Chapter 468: A Mistake.

Five seconds.

From the moment the three Sky Kingdom Scouts first sensed the air around them shifting strangely, to the time they ’fought’ the unknown enemy and finally lost their consciousness—five seconds was all it took.

“ROOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAARRR!!!”

The beast roared, pushing itself past its limit to try and protect its master, but inwardly, it knew it couldn’t do anything.

Its master would crash on the ground headfirst but then—

The third scout’s free-falling body suddenly stopped right before his head hit the ground.

“I was a little careless, huh…”

Then, a voice was heard as a blurry figure appeared through the dense mist.

“Grrrr…”

The scout’s beast landed on the ground, its crystal-green eyes staring at the figure in front of it, confused and… wary.

Step Step Step

Finally, the mist thinned out, and the figure’s face became clearer—just that all three scouts were unconscious, so none of them could see him.

Their Bonds, however, were different. The three Bonds, one alone and the other two carrying their masters, slowly surrounded Kael, as if prepared for another round.

Kael’s [Ancient Pulse] was still activated; he could still be in this state for ten more seconds, so taking out the three Bonds in front of him wasn’t a difficult thing.

The three beasts glared at him, especially the third scout’s beast—after all, he was still holding its master. In its mind, it was thinking of ways to take on the enemy.

Should it call its brothers and sisters that were inside its master’s Sanctuary? That was one option as well—an option that it was considering strongly.

But then—

“I do not wish to hurt any of you.”

Kael spoke, looking right into the beast’s eyes before he gently dropped the third scout on the ground.

“…”

The beast stared at him in silence.

Kael nodded slowly as he stepped back, as if letting the beast take its master—an action of trust.

The beast too, for some odd reason, let its guard around Kael down and slowly walked towards its master. It sniffed its master and, once it was sure that its master was alive—

“I will walk away without any further confrontation, and in return, you will not call your siblings, neither will you chase me. How does that sound?”

Kael asked carefully, and the three beasts staring at him paused for a moment before they turned and nodded silently, agreeing to his words.

Kael nodded back as he then stepped into the air again. Then, looking at the three beasts one last time, the mist around them became heavier, and his figure disappeared.

The three beasts finally let their guards down, each tending to their unconscious masters, waiting for them to wake up.

What Kael, the beasts, and everyone else failed to notice was Saria’s communication crystal that had fallen out of her hand and was shining ever so lightly.

…

“It was fun, wasn’t it?”

On the other side, Kael, who had reappeared a few meters away from the beasts and was currently following his men from a distance, chuckled softly.

There was no one around him; even Imperia was currently with Lavinia. If someone looked at him, they would think he was talking to himself like a madman.

But then—

“It was! It has been so long since we two fought together!”

Cirri, in her Sky Form, answered with a cheerful laugh.

“You did well.”

Kael praised.

Because of the time the father and daughter spent in the Tempest Sanctum, their teamwork had become ridiculously strong—to the point where they didn’t even have to talk to each other. Cirri could understand what Kael wanted her to do just from his movements alone.

And it was exactly what Cirri was doing today.

Since Kael had already activated [Ancient Pulse], she didn’t have to create ’steps’ for him to step on. The only thing Cirri had to do was confuse the enemies and make the illusion of countless enemies her father had created feel… real.

She simply had to shift the wind flow and push the enemies in a certain direction every time they were ’attacked’ by the illusionary beings Kael had created.

And she did it masterfully—from the beginning till the end, none of the scouts doubted that they were only facing one enemy.

Heck, they didn’t even have the time to report the matter to others back home.

Or at least… that was what Kael and Cirri thought, but…

They were wrong.

Back in the Sky Kingdom, in the Sky Army Division that commanded the Sky Kingdom Scouts—

Two men stared at each other. One was the Operation Leader of the Scouts, Vishwa Skyhold, and the other was his subordinate, Tyran Adewale.

“Lord Vishwa…”

Tyran called out in a nervous voice.

