Chapter 225: Tricking the Enemies
Auric flicked the words in front of him.
"Hymn of Space."
The words combined and created a single battle technique.
"!!!" Ellia widened her eyes in surprise because the next thing she realized, she was already in the air, falling into the middle of the forest. The problem was not the spot she got transported to, but the distance of the teleportation.
When she glanced to the side, she saw the house that had been used to keep them.
’How?’ Ellia gasped. ’My Void Step can only be used for a maximum of 18 meters. But this distance... it’s about 50 meters, isn’t it?’
She never thought her Void Step could transport them this far with just a single activation.
As soon as they landed, Auric said, "This way."
Ellia abruptly put the thoughts away and ran alongside Auric, their hands still interlocked.
As soon as they reached a spot, Auric pointed to the left. "Teleport there. 10 meters!"
Ellia could hear a beast’s footsteps right in front of them. They were separated by only a single tree. The moment the beasts confirmed the source of the voice, they would release a roar that alerted other beasts.
That was why Ellia hurriedly used her Void Step, teleporting them according to Auric’s instruction.
"Huuu." The beast tilted its head, trying to see the source of the voice but finding nothing in front. "..."
The beast looked confused and acted as if nothing had happened.
Meanwhile, Auric and Ellia continued to run. Auric looked left and right. After leaving that dark space, his vision returned to him.
He could roughly guess where the beasts were, but his awareness was only limited to what he could see. Lindwurm, on the other hand, monitored the situation from the air and pointed in a certain direction.
Of course, Auric followed Lindwurm’s instructions, trying to get as far away from them as possible.
Unfortunately, their escape couldn’t be so smooth.
Professor Schad entered the house where Auric and Ellia had disappeared, trying to figure out what they had done to escape and where.
Normally, there wouldn’t be any trace of Void Step, considering they would be gone completely from this house.
However, when he looked around the house, he came across some clothes on the floor.
"Hmm?" Professor Schad frowned and picked up the clothes. These were the clothes that Auric and Ellia wore when running away.
They shouldn’t have had the time to take off their clothes during that pursuit.
It was also placed neatly behind a fallen wardrobe, which hid them quite well unless someone checked the house directly.
This trick would eventually be found out, but it would definitely give them a perfect chance to escape.
"Shit!" Professor Schad cursed and turned around. "We’ve been had!"
Professor Schad suddenly rushed back to the safe house, using his power to blow through the entire building just so that he could get to the safe house one second sooner.
Bam!
"!!!" The beasts and other agents were startled. The beasts roared while the agents dispersed. Some followed him to the safe house, while the others cut down the beasts.
"What happened?" The guy wielding the darkness returned, only to find out that Schad’s room had been ransacked. The safe deposit box had already disappeared along with a few piles of papers.
"Did you release your power, R?" Professor Schad glared at the dark-element user.
"I did. That was because their presence disappeared from the room." R nodded.
A few minutes ago.
He was sitting in his room while maintaining his power. He could sense Auric and Ellia. It was still complete darkness, so it didn’t seem that Auric and Ellia had escaped.
"Well, I have to maintain this power for a bit longer. Schad told me that they would try to escape. At that time, we would get a reason to beat them until they were half-dead. The director could handle the rest." R smirked.
However, the presence suddenly disappeared. There was a slight fluctuation in the energy. At least, this one was strong enough that he could sense it directly.
"Hmm?" R rose to his feet and looked down. "They’re gone?"
"There they are!"
"Chase them!"
He suddenly heard a commotion and realized that Schad was right. The kids were trying to escape.
"Well... that’s it." R grinned and rushed outside, finding Schad joining the chase. So, he also chased after Auric and Ellia.
What truly happened was that Auric and Ellia had sent the two clones to the rooftop. Auric controlled the two clones to run away, while Lindwurm reactivated the store and erased their presence.
It created the illusion that Auric and Ellia had just teleported to the rooftop. However, they never actually left.
After everyone was out, Lindwurm checked the entire house before giving the confirmation to Auric.
Ellia then activated the teleportation to Schad’s room and secured the evidence. Meanwhile, Auric prepared for the next teleportation.
If the guy didn’t leave, Auric was prepared to use his power to directly leave the house by using long-range teleportation. There was no need to risk everything by getting the evidence.
There was no need to hesitate because they believed that Auric’s plan would definitely fool them.
Professor Schad, who realized he had been tricked by Auric, couldn’t help but shout, "Those damn brats!"
His gentle and supportive sides disappeared as though they were just a persona created to fool all the students and teachers in the university.
He rose into the air, looking around. There was no trace of Auric and Ellia.
The beasts had scattered around the safe house. While it was true that they were a hindrance to the agents, they were also acting as an alarm.
