Chapter 329: So Close to the Edge

“Now, pull!” Nnenna shouted.

All three of them pulled, muscles straining, feet digging into the forest floor. The quicksand gurgled angrily, refusing to let go.

Then pop!

Karen’s shoulder broke free. They kept pulling.

Another heave, and finally, with one last desperate tug, Karen slid out of the muck and collapsed on solid ground, coughing and gasping for air.

“You saved us again,” John said, his voice rough from exhaustion.

They all stood there, panting, coated in sweat and mud. Even Nnenna could barely speak. Her knees trembled beneath her, but not from fatigue, from what almost happened.

She had nearly lost all of them.

After everything they had endured for almost a month in the Black Forest, after countless trials, it would have ended here? So close to the edge?

She clenched her fists. She wouldn’t let that happen.

Once she caught her breath, she turned to Abuchi, who was still staring at the place Karen had almost sunk.

“We need to move,” she said quietly.

“But… how?” Abuchi asked, his voice strained. “How do we get past that?”

turned to

sprawling stretch of

trees grew sparse here, the canopy cracked open above, letting in more sunlight than they had seen in weeks. But the

border?” Ekene asked, narrowing his

it goes all the way to the mountain ridge,” Karen said, coughing. “We would

that angled gently to the left. “If we climb a bit further north, we might find a narrower path, or even a fallen tree to cross with. We

looked at one another, minds racing,

the endless spread of deadly sand, then up at the overgrowth. Her

be a faster way

for that. Who knows what’s happened to Ruth and her family in the past, what, almost a month now? We can’t delay anymore. We have to get to Purlit

urgency. “Every second we lose might be the second

scoffed, arms folded tightly across her chest. “And what do you plan to do? Magically fly across it? You can’t always

cold stones, harsh and unnecessary. Karen hadn’t always been like this, but the forest, the fear, the

She wasn’t trying to fix it. She just

had learned

eyes scanning their surroundings like they had a hundred times in the past weeks. Look, adapt,

she

coiled around sturdy trees stretching high

“Look, those trees. The vines are strong. We can make our way

gaze. The trees were tall, old,

lifted. “That’s

getting sucked into

snap?” Karen blurted out, arms folded, voice sharper than

firm but calm. “These trees have been here for years. The vines are thick enough to carry our weight. I checked. We can

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