153 In the forest.

On the cliff, the Rank-7 Mages started to fight again after confirming the ground's stability this time.

Raven did not even have the time to think about something else when a Mage attacked her. She and Blaze fought together against that Rank-7 Mage.

Only a couple of Rank-7 Mages could not make it, while most of the people who fell were the mercenaries. Raven and Blaze were not the only two grieved at the situation. Almost everyone was because Clara had fallen down the slope as well!

Though Rufus was anxious to go down the steep to look for Clara, he could not do so because the old man in white robes did not let him do anything. Moreover, he had seen Ozul jumped down willingly at the last second when the cliff was about to fall, and that made his heart have a little peace.

He knew that Ozul was at least as strong as himself, if not even stronger, although he would not admit it.

Since he couldn't look for Clara, he decided to leave that for Ozul to handle while setting his heart to get things over with the old man quickly.

"Let's settle this, you bag of bones!" Rufus shouted before rushing towards the old man in white robes.

————————

At the same time, Ozul had wrapped Clara in the Ball of Purity by her waist.

Even before the cliff fell, he knew that it couldn't be saved, so at that moment, he had thought to use this moment as an excuse to get some time away from Raven and Blaze. Both of them needed to learn some things that couldn't just be taught by words.

The only downside in this plan of his was that he would be stuck with this girl for a while. Not only was the girl annoying, she even had the Light Element. How worse could it even get?

Even while falling down, he could easily fly back up using the Ball of Purity. Even bringing Clara together with him up wouldn't be a problem for him. However, it would cause him to be stuck with the group for some other months before something interesting happened again.

Clara had lost her consciousness because some rocks hit her while she was about to fall, so she did not know what was happening.

If she were awake, she would be shocked to see that instead of falling normally, she and Ozul glided far away from the Dividing Mountains towards the forest in the direction of the Fer City.

He was sure that it wouldn't be long before Rufus dealt with the assailants. Although both the old man in white robes and Rufus were Rank-8 Mages, the latter was visibly stronger than the former.

Even if Rufus couldn't kill the old man, he would at least be able to force them to flee. And once he was done with that, the remaining party would spread out to search for them.

That's why Ozul was trying to get as far away as possible from them. If Rufus were a smart man, he would understand that he had already left with Clara when he wouldn't be able to find their traces anywhere on the ground.

After getting hundreds of meters away, he finally landed on the ground, surrounded by trees from all directions. He was sure that even if Rufus searched day and night, he wouldn't be able to locate them till here.

As he landed, he hurriedly dropped Clara on the ground before closing his eyes to sense the area around him. A few moments, he opened his eyes without finding anything unusual.

The sun was almost about to set, so he climbed up the tree to rest his back against the tree before going to sleep. He didn't even do anything about Clara, who was unconscious on the ground.

A few hours, and it was the middle of the night.

At this time, Ozul was still on the tree, sleeping to his heart's content. Clara's eyes twitched as a small groan escaped from her mouth.

A few seconds of squirming later, she suddenly opened her eyes and stood up in shock. Few scenes of her fall played in her mind right before she had lost consciousness.

"What?! Where am I!?" She shouted after realizing that she must've fallen from the cliff. However, she could not understand how she was in a place with no hills or mountains near?

"Would you shut up and let me have some peace!?"

Clara suddenly heard a familiar voice. She turned around and looked at the branch of a tree. Ozul lay there with his eyes closed, not even bothering to open his eyes to talk.

"O-Ozul!" Clara said, while stuttering. She had never called him that, and it felt weird saying it for the first time.

"What is it?" Ozul replied with a little annoyance noticeable in his tone.

Clara visibly flinched before replying, "Uh... Where are we?"

"In the middle of the forest," Ozul replied with a sarcastic tone. He couldn't help but treat her this way because of the Light Element.

'Sigh... I should tone it down.' Ozul thought after realizing how Clara was becoming a little too uncomfortable with his cold replies.

"I don't know. But I think I know the Neutral Lands' direction, and you will be with me until we reach there. If you don't mind, that is," Ozul said as Clara hurriedly looked up from the ground.

"Of course, I don't mind!" She shouted while waving both her hands. 

"For now, I would be resting. Find some spot for yourself as well," Ozul advised before the Ball of Purity formed into the conical hat over his head.

"Alright!" Clara agreed quickly. However, before going away, she asked, "But shouldn't we be searching for the others or stay here for them to search for us?"

"How can you be so sure that they would be winning in the first place?" Ozul asked. Clara was left speechless since she really did not know who was winning even in the last seconds.

But she had just spoken like that because of her optimistic nature.

"Do you think... they wouldn't win?" Clara asked with a little hesitation.

"What I think does not matter... I am going towards the Neutral Lands tomorrow. It is up to you if you wanna join me or not," Ozul said before shifting his face towards the other side to indicate that he did not want to talk anymore.

When Clara heard him, she could only harrumph before walking away to a tree. It did not have many roots protruding out of the ground near it, so she sat down there and used the trunk as her support.

"Hmph! Such a Rude guy..." She muttered under her breath before moving her gaze away from him on the tree.

Right now, she thought if Venessa and Hanry were alright or not. And if they had already won or not. And if they were defeated, did they... die?!

Such thoughts kept her awake all night as she couldn't sleep while thinking that Venessa could very well have died!

Clara still remembered that the last time she saw Venessa was her back facing her as she protected her from the Rank-7 Mages together with Hanry.

The Sun started rising as she thought of her memories with Venessa and Hanry. She thought that they really might have been dead!

Ozul had sensed the negative feelings from her, but he didn't bother to do anything about it all night. However, he had enough around the time when the Sun was rising.

"Okay, stop all those waves."- Clara heard the voice as she looked up from the ground at Ozul standing in front of her. He had the pitch-black conical hat on top of his head as he looked down at her.

"Waves?" She asked confusedly.

"I said that it was not confirmed. There are more chances of them surviving than dying, no get up... We gotta leave early," Ozul said as a bright smile bloomed on Clara's face before she stood up and patted her clothes to get rid of all the dirt.

"Alright!" Clara said with a little more enthusiasm. Ozul shook his head sideways as he noticed how naive she acted sometimes.

"So, are we going to the Fer City that Clive talked about?" Clara asked while following behind Ozul. She had also heard Clive talking about the City being right opposite to the Dividing Mountains.

"No, we aren't." Ozul quickly denied while walking past a tree without even caring about the snake hanging down the branch.

"We aren't? But why aren't we!?" Clara asked curiously.

"Because I don't know the way to Fer City. I just know the general direction directly towards the Neutral Lands," Ozul lied with a straight face.

It was a lie because he precisely knew where the city was. He could even sense it from here. However, there was a reason that he did not want to go to Fer City.

Since Rufus and others knew about this Fer City, Ozul was sure that they would check the City after looking around the forest as well.

Even if they did not check them here, this was a route that was most suitable for them to travel towards the Neutral Lands. Ozul worried that he might encounter them, so he did not even want to go near Fer City.

Ozul remembered the map clearly, so he was sure that it would directly lead him to the Neutral Lands if he followed a certain direction.