Chapter 47:

Franklin’s orders were being drowned out by the intermittent sounds of explosions, so he resorted to using hand signals instead.

Head down, the members of his troop followed behind Soot in a uniform manner, their daunting nature further emphasized by their unflinching march, even in the face of the talismans.

Speaking of; though the talismans did not present much danger, they were nonetheless annoying. Furthermore, Franklin had severely underestimated the amount of them Fox had, but that no longer mattered.

“They’re just up ahead!” Soot said with some excitement.

“Soot, wait! Leader, shouldn’t we come up with a plan before charging in headfirst?” Jen said urgently, following Soot’s announcement.

Franklin tsked in annoyance, but he knew that she was right. “Soot, can you tell whether they are on the move or not?” He asked.

Caught off guard momentarily, Soot took a moment to compose himself as he came to a stop. Taking a few whiffs, he concluded. “They don’t seem to be on the move, their scent trail isn’t getting any weaker.”

Franklin nodded and said aloud, addressing the group. “Everyone stop!”

His voice, though quiet, was still transmitted to everyone in his party. As a result, everyone stopped immediately in their tracks; their discipline shining through.

“Split up into the usual teams of five, spread out, and secure a perimeter around the targets. Soot, you’re with me, Anderson will take your place in your original team. We’ll rush in and assess the situation, the rest of you are to ensure that they won’t be able to escape. Remember, the young master’s life takes priority over everything else. Move out!” Franklin’s orders were quick and precise, and the troop reciprocated in kind by immediately melding into the shadows with quick and stealthy movements.

Seeing his team move so expertly, he couldn’t help but be proud. “Let’s go.” He ordered before rushing toward the spot Soot had pointed to.

A short while later, they entered a clearing in the forest where a single figure stood alone. The eeriness of the shadowy figure was further enhanced by the fact that it seemed to be motionless, so much so that the only motion to be seen was that of the wind ruffling the cloth that covered every inch of the figure, obscuring even its face.

“Is that?” Franklin asked.

“Yes, it’s the young master,” Soot replied calmly.

“What do we do?” Jen inquired, studying the figure intently. The fact that it did not move troubled her greatly.

“We’ll advance, keep your guards up,” Franklin ordered; he too felt odd at the sight of the figure and its peculiar state. Hopefully, the young master was just knocked out.

“Can you detect Fox or her accomplice?” Franklin asked Soot on the way.

“No, I can’t,” The latter replied, but he looked a little troubled.

“What’s wrong?” Franklin asked, noticing the man’s expression.

“It’s nothing, but there are traces of an Origin beast nearby.”

“Does it pose a threat to us?” Franklin said impassively.

“Well no but the thing is, this particular type of Origin beast would normally bury their excrement so it’s odd that the stench is still so strong.”

Franklin paused slightly, unsure if Soot was being serious or not.

“So you think that there’s something suspicious?” Jen asked Soot seriously.

The other two members of the party began snickering quietly to themselves.

Sighing, Franklin ordered. “Enough, I’m sure it’s nothing. Move forward as is, secure the young master.”

In truth, Franklin was also expecting this to be a trap, the reason being that if it weren’t, then it would mean that Fox had run away and from what he had seen of her, he was sure that was unlikely. She was cunning, daring, and fearless. There was no way someone like that could possibly run away.

Finally, they had arrived before the young master. Upon closing in, he noticed that the young boy was thankfully breathing, he was just unconscious. The only reason the young master looked to be standing was that he was being propped up by a stick wedged into the ground.

“Jen, retrieve him,” He said before Jen immediately moved to do so.

Watching her lower the boy to the ground, Franklin was hit with a sudden, inexplicable bout of disappointment. ‘Was this it?’ He thought to himself. The night’s thrill seemed to dissipate.

“Just where the hell is she?” Franklin asked Soot, but it wasn’t him who replied.

“Below you, you bastard!” A furious shriek emanated from below him as Fox seemed to appear out of nowhere with a sudden attack.

‘No, not an attack!’ Franklin’s senses told him as he looked toward the young woman’s hand where a talisman was being held.

Franklin recognized the item immediately, a basic restraints talisman. Because of this, he deemed it to be of no threat, and instead of dodging it, he allowed it to hit him as he riled up his Aura. His plan was to break through it quickly and follow up with an attack.

But to his surprise, just as he was about to unleash his Aura, the talisman started glowing with a fierce light.

‘T-that’s!’ Franklin thought in horror as he watched Fox destroy a blue-colored crystal in her other hand.

As soon as the crystal was destroyed, a horrifying amount of Origin spread out before being immediately funneled into the talisman which in turn began emanating heat, as if over-taxing itself.

“No!” Franklin screamed before being consumed by the talisman’s light.

A bright flash spread out, swallowing up Franklin and his team.

The Light lingered for a while before disappearing.

Franklin and his party stood in the exact same place as before, only now they were covered in thick chains made of Origin.

Fox stood before them, appearing to be unreasonably angry.

“You bastards! That was a blue! A damn blue!” She said in frustration as she almost began ripping her hair out.

