edward turned around and let himself fall from the sky toward the beast.

In turn, the beast coiled on itself and the tree, tensing up before leaping at Edward, ready to gulp him in one bite. Edward didn’t falter, falling straight toward the opened maw, faster and faster as gravity continued to increase his speed.

As Edward seemed fated to be eaten by the wyrm, he teleported, keeping his momentum but changing his direction. Instead of falling toward the wyrm’s maw, he was falling perpendicular to the wyrm’s body, just like a guillotine’s blade.

He crossed his dagger in front of him, the intersection of the aura blades right where the snake’s body was positioned.

And then contact happened. For a moment it was stuck into a stalemate, the wyrm’s body bending under the force, but its scales and aura holding on. And then it broke. As soon as its aura armor fell short, Edward’s aura blade cut right through its body, severing it into two. Edward and the headless corpse fell to the ground.