Ada: The Witch Huntress

Chapter 18: Ifer

    Zeya was still in mid-air, defying gravity as she slashed her battle-ax at the bandaged ifer. However, the ifer avoided her blade as he swiftly teleported to a higher branch, and the thick branch he was perched on a while ago was chopped instead before Zeya plunged down.

    “Too slow, horny lady!” he teased her between his giggles. She immediately bounced her way up to the ifer’s new position. Unfortunately, he quickly transferred to another branch. 

    Though her demon form allows her to leap and dive to high places and semi-long distances, she won’t be able to attack him within the tree because her horns might get entangled with the branches. Unfortunately for her, trees are her natural enemy. And, this sneaky ifer is clearly using it to his advantage. She has no choice but to revert back and forth to her non-demon form instead of cutting down every single tree he’d perch on in this forest. 

    “I’m going to end your life here,” Zeya muttered firmly before she leaped to his position and quickly reverted to her non-demon form before she set foot on a branch so she can slit through the narrow space of the branchy tree and cut off the main bough of the tree he was sitting on. He didn’t expect her clever attack, so he momentarily lost his balance and slipped through the branch and almost fell below if he hadn’t caught on a twig. 

    So, he’s not teleporting...

    Zeya spun the ax in her hand before she hurled it down to the branch he’s holding onto, and as the twig snapped, he instantly fell to the ground. She quickly transformed into her demon form and lunged downward in a kneeling position, and he screamed in pain as her sharp kneecap horns hit his thighs, piercing through his flesh. 

    The ifer groaned as he tried to move desperately, despite her weight pressing him down. Then, he erupted into his infuriating laughter as he looked at her that she violently tore through his stomach using her sharp claws and grabbed a handful of his viscera before she smothered it to his face. 

    “Is it that funny to kill innocent people?” she furiously hissed at him. 

     “Y-you… got the wrong man…” he stammered before he drew his final breath. She saw him gulped his blood that splattered from his mouth.

    According to the disclosed information about ifers, they are powerful beings because they were former Magians who succumbed to the dark path. Performing taboo is one way to turn a Magian into an ifer, unintentionally. However, deliberately submitting oneself to the dark lord is another, though it’s probably another fiction devised by the reigning Magians for everyone to fear. Ifers are quite sneaky, and they avoid combat at all costs.

    Unlike rezogs, ifers still got their consciousness and their capacity to wield the original power their former Magian self manifests. Rumors even say that once a Magian turns into an ifer, his amount of power will double, and a dark power’s intensity is said to be unmatched. Who wouldn’t be tempted with that kind of power? 

    The question is, why are these creatures showing themselves now? What kind of impending circumstance will Wicceros face this time? 

    She waited for a few minutes to see if the ifer would also resurrect, but he didn’t. She noticed that he wasn’t using any powers apart from his rapid mobility. Now she wonders what he meant with his last words. 

    I got the wrong guy? What did he mean by that?

    She growled when she finally realized what he meant.

    A distraction… 

    ***

    Ada dashed through the path which Cloy advised her. However, she wasn’t even far from the battling group when a strong whoosh of air swooped her down to the ground. 

    Oh, f*ck! Don’t tell me it’s the air-sucking man once again?

    She picked herself up pretty quickly and was ready to sprint again when she heard the loud and menacing rustling of the leaves.  

    I should have killed him when I had the chance!

    The man she expected appeared from her left with his arms stretched out while the wind is harshly blowing around her as if to intimidate her with his massive power. She looked around to see if there’s a weapon that she could hurl against him since he’s pretty frail for a powerful man. She quickly picked up a medium-sized, broken twig and some stone. If David had beaten Goliath with a rock, she might be able to do that too. Additionally, it isn't wise for her to be afraid now, especially after meeting different kinds of weird monsters in this place. 

    “You’re lucky I gave you the chance to retaliate!” she yelled arrogantly at the man. She didn’t see even the slightest reaction coming from him. He just looked at her with his fixed, widened eyes. Then, he suddenly waved his arms at her like she’s a soprano who’s supposed to reach a particular note, but instead, she floated several feet in the air, and she instantly let go of the weapons she held in her hands in shock. The cloak that has been safely covering her bareness billowed unpleasantly, displaying her entirety to the man. 

    “You put me down this instant, gilipollas (st*pid d**k)!” she bawled down at the unnerving guy. Just a while ago, she was pretty brave herself, but seeing how she’d c***k her skull the moment he decided to drop her down made her insides falter.  

    “I know I shouldn’t have kicked you before. But, hey! I didn’t kill you! So please, let me down!” she begged as a change of strategy. She doesn’t know anymore if it’s better to die being suffocated or die falling from such height. “Okay! Just suffocate me again! I’d rather be choked to death!” she yelled with her eyes shut now, afraid of what’s going to happen next. 

    He tilted his head at her statement like a dog puzzled at the sudden nagging of his human. Then, he granted her wish. For he started to seep the air out of her, only, he left her suspended in the air while doing so. 

    “T-this is... unfair man,” she said, literally choking on her words. 

     Isn’t anyone coming to save me now?

    Zeya’s team must be hearing this, right?

    I hope my cloak won’t fly away. I don’t want to die cold and n***d…

    It’s nice meeting you too, Cloy… 

    Tears slowly streamed down from her closed eyes as she clutched her stiffening chest with both hands. Then suddenly, a rush of weird energy surged inside of her, as if something has awakened. She doesn’t feel the suffocation anymore, and she felt invigorated instead. 

    She didn’t know how and why she spoke the corresponding words to her slayer. “I refuse to die.” 

    Then the most perplexing thing happened. The predator becomes the prey, and the hunted became the huntress…