Chapter 124: Is that the ruins of Akkad?
Kaelen watched the truck sway before tipping over and tumbling down the hill to the side of the open part beyond the canyon.
He didn’t attempt to save it, but was taken aback by why Yelena would pull such a risky move instead of running him over and making an escape.
He walked to the edge of the hill and peered down at the overturned, smoking truck, with Yelena and Lindsey crawling out from the smashed window.
It took more than a car crash to kill an awakened, and though Kaelen knew Lindsey was probably an awakened to be from the stronghold, he just never expected her to have a lightning ability and never behave so timidly around the slightest sign of danger.
It was either she was spoiled rotten from a noble family, or she was fake. There was a possibility he was underestimating her and giving her less credit because of her personality.
He watched the two girls climb out and look around in disorientation, when a slight commotion suddenly broke out when Lindsey stared at the blonde woman in surprise.
"Yelena, your eye."
He heard Lindsey say as she gestured at her right eye, and Yelena’s hands quickly shot up to her eyes, before she went down on all fours and began frantically searching for something on the dirt.
’What’s going on?’ Kaelen mused to himself and leapt off the hill in a calculated jump, landing heavily on the overturned truck just as Yelena was about to crawl inside in search of something.
The armoured truck gave in under his weight and folded with a loud groan, leaving Lindsey surprised as she stared from him to the truck underneath, bent like a mutated bear weighing 1,000 kg had landed on it, and not an average man.
"Wha... How’d you do that?" She blurted.
Kaelen stared at the woman for a moment. "I eat meat every day."
Then he shifted his gaze to Yelena, who was still on the floor, but clutching her right eye and keeping her head down.
He frowned and jumped down from the truck.
"What’s wrong?" He asked.
"I-It’s nothing." Yelena quickly replied, but her response only piqued Kaelen’s curiosity more because not only did she look flustered, she had just stuttered in her speech for the first time.
It had to be something worth seeing if she didn’t want him to see it, and was this flustered about it.
"Let me see," he said and grabbed her hands and tried to pry them off her eyes, but Yelena clamped her other hand over the eye as well and began fighting against his pull.
When she realized Kaelen was physically stronger than her and was slowly prying her two hands away, she swung her arm across his, knocking his grip. But this made her lose balance and she fell on her butt, still clutching her right eye, but now Kaelen could see her face.
"What’s your problem? What do you care what’s in my eye?" She suddenly burst out fiercely, and Kaelen froze as he stared at her.
He didn’t try to fight some more and just stood there, staring at her face. No... her left eye.
That was when her eyes drifted towards Lindsey, who was also staring at her strangely with lips pressed in a fine line. "I... uhh, think you got the wrong eye," she said and winced.
"W-What?" Yelena blurted in confusion.
"Why do you have a crimson eye?" Kaelen asked in surprise.
Yelena froze for a minute, before she quickly moved her eyes to now cover her left eye. Thankfully, her right eye lens was still intact, or Kaelen would’ve pointed that out too.
She stared at Kaelen for a moment, examining his facial expression, which showed nothing but pure surprise and confusion. No hint of recognition flashing across his gray eyes.
"Why do you care?" She shot back in exasperation as she stood and turned her back to him to take out her contact lens pod and took out a spare one, the same gray color as the one she lost and no different from Kaelen’s eye color, and carefully placed it in.
At that moment, several footsteps echoed from above, and the trio looked up to see four people standing at the edge of the hill, looking down at them.
It was Commander Marco, Reiner, and two other familiar faces from the mercenary squad.
"You girls alright?" Reiner asked from above.
"Yeah," Lindsey replied and ran her eyes across the valley they had fallen into. There was no easy path back up. "But I think we’re stuck."
"Don’t worry, we’ll come down to you," the Commander replied this time and leaped down into the valley, followed by Reiner and the two other men.
"Where’s the rest of your men?" Lindsey asked.
The Commander fell silent, and the other men’s heads hung low.
"They didn’t make it, huh." Kaelen mumbled for them to hear.
Reiner turned red, but without saying a word, he strode forward towards Kaelen and suddenly threw a punch at his face.
"You bastard," he bellowed as his punch cut through the air where Kaelen once stood, but quickly threw another one at Kaelen, who calmly stepped out of the way before it could hit him.
"They’re dead because of you. You should’ve died in their place. You killed them—"
Kaelen suddenly became a blur as he ducked under Reiner’s extended fist and clenched his hands, before delivering a punch into the man’s abdomen.
Bam!
Reiner doubled over as Kaelen’s fist tore into his stomach and the imprint of the fist came out the other side like it was about to burst through him, when Kaelen retracted his fist and grabbed his head before smashing it against his kneecap, which sent a tooth flying, before tossing him to the side like a discarded ragdoll.
Everyone was momentarily stunned, before the other two men snapped out of it and angrily charged at Kaelen. But before they could go far, Commander Marco held them back by their collars as he stared intently at Kaelen.
"Since we’ve come this far, I’d like to make myself clear once again. I’m the guide, and not anyone’s slave. Whoever becomes hostile with me or tries to attack me again," Kaelen said as he suddenly moved and drove his foot into the side of Reiner’s head, who was struggling to get up, sending him toppling over as blood gushed out of his mouth and nose. "I wouldn’t mind giving that person an early flight ticket to meet your comrades in hell."
Kaelen finally shifted his gaze to the Commander, who was slowly seething in rage and had let his men loose, though they didn’t dare charge in blindly now after seeing what the Commander had seen when he held them back the first time.
The guide was never weak. He was only pretending and keeping a low profile till they got to their destination. And that could only mean one thing...
Kaelen’s lips curled into a cold, but amused smile. "So tell me, Commander Marco," he said as his hand shot out and pointed in a direction without even looking.
"Is that the ruins of Akkad?"
Almost immediately, everyone’s heads snapped towards the direction, and their eyes immediately widened in shock and disbelief.