Chapter 99: Rachel, Darius, and Alfred
Rachel had brought fifteen Hunters with her, and in her eyes, there was no possibility that Silas and Darius could put up any meaningful resistance.
The next moment proved her completely wrong.
Silas reached for the belt around his waist, drawing five daggers in one move before sending them screaming through the air. One after another, they struck a Hunter deeply, only to reverse course as though guided by an invisible force before launching themselves toward another target.
The relentless barrage descended like a storm.
No one had paid Silas any attention. Every Hunter had assumed Darius would be the greater threat, and that single mistake cost them dearly.
By the time they realised what was happening, eight Hunters were already dead, and Silas showed no intention of stopping.
"What are you all doing?!"
Rachel’s fury erupted like a volcano.
"Form up and kill him!"
The moment her furious shout disrupted the formation, Darius moved.
He had been waiting for Silas to throw the enemy into chaos. As soon as Rachel broke their encirclement, he charged forward, smashing one Hunter across the head with his iron tusk before driving another backwards with a crushing blow to the torso, tearing open a gap in their loose formation.
"Let’s go!"
Silas immediately understood his intention. They had already killed or incapacitated several Hunters, and that alone was a success born from Rachel’s arrogance. Lingering any longer would be suicide, especially with five shuttles still hovering overhead.
"Who said you could leave?"
Rachel roared as the two tried to retreat.
"Get down here! Kill them together!"
She raised the short staff in her hand, and an invisible force instantly swept over the battlefield.
Silas staggered.
His legs suddenly felt as though they were dragging through molten lead. Every step became unbearably heavy, his daggers weighed down his arms, and even his Raven ability felt strangely suppressed, refusing to answer his call.
"What the heck is happening?"
Hearing Silas’s frowning comment made Rachel burst into laughter as pods began dropping from the hovering shuttles, with even more descending moments later.
"My Mage Ability is Cursing," she said proudly, confidence returning to her face. "No matter how special your abilities are, they’re worthless once I place a curse on you."
Silas clenched his teeth. Since becoming an Enhancer, he had never encountered an ability that countered him so completely.
Darius attempted to rush Rachel, only for another curse to descend upon him as well, slowing his movements just as severely.
"Take them down!"
Rachel pointed her staff toward the remaining Hunters.
"But leave that handsome boy to me."
With a flick of her wrist, she produced a sword from thin air, a trick Silas had already witnessed several times. Unlike ordinary weapons, however, this blade radiated genuine danger. Its wicked, double-serrated edge gleamed with a cold, murderous purple light.
"My Mage Ability isn’t suited for killing," Rachel said with a sinister smile, "but with this, I won’t have any trouble ending your life."
Silas tried to retreat. He tried to dodge. He even attempted to use his Raven, but every effort was smothered beneath the crushing weight of the curse before it could take form.
Rachel closed the distance at an unhurried pace, lifting the sword high above her head. The excitement on her face was impossible to hide.
"Die, you worthless orphan."
The blade came crashing down toward his neck.
CLANG!
Instead of flesh, the sword struck something far harder, producing a sharp metallic clang before the impact knocked it from Rachel’s grasp. The weapon spun through the air and landed several meters away.
"You are not allowed to touch a single hair on his head while I’m here."
A deep voice echoed through the battlefield, followed by a heavy punch that crashed straight into Rachel’s face.
The arrogant girl who had stood above everyone only moments ago collapsed the instant her nose broke. She fell to the ground with a cry, clutching her bleeding face as tears streamed down her cheeks, yet none of the three standing before her spared her a second glance.
The moment the blow landed, her concentration shattered, and the curses binding Silas and Darius vanished.
"Alfred?!"
Silas stared in disbelief.
Alfred had emerged from the darkness without warning, stepping directly into the path of the descending sword. His scales defended the strike effortlessly, stopping it as though it carried no weight at all.
Yet that wasn’t what shocked Silas the most.
"What are you doing here? Weren’t you supposed to stay with Lara?"
He couldn’t help glancing at Darius.
Alfred should have been protecting Lara at the mine, yet somehow he had abandoned his post, crossed a huge distance in the night, arrived at the exact right moment, and saved Silas’s life. It was too precise to be a coincidence.
It felt as though someone had guided every step he took. And there was only one person capable of doing that.
"Ahem." Feeling Silas’s suspicious stare filled with questions, Darius awkwardly cleared his throat before gesturing at their surroundings. "I don’t think this is the time to discuss it."
"He’s right," Alfred said, scanning the battlefield as dozens of pods crashed into the ground while even more descended from above. "If we don’t leave now, we’ll be buried under their numbers."
"One second."
Instead of retreating, Silas stepped toward the fallen Rachel, crouched beside her, and calmly picked up two items from the ground. She tried to cling to the staff, but Silas’ firm grip freed it from her hand by force.
