Chapter 125: Kaelen Cross is here
In the direction Kaelen pointed wasn’t a ruin or an abandoned city like everyone would’ve thought.
In fact, it was nothing but thick bushes for as far as the eyes could see, except from the gaps in-between the leaves were fragmented lights which slowly moved to the sides.
The moment everyone saw it, they froze on the spot. Because what they saw wasn’t a magical phenomenon... the fragmented lights came from multiple flashlights being used to scan the perimeter by an unknown group who slowly approached their direction.
Before anyone could react, Yelena suddenly bolted in a direction and disappeared into the night.
Everyone was momentarily stunned, while Kaelen felt his brain go blank.
"Did she just... run away?" The words had barely left his lips when Lindsey bolted in the opposite direction and disappeared from sight as well.
It was pretty much obvious now the hunt had officially begun, and Kaelen was smart enough to know the two women didn’t run away in fright.
Most especially Lindsey, who’d been terrified by every little thing up until that moment, running off on her own without sticking to Yelena or the mercenaries who were still present.
This confirmed his earlier suspicion.
She was an enemy all along.
Kaelen exchanged glances with the Commander, and simultaneously, they disappeared in different directions as well, leaving the disoriented Reiner and the two surviving men.
Kaelen immediately activated his [Sharp Senses], mapping the entire area. Only to learn that aside from the unknown group, not one, but spread out across the entire area searching the perimeter, there was an even larger number of them up ahead in what looked like a desolate city, drilling into the ground and searching the abandoned [lab].
He didn’t plan on wasting any time with either of these groups, likely to be the rumored Stronghold 3 forces, so he avoided them as he swiftly made his way down to the desolate city.
He skidded to a halt just at the outskirts of the forest that expanded into, not the desolate city Kaelen had initially concluded. Because staring at the strangely futuristic buildings in the clearing, Kaelen could deduce the entire area was an abandoned lab.
He ran his eyes through the well-lit clearing, and used his [Sharp Senses] to mark the positions of the unknown group across the area, but before he could make a move, something caught his attention and Kaelen immediately focused on it with his perception before snapping his head in that direction.
It was another group of unknown mercenaries moving silently across the area while avoiding the detection of the first group who had already dominated the area.
This made Kaelen frown.
It was clear to him now that there were likely more than five groups in that area, including both he and the mercenaries he’d come with.
The situation looked to be harder than he thought, and the fact that he wasn’t certain where exactly to start looking, nor did he have an abandoned lab in mind when the ruins of Akkad was mentioned, wasn’t helping the matter.
’C’mon, think, Kaelen. There has to be a clue... a clue somewhere...’ Kaelen mused to himself as he carefully scanned the area over again.
The worst part was there were too many mana signatures from the unknown groups across the area that could hinder his search, so Kaelen mainly focused on a unique mana signature that might give him a hint.
"There has to be something—"
Bang—
Kaelen was still saying when the crack of a powerful rifle echoed through the area, and Kaelen’s eyes widened in surprise as his head snapped in the direction.
’That sound... it could only be her,’ Kaelen mused as his eyes moved across the vantage points in the area, before his eyes landed at the top of the highest building in the area where one woman stood on the edge with a sniper rifle.
Kaelen didn’t need to get any closer to tell for sure, because from her white hair cascading in the night breeze, he was certain it was the Akkadian sharpshooter.
"...Aria."
He quickly followed her line of sight to her intended target, who was at the top of another building, surrounded by guards as well. Kaelen’s vision couldn’t see that far, so he quickly used his [Sharp Senses] to zoom in on the rooftop, to see a man dressed in black, holding one of the bodyguards before him who had a bloody hole in his chest.
The man then tossed the bodyguard aside to reveal a blade he’d hidden behind his meat shield, which was now slanted after deflecting the bullet that had torn through the bodyguard like wet paper.
But what surprised Kaelen was when he saw the face behind the dark figure, and his expression turned cold.
Of course, if Stronghold 3 was behind all this, it had to be orchestrated by the young master Kaelen had spotted in the Governor’s estate.
Kaelen didn’t know the name of the bastard, but the one thing he did know was that he wouldn’t be walking away from a fight this time.
Kaelen was just about to go all out—if he couldn’t find his mother himself, he could simply beat it out of someone who could—when the white-haired woman, who was about to take another shot, suddenly froze and her head snapped in his direction.
Kaelen was initially confused, but he realized she wasn’t actually staring at him, but at something behind him, like she’d barely noticed him.
So Kaelen followed her gaze to beyond the abandoned lab, on a small hill where an inconspicuous building that resembled a cathedral stood. Looking as much abandoned as the lab, except there was someone disappearing into the church.
Not one, but two persons Kaelen recognized.
Yelena and Lindsey.
The same women who had run in different directions.
At that moment, a memory resurfaced in Kaelen’s mind, and his eyes widened in surprise and disbelief.
It wasn’t of his childhood or mother. It was of Yelena, when she revealed to him she had an ability to see the hidden information of any target of her choice.
So if there was anyone who should have a hint at where the actual ruins were hidden in the abandoned area... it was Yelena.
Kaelen immediately tore off his mask as he summoned his shadow army. At the same time, he activated [Miasma Slime], which created a toxic mist that spread down into the clearing, drawing the attention of everyone.
Their eyes immediately widened in shock and disbelief.
"Is that... impossible."
"It can only be him. The devil..."
"Kaelen Cross is here—"
"TAKE COVER!"
Spark—