Chapter 622
Chapter 622: Stalking the Escaping Cult Members
“Living armor?” Victoria asked.
“Living armor,” I replied.
While we chased after the escaping cult members from afar on Ray’s back, I activated my bracelet to get myself be covered by the black armor. We will face the enemies as living armors from now on. Though Victoria still hasn’t transformed yet. She can do that later if there are too many enemies.
I don’t know where they will escape to, but it must be somewhere where these cult members have prepared in advance. After all, they are running toward the same direction without even asking the others. They know where to go.
Possibly, we will have to face many opponents. And just the three of us alone won’t be enough. But I can just summon Shelia and Graham. They are already strong enough to face a master level mage on their own.
“Where are they going, I wonder?” Victoria asked.
“Deep into the forest. From what I can see it’s just more trees. Maybe they will go even further. But it’s interesting to see that none of them were asking the others about where to go. That means the are already know where to go. We’ll keep our distance as we follow them. I also need to be careful in case there’s a master level mage in where they are heading to,” I said.
.....
“You think there’s one?” Victoria asked.
“Yes. The enemies already know that their expert level mages are not enough to defeat a random group of travelers. They are either planning to bring reinforcement to fight us again because they don’t want to let us live, or they will report it to their leader that they got defeated and suggesting to retreat from their base. If they are planning to fight us again, that means there should be at least one master level mage since they have that much confidence,” I said.
With Ray’s running ability, he doesn’t leave a trace and doesn’t even make any sound as we are chasing the enemies. He’s such an amazing horse.
He can just fly, but we decided that following them from the ground is easier because they can’t see us.
Still, even though they don’t know that we are chasing after them, they didn’t even look back to see if they are being chased or not. They must have prepared this plan in advance. To ignore everything and retreat to where they have to meet up.
After around fifteen minutes of running, they have all stopped all of a sudden, and looked back. I also stopped at a distance while hiding behind a tree so they won’t see us.
There are five people who are escaping. And they were running away on their own. But this time, all of them stopped at the same time without any sign of communication. Which mean this had to be planned as well.
After five minutes break, they are all started running again. This time, they slightly changed their direction.
I see. They were going the same direction at first in case we followed them, and after a while, and no one is following them, they will move to where they needed to gather. Though I need to be careful as well.
What would they do if they saw me chasing after them? Fight back? Or retreat to different direction so they can bait us for an ambush?
But I know that they still don’t know about the fact that we are not chasing after them. Still, I can’t let down my guard until I know clearly what they are going to do.
They finally stopped at an open area. And this time, they didn’t just stop. But they also talked with each other.
They are still within the range of my hearing so let’s hear what they want to say.
“How was a random group of travelers be that much powerful? They only have a few expert level mages, but they killed more while we couldn’t even injure one?”
“They are suspicious. That’s why it’s best to just retreat.”
“Shouldn’t we head back right away? It’s not like those travelers are chasing after us. From how much carriages they are taking, I guess they are not someone who travel for fun. They must be doing it for a job or something. So they don’t have any leisure to chase after us even if they know that we are from the cult. Maybe as they say, they are a circus troupe.”
“That shouldn’t be the case. They might be chasing after us since one of them hate us. Let’s just stick to the retreat plan. We will wait here for one hour, and if there’s no one is chasing after us, we will regroup with the others. Because back then we were lacking in preparation for the chaos during the tournament, we failed completely. We need to be more careful from now on.”
I see. So that’s why they are being extremely careful. Because of me.
Well, that means I need to stay here and wait for an hour before they finally regroup with the others.
“But isn’t it good that we failed that plan? Because of that, the higher-ups pushed the plan to increase the number of master level mages. Many excellent expert level mages would be given a chance to prove themselves by given more resources and to improve to master level as soon as possible. Even if we fail now, as long as we are alive, it won’t be long until we can get recognition from above and given the chance to be master level mages.”
The other cult members there smiled at the chance of reaching master level.
Hearing them talking, I guess I was right that there should be at least one master level mage in where they will regroup. And they have lost so many people so I don’t think anyone would be stupid enough to kill those expert level mages. They need to be nurtured so they can be master level mages.
This is what I heard from ancient Aura users. In the past, many kingdoms have a lot of master level mages. But they are still weaker than expert level mages who cultivated diligently because their magic level were increased in a hurry.
In that case, these cult members’ master level mages should be around those ancient kingdoms’ soldier. They are strong enough to be called master level mages, but still weaker than properly trained expert level mages.
Though in this era, many expert level mages are way too weak compared to the past. Any of those weak master level mage should be enough to even destroy a kingdom. But because of my interference, they are not strong enough to do so.
Good thing I never asked the other to hurriedly improve their level. I don’t want Kayla, Angela, or the others to lose so much potential because they are in a hurry. They have so much potential. They could even reach that stage beyond master level. Which we need a new name for.
After one hour of thinking of a name that fit for the stage beyond master level, those cult members finally made their move.
“We’re leaving now?”
“Yeah. I don’t think they can catch up to us even if they are chasing us. Maybe they got lost and give up. I also can’t sense anyone near us. Let’s retreat.”
Finally. They are regrouping with other cult members. I need to gain my distance from them in case they have a master level mage.
Thanks to my training with Shadow, I can hide my presence better with using Aura. It makes me harder for even master level mage to find.
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Back then, just one glance through building, and even artificial master level mage can sense that I’m looking at them. But now, a real master level mage won’t be able to sense me unless they are stronger than average master level mage.
Those cult members are flying this time. With the help of two wind mages among them. They only fly a bit higher from the trees so they can hide. But there’s no way for them to hide from me.
I followed after them to outside the forest. And there’s a village there which was supposed to not exist in the map.
After that time in the fake village, I told the kings that if there are any new villages built, they need to investigate it. But I don’t think this village has been investigated. This is too new.
Good thing the village is not that big. This way, even from distance, I can still see the whole village.
I can see a man inside a hut in the middle of the village where the escaping cult members are entering. He must be the leader in this area.
Since I can’t get closer to them, I am just looking around the village after I reported everything to Sonia who will inform the others. Though they don’t need to do anything since I’m here. Unless I asked for help of course.
For a small village, there are too many people there. Maybe they are like the small man and his group of bandits. People who want to join the cult. The new recruits.
If I get closer, the master level mage will know that an individual just entered the vicinity. They will get suspicious. So I can only watch them from afar.
Although we have killed many of them, their number is still growing. This is disturbing. Because that means there are still that many people who believed in their cause.
...Should I kill them all?