A loud whistle had gone off, its sound enhanced by simple wind and sound enchantments, the item itself appearing like an ornament made of rich brass with the enchantments curved into its cylindrical sides.

A signal… and a powerful one at that.

Alaric shuddered as he heard footsteps thundering throughout the forest. Reinforcements were on their way.

The lone villain, oblivious to the children’s positions, stabbed the air around him a couple of times before a smirk graced his disturbing face full of piercings.

A chuckle echoed from the man’s lips, “Aether Augmentation. Smart! But what’s a little aspirant doing with such a skill?”

It was only now that Alaric realised how far he’d cleared Aiden from the man’s position.

If it weren’t for the hand he had over Aiden’s mouth, the boy would have given off their location with uncontrolled gasps.

Aiden’s eyes bulged and he struggled to contain the raspy breaths that assaulted his thirsty lungs.

Catching his breath without making a sound was starting to top his list of most painful experiences. His lungs screamed for relief… yet, he ignored the urge to cough and gasp loudly.

Alaric felt his eyes welling up with admiration for the boy’s efforts.

Looking back at the man, his expression darkened. Naturally, the man wouldn’t expect them to have gone far from their position.

But Alaric had used far more than his natural strength to escape the edge of his blade, which placed them a fairly good distance from their enemy.

They weren’t safe yet though.

Aiden was still vividly shaken. The memory of the cut that nearly separated his head from his shoulders still pulsed clear in his memory.

The red-haired girl had a hand over her friend’s mouth, biting into her lip to keep herself from making a sound as well.

The two girls had witnessed their friend’s close brush with death and had nearly given out their locations as well.

Darla, on the other hand, was currently seated on a large tree root with a neutral expression, watching the man in front of her calmly.

It almost looked like she was calculating a way to take him down.

She might not have said it but her indifferent nature to the situation relaxed Alaric enough for him to get an idea.

The green-eyed boy pushed himself off Aiden slowly and kept low to the ground…

He gestured to Finn and Darla, casting another spell he’d been taught by Sister Marla.

In the next moment, his voice rang clearly in their minds.

[Get everyone into the trees. I’ll distract him.]

The two nodded and waited for his signal…

Alaric put his lips to his mouth and gestured for Aiden to stay put.

This time, the boy nodded feverishly in response to his order. With a smile, Alaric walked slowly away from the boy and made sure he was safely away from the others and didn’t make a sound.

Taking a deep breath, he did the one thing his nerves screamed against. He spoke.

[Aiden… Darla and Finn are going to help you and your friends climb into the trees. Once there, you don’t move a muscle…]

He spared Aiden a look and only looked away from him when he nodded.

“Aether Augmentation is a basic technique,” Alaric answered the man, then gestured for his friends to start moving.

The leaves in the trees rustled with no wind in them, the ground shuddered and Alaric began to move around the man, slipping behind a tree and dashing away from the place he’d just spoken.

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As Darla and Finn began to move stealthily around the man, Alaric got to work on his next step.

The man’s eyes darted around, looking for the source of movement.

“Basic technique, my foot! A commoner like you shouldn’t be able to use it without proper training!” the man yelled.

A smile graced Alaric’s face. It was comforting to know how easy it was to rile up his opponents. And knowing how many more surprises he could pull out of his bag of tricks only made him more confident.

“Sounds expensive. Who are you, anyway?” Alaric replied, dashing about even more and willing the trees to make more chaos as he scattered his voice in all directions.

“The last face you’ll ever see,” the man replied, brandishing his dagger and scanning his surroundings.

Alaric chuckled as he moved around, this time making the trees on the opposite side of his location rustle and shudder, “What makes you so confident?”

The constant movements covered any small noises his friends made as they climbed the trees.

Not waiting for Darla and Finn to start helping him, Aiden climbed a tree himself.

When no answer came, Alaric leapt up and effortlessly ascended a tree as nimbly as his trained body could allow him without making a sound.

“Are you that eager to fight an S-class guardian?” he smiled devilishly.

