A Thousand-Year Old Prophecy

73: Quest on the Southern Canyon 4

Nyssa felt someone following her.

She had no idea who might it be. But her instincts told her that this might be a bad news for her.

May ilan ilan na rin naman siyang halamang gamot na nakolekta. But if she wanted to really help Jin, she must not be delayed then.

Anyway, she followed a stream this time and found another one of those medicinal plants.

While picking up the plant, she felt movements behind her. The person was moving nearer to her.

That's right. Sure siya na tao ang sumusunod sa kanya. Kahit pa maraming sacred beasts sa gubat na iyon, but since she was careful in removing her tracks, those beasts would not be able to follow her that easily.

But humans were another thing.

Nyssa cursed in her mind. She thought of protecting herself from the sacred beasts but not for humans.

She stood up and wiped her hand on her cloak. A flick of her hand made the plant enter her storage ring. She didn't kept her blade though.

Utmost, she needed a weapon.

Fortunately, she didn't hide because the moment she turned around, the person who was following her attacked her at once.

Mabuti na lamang at maliksi ang mga kilos niya.

She jumped away and dodged the series of attack from that person.

When Nyssa finally created a distance between them, doon lang niya nakita ang mukha nitong attacker niya.

"You..."

***

Mara, the mid Legendary level maid of Celine, was kind of surprised to see how swift and clean Nyssa's movements. She actually didn't expect her martial arts to be this profound.

In fact, even though she was a level above than her, it still wasn't that easy for her to attack Nyssa continuously.

Ang totoo, para ngang magkalebel lang silang dalawa.

But then again, Mara would never admit that even to herself. Kahit na maidservant lang siya ni Celine but her pride as cultivator was also skyhigh.

"Surprised?" She asked Nyssa with a smirk.

Nyssa was seriously stumped.

So it was Celine...

It was still her. Mukhang gusto talaga siyang dispatsahin ng dalaga.

Was it all just because of Jin?

But there was nothing going on between her and Jin. They were allies and nothing more.

Why did this lady keep on targeting her?

Mara snickered. She saw the confusion on Nyssa's face. She took that opportunity and attacked her once again.

Nyssa's reflex saved her this time. Her body, after detecting danger, quickly moved away from where she was and prevented Mara's attack from touching her.

"Are you going to keep running away? It might prolong your life but do you really think you can escape me?"

Once again, Mara attempted to cross the distance between them.

Nyssa stepped back.

She knew it would be grave kapag nakalapit sa kanya ang dalaga.

The two of them did their cat and mouse chasing war for a while. Until...

Mara snickered.

"Can't run away anymore, eh?"

Of course, she couldn't! She reached the dead end. Behind her was a cliff.

In fact, she no longer knew where the hell in the forest she was. They'd gone deeper for sure.

At kung kanina ay malapit lang sila sa may stream, ngayon ay nasa highlands na sila. Proof was this cliff.

Napalunok si Nyssa when she saw how she couldn't see the bottom of the cliff from where she was standing. It only meant that jumping down there wouldn't be an option for her.

She gritted her teeth out of frustration.

"If you keep your distance to Young Master Jin and know what good for yourself, you might have preserved your lowly life now."

Nyssa rolled her eyes and finally... she breathed deeply to calm down.

If this maid wanted to fight, then fight was what she would give her.

Nyssa put her knife before her, with clear intention to attack. Then she started to move.

This shocked Mara. She thought the lady was already fast a while aho when she was chasing her. But this time, Nyssa clearly had the intention to foght with.

Kanina, her moves were simply swift and clean. This time, every move was precise and powerful.

With just a single knife, Nyssa was able to force Mara to defend.

What she didn't know, the latter was really had no intention fighting with her before. She was running away and hoping to tire her out and get her lost amongst these woods.

But she persisted on chasing her. Even to the point of putting Nyssa at the dead end.

Since she wasn't polite at all, Nyssa finally decided to take her down.

Only, she wanted to preserve her energy to fight sacred beasts instead but since she  forced her to fight then let it be.

Nyssa kept brandishing her knife towards Mara's critical spots. If Mara had no constitution of light energy, she would not be able to react quickly towards Nyssa's attack.

In fact, muntik na siyang mapuruhan nito sa may puso. If she didn't use her light energy to deflect it quickly, baka hindi siya agad nakatakas. But still the knife grazed her arms and it was a bit deep.

Mara cursed and squinted her eyes towards Nyssa. This lady really kept her strength well. To make her defend herself and to injure her... Mara hated Nyssa more and more.

Viciousness appeared on her eyes.

This time, she initiated the next attack.

Both of them were once again engaged in a combat. They were moving more ferociously than before.

Nyssa felt the intention of Mara with her moves. She wanted to decapitate her other arm totally. Might be a payback for injuring her arm.

Mara kept on making her attack using her knife arms. That way she could get a hold of it and destroy it at once.

The latter would not let her that satisfaction though. She kept making quick moves with her knife arms. It was too fast Mara couldn't cope with it at all.

Kaya naman, she decided to keep attacking Nyssa using her lightning energy.

This made the lady cursed in her head.

If it was a fight between martial arts, she could take over this Mara. But since she started using lightning energy, it put Nyssa on difficult situation.

She could simply used her Void Cloak to deflect the light energy.

But this also gave Mara an opportunity to sneak an attack on her and grab her hand which was holding the cloak.

***