"....."
Kairen looked away from the spear and looked at the man's hand. His hands were both trembling. No. His whole body was trembling.
'What is wrong bro...'
What happened to him all of a sudden?
Tap
The man then took one step back.
"Argh- Cough."
Kairen coughed a mouthful of blood once again. More blood spilled on the ice as he kept coughing.
Forget about removing the spell. He couldn't do that in such a condition. He felt light-headed and couldn't concentrate. His chest was heavy and he couldn't breathe properly. He would be proud of himself if he could only keep his eyes open in such a condition.
Tap
Tap
But forgetting about the pain in his body for a moment, Kairen stared at the man. His actions were making him more and more confused.
It was really... really strange.
The man stumbled back with his whole body trembling as if he had seen a ghost. He acted as if he had completely forgotten about the situation he was in.
"...How..."
He mumbled that with a low voice that even Kairen, who was the closest person to him, had difficulty hearing.
"This... how..."
The man said something again, his voice trembling.
"...."
Hearing those words, Kairen felt something strange in his heart for some reason.
"...How..."
"Hey!"
Using the sudden change of action on the man, Rayan rushed towards Kairen as fast as he could.
Even though, the man didn't even seem to realize that.
BANG
BANG
Bullets were shot towards him at that moment, yet the man didn't even try to dodge.
Drip Drip
The bullets pierced his skin. Blood splashed out and dyed the ice red.
But the man still didn't budge.
He was only staring at the mage who was lying down on the cold ice.
"..."
"..."
The mage was also staring back at him with a strange expression on his face.
"Mr. Hey!"
Claire rushed at the man and grabbed his hand.
"What are you doing? You are hurt!"
"..."
The man still didn't react.
'Man... This dude went from 100 to 0 real... quick...'
Kairen could see Reyan rushing to his side, and team leader Dains and Alan who were slowly approaching the man while eyeing the man.
Then, he felt his body tilt to one side. Kairen could also feel cold ice touching his skin.
"Huff... Huff..."
He was dizzy and his sight was going black.
But he couldn't lose consciousness just now.
'If I faint... I'll die...'
With such injuries, he would die in this place in no time. He had to get out of here, go to a hospital, and get treated.
And to do that, he had to activate the teleportation device.
No one would be able to teleport back if he fainted right here right now as he was the only mage on the team.
"The... D-device..."
Opening his mouth with much difficulty, Karien spat out those words.
"W-what?"
Reyan knelt down beside Kairen and moved his ear closer to Kairen.
"The... teleport-Cough argh..."
"Ah!"
Reyan raised his head and turned towards the team leader.
Team leader Dains was still pointing at the man and the teenager with his guns but didn't shoot anymore. He was looking between the man and Kairen, visibly hesitant in his decisions.
"Team leader, he is asking for the teleportation device!"
Hearing that, team leader Dains and Alan both turned towards Kairen and Reyan.
"Do something for him!"
Urging Alan to do something for Kairen's situation, team leader Dains still stood in his place and pointed at the man with his guns.
"Tsk!"
Alan clicked his tongue and ran towards Kairen. With his ability, he could definitely prevent that mage from dying here.
"What do you want to do now?"
Team leader Dains shouted towards the man with an angry voice, only to get silence as the answer. The man was still staring at his subordinate without moving.
The team leader aimed at the man's head and put his finger on the trigger, but he still hesitated to shoot.
Something wasn't right here.
He couldn't get that thought out of his mind.
"Hey! What's wrong with you?"
Claire grabbed the man's hands and shook him.
"This is bad! You are bleeding!"
"...."
The hands that she was holding were shaking.
"...."
Claire turned his head and looked at the one that Mr. Hey was staring at as if dazed. She looked at the mage who seemed to be about to die and bit her lip.
'The tracker...'
She doubted that the mage would be able to remove it while being in such a condition, but she still wasn't sure of anything.
'Ah... wait...'
Claire narrowed her eyes and looked at the mage's face once more.
'It's him!'
