My Joker System: From Low Mana Trash to the Mightiest Wizard!-Chapter 89: Captured

"Oh? Did I already lose them?"

It took a few seconds for Hal to recover from the [Knockback]’s momentum, a few more to stabilize his glide, and another moment to realize that he had lost his pursuers.

Two of them, at least...

As his burst of speed began to wane, the distant bushes started rustling again, but this time, only one pursuer was left.

The creature soon revealed itself after tearing through another dense thicket.

It was the brutish humanoid monster from the race Hal didn’t recognize.

’This bastard sure is persistent, huh?’ Hal mused, momentarily glancing back to assess his chances.

Perhaps he could defeat it?

But then, his heart sank as he suddenly sensed danger from above.

He quickly looked up and spotted a massive shadow swooping toward him.

’Shit, of course...’

Hal was about to use another [Knockback] to gain some distance from his supposedly lone pursuer, but with the massive silver owl, sporting a long white antenna that ended in black, terrorizing the skies of the crater, he could only [Blink] away to the ground, narrowly dodging its gray talons.

He didn’t gain as much distance as he hoped.

However, he preferred being chased by the troll over a huge owl with sharp eyes and the heightened senses of a raptor-type avian.

Hal believed it would be easier to escape from the former than the latter.

To his surprise, the daring owl beast continued its pursuit, outpacing the brute mainly by using its diving momentum rather than raw speed.

It tried to swoop at Hal again but was dodged by [Licht Step].

’D-Damn, this craz–’

Before he could even finish his words, however, another massive shadow loomed over both him and the silver owl.

The Forest Troll has arrived to join the fray.

Brandishing its battle axe, it surprisingly targeted the owl, hacking down at its wings.

The winged beast was fast, but not when rising.

It had no choice but to turn and clash with the brutish monster to defend itself.

The silver owl caught the blades of the axe with a well-timed grip of its talons.

However, it was slammed to the ground due to the difference in power, pinned helplessly as the humanoid monster stepped on its wings.

At that moment, another massive shadow appeared above, swooping down with its own pair of gray talons poised to tear into its target: the troll.

Hal was momentarily mesmerized by the savage battle that occurred between the two beasts and the brutish monster.

’Crap!’ He caught himself. ’I shouldn’t be dallying here!’

The next moment, Hal dashed away, shocked as a rather chilling notification appeared before him:

[Congratulations! You’ve earned 20 points!]

One of the three had most definitely been killed, perhaps the pinned owl.

Hal had no intention of going back to see who had perished, as he was new to the area and his survival was far from guaranteed.

Furthermore, he needed to reunite with Liora and Loki as soon as possible.

It would be much safer for them to travel together so they could watch each other’s backs.

Believing he was far enough from the mayhem, Hal used one of his new [Common]-tier spells, [Dark Ward], to fade into invisibility.

The catch was that he couldn’t move, or the spell would be dispelled.

The conditions, however, were perfect for him, giving Hal the cover he needed whenever he summoned the Spirit Sparrow to scout the periphery.

Now level 34, the winged summon was even smaller, and its mana fluctuations were far less noticeable.

It wasn’t completely undetectable yet, but it was much harder to sense now.

It was also faster than before.

Hal hadn’t noticed while running that he had ended up somewhat close to the troll camp, where a few brutes were patrolling just about a kilometer from his location.

’Oh, so that’s why that one was so persistent, huh?’ he mused.

Maybe the troll had believed it could catch him by using its knowledge of the periphery.

Unfortunately for the brute, it had been unintentionally lured into a brutal skirmish against a pair of those silver owls.

It might have even been the one who perished back there, not the pinned raptor.

’It would probably be better to go back...’

He couldn’t push forward, or he might end up in even more trouble.

’Aihh... but I also can’t go back too soon, or I might end up encountering whoever won that scrappy fight.’

More creatures would inevitably catch the scent of blood from the corpse and head over, hoping to get a bite.

Hal knew this was a possibility, so he decided to look for a safe spot where he could wait it out instead.

’She wouldn’t worry in just six hours or so... right?’

Hal scratched his head while invisible.

’Ahh, whatever...I’ll worry about it when the time comes...’

Through the eyes of the sparrow, he soon spotted a tall tree with no unwanted residents.

He quickly climbed it and settled atop a suitably high branch to rest.

Meanwhile, somewhere on the opposite side of where he was, a dog-sized wolf cub hid within the cover of a dense thicket, a pebble held in its mouth as it was forced to watch a white-haired young woman dash away, followed by horrifying roars they knew all too well.

Liora gritted her teeth as she sprinted away, chased by a party of orcs.

Just when they thought they’d manage to slip past the three lurking predators, they’d run into an orc party instead.

Loki tried to warn her ahead of time.

Unfortunately, there was nowhere to hide, as they had somehow been detected by the orcs without even encountering them.

There was no Orc Captain or Shaman like last time, but there were ten Orc Warriors, far too many for Liora to handle on her own.

She wasn’t Hal, after all. freёnovelkiss.com

The maiden’s heart raced as the grim realization that she might be nearing her end allowed fear to creep in.

She ran as fast as she could, but orcs were closing in from all directions.

Liora didn’t even know how she was detected.

"N-No..."

Soon enough, she was completely encircled.

Liora made one last desperate attempt to use [Licht Step] and break out of the trap.

However, she was caught mid-dash, her puny arms crushed by the brute’s grip.

"AAAAAHHHH!!" the maiden screamed in anguish.

The entire orc party, however, merely let out grating chuckles at her capture.

It seemed they were in for some high-quality entertainment again.

The females of their race simply couldn’t compare to human women.

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