Escape

Based on the remaining magic essence traces, Winnie was confident she could find some clues, but it would take some time.

Winnie couldn’t help but pray for Su Ran’s safety.

‘Please don’t let anything happen during this time.’

A red light flashed before Su Ran’s eyes.

When she could see her surroundings clearly again, she found that she was no longer in the familiar food processing plant.

She instantly realized she had been teleported to a strange place.

This was because, ever since she regained her sight, it was as if a red filter had been placed over her eyes.

At first, she thought it was the effect of the light from the magic formation, but when she saw a blood-colored orb hanging in the sky—she couldn’t tell if it was a sun or a moon—she knew it was the only light source here.

Yuan Shirui, who had been beside her, was also gone.

In her place was a barren plain, with nothing that felt familiar to Su Ran.

Only in the distance could she see a dark shadow.

Judging by the silhouette, it seemed to be a forest.

Su Ran didn’t see anyone else, so she prepared to head towards the forest.

If anyone else had been teleported near her, they might be able to meet up on the way.

When Su Ran got closer and saw the so-called forest, her expression turned grim.

The tree trunks were covered in channels resembling blood vessels, through which a viscous, unknown liquid flowed.

The soil where the trees were rooted was lumps of flesh and blood.

Looking up, the treetops were moving, but Su Ran couldn’t possibly mistake what she was seeing for real-world trees.

Ever since being transported here, the surroundings had exuded a bizarre atmosphere.

Just as Su Ran turned to leave, unwilling to stay in this creepy place any longer, she abruptly tilted her head to the side.

Even as she dodged…

The wind whistled past Su Ran’s ear.

With a slight movement, she shifted her position several meters to the right.

Taking this opportunity, Su Ran, who had brushed past her attacker, finally got a clear look at what had ambushed her from behind.

Rough pipes covered a dark tree trunk.

As they passed each other, Su Ran could hear a gurgling sound.

Su Ran was now certain that the tree’s target was definitely her, for getting close.

Sitting and waiting for death was not Su Ran’s style.

After dodging the tree trunk’s attack, an ice crystal longsword materialized in her hand, and she unhesitatingly swung it at the trunk that had not yet retracted.

“This thing is hard.”

The dark tree trunk before her was surprisingly tough.

Su Ran’s sword strike didn’t cut it in two, only leaving a small white mark on its surface.

Even without the enhancement of magic essence, an ice crystal condensed purely from her witch ability should have been able to slice through an ordinary tree with a single blow.

As if sensing Su Ran was a threat, the trees did not linger in battle.

They uprooted themselves and, using their roots as legs, began to flee in the direction away from Su Ran.

Seeing the strange fleeing trees, Su Ran was shocked.

If all the trees in the forest had attacked together, she might have really been exhausted to death.

However, the moment this one made contact with her, it had fled without a second thought.

“It just ran away? This tree doesn’t seem like a magical beast.”

Looking at the comical scene before her, Su Ran didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

She had never seen a tree that could pull out its own roots and then walk away.

After this little interlude, the surroundings were once again just a barren plain.

It became difficult for Su Ran to even spot a living creature.

It was as if the departing trees were telling all the living things along the way to hide from Su Ran.

However, Su Ran didn’t plan to continue waiting for rescue in the same spot.

She picked a direction…

It was only then that Su Ran realized the magic essence here was incredibly thin.

If it weren’t for the Ring of Pride in her hand, she wouldn’t have been able to recover the magic essence she had used for her gust of wind spell just by absorbing it from the air.

And this was with her having the Witch’s Meditation Technique, which allowed her to actively absorb magic essence.

If it were an ordinary person, it would likely be even more difficult.

Fortunately, the Witch Game was still usable.

Since that was the case, Su Ran wouldn’t waste any time.

She hadn’t had time to look into the Basic Knowledge of Magic Formations she had received for completing the mission.

She might as well explore it now as she walked.

So far, Su Ran had only figured out that the previous magic formation had a teleportation function.

If she could understand it, she might be able to find a way to leave.

She clicked to claim the reward.

This time, the system didn’t give her a book, but a scroll, like the Elven Wings.

Su Ran just needed to absorb the scroll to obtain the knowledge recorded on it.

Finding a shady spot sheltered by a rock on the plain, Su Ran began to absorb the knowledge about magic formations from the scroll.

The blood-colored orb in the sky showed no signs of setting.

When Su Ran opened her eyes again, it was still hanging in the sky.

But the Su Ran who reopened her eyes had a grave expression.

From the basic knowledge of magic formations she had just absorbed, it seemed that the formation she had encountered not only had a teleportation function but also a sacrificial one.

If she wasn’t mistaken, it was a similar type of magic formation to the one Korn had used in Hermel.

However, Korn’s magic formation was for sacrificing lives to gain power.

The magic formation Su Ran was now facing was not simply about sacrificing the lives within it to obtain greater power, but was prying into something far more profound.

Her current knowledge of magic formations was not yet sufficient to figure it out.

But if she wanted to leave this place, Su Ran’s current knowledge was enough to support her in finding the formation’s weakness.

A layer of frost covered Su Ran’s body.

Even her dark, silky hair had traces of frost on it.

This was a sign of Su Ran driving her witch ability to its fullest.

Besides controlling ice crystals, her witch ability actually had another function.

“Hoarfrost!”

The longsword was thrust directly into the ground by Su Ran.

The cold air emanating from the ice crystal was enough to freeze the flow of magic essence.

And now, Su Ran, unleashing her full power, had, in a short period, frozen the magic essence flowing through the formation near her with frost, rendering it immobile.

Just as Su Ran was preparing to take the next step, a cracking sound, like an eggshell breaking, reached her ears.

“Little Ran!”

Along with Winnie’s shout, the scene before Su Ran’s eyes shattered, turning into pieces of broken glass.

When she came back to her senses, she found that she was still standing inside the food processing plant, surrounded by the other Blood Cats who had entered with her.

Most of them were looking around at the restored scenery with a dazed expression.

“Thank goodness, Little Ran, you’re actually okay.”

Hearing Winnie’s words, Su Ran was speechless.

What did she mean, “actually” okay?

“Just now, for some reason, the flow of magic essence in the formation stagnated, which gave me a chance to destroy it. Otherwise, I would have had to expend quite a bit of effort to get you all out.”

What Winnie didn’t say was that she had sensed a bone-chilling cold from the magic essence flowing within the formation.

She was basically certain that this was Su Ran’s doing.

‘But why would she know the weakness of the magic formation?’