But Franklin somewhat understood this reaction. What Fox had used was a blue Origin crystal, something unspeakably valuable.

“Agh!!! Dammit all!” Fox screamed before immediately growing quiet. With haste, she took something out of her storage ring. An unfinished talisman sheet and a brush to write with. Following that, she sat on the ground and intently began to scribble on the talisman.

Though he could not move to make sure, Franklin could sense that his other teammates were in a position similar to his, stuck in place. This is why he was surprised by Fox’s passive nature. Wasn’t this the perfect time to strike, so why wasn’t she?

The surprises didn’t end there however…

‘Why is she so angry? Also, why is she covered in shit?’ He asked himself.

…………………………………………

A few minutes prior, Rain’s torment began when she and Lucy entered the clearing, it was here that Lucy stopped and asked her for the final time what her plan was.

Lucy’s eyes grew scary after Rain confessed that she did not have one.

“Give me your ring,” Lucy’s tone was ice-cold.

“B-but-”

“Now!”

“Fine.”

After receiving the ring, Lucy began rummaging through its contents and after looking through everything, she sat down and closed her eyes.

Rain made no sound as she knew that when Lucy got like this, she required complete silence to focus.

Seconds later, she opened her eyes before dealing a swift blow to the back of Todd’s son’s neck, immediately putting his writhing to an end.

“Rain.”

“Y-yes.”

“Do as I say exactly.”

“Ok sure!” Rain said as she smiled refreshingly; she even helped her friend dig through the ground, in search of something. Her smile, however, faltered when Lucy excitedly excavated a turd.

“L-lucy?!”

But her shock did not end there as moments later, Lucy began rubbing herself in the excrement and once she was fully coated, she turned to Rain.

“Wait! No! Hyaaaaaahhhh!!!!”

A few minutes of torture pass and Rain was now covered in feces.

“Why?” She asked in between sobs, the unrelentingly awful smell kept lingering in her nose, causing her to gag.

“Must I go over it again? Fine. Simply put, they are tracking us somehow I’m sure of it. Now, it can’t be through Origin as they would find it difficult to do so with the talismans distorting the natural flow, nor can it be through hearing for the same reason; as for sight, well that’s out of the question.” She said before pointing toward the midnight sky. “Which only leaves scent. Most likely, this kid’s scent.”

“Then why didn’t we rub shit on the kid instead?!”

“No use in that, we can’t hide anymore. Moments from now, they’ll be encircling us. So we must act now.”

“But how?”

“With this” Lucy said as she held up a restraints talisman.

“That thing’s useless, it won’t work on a warrior with Aura.”

“It will if we activate it with this!” In her other hand she held up another item she retrieved from Rain’s ring. A beautifully glowing blue crystal that shone with ethereal light.

“No! Not that!” Rain screamed as she reached for it. The crystal was currently the most expensive thing she owned.

“We can’t. We need it. Which is more important to you? Your life or your crystal?”

Rain stopped reaching for it and dejectedly lowered her head. “It won’t work anyway. The talisman can’t handle that type of power, it will disintegrate in minutes.” She said, attempting to persuade her friend. While it was true that the crystal would momentarily infuse the talisman with enough power to momentarily rank its power up, it also meant that the talisman would be consumed rapidly.

“And even if it doesn’t, they’ll forcibly break through it in around that same timeframe, but that’s alright, as we only need a few minutes.” Lucy continued, nodding her head.

“Even if that’s the case, we won’t be able to hold all of them back!” Rain stubbornly continued to argue, despite knowing that Lucy had already thought things through properly.

“We don’t need to hold all of them back. They seemed skilled which most likely means they’ll do the smart thing and split themselves into teams before forming a large circle around us, trapping us inside. They’ll then send a small team of elites to chase us down personally. It’s only that team that we need to stall.”

“Stall them for what?”

“Stall them long enough for you to draw up a teleportation talisman.”

“I can’t!”

“You can, I saw you working on them in the carriage between shots of wine. You just have to finish them up.”

Rain was rendered speechless, she sat there processing everything as she watched her friend pin the boy up on a stick to make it look like he was standing on his own accord.

“Stop procrastinating, they are almost here, take the time to start working on the teleportation talisman!” Lucy rudely awoke her from her thoughts.

With tears still in her eyes, Rain began to begrudgingly work on the talisman. With every stroke, the hate in her heart grew fiercer and wilder. Hate directed not toward Lucy as she was simply doing her best, but rather hate toward herself for getting them in this situation in the first place. She had acted too impulsively this time. She needed to reflect, but before that, she had to take revenge on the bastards who drove them to these extreme lengths in the first place.

…………………………………………

The plan went off without a hitch, and Rain was doing her damndest to finish the talisman in time.

Lucy was also busy as she went from mercenary to mercenary sticking multiple Explosive talismans on their restrained bodies. The sight of her beautiful visage, covered in dung, leisurely moving from person to person figuratively tying a noose around each neck was soul-stirring.

Unfortunately, Rain did not have the time to admire the sight as she heard distant footsteps in the background. Her time was running out.

…………………………………………