Free Web NovelChapter 14: The Chase, the Trap, and the Decision
Since the moment Silas began suspecting Vaelous, he had been asking himself one question: why?
The first possibility that came to mind was the rune structure. Yet that theory quickly fell apart. The shield protected the structure, which had withstood relentless monster attacks for days without showing any signs of collapse. The shield was practically impregnable, and the only way past it was to wait for the academy teachers to arrive.
There would be no profit in attacking the incoming teacher convoy, except for the cargo it carried.
The shipment was said to contain a large amount of Mana Crystals. Silas had no idea how valuable it truly was, but something told him it was worth everything Vaelous was risking.
That only raised another question. The cargo ship was supposed to arrive with academy teachers and armed escorts. How could Vaelous possibly expect to attack it alone?
Silas had spent days observing the man. Vaelous was undoubtedly strong and experienced, but not strong enough to face several C-Rank Enhancers and their guards by himself.
There had to be others; there had to be a hidden team waiting for the right moment to intervene.
That was why Silas had expected reinforcements to appear the moment Vaelous was exposed. It was also why he had left the three youngsters behind to delay them while he and Darius moved toward the next stage of his plan.
Time soon proved him right, as five Enhancers emerged from the north, rushing toward Vaelous as though responding to a signal. Their appearance confirmed everything Silas doubted. Unfortunately, not everything went according to plan.
The two mages and the tamer had already exhausted most of their Mana Crystals. Even the best among them had less than a crystal remaining. They had barely managed to keep Vaelous occupied, and now they were hopelessly outnumbered.
Silas had expected the three youngsters to buy him at least ten minutes. But all they managed to do was only five.
"Shit! They’re coming!"
Darius nearly lost his composure as the six Enhancers raced toward them like bolts of lightning.
"Stop staring and run, idiot!"
Silas could hardly believe him. This was no time to waste breath on panic. Even if things didn’t go perfectly as he planned, Silas still had other things in play to make for that. The moment they entered a densely wooded area, he began throwing daggers to both sides.
Fwoosh!
Large branches crashed down one after another as Darius stared in disbelief. The branches were far too thick to be cut down by chance. Darius couldn’t understand how Silas had done it, but for the first time since the chase began, hope flickered in his chest.
Soon, fallen branches littered the trail behind them, creating a maze of obstacles for their pursuers. Since they started running, Darius wanted to ask questions, many of them. He wanted to know how far this plan extended.
But after seeing the forest collapse behind them, he realised there was little point in asking. Silas had prepared quite well for this. All he could do now was trust him.
The wooded area itself wasn’t particularly large, but going around the fallen branches would take far longer than climbing over them. By the time Vaelous and his men crossed the obstacle, nearly twenty extra minutes had passed.
"These kids can run," one of the Enhancers remarked before glancing at Vaelous. "What were you doing all this time? Babysitting them?"
"One of them is a Lisan Al-Gaia," Vaelous replied calmly.
The atmosphere instantly changed.
"Then that’s even more reason to kill him," another man said coldly. "We can’t allow another one to grow. I heard there are already two others at the academy this year."
"Enough talking," Vaelous said with a roll of his eyes. "We’ll deal with them first. Then we’ll prepare the ambush for the cargo."
Neither Silas nor Darius heard any of it. The delay had allowed them to reach the area Silas wanted.
’We’re here.’
His gaze swept across the surroundings, searching for the markings he had left behind.
"What’s wrong? Why are you slowing down?"
Darius’ voice was filled with alarm.
Silas merely nodded and gestured forward. Understanding the silent command, Darius accelerated. A few minutes later, Vaelous and his companions finally caught up.
"See?" Vaelous sneered. "He’s exhausted. He spent the whole week hiding instead of fighting. Just a little longer and he’ll collapse on his own."
’We’ll see about that.’
Silas continued his act, gradually slowing until he reached the edge of the volcanic region. Then he stopped. Bent over with his hands on his knees, he feigned exhaustion while the six pursuers approached. They stopped roughly a hundred meters away, while Vaelous stepped forward.
"Life isn’t fair, kid. If you had a few more years, perhaps things would have turned out differently. Blame your luck for meeting me this early," Vaelous sneered.
"Screw you."
Silas slowly straightened his back, his breathing steadied, as he looked completely opposite to the person he was a moment ago. The act was over; his enemies were exactly where he wanted them.
Before anyone could react or say anything, three daggers shot into the ground. They vanished beneath the surface, returned to his hands, and were thrown again, over and over.
The first few daggers puzzled Vaelous and others. But when the first crack appeared, a realisation dawned on Vaelous’ face. Then horror followed.
Without a word, he charged forward, aiming to reach Silas and rip the head off the youngster before more cracks would spread. The others immediately moved into formation around him.
’Damn! He is quite perceptive and ruthless,’ Silas narrowed his eyes when he spotted Vaelous response, ’but no matter what you do, you’ll fall on my hands today, you bastard.’
Vaelous just took a few steps forward, to be welcomed with a throwing barrage of daggers that landed where his next step would be. A hole appeared there, with further cracks spreading over like a spiderweb, forcing his advance to halt.
