71 Immaturity

Beelze had been sleeping for almost two hours when she felt a hand covering her mouth. Her eyes opened, and a flash of killing intent appeared in them. It did not matter the friendship that formed between her and Cain. She would never allow anyone to abuse her.

However, when Beelze saw Cain’s eyes, there was no lust in them, only an intense sense of worry and a wisp of dread. She immediately understood that things were not as simple as they seemed and focused.

The first impulse in Beelze’s mind was to use the A.I. Chip to communicate with Cain, but she understood that there must be a reason why the young man did not do that.

Cain nodded once he saw Beelze remained calm and took his hand out of her mouth. He pointed to the distance, to a shallow swamp.

Beelze’s eyes widened, and the same worry that Cain showed appeared in her eyes. Near the shallow swamp were two older men, one of them was bald and with a large body, while the other had gray hair and a skinny complexion.

The reason for the duo’s worry was that despite the distance, they could feel a sharp aura from them, meaning that their cultivation was, without a doubt, above Level 4!

It would take everything of Cain and Beelze to face a single Level 4 Wave Warrior, assuming this one did not have Wave Artifacts. However, the two men were not only above that level, but the metallic structure covering their spines made it clear they had powerful armor.

There was no way Cain and Beelze could defeat the duo; to make things worse, they had no idea why they would show themselves in a place like this.

Although the mission to hunt Salar Jones was open to cadets and soldiers, there was no way something like this would draw the attention of people at the duo’s level.

.....

Cain and Beelze remained silent as they stared at the men. There were around three hundred meters between them, so they should be safe from detection. Still, neither cadet used their A.I. Chip, as there was no way to say if the men had some artifact capable of detecting electromagnetic waves.

Curiosity burned in the eyes of Cain and Beelze. Things grew odder as a man rose from the shallow swamp near the two old men. The duo immediately recognized that person as their target, Salar Jones.

Salar showed no fear at the two old men and even had a cocky smile on his face as he looked at them and began to speak. Unfortunately, due to the distance, neither Cain nor Beelze could hear what they were talking about.

Cain and Beelze looked at each other. Neither understood what was happening. Why would the two older men show such deterrence to Salar, a Level 4 Astral Wave Warrior with no background that the Imperial Lightning Fort considered a criminal?

Cain’s mind was extremely sharp, but even he could not clearly understand what was happening since there were simply too many missing pieces. The one clear thing was that Salar Jones’ background was not as simple as the Imperial Lightning Fort made them believe.

Under the protection of the two old men, Salar could leave this Tier 1 Danger Zone without a problem. Even if Cain and Beelze could inform of this right now, it would be a while before someone with enough power to overcome the trio arrived at this location.

The only way forward was to get away from this place and head back into the Imperial Lightning Fort. They could then inform of what they saw and let the higher-ups decide what to do.

Suddenly the scranny old man talking with Salar made his Essence Wave burst and raise a hand, generating a small tornado in it!

The pupils of Cain and Beelze narrowed as they saw that and were ready to push their Wave to the limit and run with everything they had. However, they did not do it, as the scranny old man shot the tornado in the opposite direction.

The tornado destroyed some of the trees in its path, but the two figures that dashed from the branches and began to run at full speed were the old man’s true goal.

Cain could barely discern them, but they were clearly soldiers by their clothes. They were a man and a woman, and by the might of their Wave Cloaks, neither had reached Level 4.

The soldiers attempted to escape, but they were too slow. The man ran for a few seconds before a barrage of wind blades descended from the sky and cut his body to pieces.

Utter sorrow appeared in the female soldier’s eyes as she saw her comrade’s fate, but she did not have time to worry for others as the bald old man appeared in front of her.

The one that went after the female soldier was an Astral Wave Warrior, and he was about to destroy the woman’s head when a voice echoed through the forest.

“Do not kill her!” The one that shouted those words was Salar Jones, and there was a vicious light in his eyes.

The original appearance of this chapter can be found at N0v3l.B1n.

The old Astral Wave Warrior noticed the intention of Salar, and instead of a punch, he sent a palm strike forward. The attack sent the female soldier crashing against a tree, making her puke blood, but she was still alive.

Salar showed a lustful smile as he saw the wounded female soldier and began to walk toward her location. He did not hurry up as he wanted to see the look of horror on the woman’s face once she understood her fate. It was all part of his twisted game.

Cain’s eyes widened with shock as he saw what had just happened. Even if he had wanted to help soldiers, there was no way he could have covered the distance before the man perished.

Cain took a deep breath and forced himself to take control of his emotion as he focused on the woman. He knew what Salar would do to her, and it made his blood burn as a furious killing intent began to grow inside him.

‘I can not allow it!’ Everything inside Cain told him he needed to help that woman, as he could not allow something like that to happen on his watch.

The desire was so strong in Cain’s mind that he almost jumped forward when a hand grabbed his shoulder. He turned to the side and saw Beelze looking at him with cold and emotionless eyes.

While Cain’s eyes burned with fury, killing intent, and a sense of justice, Beelze’s were cold and saw the picture from an entirely pragmatic point of view.

Beelze did not say a word, but the meaning in her eyes was unmistakable. Flashing forward would only mean death; even if Cain was fine with it, her life was also on the line here.

Cain knew that trying to help that woman would most likely end in his death, but the idea of letting Salar carry on with that depraved act made him sick.

Rage, hatred, and finally, disappointment appeared in Cain’s eyes as he nodded. He was not alone, and even if he was willing to bet his life, he did not have the right to gamble Beelze’s as well.

Beelze nodded as she saw Cain calm down and glanced at the trio in the distance. She signaled Cain that they should get to the ground and leave now that Salar and the other two were distracted.

Cain followed Beelze’s guide and quietly descended from the tree before running away. He could not believe they had just left and done nothing to stop Salar. A sense of impotence assaulted his heart, and he clenched his fists so hard they began to bleed.

They had run for less than thirty seconds when Beelze’s Wave Cloak emerged. She gathered a tremendous amount of Essence Wave before firing a cluster of shining ice to the sky, right above where Salar and the two old men should be.

Cain was surprised by Beelze’s actions and saw how the cluster burst into a glowing sphere of ice that illuminated the sky.

That would draw a lot of attention to Salar’s location, forcing this one to move, and there was no way he could do it while carrying a wounded woman.

The female soldier would definitely die, but thanks to Beelze’s actions, she would at least do it with dignity and not have her last moments of life as the toy of some depraved bastard.

Cain did not hide the admiration he felt for Beelze, but along with it, there was a sense of shame. His immaturity put him and Beelze in great danger, and if not for the old men focused on the soldiers, they might have detected his killing intent and gone after them.

There was nothing that Cain could do right now other than to learn from this mistake, but the look in his eyes made it clear this was not something he would get over easily.