I Arrived At Wizard World While Cultivating Immortality Chapter 907: Ambush and Pursuit

Just as Jack was in the midst of his excitement, he heard a stirring behind him.

He glanced back instinctively, and saw that Sia had woken in a daze.

The girl sat there against the rock wall, her face still pale and her lips drained of colour, but at least she could sit up on her own now.

“Jack…” Looking at the scene before her, Sia’s voice was full of confusion.

And Sia had every reason to be confused. She had thought the two of them were already dead, and instead they had lived, and the wounds on her body had even healed completely.

And there was the plainly abnormal state Jack had been in a moment ago as well. She clearly wanted to ask, but in the end she asked nothing at all.

“We’re safe for now.” Jack lowered his voice. “But… I found that the signals from our distress bands have all been jammed by someone, so whoever killed them very likely has accomplices. This isn’t over yet…”

Jack did not spell it out too clearly, but Sia understood soon enough and nodded lightly to show that she followed.

Jack went on, “I need to go out now and deal with the traces we’ve left. You stay here.”

As he spoke he drew the short knife out of their gear and handed it to Sia. “Hold on to this. Stay here and keep yourself well hidden, don’t go wandering off. And if I don’t come back for a long time… find somewhere to hide on your own. Don’t wait for me.”

Sia opened her mouth, on the point of saying “I’ll go with you.”

But the words stopped at her lips and she swallowed them, because she had noticed that Jack’s voice was utterly calm; you could even have called it confident!

She truly did not know what had happened to Jack, but she knew perfectly well that whatever it was, it was certainly nothing bad.

“…Be careful!” Sia gripped the short knife tightly.

Jack nodded with a smile. “Mm! Don’t worry, I’m not going to die. Oh, right. And if you see the Military Department or a teacher, don’t go out either. There’s every chance it’s the enemy in disguise!”

“Understood!”

Having confirmed that Sia had taken his meaning, Jack nodded to her, then parted the vines in front of him and slipped out without a sound.

The sky above the forest was as dim as ever, heavy cloud pressing down on the crowns of the trees, shutting out the last of the starlight completely.

But to Jack after his enhancement, this much darkness posed no obstacle at all.

Looking at the dense woods before him, bright almost as day, Jack felt once again how powerful the System’s enhancement was.

Crouching low, he first made a circuit of the hollow to check it over.

He dealt one by one with the footprints he had left earlier, the snapped branches, the trampled shrubs, and the marks left by dragging their gear, restoring everything as far as he could to a natural state.

That done, he did not go straight back but deliberately walked off in another direction, stamping out a few relatively clear footprints.

If there really were enemies out searching for him, the false trail he had just laid would be enough to buy the two of them more time.

As for what he meant to do with that time…

Jack glanced back in the direction of the hollow. “That should do it.”

Then, instead of heading towards where Sia was, he turned and made his way stealthily towards the campsite where his squad had been stationed before.

That black figure had come within a hair of killing him, and within a hair of killing Sia.

Indeed, had it not been for the System, the two of them really would have been killed.

So of course he was not going to let the matter rest there!

When he had not known what the System could do, he had thought only of how to keep himself alive; but now that he had come by more power, he naturally had more ideas as well.

Jack was no fool, of course. He knew very well that he was in no position yet to take revenge.

To kill that man he would have to grow stronger.

And from the standpoint of staying alive, growing stronger was necessary in any case.

And the fastest way to do that at present was to charge the System.

There were still energy crystals inside those bands that had already been disabled. If he could only retrieve them, he could carry out a second enhancement!

At the thought Jack could not help clenching his fists. “Every bit stronger is one more chance to live!”

Before long, last night’s campsite came into view ahead.

The fire had gone out entirely, a heavy reek of blood still hung about the ground, and the bodies of his two classmates still lay where they had fallen.

Jack took one look and his stomach heaved again, but he forced it down.

Now was not the time for grief. He walked over quickly and stripped the two bands from the corpses’ wrists.

After leaving the campsite behind, Jack soon found a dark thicket.

The branches and leaves were dense there, and from outside one could hardly see in.

He crawled inside, took out his short knife, and quickly prised the two bands apart.

Soon the bands lay scattered in pieces, and amid the heap of components, the two metal spheres holding the energy crystals stood out conspicuously.

At the sight Jack’s eyes lit up. “Found them!”

He at once copied out the few basic symbols he had learned before, crouching in the mud and drawing a simple charging array with a practised hand.

The two energy crystals were set at the centre of the array, and Jack laid the black metal block he had taken off there at the centre as well. “Begin charging!”

Hmmm…

The familiar faint glimmer lit, and the two energy crystals trembled at once.

As the crystals rapidly lost their lustre, the energy within the pair was drawn out like a tide.

Snap!

With a light cracking sound, the two crystals crumbled apart, and at the same moment the metal block went quiet again.

The charging complete, Jack did not hesitate an instant. “Enhance, enhance my body!”

“Beginning basic somatic enhancement. Please remain conscious.”

The familiar warmth swept through him again, but far stronger this time than the first, and Jack’s body went abruptly rigid.

“Ngh…”

A string of faint cracking sounds came from deep in his bones. His muscles twitched without pause, the vessels beneath his skin stood out one by one, and every inch of skin felt as though some invisible force were wringing it tight.

Jack clenched his teeth, cold sweat pouring off him in an instant.

Mercifully, after a few breaths the force gradually subsided, and Jack let out a slow breath.

“Grrr…”

The familiar hunger came over him, and he reached at once for the compressed biscuits he had made ready in advance, gnawing at them while he scuffed the charging array beneath him flat with his foot.

Having dealt with this last trace, Jack was just about to leave when his movements suddenly stopped.

Something was wrong!

