"You guys, follow me to that forest. The rest of you, search over there. Be careful on the way, if something goes wrong, just crumble the cross, His Majesty the Pope will rush to your location as soon as possible."
When Benjamin was hiding within a hollowed tree, he overheard that conversation between the knights who were nearby.
It had only been a couple of hours since he had fought hand to hand with Grant, he could sense that the number of knights raiding had increased so much that it was almost like they were leaving no stones unturned.
Moreover, maybe it was because he used to dig a lot, whenever the knights saw patches of new soil, they would even dig deeper to ensure that he was not hiding inside, which was quite scary.
Benjamin realized that he could not hide there any longer.
The instruction given by the Church for the encirclement was very specific and easily targeted; he could not use his magic at all because the flux caused by the water elemental domain would most likely be detected. He could not even consume magic potions and fight those knights barehanded because they had specifically prepared crosses on them. Even if Benjamin had beaten them, the message would be spread out immediately.
Since Grant was flying back and forth around that area, as long as Benjamin exposed any traces of himself, he would rush over at the speed of light!
If that were to happen... it would be a dead end.
"I told you then, you shouldn't have attacked this relief team," The System said triumphantly, "I knew I had a prophetic vision, I could sense from the start that there's going to be a trap. Look, you're in deep trouble now."
"... Shut up."
Benjamin took a deep breath as he hid in the tree hole.
The tree hole that he dug out with his bare hands was his safest shelter at that moment. However, he clearly knew that after the search teams looked around for few more hours, they would divert their attention to the old trees.
In the Space of Consciousness, the runic star chart was still very dim. It would take at least another two days before the "Descending of Water" could be fully recharged.
Two days...
Benjamin felt that he really could not catch his breath.
Would he be able to last through it?
Following as time elapsed, it was already nightfall, the pitch-black environment made him slightly relieved. Nevertheless, the number of knights in the woods did not seem to be dwindling; it seemed like they were going to patrol all night long without giving him any chance to escape.
Benjamin could not wait any longer. Perhaps his mind was playing tricks on him, he felt that each time the knights passed by, they would always take more glances at the tree he was hiding in as if they were going to find him hiding within.
He was ready to shift his position.
"Hmm... This is the map of the entire forest, as for the patrol route of the soldiers, I've already drawn it out for you," The System said, "Their patrolling has quite a regular pattern, I've done some calculations, you have one route that will allow you to avoid everyone's vision and sneak out of the forest quietly."
Upon hearing that, Benjamin nodded, "Nice, that will be enough."
"Don't be too optimistic," The System dampened his enthusiasm again, "The knights outside of the forest won't necessarily be lesser than in here."
"If I stay here I'll be found, if I stay outside I might be found too, it's the same anyway, I just don't want to die from hiding in this tree hole."
"Alright... Just listen to my instructions, at the very least it won't really be a problem for you to sneak out of this forest," The System said casually, "About two minutes later, around this tree, there will be a slot for about two seconds where you'll be free from sight, you'll have to crawl out within this two seconds and hide behind the third tree on your left. Followed by that will be an empty slot for around one second, you'll have to fly three hundred meters north, then..."
"..."
The System stopped when he noticed Benjamin, then asked, "What's wrong? Is it too hard?"
Benjamin took a deep breath and said, "It's alright, I still have a few bottles of high-level alacrity magic potion, I'll give it a try. In case if I'm found out, I'll just charge into the encirclement and try if I can dash out through the intangible form."
"I have around eight seconds left of intangible... but, whatever, good luck."
With that, full of nervousness, Benjamin climbed up to the exit at the treetop, waiting for the System to calculate the chance to escape. He could sense that the entire forest was shrouded with an awful atmosphere, every knight looked extremely cautious as if waiting for a trial of life or death.
Those people... they're prepared to die in order to capture him.
However, at that moment, a sudden exclaim was heard from the left side of the forest.
"Quick! We've found that fellow! Everyone follow me!"
Instantly, Benjamin felt that his heart skipped a beat, he held his breath and almost slipped off from the exit of the tree hole.
At the same time, the silent atmosphere constrained in the forest was broken, the knights around the tree were alerted, they turned around uniformly and ran into the woods.
What happened?
Benjamin was anxious and confused at the same time, did they find out where he was? But...was there another him around there?
He could sense that the knight who shouted that was the search leader and definitely not a fake knight who would lie to the others. Nonetheless, Benjamin was still hiding in the tree hole? What did the Church discover?
Benjamin was so puzzled after all those thoughts as things did not add up, but he also realized that it was a great opportunity.
Therefore, taking advantage of the leaving knights, he crawled out of the tree hole and ran towards the opposite direction. Not only that, after running for some time, he noticed that there were lesser people raiding around him, it seemed like they were attracted by that sound of astir.
He arrived near the encirclement again in no time.
"...This won't do, these people are still surrounding this area, they didn't go for support."
The sealing barrier was still there, the priests and army who were guarding did not go over for support as well. Benjamin did not know for how long more the Church's attention would be distracted, but as long as he showed himself, Grant would certainly rush over at the speed of light.
What a hard nut to crack...
Benjamin clenched his fist. He felt that it was a now-or-never opportunity, but... he did not seem to be able to use it to escape out of there.
"Don't be too agitated, calm down a bit," The System suddenly voiced out, "Scan the area on your left and right side, that's right, under that big rock, someone's there."
Benjamin was just stunned.
Using the water elements, he quickly retrieved that image.
The entire rock had been hollowed out, there were two familiar mages, one taller and one shorter, who were squeezing inside that rock and look exceedingly uneasy.
He recognized those mages.
They were the idiots from the Academy of Silence, the last time he saw them, they were still with Elizabeth, then sent out of the Kingdom of Helius by Benjamin himself. If everything went smoothly, the two of them should be in Ferelden by now.
Why did they come here?
Benjamin was a bit shocked. He even doubted if there was anything wrong with his sensing that he saw such unbelievable things.
But... But...
He took a deep breath and moved over to them carefully.