Hunter of the Evernight
Chapter 416: Hide and Seek

Chapter 416: Hide and Seek

The constraints that came with temporal control ensured that one had to be creative while wielding it else one would be stuck with the monotony of pause, hastening, erasing, backtracking, and future sight.

Ana learned this concept early on in life and though it was difficult considering she had no records to fall back on, she had managed to carve out ways to break out of the monotony.

One such means was what she referred to as Compression.

Unlike what would come to mind when hearing the word at first, it held a bit more nuance.

It involved forcing one to experience everything they’d ever experienced in their life within a fraction of a second.

Considering the world of mysticism was a strange place with a lot to consider, such an attack on a Mystic would be equal to sending their pneuma back to the Source.

Of course, higher-ranked Mystics would have developed a bit of tolerance to such so it was more likely to cause intense migraines or at least, cause them a great deal of damage.

Which was what Ana expected to happen when she unleashed Compression on the Gryphon.

Unexpectedly, the Gryphon died just like that.

It felt rather anticlimactic, causing her to wonder if she had overdone it.

"Is that it?" Arwen couldn’t help but ask as she stared at the unmoving body of the Gryphon.

Ana remained silent as she scrutinized the body for anomalies while Nadia replied. "I think so."

"Just like that?"

"I agree. It’s rather off-putting."

Meanwhile, taking a deep breath, Ana unleashed a dragon’s breath on the corpse before utilizing her control over time to seal her wounds after which she transformed back into her human form.

As the flames ate away at the corpse of the Mystic, Arwen inquired. "What now?"

"Now we wait." Ana finally broke her silence though her gaze remained on the burning corpse ahead.

Agreeing with her words, Nadia and Arwen decided to focus on the battle they’d just experienced, pondering on potential things they could have done to be more helpful while Ana made her way to what was left of the Gryphon.

Picking up a bone, she immediately delved into its history.

***

"So will you play?" Ashtyx asked with childish innocence though Douglas saw none of it as he stared blankly at them.

The fact that the so-called tragedy of Thebes happened all because a godlike entity threw a tantrum reminded him of just how insignificant mortals were in the grand scheme of things.

Hadn’t it been speculated that it might have been because the Thebeans committed a great sin that the incident happened?

Yet this.... Douglas managed to stifle the thought process before it went too far as he knew people were waiting outside for him.

Reflecting on his priorities, Douglas finally squeezed out a response. "I accept."

Ashtyx beamed with joy as they remarked. "That’s great, let’s quickly begin."

"So how do we play?" Douglas asked only to be met with an awkward silence.

Gulping hard, he was forced to ask. "Did I say something wrong?"

"Have you never played hide and seek before?"

Douglas froze quickly realizing what Ashtyx meant.

Coughing awkwardly, he remarked. "I meant, who would hide and who would seek?"

"Oh... well, I’ll hide and you’ll have to seek me, okay?" Ashtyx remarked, quickly regaining their joyful nature.

"Alright then, so let’s begin."

"Count to ten while closing your eyes before seeking, okay?"

Douglas nodded before proceeding to close his eyes and then begin the countdown.

The next moment, he felt as though the child had vanished but didn’t dare to open his eyes as Ashtyx might get offended by this.

As he counted, he quickly went over his strategy to catch the runaway Branch.

If he considered his current location the realm of the Godstone, that meant its consciousness could be anywhere.

Running around in circles might not be the best option so he needed an avenue to utilize in seeking.

As he uttered the last number in the countdown, he opened his eyes and after some thought, did the first thing that came to mind; utilize his natural inclination to aether due to his identity as a Cryptid, a special one no less.

Putting it to work, Douglas was forced to cease a moment later as blood leaked out of his seven orifices, sending him to his knees not too long after.

Breathing erratically, he regretted acting so foolishly.

The aether density here was a thousand times more than in the Wandering Forest which meant trying to actively sense it would be the same as someone swimming in a tsunami.

Douglas was lucky to have escaped with the injuries he had, a few seconds more and his brain would have exploded from the pressure.

Taking deep breaths, he soon calmed his breathing enough to consider other options.

If he couldn’t utilize aether, what else could he use?

A few seconds passed before a thought would come to mind.

What about motion?... If he was lucky and the consciousness still maintained a physical form, he could track its movements.

With that thought, Douglas first cleaned the blood he shed before rising to his feet.

Prepared for failure or potential danger, he utilized his domain and let it stretch as far as his mind could handle which was almost a kilometer from him.

Sensing nothing at first, he began to walk forward with his eyes closed, utilizing only his motion detection to make his way forward.

Just as it began to seem like a lost cause, he detected it.

It was so minute that it could have easily been disregarded as an insect but so far, Douglas hadn’t come across such in this doodle world which meant only one thing.

Opening his eyes, Douglas unleashed Motion and zipped forward, quickly appearing before the golden-skinned boy who gasped.

"You found me!" He exclaimed excitedly.

Maintaining a smile, Douglas reached a hand out and watched Ashtyx take hold of it.

It would seem his work here was done.