Yet, not a single beast saw Auric and Ellia.
"Are they not in the forest? There are so many beasts over there, so the beasts should find them sooner or later. Are they in the neighborhood? Inside those houses? Playing a whack-a-mole with me?" Professor Schad narrowed his eyes.
He shouted, "They have escaped. What we are chasing is a battle technique, most likely clones. They shouldn’t be too far from here. Search the houses and spread out across the area!"
"!!!" The agents were dumbfounded. Auric and Ellia actually escaped? They tricked all of them? There were 24 of them, yet they actually failed to see through a trick pulled off by two students.
They increased their pace, not allowing Auric and Ellia to escape.
Meanwhile, Auric and Ellia continued deep into the forest.
Thanks to Lindwurm, they were able to run without being noticed. So, Auric intended to continue this way to a safe spot.
"Where are we right now?" Ellia asked.
"About a 50-minute drive from the city. We should be somewhere in the southwest of the city."
"Southwest? But we’re still going south." Ellia raised her eyebrows.
"Yes. This is going to be dangerous, but the most dangerous place is often the safest one. I intend to hide in a cave or something and call for reinforcements."
That was indeed a good plan. At such a distance, the reinforcements could come fast. In fact, if Auric called someone like Mathias, the latter would arrive in ten to fifteen minutes.
Mathias should be strong enough to kill the surrounding beasts and the kidnappers.
That was why Auric asked for her smartphone.
"Should we call right now?" Ellia asked.
"As much as I want to do that, we really need to keep moving. I have to concentrate because of all these beasts. No wonder they’re using this place, the beasts are so scattered that they can act like an alarm for them." Auric still looked around. "Can you do that for me? Just don’t make too much noise."
"Understood. We need to stop moving for three seconds."
"Give me a second." Auric was still searching for a spot where they could stop for that long. "Teleport to that tree!"
Ellia activated her Void Step. Then, Auric activated another Void Step, creating a zig-zag movement that allowed them to bypass two beasts.
"Do it." Auric nodded.
Ellia immediately activated her storage and took out her smartphone. She could spare some attention because Auric was the one leading the way.
"Fortunately, we have a signal."
"Call my number. Maybe I should speak..."
"Understood." Ellia first called the number and put the phone next to his ear.
The connecting sound felt so long. It should only take a few seconds for the call to connect or for someone to pick up if someone were there, but these few seconds felt so long, especially with the current situation.
"He—" Mathias’s voice came through, but before he could speak, Auric said, "No time to explain, so listen. 50-minute drive, a neighborhood southwest of the city, and call Chief Adjudicator Arnie."
He gave a nod to Ellia, asking her to disconnect the call so that they could focus back on the road.
Ellia simply put the smartphone in her pocket. However, Auric suddenly stopped.
"Kh." Auric gritted his teeth.
Ellia looked at him as if asking, ’What’s wrong?’
"We’re surrounded by the beasts. Going back isn’t an option. That path has been sealed. I need five seconds. Deal with the beast coming from the left."
Auric could see that every spot had been tightly guarded. This time, he was trapped. If they had gone back, the beast, which wasn’t supposed to be there, had blocked the road and would have found them. So, they really had been surrounded this time.
Ellia opened the space storage again and saw a beast coming toward them. She used her Void Step to appear above the beast. Before it could unleash a roar to alert the other beasts, Ellia swiftly severed its neck.
She stayed for a bit, waiting for the chance to use her Void Step one more time.
She moved closer to the tree and took a peek around it, finding a massive tiger in front of them.
The one blocking their path this time was actually a powerful beast. Ellia didn’t know how powerful it was, but it might not be a normal rank 3. It might even be a rank 4 beast.
They were in quite a bind. They needed to move faster from here, but the problem was the smell of blood.
"!!!" The tiger smelled the blood and opened its mouth.
Roar!
This roar didn’t just alert the beasts. It alerted Professor Schad and the others as well.
"!!!" Professor Schad widened his eyes. He had been waiting for this. "Over there!"
Still, he was quite surprised that Auric could get this far without being noticed by the beasts.
Ellia gritted her teeth. Since they had been discovered, Ellia rushed back toward Auric, not bothering to hide anymore.
"Sorry!" Ellia thought this was a blunder.
However, Auric didn’t consider it a blunder. In fact, he had expected that the situation would be like this. There was originally no escape from this place.
Still, if the weaker beast didn’t get taken care of, Auric wouldn’t get the precious few seconds to write his ’Edict.’
In fact, this was why he asked her to buy him a few seconds instead of asking her to protect him.
With a grin on his face, Auric asked, "Are you ready for the craziest escape?"
