The girl stared silently, even lifelessly as she watched the group begin to light torches. They chanted as they began to approach her, moving to burn her to death multiple times over.
Matsumi searched around the dirt around him, looking for something that could help him. Grabbing a sharp rock close by before disappearing from sight, finding himself on the left arm of the cross. He quickly started to cut the ropes that were holding the girl in place.
The girls eyes widened as the citizens grew in anger and fury, starting to run toward Matsumi, chanting incoherent noises and grunts as they ran for him, grabbing their spears and small blades attempting to stop him.
Matsumi finished cutting the ropes on the other side, releasing her from the cross and picking her up before she could fall to the ground.
"There's way more than I saw before!"
He started to run away from all the citizens. After only a few steps he'd flash step into the jungle to completely lose them.
"A-Ah!"
Kibō bounced around a bit watching as they chased.
Barghest stepped in between them and moved her hands, she thought about eradicating them then and there, but she knew that wouldn't please Matsumi and it would result in conflict between the two. A wall of mana formed as the tribe ran into the wall, falling towards the ground as the group moved through the forest, away from the fire.
"Thanks, Barg!"
Matsumi kept moving for a little while longer with the others, hoping to remove any chance of them being found anytime soon. Afterwards, he'd place Kibō down deeper in the jungle.
"There! I think this spot's pretty good."
Kibō panted for a bit, before she stood up. She floated from the ground, similar to how Barghest was currently, still trying to understand what had just happened.
"What?! You can fly too? Now I'm starting to feel left out…but you should be okay now! I think."
"T-Thank you sir…You lot saved my life…I..don't know how to repay you…"
She was partially red from embarrassment and she was flabbergasted, expecting to die in that moment.
"Nah, it's okay. I just wanted to…wait a sec. You can understand me?"
He got right up in her face, only a few inches from it. He still very much had a problem with personal space.
"Yes…I understand all language..of all creatures. I can automatically translat even though I am not from this land."
Kibō, just like Vermelha didn't necessarily mind the lack of personal space. The difference between them was the fact that Kibō didn't necessarily think anything of it, not that she was particularly admired by anyone in any capacity but that she had seen many, many different kinds of people, so to her this wasn't out of the ordinary.
"That's cool! So, you aren't from this floor? How'd you get here?"
As his usual antics he'd start bombarding her with questions while orbiting her, just like he did with Vermelha the first time they met.
"I was captured in my sleep…I was trapped in this tower against my will."
Her eyes followed his movements, more so for her own safety rather than anything else.
"Oh…by the people that had you just now? Why did they want to sacrifice you?"
He slowed down to a stop after his third orbit around her.
"No…by someone else. An enemy you could say.."
She turned from him after he stopped, looking at the ground.
"Because they were going to use me to revive someone…a witch that used to rule long ago.."
"A witch inside this tower? I guess it is really old…"
"Of course it is…Why do you think it holds such a name?"
"Heldor? That's the name of the witch?"
"Heldor was a witch long ago..yes…"
"Do you know that witch, Barghest?"
"I've heard things..but i've never met them…there were a lot of talks about them being the strongest witch to have ever lived."
"So, hold on…a bad guy took you and left you to these people to bring back an ultra powerful witch?"
"There's a small group of men that are currently climbing the tower…they're trying to revive…Lilith..The Witch Of Despair and Heldor The Strongest Witch To Have Ever Lived."
"…Lilith?"
Matsumi thought for a moment after speaking her name.
"But…why?"
"Probably because they want to wreck havoc onto the world..if she's revived in the tower, a place where most face despair, where they can also respawn then hypothetically the amount of mana she could absorb could be infinite in nature..it would be incredibly hard to stop her."
"No way, not after I just learned about mana! We need to get there before that group! Then we'll beat them all up! As payback!"
"It's also possible that they are trying to create what happened years ago when Lucifer came to this world. If they can break the barrier again they can summon back the witches second half."
"Those men definitely entered before you lot..they're probably on the 30th floor by now..I don't know if you can stop them.."
"All the way on the 30th?! We really have to hit the gas then! I'm not gonna lose to those lame-os!"
"This is serious…maybe we should form a strategy to climb a bit quicker.."
"Hey, girl! What's your name?"
"K-Kibō….."
"I'm Matsumi Ryokō! You're coming with us, right? We're getting outta here."
"I don't have much of a choice…otherwise i'd die here.."
"We gotta think of a way to move faster but we need to leave this jungle first. You know anything more about it?"
"All I know is that there has to be an exit..I know nothing else…"
"Hmm, well until we figure something out, it's back to plan Follow Me!"
"Thats a horrible plan. We need a new one..and fast..I can sense those people getting closer to us."
"They found us already? Then how about we just force the doors open?"
"Force them open? How would we do that? We don't know what the conditional is to make it appear."
"I don't know yet…but what else is there to do?"
"We're going to have to find the activation. It's the only way we'll be able to save Kibō."
"We should keep looking for it then!"
"There is something that could help…but i'm not sure of it…"
"Hm? Like what?"
"I sense a great energy..one that feels...evil..Just as Lilith did...if we go there we may be able to find something out."
"Some sort of bad guy? We can go there first then!"
"I suppose it's not a bad option..that and both of you need more on hands training."
"Alright! Onward everybody!"
He immediately started moving, surprisingly in the right direction.