Chapter 149 - Stopping

"Gasp!"

Kairen gasped as he felt immense pain in his head, yet he didn't plan on giving up yet.

Once again, the symbols all around his body started to shine, but before the man could hit him again and collapse the spell, four energy beams popped up in the air.

BANGGG

The man didn't even flinch at the sight of the energy beams heading towards him.

He jumped back while still holding Kairen. He dodged the first energy beam by moving back, the two others by jumping up in the air, and forced the last one to change trajectory by using Kairen as a human shield. 

"...."

Kairen, the human shield, looked blankly at the man that had easily dodged his energy beams. Once Kairen saw what the man was about to do, he regretted what he had just done.

While still in the air, the man let go of Kairen. Before Kairen could fall to the ground, the man moved his leg and kicked Kairen in the chest.

"Gasp!"

BANGG

His body powerfully crashed into the thick ice.

Kairen could feel the bones in his body break after falling down to the ground. His mask was broken and his nose was bleeding. It was hard to breathe and he felt dizzy. 

In short, he felt like shit.

'Damn it. What the hell?'

How could that man fight like this even without using his ability?

Kairen had thought that the man wouldn't hurt them as he had not done before, but now he wasn't so sure about that.

'No... He didn't attack at first... He wanted to make a deal...'

For some reason, Kairen still didn't want to think that this man was at fault. 

Then who was at fault? Team leader Dains who didn't accept his offer?

That wasn't true either.

Kairen could see the man land on the ice near him and strode over to his side again. 

BOMM

An aura slash was shot towards the man.

BOMM 

BOMM

BOMMMM

It didn't end in only one and aura slashes kept being shot towards the man.

"Hah!"

The man dodged all of them as if it was a child's play while scoffing at Reyan.

"Tsk!"

Reyan raised his sword to attack again, but a voice stopped him.

"Stop it! First, move that kid away from him!"

Team leader Dains, the one who said those, suddenly let go of his guns,  But the falling guns didn't drop down to the ground, they disappeared midair.

"!!!"

Just then, with a slight movement of the team leader's fingers, blackish-purple streaks appeared all around the man. 

"Ho!"

The man exclaimed while looking at the streaks surrounding his body. 

Ignoring the man's reaction, team leader Dains clenched his fists. As soon as he did so, all of the streaks headed towards the man's body at once.

Reyan lowered his sword and dashed towards Kairen at the same time.

"Not gonna lie. This one is really dangerous!"

The man said that, but instead of running away or dodging the streaks, he raised his left hand in the air.

Brr Brr

The spear that was uselessly waiting on the ground until now shook and shot towards him at a fast speed. 

The spear was resting in his left hand the next second. And the second after that...

SHHH SHHH

The spear turned to soil.

SHHHAPP

The soil rose to the air and wrapped around the man like a barrier.

BANGGG

The streaks collided with the soil barrier.

The soil scattered everywhere with each streak that hit it, but gathered in one place again in a matter of seconds and shielded the man against the other streaks.

The streaks disappeared as soon as they collided with the barrier. It took only a few seconds for all of the streaks to vanish. 

"...."

And in the end, none of them managed to leave a single cut on the man's body.

"What!?"

Before the astonished team leader could create more streaks and attack him again, or even before Reyan could grab Kairen and get back, the man clenched his right fist. 

As soon as he did so, all of the soil floating in the air condensed in one spot, turning into the shape of a spear once again.

The man grabbed his spear with two hands, raised it up, and then thrust it into the icy floor with all of his might.

BOOOOMM

The ice shattered and sank down with the man in the center. 

Blocks of ice were shot tho the air, moving in all directions. Cracks started to form on the ice from the spot where the spear hit the ground and started to spread until they reached Kairen, who was not too far away from the man, and Reyan who was running towards them in an instant.

"Darn-"

Loosing his firm foothold, Reyan who was running on the ice lost his balance and fell to the ground.

"Ah!?"

Kairen moved his upper body and tried to stand up, but his broken bones didn't let him move at all. He wanted to raise his arm to prevent the shattered ice hit his face, but he couldn't move either one of his arms. His mask was already destroyed so those things would cut his skin pretty easily. 

"Huff! Argh!"

His head hurt so much that he couldn't concentrate to cast a spell. It was even hard to focus on his mana to move it. 

In the end, all he could do was turn his body and do his best to crawl away from the man.

But then, the ice that was moving towards the team leader and Alan stopped midway and suddenly went backward towards the spot they were split from. The ones moving towards Reyan and Kairen also were stopped by Alan and were sent back to the ground. 

Then the icy floor that was shattered into pieces by the man got smooth and soft again just like how it was before.

However, the man didn't even glance at the miraculously restored floor.

"Is one spell really worth your life?"

The man stood in front of Kairen. Kairen, trying to drag his body away from the man by crawling on the ice, froze upon sensing something cold touch the back of his neck.

"Have you not changed your mind yet?"

Kairen slowly turned his head to look at the man who had put the tip of his spear on his throat. 

He was asking him if he wanted to die only because he insisted on not removing one spell.

'Really? I'm going to die here?', he thought. 'Is it really worth it?'. It is worth it to die because of a tracker spell? 

No.

Definitely not.

But, did he have a choice? He had to obey his team leader's decision...

He couldn't die here. 

There were still things that he had to do.

He had to go back.

He had to go back to his brother. 

He didn't want to die in such a place, alone.

He could see it all better after completely turning his body around. 

In his blurry sight, Kairen could see the spear pointed at his neck and the man that was completely unscratched even after they attacked him with all of their power. 

Kairen raised his head and looked at the man's hidden face. 

The man's head was lowered. He was looking at Kairen's body that was completely crashed by him in mere seconds.

Starting from his legs, the man raised his head while examining Kairen's body until he reached his face. He started talking again while doing that.

"I'm telling you... I won't kill you if-"

But he suddenly paused midway through his sentence.

"...."

"...."

He stopped talking and just looked at Kairen's face.

"...."

"...."

Kairen thought they might even be staring at each other's eyes right now.

But...

'What happened?'

The man suddenly stopped moving and stood there, as if frozen.

Kairen could sense his firm gaze on himself.

"Ah- cough!"

With a cough, blood burst out of Kairen's mouth.

"Cough- Argh- Cough."

Kairen coughed a few times more and threw up more blood with each cough. He lowered his gaze looked at the blood seeping out of his lips. The blood was dripping down from his chin and falling on the... shaking spear.

'Huh?'

Kairen looked at the spear pointed at his neck. His sight was blurry, but he could visibly see the spear shaking at the man's hand.

'What happened?'

Kairen wondered if he was hit from behind or something, but then, he heard a voice that made him sure that it wasn't the case.

"We will remove it!"

Kairen jerked his head and looked at the team leader who was shouting at him.

"Remove the spell. Kairen! Remove it!"

Team leader Dains, who had finally changed his mind after Kairen was already beaten to a pulp, desperately shouted those words. It was his last attempt to save his subordinate.

Clang

But then, the spear fell out of the man's hands as soon as team leader Dains said those words.