The Greatest Sinner

The last spike should have killed Evan, but instead it pierced the purple raven that had suddenly appeared. The spike easily pierced through the bird's body, its trajectory was altered, allowing Evan to remain alive.

Evan didn't understand what had just happened or the significance of the raven's actions, but he didn't have time to think about it. The one-eyed raven had given him a chance he wasn't going to miss.

Whoosh.

Evan pulled the spike sharply from his leg and it quickly became covered in a thick layer of ice. The young man threw the spike back at the monster with all his might and quickly sprinted toward it.

The monster sensed great danger from the amplified spike rushing toward it, so he decided to simply jump aside. Evan knew that his opponent would do so, so the snow-white scythe blade was already rushing toward the monster's head.

Whoosh.

Trying to defend itself, the monster moved its head away from the scythe, but it didn't help it. The snow-white blade plunged into the monster's neck, enough almost to completely freeze it.

The monster was already nearly unconscious, but Evan wasn't going to stop there. He swung his blade once more and plunged it into the other side of its neck. In the next moment, the ice covered the entire neck.

Bam.

Evan let go of his scythe and slammed his fist into the frozen neck with all his might. As a result, the monster's head flew off its body, and its neck was shattered into many pieces.

Sigh. Sigh. Sigh.

Evan was breathing heavily, this fight was hard for him. But he wasn't going to rest, he had to see what condition the raven was in.

The young man quickly ran up to the bird and muttered with annoyance on his face: "Dead..."

He was sad that the creature that had saved his life couldn't save its own, but...

<А?>.

Suddenly Evan saw that the raven was breathing faintly.

<So he's alive, but... how do I help him?> Evan thought to himself looking at the dying raven.

On the one hand, this purple raven was the most ordinary bird and there was no point in putting much effort into saving it. Perhaps another man would have been glad to be alive and would have left the dying bird, but not Evan.

In his mind it didn't matter who had helped him: a human, a bird, an insect, or even a monster. The creature bleeding before his eyes had saved his life, which meant he would do his best to bring it back from the dead.

<Wait a minute, Demien said that human flesh and blood can make monsters stronger. Judging by its eye, that's an unusual bird. Hmm, there's a chance I might be able to save it that way.>

Evan didn`t think long and immediately began to act on his plan. He put the scythe on the ground, blade up, canceled the spell, and ran his palm over the razor-sharp blade.

A wide cut formed on his arm, but Evan didn't even flinch, and many icy shards fell to the ground.

He handed his bleeding hand to the bird's beak and clenched his palm into a fist.

Drop. Drop. Drop.

Crimson drops were falling slowly into the raven's beak while Evan was closely watching its condition. Unfortunately, this method had little or no effect.

<Damn! It looks like there's nothing more I can do...>. Thought to himself Evan looking at the dying raven.

<А?>. Evan's attention was caught by the shards of ice shimmering in the sun. At that moment, another idea popped into his head.

<That's right, I`ve got ice, it`s not what I`ve wanted, but it's better than death>.

Whoosh.

Evan gently grabbed the raven with his free hand and headed for the landslide site where there were many boulders.

Evan's idea was quite simple - he wanted to make an ice tomb for the one-eyed raven. If he completely froze the raven and walled it up in the same frozen rocks, he could delay the raven's death for a long time.

If he couldn`t save it now, he must at least buy time to find a suitable way to do so.

Whoosh.

Evan ran up to the landslide, carefully placed the raven's body on the ground, and approached the stone boulder hit it with all his might.

Bam. Bam. Bam.

With a few powerful blows, Evan shattered the boulder into many small stones. Then he took the raven and cast "Ice Veil". He did the same with the stones.

Soon, a small, round grave appeared next to the fallen tree, more like a block of ice. Evan did the best he could. If his blood did anything to help the raven, his savior would definitely survive.

"Thank you." Evan muttered quietly.

He touched his hand to the icy grave and the bloody imprint of his hand was left on it. Then he quickly left, without looking back.

...

After a while, Evan stopped to rest. He was wounded, and his endurance was running low. Since he had no horse now, all he had to do was to walk along the border of the "Half-Dead Forest" in an attempt to find his way back.

If he was lucky, he might be able to find his horse, but if not, then he would have to get to the Academy of Magic on foot. There was one other way out of the forest - to climb back up the narrow path on the cliff, but for Evan that option was impossible.

There was no way he could have climbed the nearly sheer cliff with only one arm and a scythe. If the monster hadn't broken his left arm, he would have had the opportunity to do so.

<This forest is pretty unusual, when I find a way to heal the raven, I'll have to investigate the place properly. I'm sure I'll find and learn a lot of interesting things here.>

Evan thought to himself and continued walking. Unfortunately, he had no medicine with him, only food and water. The situation he was in was not supposed to happen, but it was too late to think about it.

With each step, the pain reverberated in his leg, but soon he got used to it, so he kept walking forward until nightfall. No one had attacked him in all that time, though that was logical, since he was in the most remote part of the "Half-Dead Forest".

<Hmm, according to the map, I'd be out of this damn place in three hours, but wandering through this forest at night is clearly not a good idea.>

Moreover, Evan no longer had the energy to go forward, he needed to have a rest. As strange as it sounded, the "Half-Dead Forest" was full of suitable places to do so.

"Well, I guess this will do." Evan muttered, looking up at the tall tree in front of him.