“…”

Vishwa stayed silent.

In his hand was a communication crystal that was shining lightly.

[“I will walk away without any further confrontation, and in return, you will not call your siblings, neither will you chase me. How does that sound?”]

They heard a few words from the communication crystal and waited for an answer—or something at least—but after that…

The crystal turned silent.

It was still shining, so the two men knew the connection hadn’t ended but—with how everything abruptly turned silent…

“It… ended? Just like that…? Why aren’t they saying anything?”

Tyran muttered with a frown.

This communication crystal started buzzing just a few seconds ago. Vishwa, without wasting time, activated it, ready to receive a report, but the only thing he could hear was beasts roaring loudly and strong wind suppressing every voice.

He tried talking, asking what was wrong, but in just a few seconds, the crystal turned completely silent before they finally heard the words, ’I do not wish to hurt any of you.’

It was a voice they couldn’t recognize—an enemy.

But… who was the enemy talking to? Saria?

Why wasn’t Saria saying anything in return?

Why did she call if she wasn’t going to say anything?

Was she… trying to say something secretly? A hidden message maybe?

Or… were they not in the state to say anything?

But even if that was the case, from what they heard, it seemed like the ’enemy’ was talking with someone. Why would he talk if they couldn’t answer?

Was he… intimidating them?

But his tone sounded quite friendly, almost as if he was making a deal with them.

Wait… a deal…?

Suddenly, Vishwa’s expression changed.

Were his scouts… making a deal with the enemy?

The moment he thought about it, his expression hardened.

“We need to move.”

He spoke as his thoughts came to an abrupt halt.

He wasn’t sure if his suspicion was correct—it could very well be a misunderstanding—but at the end of the day, it did not matter.

What he knew was that his subordinates were attacked by an enemy, and now that enemy was trying to escape—no matter what it took, he needed to capture the said enemy.

“Gather the men.”

He ordered without wasting any time.

“As you command, Lord Vishwa.”

Tyran nodded quickly and left the room.

Vishwa didn’t sit idly; he walked out of his room and brought out his three Bonds, each having the ability to share their visions with him.

“Spread out, find him.”

He ordered, and without wasting time, the Bonds, sensing their master’s urgency, flew in different directions, looking for the scouts that had stopped answering.

A few minutes later, Tyran returned with around thirty men. This was the entire Scout Unit that had stayed back today. There were other scouts already roaming around the Shrouded Wilds, but they couldn’t be moved from their locations since the level of danger wasn’t known.

Vishwa stared at his men and ordered them to fly with him. The group moved in unison; Vishwa explained everything while they flew, and once the Operation Leader was done explaining everything—

The unit spread out, prepared to search through the region that was assigned to the three missing scouts.

…

After about an hour, Kael, who hovered in the air, stared at the three scouts he had just knocked out and—

“So I made a mistake, huh…”

He commented with an expressionless look on his face.

This was the third party he had encountered after dealing with the first one. If it had happened once or twice, he would have considered it a coincidence, but to encounter four scouting parties in just an hour?

Something was definitely wrong.

These scouts weren’t just random scouts exploring the entirety of the Shrouded Wilds—they were looking for something.

Or someone.

And Kael didn’t need to think long to know who it was.

“Yes, I heard them talk. They said some scouts had gone ’missing,’ and there is an ’enemy’ who is targeting other scouts.”

Cirri answered.

“They know it is just one enemy?”

Kael frowned.

“How?”

“The first party…”

Cirri muttered.

Kael didn’t knock down the beasts and made a deal with them instead. He did it because he wanted to avoid fighting longer and getting other beasts who were inside the Sanctuary involved, but—

It seemed like this was a bad idea.

Those beasts must have warned the Sky Kingdom, and the Kingdom must have sent more scouts to follow them.

“Haaahhh…”

In the end, Kael exhaled deeply.

Then, as he stretched his body—

“I guess we need a new plan.”

He commented.

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