118: Chapter 79: Mage Attack!
118: Chapter 79: Mage Attack!
Seeing that the clopping sounds outside the forest didn’t come from Mage Atiyas’s Jun Ying, Kovis felt a weight lift off his shoulders.
But the two familiar figures pursuing him also brought some surprise.
Leon dismounted, asked Azeryan to hold the reins, and quickly walked into the forest where he found a blond youth preparing to dig a hole.
“So, this urgent matter of yours, it’s not about burying treasure in the woods next to the road?” Leon asked, puzzled.
“How did you all follow me?” Kovis said sheepishly.
“Because it looks like some fool is planning to sacrifice himself to attract the enemy’s pursuit,” Leon teased bluntly.
“It’s not as noble as you put it.”
When his feeble pretext was exposed, the blond youth gave a resigned smile, glanced at the shovel and crystal stone in his hand, and looked up, “It’s just that I miscalculated.
That guy is after me, and I don’t want to drag you all into this irrelevant conflict.”
“So, I guess I was right, that rune on your back can track your location?”
Having confirmed his earlier guess, Leon had no cause for happiness.
The exposure of their escape route posed a significant problem.
Thinking they’d been sufficiently safe after traveling a great distance at great expense of their mounts’ strength through the night,
by the time Felcon’s forces ascertained their trail headed north, they themselves would have long since taken a detour on their horses toward the border.
In this age of limited means, their pursuers might follow blindly without any aim, not even catching a whiff of horse dung.
“Who put that Tracking Rune on you?
Pilireno or another mage?
Will they be hot on your heels soon?” Leon urgently needed information about the enemy.
Kovis glanced behind him, using the shovel to prop up his shoulder, and speculated, “This locating spell is quite covert, or else I wouldn’t have failed to notice anything odd about it on me, but such a spell wouldn’t persist after the caster’s death.
Apart from Pilireno, the only other person who could have tampered with me without my noticing…
was probably his trusted disciple and confidant, a guy named Emmon, a True Position Mage, he was indeed scheduled to return to the embassy within these few days.”
After saying this, the blond youth once again tried to persuade his briefly acquainted friend: “Emmon has a Jun Ying, a winged Riding Beast with the head of an eagle and the body of a horse, a bit bigger than a horse.
He can catch up quickly if he rides it.
You should leave quickly.
You still need to escort Miss Elena back to Orland.
My personal grudge with Emmon is none of your concern…”
Leon interrupted him bluntly, “Tell me honestly, do you think you can defeat him alone…
or even just escape from his pursuit?”
Kovis bit his lip to stop his words and couldn’t help but chuckle bitterly.
He was only half a Mage Apprentice, and Pilireno’s purpose in training him was merely to make him a usable external source of magic power.
Not knowing a decent Combat Magic, how could he defeat a true mage who had been granted the title of True Position by the guild.
“So, what should I say about you?
You seemed smart at first, but why did you become foolish at the critical moment?”
Leon shook his head and sighed, “Do you think that mage named Emmon, after he kills you, will just ignore the rest of us who are still on the run?
You haven’t forgotten who really killed Pilireno, have you?”
Kovis raised his eyebrows helplessly; the youth knew the situation he referred to.
However, with his slim chance of dealing with Emmon, how could he worry about what happened after his death?
Leon shook his head, “If we had all scattered different ways from the start, and he chased after you in a different direction, then indeed it would have been none of our concern.
But now, since Emmon knows your position, isn’t our escape route exposed too?
He can’t possibly avoid informing the Kantadar people of our trajectory.
Besides, you said yourself that you know no Attack Magic, and the trail of Isa’s Arrow I fired is so clear.
Even if you’re willing to take the fall for killing Pilireno, would they be foolish enough to believe you could release such Attack Magic?
If he intends to avenge his teacher, the next one he’ll be after is me.”
With that said, the situation was clear, and the troubles were mounting.
Leon no longer said more but grabbed Kovis by the arm and pulled him toward the forest’s edge.
“If you can’t defeat that guy, and Emmon kills you and then comes after us, do you really think our horses can outpace that ‘Jun Ying’ that flies in the sky?
If you can’t survive with that rune, what’s the point of you drawing their attention for us?”
Caught off guard by this forceful stance, the blond youth stumbled slightly, hurriedly grabbed his bag, and ran out of the woodland with him.
Leon knew that, unbeknownst to them, they had been drawn into a crisis.
There was no time to discuss; an idea flickered in his mind, and he made an immediate decision.
Go back and meet with Lokhak, change the route, take him and Miss Elena east, we can’t go the same way.”
After letting go of Kovis, Leon approached his mount, mounted it swiftly, then turned to the still stationary blond youth and urged him, “What are you dazing for?
If you want to live, get on your horse and follow me; talk while we run, I still have things to ask you.”
Perhaps swayed by the other’s confident demeanor, Kovis hesitated no longer, stuffed the items in his hands back into his bag, and remounted his horse.