'Five minutes,' worried Jake.
He had been submerged in the lake for more than five minutes, hiding from the bear still beside the lake.
'This needs to end!' thought Jake.
He was running out of time.
After Jake had entered the Dark Forest, he had planned his next step.
Via the Dark Forest, he would go to the Pearl Coast, which had gotten its name due to the frozen pearls that wash up the shore.
Jake hadn't chosen the location randomly.
Pearl Coast was the only place that could transport one to the islands the sect inhabited.
He needed to get there, as that would be the only safe place.
From his conversation with Talon, he realized that nowhere was safe. He couldn't stay on this continent anymore as it would eventually be corrupted.
He had to leave the continent and Pearl Coast possessed ships that could cross over the Serpent Sea, leading to the sect island.
However, now, his plans were stopped by the demonic bear.
Jake gradually found himself losing his breath and couldn't keep up after twenty minutes.
Biting his lips, he held on for as long as he could.
*Grr-rrrr*
Jake could hear the growling of the bear outside.
He was surprised as he could tell it was not directed at him.
*Roar!*
The bear loudly roared at something that challenged it.
As he was in the lake, Jakle couldn't see what it was, but he could tell based on the furious bear's roar that it threatened it badly.
Suddenly, the bear moaned.
Its tone became lower at every wail, and by the time it was at the lowest, the bear stopped moaning.
*Thud!*
The sound of something heavy dropping followed and made Jake very wary.
It was at this time that he couldn't continue holding his breath and brought his head above the lake.
He took a short peek at the surroundings and to his surprise, he saw a bear laying lifelessly on the snow-filled ground.
The eyes of the bear were wide open in shock and its fur fell off, leaving a skin that seemed sucked of all nutrients.
Knowing that the situation was strange, Jake jumped out of the lake to inspect.
He could have continued hiding, but by now, he wasn't sure it was the most effective course of action.
'Hmm....,' Jake's sense tingled as he saw something materialized in his face.
The being in front of him seemed unstable as some parts of it disappeared and materialized back.
It had a translucent body, that appeared to not be of the material world, silvery-white hair, and clear black eyes that diverted from the mundane world.
Its clothes followed the theme as it was ghost-like, and always floating, just like her legs
'F*ckery. It's a phantom,' cursed Jake.
He understood, based on the creature's appearance, that the creature in front of him was one of the rarest Netherans.
It made absolutely no sense that it appeared here.
However, Jake was very sure of its identity. After all, it couldn't fake the attack it gave to the bear.
It was a popular Netheran attack called [Life Steal], which apparently stole the life force of any creature they touch.
Moreover, it was disharmonious and had a problem with fully materializing, which could also mean it was young.
Treading carefully, Jake asked the creature, "Who are you?"
The creature looked at him and hesitated, "I...I...don't know."
The creature, being a female, had a young yet mature voice that made it hard to figure out her actual age, appearance-wise.
Being naturally curious, Jake asked, "Do you know your name?"
"I don't know," quipped the female creature.
"How did you get here?" probed Jake.
This was not the place for a Netheran to chance upon.
The phantom frowned her eyebrows as she spoke, "I was following a group of people, but they couldn't see me. I...tried to touch them, but I just went through them."
Evidently, from her words, she was quite frustrated and pained at her inability to interact with the said group.
Jake could understand that it was due to her lack of control that she couldn't interact with said group.
The phantom had yet to find her "true self" and matured. This was an important phase for any newborn phantom.
However, once they matured, their characters would skyrocket, jumping from their adolescent phase to an adult phase, becoming instantly deadly!
"Hmmm.ok," responded Jake.
Jake shook his body to dry off his wet cloth.
As it still remained wet, he took off his clothes and replaced them with a spare one that he had in his [Spatial Ring].
Proceeding to cater for his wounds, Jake brought out a healing salve and softly applied it in his skin.
The salve was a regular for adventurers and helped to accelerate their healing factor.
As he wasn't ready to undergo intensive healing, Jake opted for that.
After he was done with his preparations, he brought out a map and traced his current location on it.
'Perfect,' smiled Jake
The exact place he currently was at made a direct linear path to Pearl Coast.
Being at this spot might have been caused by an unfortunate circumstance, but at least it yielded good returns.
He looked at his south and he could already see Pearl Coast, though it was very far away from where he currently was.
Wrapping up his map, Jake smiled at the phantom, who had been there all along, "I will be going now."
He had no interest to acquaint with a phantom, as he never could tell what would happen if the phantom matured.
"Wait," the phantom called out.
She had found a person she could interact with and now the person was leaving.
However, Jake ignored her pleas and went away.
As he was going, he heard a loud voice that made him pause, "STOP."
He could recognize that playful yet enigmatic voice anywhere. It was Cheyenne Aztec. The last person he would want to see.