Path to Transcendence

Chapter 748: Not Much of a Chance

Turns out that Kaito and Marcus weren’t affected by his puppy eyes. He suspected that his older appearance really hurt his cuteness level. They didn’t so much as blink or twitch when he pleaded on his knees.

He even offered the majestic cakes he had stored inside his storage ring. Yet to no avail. He was left sitting in the carriage pouting as they rolled away.

Once the sun dropped below the horizon, they found a safe area to set up camp. While the carriage could have continued through the night, there were even more monsters roaming around at night. If they kept on going, they would essentially be begging to get attacked.

That being said, it didn’t stop some monsters. One of the alarms placed around the carriage was set off; a soft ringing echoed throughout the carriage, and everyone stood up. Julius sent a pulse of his spatial skill to where the alarm had rung. But to his concern, he didn’t sense anything.

He sent out an even more concentrated pulse, and this time around he felt a prick from his skill. However, just as he was about to track the signal, it was gone. He frowned. Was this monster teleporting around or something?

Kaito must have also realized something was off and pulled out his spear, looking more serious than he normally did.

Marcus had also straightened up, his eyes glowing as they searched all around them. Kaito gave all of them a nod. “Get ready,” he said simply.

They knew what he meant, and Julius let his skills flow through him. Lora had Aurelia out, and the spirit was hovering over her shoulder protectively.

Kaito gave them one more nod and exited the carriage, closing the door behind him.

Julius heard the creature before he sensed it. A loud crash echoed throughout the otherwise quiet landscape. He heard a high-pitched yowl and a powerful flood of mana rush outward. The enchantments around the carriage prevented most of it from affecting them, but even the small amount that got through was enough to make Lora pale.

Then he felt a domain slam into place.

It wasn’t Kaito’s either. This one screamed of shadow mana and seemed to originate from the monster Kaito was fighting outside. Now that it was closer, he was able to feel the creature’s presence with his spatial skill, albeit barely. It kept on flickering in and out of his perception, as if it were blinking all around.

He suspected that it was using shadows to move around. Still, Kaito was handling it pretty well. The man was extremely efficient with how he moved and positioned himself. Barely any mana or energy was used as he avoided the spontaneous and swift ambushes from the creature.

Julius still didn’t get a good look at what kind of monster it was. It was moving too quickly, and its body was covered in so much shadow mana that it distorted his senses. He had a feeling that Kaito could have probably taken care of it, but he was holding back.

Finally, it seemed that the monster made a mistake. It was a little too ambitious and launched from the shadows. Kaito had already turned around, though, and his spear snapped out, thrusting the weapon at the monster’s chest.

A shell of mana formed around the monster, but the spear was unstoppable and pierced the defenses with little effort. The tip of the spear tore through the creature’s shoulder, and before Kaito could attack again, it vanished. Once again hiding back in the shadows.

However, Julius was finally able to get a good look at the monster. It was a cat-like creature, but much larger. It was probably around eight feet long from head to tail, and was closer to a panther than it was to a regular house cat.

With it now being injured, Julius thought the creature would slink off into the night and retreat. But surprisingly, it didn’t do that. Instead, it stayed around, hovering around the edges of the camp. Its domain was still active and restricting the area. Julius didn’t bother to use his anti-domain technique, though.

The enchantments from the carriage were blocking out most of the domain’s strength. Additionally, the technique wasn’t easy to use. There was no reason to tire himself right now. If Haruto and the other elders of Clan Yoshu were going to attack, now would be the time. It wasn’t worth it just to be comfortable.

Lora was struggling a little bit, though, and Julius scooted over so that his shoulder was pressed against hers. He also extended some of his aura, wrapping it around her like a protective bubble. His willpower and aura were much less taxing to use, greatly diminishing the pressure the domain was exerting on Lora.

While Kaito was dealing with the monster outside, Julius kept an eye out for any other threats. He didn’t sense anything, but he also doubted any attack would be easy to spot.

The panther was an annoyance. It never committed to a full attack; rather, it chose to stay out of reach of Kaito’s spear after it had been injured. Kaito didn’t seem as bothered, though. He kept on deflecting all of the monsterʼs attacks calmly. He even managed to nick it a few times with his spear.

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However, Kaito’s patience paid off. He had carefully created a little trap for the monster, allowing it to freely come in and out of the space. But just as the panther came in for another attack, Kaito managed to slice it with his spear once again. This time around, though, there was some kind of skill wrapped around the tip of the spear.

It disrupted the monster’s teleportation skill just long enough so that Kaito could activate his own domain that he subtly set up for the past couple of minutes. The spear alongside the domain caught the panther off guard, and it staggered as it desperately tried to escape.

But Kaito was already there. He finally used a movement skill and, with a single step, crossed the distance between him and the panther. His spear was coated with wind mana and was tearing towards the beast’s throat.