The man’s snide smirk vanished for the first time since he’d arrived.

Alaric allowed his mind to reach out to his friends and the three aspirants from Jack’s Fall through the spell he’d initiated earlier.

[If I do end up summoning my guardian, I ask you to keep what you witness to yourselves.]

The man standing below Alaric snapped at the voice that had been dashing around him.

“Where are you, you little orphan? You think little tricks can scare me. I’m a mercenary… I have killed more demons and powerful slayers than the meals you’ve had in your pathetic little life. Show your face now.”

Alaric furrowed his eyebrows, ‘Orphan?’

[He knows more than he should] Alia observed.

Alaric sighed, using his Inborn Ability to stare at the multitude of mercenaries littering the woods.

Each one of them sent the same chill down Alaric’s spine when he took note of the dark connection they shared with their guardians.

It was the definition of something that shouldn’t exist.

[Dark Magic]

Alaric’s eyes teared up as he suppressed the urge to attack the man himself.

Was Alaric supposed to fight these men on his own? He was a child from the Five Hills who’d been trained by his powerful guardian.

[You know I can’t help you without an S-class Concealment Barrier to hide my presence] Alia mentioned.

‘They could kill me!’ Alaric tried to calm his beating heart.

In response to his emotions, the forest rumbled and shuddered.

The man below lost his dark expression and furrowed his eyebrows, observing his surroundings.

Reinforcements were within hearing range. Soon, he’d have even more eyes to help him search for the hiding children.

[Just use that power you’ve been suppressing. I won’t be offended] Alia replied indifferently.

[Can I win?] the boy tried.

[Of course you can…]

Alaric beamed…

If Alia thought he could do it, then perhaps he could. Of course, it could also mean she wanted to see him getting beat to a pulp.

At the same time, however, he knew how much she hated him relying on her strength.

If he ever hoped to call himself her master, he would have to grow strong enough to wield her power as his own.

Alaric placed his hands on the stem of the tree at his side and drew on an innate power that lay dormant within him.

Everyone had an Inborn Ability, one unique to them. They varied in intensity and effectiveness… but they were always there.

It could range from something as simple as being able to see in the dark to slowing down time or even making things out of thin air…

Alaric’s case though… was exceedingly rare, mind-blowing and utterly bizarre.

As he placed his hand on the stem of the tree, the bark beneath his palm began to wriggle and morph like clay, giving way to his palm.

However, his palm didn’t just sink into the softening bark… It too shifted and morphed, becoming more calloused than smooth, dried up yet wet.

The effect spread further up his arm, travelling along to his body. His hand turned as brown as the bark he touched and continued to move deeper into the tree.

At the same time, the tree seemed to shudder and groan as an unnatural change took hold of it.

Alaric’s body continued to change, with each passing moment, it lost the delicate features of a fragile human and became more of that of a tree.

The invisible aspirants from Jack’s Fall who had their eyes glued to him were now pale as sheets as they watched the transformation before their eyes.

With the movement of the trees all centred on one location, the bandit smirked as he finally caught a glimpse of a leg vanishing within the confines of the tree, “There you are.”

He raised his hands into the air and called on his aether, dark mist swirling around his hands as he began chanting words in the ancient tongue

At the last syllable, a conflagration of fire burst into existence in his palm moulded into the form of a ball of immolating flames.

Just as he aimed his hand at the spot with a disappearing leg, something slammed into the man’s back and sent him toppling into the ground.

Alaric let out a loud chuckle as he watched a nimble Darla make her way back up the branches of another tree.

By now, four men were meeting up with the man who’d just blown his whistle.

“What is the meaning of this?” one of the men yelled out, fear in his voice.

Alaric’s laugh came from no particular direction… and everywhere at the same time… as though the forest itself had come to life.

“You said that witch Marla wasn’t with them,” the mercenary who had just arrived yelled out loud.

“I know what I said,” the first mercenary yelled as he stood up, anger mixed with fear in his expression.