The situation grew more urgent as two storms approached. Jyu and Sizhi were extremely panicked because there was no escape route left. But Taffie was different, he was panicked but still calm enough. He looked as if he were concentrating on solving this problem. But it had to be quick because they had little time.
Until finally, he planned something.
"Sizhi, call your demon, tell him to make a ball from his threads. Make sure the ball is very elastic and large enough for us to enter," he ordered.
Without thinking further, Sizhi immediately carried out the order. Svider appeared and instantly understood what Taffie wanted. In an instant, a ball made of elastic threads had been formed. The three of them were already inside it.
This was Taffie's strategy. They would take shelter inside that ball. The hope was that the ball would be tossed around when struck by the storm, indirectly protecting the three of them, including preventing them from being separated again.
Now the storm had come crashing in, sweeping every land it passed through. The ball containing Taffie, Jyu, and Sizhi was immediately thrown like cotton and bounced to the west, east, south, and north.
This strategy indeed succeeded in preventing them from being separated again. But where would they land later?
Taffie, Jyu, and Sizhi could only hope they were lucky. At the same time, continuing to hold themselves so they would not suffer more injuries. Being tossed around inside the ball made them crash into each other and even pile on top of one another.
"Stay away from me, Jyu!" Sizhi snapped.
"How can I stay away from you, you don't even know where we are right now," Jyu tried to defend himself.
Meanwhile, Taffie remained silent while trying to protect his own body from the collisions of his two juniors.
---
The storm finally passed, but the ball carrying Jyu, Taffie, and Sizhi had been thrown who knew where. They had absolutely no idea what threats existed outside.
After the ball truly reached the ground and no longer moved, only then could they breathe in relief. Taffie quickly split the ball open with his sword. And now they were in a very mysterious place.
Now the three of them were stranded in an area filled with round stones but small in size, shaped like half circles. Jyu and Sizhi immediately stepped out and were instantly shocked by their surroundings.
"Where are we?" said Jyu.
Taffie and Sizhi remained silent, both still observing the surroundings. Even now, Sizhi was doing more than that; he seemed to be identifying the location. After all, he was the one who knew the demon palace, so it was natural for him to do this.
"I don't know where we are, I think we were thrown far away from the demon palace," said Sizhi.
"Be alert to your surroundings!" Taffie suddenly warned Jyu and Sizhi.
Taffie realized they were being watched. Taffie immediately tried to find him, while his sword was still drawn, ready to attack.
Not long after, Jyu caught a shadow behind a fairly large rock. "At four o'clock!" he said.
Taffie and Sizhi immediately glanced in that direction. Indeed, there was a shadow of someone hiding there. It turned out to be only a child, and amusingly, he even peeked for a moment. But when he was discovered, he quickly hid again.
Jyu, Taffie, and Sizhi immediately approached him. Now, right in front of them stood a mystical creature, estimated to still be a child. But this mystical creature had physical characteristics similar to those of an arabai.
"Who are you?" Taffie asked softly.
The little arabai immediately looked up and was shocked when he saw them in front of him. "Forgive me! I came here only to look for food, I'm hungry," he said softly while wiping his tears. He had just been crying, and his stomach kept growling because of hunger.
"What is your name?" asked Jyu, who was now squatting down trying to act friendly. He felt a little pity.
"My name is Elveryn," he answered.
"Don't act friendly, we don't know whether he is an enemy or not," Sizhi said firmly.
However, Jyu did not really care about Sizhi. "Is there a source of food here?"
Elveryn immediately pointed at the stones in that area. "This is the place where the food source is here. Break those stones, then you will get food."
Jyu thought that Elveryn was not lying, because in his hand there was a stone blade which he seemed to use to break the rocks. Even his small hands were bleeding from his hard efforts.
Jyu immediately stood up again and approached one of the medium sized stones. With a single strike, the stone shattered. He was very surprised to find that behind the stone was a source of food and water. The water pooled, very clear, and around it there were fresh fruits, although Jyu himself did not know what kind of fruits these were.
Elveryn was delighted, he immediately ran and devoured the fruits. He also drank the water. He was truly very hungry!
Jyu, Taffie, and Sizhi were also tempted to eat the fruit. It could not be denied, they were also thirsty and hungry. The three of them immediately destroyed two stones and ate the food behind them.
"Hey! Gather as much water and fruit as possible. We must leave immediately," Taffie ordered.
"Why? I'm still hungry," Jyu protested.
Taffie immediately hit Jyu on the head, "You are still foolish. This place is a food source, which means high level mystical creatures may come here."
Jyu just realized it, what Taffie said was the truth. Without further talk, Jyu and Sizhi immediately gathered supplies, and after that, they left to hide.
The three of them chose to move away from that location. Now they hid in an uninhabited cave. There, they continued eating and resting again.
"Finally, I'm full," said Jyu with satisfaction.
The same went for Taffie and Sizhi, they were truly satisfied with the food they had eaten.
"We will rest here for a while while thinking of a way to return to the correct path," said Taffie.
Even though Sizhi had already fallen asleep, he was truly exhausted.
"Someone is coming!" said Taffie, which instantly startled Jyu. The two of them immediately prepared to fight.
However, the one who came was Elveryn, and amusingly, he blinked as if he had done nothing wrong. "What's wrong with you?"
"Don't scare us like that!" said Jyu with a little emotion.
Elveryn immediately entered the cave and sat beside Jyu. He even behaved like a nephew meeting his uncle, wanting to be pampered.
"Thank you for giving me food," he said.
"No problem!" Jyu replied briefly.
Elveryn looked at Jyu, Taffie, and Sizhi alternately. It seemed that he was very curious about their identities.
"You are not from here, right?" he said.
"What do you want here?"
"Do you want to kill Master Alber?" said Elveryn with sparkling eyes full of hope.
At that very moment, Jyu and Taffie were shocked. From their expressions, it was clear that they were curious about the figure named Alber. He might have been the strongest enemy or the highest leader of the darkent realm, perhaps!