However, just as the spear was about to pierce the monster, something came slamming down from the sky. Fortunately, Kaito managed to react in time and pulled back just before the projectile crashed into him.

However, this wasn’t the only attack coming his way. Julius felt several more projectiles rain from the sky. They were moving extremely fast, and Kaito was forced to use his movement skill once again just to avoid them. One managed to track him, and he lifted his spear up, deflecting the projectile.

Julius also realized that these projectiles were arrows. The mana wrapped around them made them appear larger than they actually were, but they were indeed arrows. And one thing about arrows was that they weren’t something that monsters used.

Julius let out a sigh. “Finally,” he said in a soft whisper.

Marcus glared at him.

“What? The waiting was killing me,” he said with a shrug.

Marcus shook his head and got ready to go help Kaito if the man needed it. But he was also waiting to see if anyone else would reveal themselves.

Kaito, on the other hand, was quickly pushed back. The archer shooting at him must have been far away, and the panther was on the attack. Julius couldn’t help but wonder if the panther was a contracted beast to the archer. The way their attacks coordinated together spoke of teamwork.

Kaito managed to adapt to the additional fighter and finally started to push back. He also began to unleash more of his skills. With the trap already activated, he started using some of the reserves he had been saving up.

Julius watched as the world slowed and an image of a spear spawned from the heavens just as the panther came in for another attack. This time Kaito didn’t let it go, just like the bird from a couple days earlier, the monster wasn’t able to do anything as the spear was driven into the beast’s chest.

Its form flickered as if it was trying to use some kind of skill, but the spear intent from Kaito was overpowering and disrupted whatever skill the creature was trying to use. It let out a high-pitched screech as it was pinned to the ground.

However, dozens of arrows suddenly rained down on Kaito, and he was forced to back off. The panther was severely injured, but Julius could sense that it was still alive, albeit barely.

It also appeared that the other assailants were finally making their move. Just as Kaito was recovering from his attack, Julius felt two auras suddenly appear. Kaito thrust out his spear, only to find it blocked by these two people. One was none other than Haruto.

The man had a spear of his own, and he pulled away, sending a dense burst of wind magic straight at Kaito.

Kaito was forced to block the burst, and the other person, whom Julius recognized as the older male elder he’d seen at the clan’s estate, revealed a staff glowing with a prepared skill. There was an incredible surge of mana, more than Julius had anticipated. It was like the entire sky fell straight onto Kaito.

A tornado of flashing green light and oppressive aura poured down on Kaito’s form, trapping the man within it. Julius lost sight of Kaito and all sense of him within the tornado. But he spotted another rain of arrows blistering toward the tornado, attacking Kaito, who was in the center.

However, Kaito wasn’t so easily taken down. A flash of a spear tore a hole in the tornado and ripped apart the skills coming at him. Kaito flew out of this hole, and while looking a bit weary, he remained untouched.

Haruto seemed to expect this and was already closing the distance. One thing that Julius noticed straight away was that Haruto’s spear was of a different quality than Kaito’s. The pressure and strength of the man’s spear intent weren’t even close to Kaito’s. It was very likely that Haruto hadn’t reached the spear convergence stage like his nephew.

And the difference became even more evident after the first exchange. Kaito was already pushing his uncle back, and it was only because another swarm of attacks from the archer and the older elder forced him back.

“Are you going to help him?” Julius asked Marcus. They had anticipated three Tier 5s to attack them. But it was already four Tier 5s if you included that panther. And while it was already down for the count, Kaito was still fighting three other Tier 5s on his lonesome.

“I’m waiting,” Marcus replied, mana barely restrained within his body.

“Waiting for what?” Julius asked with a frown.

Marcus suddenly snapped his head upwards. Julius followed his gaze, also sensing the intense mana coming from high above.

“That,” Marcus said with a grin, and before Julius could respond, he shot out of the carriage, speeding up toward the archer who was raining down arrows on Kaito. The mana was the first real sign and reveal of their exact position. And it was only because the archer was preparing a very powerful attack.

Julius was barely able to track Marcus as he tore up into the sky, propelling himself with his telekinesis. It was like watching a missile shrieking through the sky, and the archer was so concentrated on his skill that they didn’t even notice Marcus until it was too late.

Even Julius could barely see what happened. But he managed to see Marcus appear next to the archer, releasing an enormous blast with his telekinesis, stunning the archer. Then he grabbed the archer’s bow, pulling him closer, and leveled the man with one of the most devastating elbows Julius had ever seen.

The archer’s body folded in half and was sent back to the ground with such force that it broke the sound barrier. The impact left a bus-sized crater, and the archer’s body was so badly mangled that he didn’t know if the person was still alive.

Marcus didn’t stop there, though; he immediately rushed back down to the ground and helped Kaito deal with the other two Tier 5s.

Julius looked on with a saddened frown. He didn’t know if he would have much chance to participate.