Then Silas shifted the daggers instantly to hit and stop others behind. Even if his enemies sniffed what he was doing, he wouldn’t idly sit and wait for them to catch up.
Besides, the more cracks, the better.
"Be careful," Vaelous shouted with an alarming tone, "spread out and keep moving in a zigzag pattern."
’As if that will work,’ Silas snorted, then ignored them, shifting all of his focus to throwing the daggers and recalling them, spreading more cracks on the ground. He kept alternating his daggers between attacking the ground up front of himself and the spots where his enemies were going to step upon in their advance.
His daggers flashed faster than ever before, striking with impossible precision. It felt as though he had reached the absolute limit of his ability. In return, his enemies tried their best to cut the distance short, while the two at the rear took out their staffs and were prepared to cast their magic at any given moment.
They were mages. But their intervention came a bit late as they underestimated the youngster standing tall in front of them.
Crack!
Boom!
The ground cracked and fractured, while all the six Enhancers standing on top of it fell amidst a bellow of dust and rubble.
For a single heartbeat, satisfaction surged through Silas. Watching his enemy slowly fall and vanish from his sight was quite relieving. For the first time in days, the knot of tension in Silas’ chest loosened.
’The bastard had finally fallen.’
Before the relief would wash his body with excitement, Vaelous grabbed his leg!
From the distance, Darius watched with his heart lodged in his throat. Vaelous was almost upon Silas, with five other Enhancers darting from behind.
Then the earth gave way. A deafening rumble echoed across the volcanic plain as a massive cloud of dust erupted upward, swallowing everything from sight.
"Silas!"
Darius sprinted forward, his heart racing like a horse. By the time he reached the scene, the dust was beginning to settle. Silas was still standing, and yet he was still throwing daggers.
Confused, Darius moved closer while trying to find an explanation for what Silas was doing.
’If he already killed Vaelous, why didn’t he retreat? Why is he still attacking using his daggers? Don’t tell me...’
Then he saw it. A massive section of ground had vanished, collapsing into a dark abyss hundreds of meters wide. And from the depths of it, something extended upward, gripping Silas’ leg.
It was a hand, Vaelous’ hand. Its black-and-yellow crest stood out clearly as the C-Rank Enhancer clung desperately to his prey.
"Silas! Move away!"
Darius charged forward and slammed his metallic arm downward, aiming at Vaelous head that was a few inches below the surface.
Bang!
The impact felt like striking solid steel. He hit Vaelous’ head, but he failed to push the Enhancer down and free his friend. Only then did he notice the truth.
Two other Enhancers were wrapped around Vaelous, strengthening him and anchoring him in place. Far below them stretched an endless black chasm illuminated by distant silver lights. Darius couldn’t tell what these silver dots were and hoped he would never figure it out.
"Those two are enhancing him," Silas said through clenched teeth. "They’re helping him hold on."
Sweat covered his face, and his expression was strained. He was already approaching his limit.
The moment the trap had activated, Silas had believed everything was over. Out of the blue, something he never expected happened. Somehow, Vaelous crossed the gap and lunged forward. His hand missed Silas’ torso and clamped around his leg instead.
Silas instantly felt worried as he knew what that viper was capable of. He tried to shake off that bastard, using his daggers to free himself, but Vaelous was half a beat faster.
Lightning chains came, while a web of paralysis hit his leg. For some reason, the attack couldn’t travel beyond his knee, but even that was enough to pin him in place.
"You bastard, you’re annoying even when you’re standing at death’s doorstep." fгeewebnovёl.com
Silas roared and tried everything to force his enemy down, to extricate his leg. But nothing worked. The two supporting Enhancers prevented Vaelous from being dislodged, while forcing his body to act like sturdy iron in front of Silas’ daggers.
"What do we do?" Darius asked anxiously. "How do we make them fall? Shall I bring a rock and smash it over his head? Their heads?"
"A rock won’t do anything new; they all turned into iron statues." Silas resisted the pain and pressure and the urge to bitterly laugh at his friend’s naïve idea.
"You clever little bastards..." Vaelous rasped. "If we fall... your friend falls with us."
Gone was the composed C-Rank Enhancer from before. Now he sounded desperate, terrified, and weakened.
For the first time since arriving on this admission test, Silas genuinely considered doing something extreme; he considered sacrificing his leg just to kill that bastard.
The thought alone filled him with revulsion. Yet the alternative was equally unacceptable. Then, as Vaelous lifted his head to say his last piece, something clicked.
The world darkened as Time Mind activated. Everything and everyone turned into shadows and black silhouettes, while countless possibilities unfolded before him.
In one, he ordered Darius to sever his leg. The plan worked, Vaelous died, But Silas lost a limb.
’Nah, I won’t do that. It’s too expensive for that scumbag.’
The vision shifted, and another possibility appeared. This time, Vaelous died, while Silas remained unharmed. But achieving that outcome required something utterly insane. He had to save Vaelous first, pull him out, before finally killing him.
’Killing you is going to be a headache.’
’Headache or not, I’m going to see it through regardless.’
Silas broke free from his Time Mind world, shifted his gaze upon his friend close by. For this to succeed, he needed Darius to help. And the main question was whether his friend would be quick-witted enough to get what he should do at the right time or not.
