“Now what?” Lance asked after making sure Milianna and Killian were on the back safely.
“Now, I need you to steer the carriage that way.” Ace said, pointing off the road.
Sensing the worry coming from Ace, Lance followed Ace’s directions, no questions asked.
Ace, still concentrating on the two auras heading in their direction, wanted to curse when he sensed them turning to follow their new direction and speeding up.
‘How are they able to track us from so far away? Can they use haki too, or has something been planted on us?’
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Lance asked, seeing Ace’s frown deepen.
“I don’t have time to explain how I know, but there are four auras following after us, and they don’t seem friendly.” Ace quickly explained.
“Do you have any idea how strong they are?” Lance asked as he suppressed all other unnecessary thoughts.
“The weakest one is no weaker than me, but the strongest are about as strong as you.” Ace answered honestly. ‘But that 4th one…
The energy coming from him is green. It looks similar to elemental essence, which would make him…
He has to die first!’
“Judging by your unsightly expression, we won’t be able to outrun them,” Lance said, paying close attention to Ace’s expression.
“We have to fight!” Ace said resolutely.
About 200 meters away, four masked figures wearing plain black robes were running side by side.
“They’ve stopped about 200 meters ahead.” Said the one running just in front whilst looking at a glowing crystal in one hand, holding a guandao in the other.
“Looks like they know we’re following them.” The well-built man on the far left said.
“But how could they find out from so far away?” The smallest one, who had a young, feminine, yet cold voice, asked.
“It doesn’t matter now. Little Tiger, remember to stay at the back; you’re only permitted to fight if one of the children is separated from…”
Before the masked man with the crystal could finish his sentence, he felt something suddenly jerking his foot. Glancing down, he noticed that a vine was pulled unnaturally taut before he fell to the ground.
By the time the others had stopped to realise what was happening, Ace had shot out from the tree he had hidden behind, holding a small knife in his right hand.
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‘If you’re really a mage, you have to die first!’ Ace thought to himself with the iciest of expressions as he neared his target.
Without batting an eyelid, Ace thrust the small blade in his hands towards the eye of the mage, hoping to take him out in one go.
The others all wanted to turn back and help their comrade, but another figure shot towards them, spear in hand, at an incredible speed.
The bulky man drew the great sword on his back, preparing for the imminent clash, whilst the other man grabbed the masked child and jumped back to ensure she didn’t get caught up in that fight.
Lance, though, didn’t care about anything but killing the man in front of him as quickly as possible to protect the others.
“DIE!” Lance roared as he thrust his spear towards the head of the stocky assassin before him.
The assassin snorted as he slashed his sword at the spear, but he was shocked by the power behind the spear.
‘They said he was a late third-rank warrior like me, but this, this is the power of someone at the peak of the third rank.’ The bulky man thought to himself as he tried his best to regain his footing.
Seeing the bulky man off balance, how could Lance give him time to recoup? Lance’s spear shot forth over and over, putting more and more pressure on the assassin. Finally, one of Lance’s attacks managed to find a gap in the man’s weakening defence, piercing his right shoulder, but before Lance could follow up and finish his opponent, he jumped out of the way dodging the saber that was aiming for his neck.
‘Dam, just a few more seconds, and I would’ve killed him!’ Lance thought to himself as he eyed his two new opponents with a hint of caution but no fear. ‘With these two here and Ace dealing with the other adult, the one left should be the kid that Ace said was a peak rank one warrior.
Even if Killian can’t defeat his opponent, he should be able to hold out until either me or Ace is finished.’ Lance hoped to himself while taking a second to glance at each of the battlefields.
Seeing the others too distracted to interfere with his surprise attack, Ace focused wholeheartedly on the man before him. He could hear his target mumbling something under his breath, but not clearly enough to decipher it.
The look on Ace's face changed just as his knife reached its target.
“Wind bomb!” The masked assassin shouted just as the knife reached his eye.
A small ball of wind shot towards Ace, who, thanks to his haki, had already begun to dodge. Unfortunately, Ace wasn’t fast enough to completely get out of the way, and his left shoulder bore the brunt of the attack.
‘Fuck! My shoulder’s dislocated!’ Ace thought to himself as he rolled to his feet.
“Aagghhhh, my eye!” The masked mage roared in pain. “I’m gonna kill you, you brat!”
Ace was about to rush in to finish the job when he noticed the man’s glaive.
‘He must’ve dropped it when I used the vine to trip him up.’ Ace thought as he bent over to pick it up.
The glaive had a glistening silver blade attached to a plain wooden pole almost twice his size, but when he picked it up, he felt oddly comfortable. As he took a deep breath, his body was suddenly filled with strength, bringing a faint sense of security.
‘It’s almost like you’re right here with me, pops!’ Ace thought as he looked down fondly t the guandao.
He didn’t need to use his haki to tell what had happened. He could feel all the energy he’d absorbed over the last year and a half fusing with his body, dramatically strengthening it.
‘Haha, so this is what it feels like to be a warrior of the 2nd rank? Things should be easier now. Now I just need to kill him quick enough to support Kil.’ Ace thought to himself as he saw his only friend confronting a child the same age with powerful, wild, untrained swings of the woodcutting axe they had initially brought with them with the intention of cutting wood for fires.
Luckily, Killian’s opponent appeared weary about a direct confrontation. She looked to be trying to tire him out. Still, Ace knew he didn’t have time to waste.