"Thanks."
His cold gaze met hers as she lay crying in the dirt.
"I’ll take this staff and sword as compensation for what you tried to do to us."
He walked back, tossed both weapons to Darius for safekeeping, then suddenly spun around and unleashed another volley of daggers.
Seven Hunters who had nearly completed the encirclement dropped one after another before they even realised they had been targeted. The barrage left the remaining students frozen in place.
"The next time we meet," Silas said calmly, "I won’t spare you."
"So don’t test your luck again."
Without another glance, he turned and ran alongside Alfred and Darius.
Their escape was far from easy. The battlefield had become littered with fallen pods that blocked nearly every path of retreat, forcing the three to carve their way through wave after wave of students. Even so, none of them truly felt cornered.
Under the cover of the deep darkness, they eventually slipped free of the carefully prepared trap, leaving behind a devastated Rachel whose screams echoed across the battlefield.
She had lost everything.
Not only had she failed to weaken Cher, but she had been thoroughly humiliated. Many of her subordinates had died, her prey had escaped, and even the staff and the precious sword her mother had given her had been taken.
Never in her life had she suffered such disgrace.
Nearly half an hour later, after finally regaining her composure, Rachel slowly rose to her feet. Hatred burned within her eyes as she clenched her fists.
"No matter what... I’ll make you pay for this humiliation tenfold before this mission ends."
Silas’s warning meant nothing to her. In her eyes, he was already a dead orphan.
The elite squad of her clan would arrive within a few hours, and when they did, she would personally watch him die.
***
"So... that’s what happened."
As the three continued running, Alfred explained everything to Silas.
He described the strange message Darius had sent him, warning that Silas would be caught in an ambush and ordering him to head to this exact location. The message had even included a route that somehow bypassed every enemy garrison along the way.
After listening in silence, Silas slowly turned toward Darius before rolling his eyes.
’You seriously aren’t going to explain how you pulled that off?’
’Couldn’t you have warned me beforehand so we didn’t have to end up in this mess?’
As though he had heard Silas’s unspoken complaint, Darius took out the sword and short staff one after another before storing them back inside his portable device.
’If we hadn’t taken the risk, we wouldn’t have gotten weapons this good.’
’Besides, we’ll need her later.’
’You’ll understand soon enough.’
The two exchanged a long, silent glance before turning to Alfred. His left leg had been badly wounded, and thanks to their hurried escape, the blood continued pouring from the gash with alarming speed.
"Let’s rest here."
After another ten minutes of running, Silas decided it was no longer safe to push forward. Alfred had already lost too much blood, and if they didn’t stop the bleeding now, he would die.
"I’ll treat the wound."
Darius spoke suddenly, almost as though he were trying to make up for keeping his plans from Silas. Silas glanced at him before letting out an inward sigh.
’At least you still have a conscience.’
"I’ll check on Cher and Lara."
The moment he checked his wristwatch, dozens of unread messages flooded the screen, every one of them sent by Cher. Whatever interference had frozen their communicators inside the trap had disappeared the instant they escaped.
After spending several minutes reading through the reports, Silas finally pieced together the situation outside.
"It looks like every route leading back to the mine has been blocked by different groups."
He quickly sent Cher a brief summary of everything that had happened before asking for her location.
"She’s close," he said after receiving the reply. "But we need to move quickly."
"Ouch!"
Alfred gritted his teeth as he tried to stand, only for pain to shoot through his leg. Silas looked at the crude bandage wrapped around the wound before glancing at Darius.
"Couldn’t you have done a better job?"
The cloth had been tied so tightly that every movement seemed to torture Alfred.
"I’m not a nurse."
Darius pointed at the wound without the slightest embarrassment.
"At least the bleeding stopped."
Silas could only smile bitterly. The bleeding had indeed stopped, although so had Alfred’s ability to walk properly.
"I can’t keep up like this."
Alfred slowly pushed himself upright, leaning against Darius for support. It eased the pain enough for him to move, but their pace had dropped to a crawl.
"I’ll only slow you down. You should continue with the plan and leave me behind..."
"No. I’ll stay with you."
Darius answered without hesitation, then hurriedly explained before Silas could question him.
"I’m the reason he got hurt in the first place, and my role in the next part of the plan is minimal. You go ahead and don’t worry about us."
For some reason, the more Darius tried to justify himself, the more suspicious Silas became.
"Fine."
There was no time to argue.
Faint voices drifted through the darkness around, growing louder with every passing second. Rachel’s assault had drawn too much attention, and it wouldn’t be long before more people searched this area.
"Stay hidden, and don’t let yourselves get caught."
With that, Silas set off alone.
He wasn’t worried about himself. Escaping pursuit had never been difficult, especially now that Cher had already sent him their rendezvous point.
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