7 An Unexpected Turn of Events

The two archers were already retreating back to where they came from in a hurry. After reaching the elevator they came from, one of them immediately began drawing something on the metallic plate with his fingers and after a few moments, the elevator door opened.

'So that's how they get in.' Eli, who was observing them with his ability, simply nodded and then quickly rushed to the now closed elevator door.

He could still sense the faint heat imprint left on the door by the fingers of the archer, and after tracing them, the elevator door surprisingly opened.

Eli, who was pleasantly surprised at this detail, looked down and saw a metallic cylinder slowly moving downwards, most likely carrying the two archers.

'But I don't see any ropes or pulleys here, are they moving due to magic? The same one that the dragon used?'

The elevator door closed down after a few seconds, leaving a curious Eli in it's wake.

Clearing the snow on top of another elevator door, Eli drew the same symbol a couple of times on it, but he was disappointed to see that it didn't open. After trying it on a couple more elevator doors, he understood that every door probably has it's own unique 'password'.

'What should I do now? I don't think they'll let me in after I killed one of them.'

But his thoughts were interrupted as he sensed five elevators directly below him slowly rise up, each one containing three people.

'They're bringing their whole squad now?'

Though Eli knew that he was much stronger than them individually, fighting fifteen of them at the same time would no doubt result in another meeting with God, and he wasn't exactly on board with that idea yet.

Now, Eli had two choices, either go deeper into the unknown forest or run back to where he came from. 

Quickly marking the tree next to the elevator with his nails, he began running deeper into the forest.

'No way I'm willingly going to run in an open snow field with my giant body when they have poisoned arrows along with that kind of aim.' 

He clearly remembered how that arrow would've perfectly hit the center of his forehead if he didn't move at the last second.

As he was moving in deeper, he sensed another elevator rise slowly, right in the middle of the path he was going to take.

Without stopping, he focused his ability at the lone rising elevator, only to find it empty.

No... not empty, it would be more correct to say it had a void inside of it. There was nothing there, but the emptiness also made it stand out that much more, just like an empty spot on a canvas full of colors. 

Eli changed his direction a bit to the left in order to avoid the mysterious void and continued to run as far away as he could from the fifteen people who had now almost reached the surface.

'Hah, how did I get myself into this mess... it was supposed to be my amazing debut in a new world today, yet here I am, running away for my life. Why did they attack me anyway? I didn't even do anything before they attacked me. Do humans and monsters not live together in this world?'

The group of archers finally reached the surface, and the moment they came out of the elevator door, they immediately rushed towards Eli without even wasting a moment.

'What? Aren't they going to look around? How do they already know where I am? Do they have sensory abilities like me?'

In hindsight, it should've been an obvious conclusion after the fact that he was found almost instantly the moment the previous trio of archers came to the surface. But sometimes, even things that are right in front of you tend to blend in with the background when faced with an unfamiliar situation.

And although Eli was correct in deducing that they had some ability to sense him, if he paid more attention to his environment, he would've also realized that the massive footprints he left in the snow wherever he went basically broadcasted his location to the enemies.

Eli, who was oblivious to that piece of information, kept running without looking back, but the chances of him escaping alive were now looking very slim.

At that moment, as if to confirm his doom, the elevator containing the void figure also reached the top, and the figure inside rushed towards Eli at a much faster speed than the group of archers.

It was fast, but Eli was still faster...

And so, the marathon began.

Eli kept running and running without looking back.

The trees were really not helping him much. Although they provided some sort of cover from the arrows, they were now just getting in his way and preventing him from running at full speed. He already had to stop multiple times because he kept running head-first into the trees.

He didn't know how long had passed since he began running, but the figure behind him was still maintaining the same speed it had when it began chasing him.

His whole body was now enveloped in a burning sensation. His feet were now covered in blisters since he was running barefoot the whole time and his body was completely drenched in sweat. 

'I didn't even know this body could sweat. Haha... I can't anymore.' His body now barely had enough energy to maybe run for ten more minutes and his current speed was also much slower than the figure chasing him. He would've already been caught if not for the massive distance he had slowly accumulated between him and his mysterious hunter.

Well, it wasn't like he didn't think of any plan while being chased by the hunter, but it had a high risk of danger. He was hoping that the voided figure would eventually tire out and stop, but it had shown absolutely zero signs of slowing down yet.

'I really hope I don't get shot again.'

Begging to God to let his gamble be a success, he purposefully slowed his speed down. Now, he was running at a much slower pace than even the group of archers from before. Thankfully, those guys had long given up on chasing him and instead opted to go back underground, probably waiting for him to tire himself out and then surprise him with their system of tunnels.

Eli's plan was a simple one, slow down on purpose to make the person chasing him think that he was almost out of steam and hopefully get them to let their guard down. And then when they get close enough, with one final push, hit them with all his strength and hopefully knock them out or just outright kill them. But killing them with just one punch would be extremely difficult considering how tired his body was, and he also was in a dire need of information so he needed them alive.

As the person got closer and closer, Eli tried his best to always have a tree covering his back... keyword being 'tried'. The body of a giant was really not made for hiding.

Luckily for him, no shots were fired and the person just kept coming closer and closer until...

*STOMP*

Using his right foot as a pivot, Eli spun around and dashed like a madman towards the figure that kept pestering him for so long and...

As the dark figure made it's way around another tree, it sensed the person it was chasing suddenly stop and then dash backwards instantly. Surprised by this, the figure tried to back away and gain some distance, but the action was too sudden and fast, resulting in a punch straight to it's solar plexus.

*CRACK*

A face-splitting grin appeared on Eli's face as the heard the most melodic sound he had ever heard in both of his lives while the figure that was torturing him for God-knows-how-long flew across the air. Unfortunately, it's flight was short-lived as it crashed into a tree back-first, destroying it in the process.

Looking at the limp body lying a couple of meters away from him, relief flooded Eli's entire body as he collapsed on the spot, not having enough energy to even stand up anymore. 

'I should probably get up quickly before the other hunters get here.' 

That was what his mind wanted, but his body seemed to be hell bent on just laying silently.

Thankfully, his sensing ability did not require any stamina, so he knew that no one was approaching him yet, but getting careless now when he was still deep in enemy territory was basically a death sentence. 

After much effort, his body finally listened to his mind and slowly crawled towards the unconscious hooded figure.

'Now, let's see what kind of secrets are you hiding.' Eli was very curious as to how this person managed to completely erase their presence from the world, and maybe he could use the same method to hide from his enemies.

Taking a closer look at the person he ruthlessly punched a couple of minutes ago, Eli noticed hundreds of small symbols engraved onto the black cloak they were wearing, which covered their entire body from head to toe. The symbols were also black in color, the same as the cloak, making them very hard to notice them unless someone really paid attention it.

'Is it a type of fashion or some sort of rune magic?' Eli thought while taking off the hood from the unconscious figure. 

What he saw next was... unexpected to say the least.

Instead of a battered unconscious figure, Eli saw a pair of surprised grey eyes staring at him the moment he took off the hood. They belonged to a frail old women with a face plastered with multiple tattoos, looking extremely similar to the symbols he saw in the cave.

Before Eli could react, an unsurmountable feeling of drowsiness came over him and his eyesight became blurry.

"I've gotten too old for this... but still, to think that you were still alive, Njal."

Those were the last words Eli heard before he passed out.