Even though his face was a mess and he looked like shit, she could still recognize him. He was the one who had once placed a tracker on her.
'Does he enjoy acting as a GPS?'
Claire shook her head and took her eyes off of the mage. Instead, she warily peeked at the agent that was pointing his guns at them. The two guns were each pointed at Claire and Mr. Hey's heads, but he was hesitating to shoot for some reason.
'We've got to ger out of here.'
Mr. Hey was in no condition to fight. He was completely out of it.
'We should go back to boss- Ah... wait...'
She then was reminded of something.
'Didn't they say the spell would be removed by itself if one got too far away from the caster?'
Claire looked at the people present there once again before making up her mind.
A portal was created in front of her and Mr. Hey as soon as she made up her mind.
"They are running away!"
The swordsman agent grabbed his sword upon seeing the portal and the man called the team leader pressed the triggers on his guns.
But Claire didn't wait for their attacks to reach them. She pushed Mr. Hey inside the portal and jumped into it a the same time, heading to the southernmost borders of Hainston.
"Fidel!"
Team leader Dains stopped moving as soon as his name was called. No, he was actually forced to stop moving.
"It's no use! We have to teleport back until he is still conscious!"
Instead of the team leader, Reyan was the one who reacted to Alan's words.
"What do you mean? Can't you use your power to make his condition better?"
"...."
Alan looked down at the mage and shook his head.
"No."
"Why?"
"It's... not working on him either..."
. . . . .
SLAM
Someone was powerfully slammed against the wall.
"What do you think you are doing?"
The Fifth looked at the man that was grabbing his collar.
"I need to talk to your boss!"
"I told you it is not possible!"
The Fifth grabbed Mr. Hey's hands and separated them from his collar.
"Who do you think you are to request to meet our Master?"
He pressed Mr. Hey's chest and pushed him away.
"A nobody like you dares to-"
OONNNGGG
ONNNGGGG
ONGGGG
The room started to shake.
"What?-"
Losing his balance for a moment, The Fifth grabbed the wall to prevent his fall.
SHHHHHHH
Soil started to fall down from the cracked ceiling and also rise up from the ground. Then it started to get wrapped around his body, preventing him from moving.
The Fifth moved his aura to attack the man but stopped midway.
The whole place would be destroyed in seconds if he used his power here. He just realized what that man was trying to do.
"What are you doing? You want the whole hideout to collapse?"
A blade pupped up out of nowhere and was placed on his neck.
"You are one of the ranks, right?"
"...What do you want?"
The Fifth gritted his teeth and glared at Mr. Hey.
"You must have some meant to contact your Boss, Master, or whatever else. Call him. I have to talk to him."
"Are you insane? What makes you think that he would listen to you?"
"He will. Just call him."
The Fifth frowned even more. He wanted to cut this man into pieces right here right now, but he couldn't act rashly.
"You don't get it, do you? Only a few can talk directly to the Master. Only the ranks, or the favored and useful ones can do that."
ONNGGG ONNNNGGG
The room shook once again.
BANG BANG BANG
They could hear the sounds of huge things falling to the ground from outside the room.
"Damn it! You are crazy! Master will kill you!"
"CONTACT HIM."
"Look! Even if I contact him, you still can't talk to him. For you to be able to talk to the Master, you need to have a code name for yourself! A code name that was given to you by Master himself and had been confirmed and signed into our-"
"I already have one so shut up and contact him."
The Fifth froze. He blinked with his mouth still open.
"...You have one?"
He looked at Mr. Hey with a suspicious gaze and slowly took out a device from his pocket. He looked at the device, then looked at the man with suspicion.
Seeing him, Mr. Hey moved the blade away.
"Tell him that I have a request from him."
The Fifth frowned at the man's shamelessness, pressing the device in his hand due to anger. Suppressing the urge to cut this fool to pieces, he started talking with his teeth gritted.
"What is your code name?"
"...."
Mr. Hey toughly clenched his spear.
"The Outlander."