Jack held his breath and gathered his focus. His enhanced hearing quickly picked up the faint snap of a breaking branch.

And immediately after, very light footsteps.

“Someone’s coming, two of them, and they’re heading this way!” Jack’s heart sank.

Either the noise he had made just now had been too loud, or someone had noticed something wrong at the campsite.

Whichever it was, the enemy had certainly caught up with him, and they were very close!

Run?

There was no time. The thickets here could offer cover, but not enough to let him withdraw in silence.

The moment he moved, the noise of the surrounding brush would only give him away.

Then… he would have to fight!

Jack drew a deep breath, lowered himself slowly, gripped the short knife in both hands, and drew himself back into the undergrowth.

His hearing after the enhancement was far keener than before. He could make out not only their footsteps but even the rise and fall of their chests as they breathed.

More importantly, his mind felt a great deal clearer, and he could gauge the condition of the two men from the smallest sounds they made.

“They’re not bad, but neither of them should be stronger than I am now. Still, one against two is too dangerous. Take one of them out first!”

With his formidable eyesight Jack soon made out two figures: black clothing, protective vests, communicators at their waists, weapons in their hands.

Their gear looked much like that of the man in black who had killed him!

The two talked in low voices as they walked. “Something found in Area Four. Proceeding to check…”

He did not know where the Area Four they spoke of was, but seeing them come straight in his direction, there was every chance they were coming for him!

Yet Jack found that he was not as tense as he had imagined he would be; if anything he grew calmer still.

The two drew nearer and nearer. The man in black in front scanned his surroundings, now and then flicking the brush aside with his knife.

The other kept a few paces back, so as to be able to support him at any moment.

Jack waited quietly, until the man’s knife came down into the thicket where he lay.

At the very instant the blade descended, Jack moved!

His body sprang out of the thicket, at a speed that outstripped even his own expectations.

The short knife became a streak of cold light in his hand, flashing across the eyes of the two men opposite.

Thuck!

The blade opened the throat of the man in black in front, and blood sprayed out at once.

The man had no time even to make a sound, and could only clutch at his neck, eyes staring wide.

“Ngh…”

He staggered two paces and pitched backwards to the ground.

Jack did not stop, because the second man had already reacted and was rushing at him. “Ene…”

He had not even got the second word out before Jack was on him, and the two short knives slammed together!

Clang!

Sparks flew, and the huge shock of the impact drove them both back.

As he gave ground, a flicker of surprise crossed Jack’s eyes. “So weak.”

The man’s strength felt unexpectedly slight to him. Indeed, if he had had full command of his own power, he need not have given ground at that exchange at all.

And he could feel clearly that the man’s movements were, to his eye, plainly a beat too slow.

Against an opponent of the same level, before, there was no way he could have caught an opening so easily.

But now…

A shift of the shoulder, force through the waist, the right hand changing direction…

“Throwing the knife?”

Watching the man’s reaction with perfect clarity as he charged in again, Jack even had attention to spare for idle thoughts.

Just as he had thought, the man in black, with far more combat experience, had already flung his short knife hard even as he retreated.

Jack twisted aside and the blade grazed past his chest by a hair’s breadth, while his right leg lashed out hard at the man’s “philtrum.”

Thud!

“Ugh!”

The violence of the pain doubled the man over, his eyes all but starting from his head.

Jack gave him no chance whatever to catch his breath. He closed again, the short knife slashing upward on the diagonal.

The man in black raised an arm to block by reflex, but the blade sliced through the protective garment with ease and severed the arm, blood welling out at once.

Seizing the opening, Jack thrust forward without hesitation!

Thuck!

The point drove into the man’s chest, and his body went rigid.

Jack gave a hard twist, driving the knife clean through the heart, and blood slid down the blade.

Blood spilled from the corner of the man’s mouth, the light in his eyes went swiftly out, and he crashed to the ground.

Jack drew great ragged breaths.

The first time. Killing, in the true sense of the word.

His hands were trembling faintly and his heart was pounding hard, but he quickly forced it all down.

“I have to get away, fast!”

Jack pulled out the short knife and searched the two bodies quickly.

Communicators, energy bars, spare crystals… he took the lot.

The two spare energy crystals in particular went into his pocket without the least ceremony.

“That’s enough.”

He had only just turned when, suddenly…

Bang!

Deep in the forest a gunshot cracked out, and the bullet flew past Jack’s ear.

Boom!

The ancient tree behind him was blown open with a gap the size of a bowl’s mouth.

Jack’s expression changed on the instant.

These people actually had guns!

“Run!” He did not look back at all, but turned and bolted into the forest.

The gunfire behind him broke out at once in a continuous string.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Bullet after bullet chased him wildly, bark bursting, earth spattering up.

Jack gritted his teeth and kept himself as low as he possibly could.

He was far faster than before, every stride as though he were treading on springs.

His body flitted at speed between the trees. Now and then a bullet grazed past him, but mercifully the sightlines in the forest under cover of night were too poor, and none of them struck him.

Before long, twenty-odd figures came charging out of the woods.

They wore uniform grey-black kit, and their weapons varied: some carried rifles, some held combat blades, and some even bore small pieces of detection equipment.

The man at their head stopped beside the two corpses, looked down at them, and his face darkened at once.

“Damn it.” He crouched to examine the wounds. “Knife wounds. He’s not weak.”

Plainly they had not expected that a student who ought to have been theirs to hunt down would kill two of their own instead.

The leader stood up, his gaze sweeping coldly across the dark forest.

“All of you, listen. The target is close by.” He raised a hand and made a gesture to spread out. “Groups of five. Nobody moves alone. Search.”

The twenty-odd men fanned out swiftly.

Before long, footstep after footstep began to sound from deep within the forest.