Chapter 400

“Julius, do you know who this man is?” Lily asked anxiously. She likely was able to figure out that Doren wasn’t a Tier 4 or even a Tier 5. The man exuded that kind of presence. 

“I do,” he said simply, letting her connect with her empathic ability to let her feel his current emotions. It was only then that she calmed down. 

He ignored the others for the time being. “Did you know that the people were going to target my friends?” he asked Doren with a frown.

“I thought it was possible,” Doren replied casually as he looked around at the chaotic environment around them.

“But you didn’t do anything,” Julius said, doing his best not to sound accusatory, but he believed it failed because when Doren looked over at him, there was a hint of exasperation.

“I trusted you could take care of it,” The man said with a level of confidence that surprised Julius.

“I would have rather not taken that risk in the first place,” Julius argued heatedly.

Doren sighed loudly, and for the first time, a little bit of irritation seeped into his voice. “It is not my responsibility to save you or your friends. I would have thought you, of all people, would understand this.”

Julius was about to retort, but held his tongue. Doren was absolutely right. Julius should not expect Doren to save his friends. It is not like the man is required to do so either. Just because he was strong enough to do so didn’t mean he had to. It was Julius’s mistake to assume that. He should have known better.

Julius nodded. “I’m sorry, you are right. Saving them is not your responsibility. I was just being…”

“Young and emotional,” Doren said with an understanding nod. “I get it, and I am not upset.”

Julius gave him a grateful smile. “Thanks.” That was where he should have stopped, but he couldn’t help but give it a try. “Do you think you can get them safely back to Peralt for me?”

“For you?” Doren repeated with a tilt of his head.

“Yes.”

“And for what? Free?” Doren asked, half joking with him.

“Of course not. Whatever you deem is an equal exchange,” Julius said with a soft nod, and looked at Doren seriously. 

Doren saw the seriousness and shook his head in amusement. “Okay, that sounds good to me,” he said without hesitation or any haggling. Julius was expecting the man to deny the request outright, considering what he had told Julius about his neutral stance. Instead, he agreed without saying another word.

Julius was a bit stunned and watched as Doren walked over to his friends. “Do you want me to help this other group as well?” Doren turned to ask Julius.

“If you don’t mind,” Julius said with a wince.

“Not at all, it will just cost you extra,” Doren said. 

Julius laughed but quickly stopped when he realized that Doren wasn’t joking. He looked over at the team who had fought with them and eventually nodded. 

“Deal,” Julius said. He would worry about the cost later. For now, he would rather his friends get somewhere safe, doubly so since someone was clearly trying to kill Derek. If only he could know who was behind it. While it wouldn’t solve their issues, it would solve one mystery. He was still hoping that it was the Conclave that was trying to kill Derek. Although it was not a good thing, it would keep things simpler.

“Wait a moment. What is going on here, and how do you know this guy?” Aubrey said, frustratedly.

Lily placed a calming arm on Aubrey, likely communicating with her silently. However, she wasn’t the only person who had something to say. 

“I agree with Aubrey. I want to know what is going on,” Derek stated. 

“I can explain later, for the moment, let Doren take you guys back to Peralt,” he explained.

Derek was about to argue, but Julius waved his hand to cut him off. “I promise I will explain later, but with the recent attack, I don’t think that time is on our side. I would rather you all be safe first,” Julius said sternly.

This seemed to appease Derek, or at the very least, Derek understood their situation and chose not to argue.

“How is he supposed to do that? I thought spatial teleportation wasn’t possible in the Endless Forest,” Eris’s teammate suddenly asked.

As much as Julius wanted to tell her that this wasn’t the time for questions, he had to admit that he was curious about that as well. He had just assumed, since the man was so powerful and had been able to travel to the rift, that he would be able to go around these restrictions. However, it was possible that Doren wasn’t able to teleport in the Endless Forest and was going to take them away using another mode of transportation.

“The forest’s barrier won’t prevent me from teleporting you all,” Doren answered their concerns.

“And how are you supposed to do that?” She questioned fearlessly, much to her team’s nervousness. 

“I’m sorry, Aya is just a naturally curious person,” Eris desperately tried to explain as she and her team pulled the other girl away and stopped her, but Doren waved his hand.

“It’s quite okay. I don’t mind. Curiosity is good for the soul,” he said with a smile at Julius.

Julius might have smiled back if not for the sudden ping from his perception skill, which let him know what someone or something was approaching at high speed. However, whatever it was, it vanished into a cloud of dust as Doren flicked his fingers. It almost felt like it was a massive boulder, but a boulder that was flying through the air many times faster than anything of that size should be able to reach. 

As if nothing had happened, Doren turned to him. “I’ll be right back. Don’t try to run away from our deal, okay?” For some reason, Doren had this creepy smile on his face. 

However, Julius didn’t get to think about it for too long because the man teleported both teams before anyone could protest. Julius was left standing in the middle of the forest, and before long, he sensed another group of people swarm toward his position.

He assumed that this was the group that had attacked them, and seeing their target vanish was alarming. People weren’t supposed to be able to escape the Endless Forest. There were too many spatial restrictions. Perhaps this was the reason they chose to attack Derek. They knew that the scion wouldn’t be able to use any spatial escape items if he had any. 

He sighed as he prepared for their arrival. He was still doing pretty well on mana and had folded his wings back into bracelets on his arms. However, as they got closer, he decided to launch himself into the air and unpack his wings.

He was just in time to avoid the sword that was swinging for his head. He swerved in the air to avoid the missiles that had been rapidly approaching. He spotted two other people along with the two who had attacked earlier. He ignored these two new people for the time being and blasted himself toward the mage who had been the first one to attack them.

The mage didn’t seem to have actual flight capabilities, unlike Julius. The man was floating above the trees, and when he spotted Julius charging toward him, he tried to evade while placing large plates of mana in front of Julius to delay him.

This didn’t matter, though. Julius used [Void Step] at the very last second before he smashed into the plates. This allowed him to phase through with ease, and he smiled when he saw the alarm on the mage’s face.

He cranked up his speed even further, and the mage realized that it wasn’t a good idea to stay in the air. Thus, they dropped from their position in the sky to the forest floor. Julius swerved down to meet them. While he did, he threw back his perception to see if the mage’s team was following behind him.

They were, but obviously they hadn’t expected Julius to ignore them and go after the mage. He nodded to himself, which gave him plenty of time to deal with this opponent before they arrived.

A massive salvo of mana missiles soared through the air as he swiftly approached the mage. However, thanks to the use of his wings, he was able to avoid most of them. His forearms smashed aside the ones he wasn't able to avoid. They exploded upon contact, but he used the kinetic energy from the impact to fuel his speed. 

The mage desperately threw everything they had at Julius. When he got close enough, the mage attempted to use their Authority to disrupt his flight. This was all for naught. Julius powered his willpower with his Concepts and Emblem, brushing aside the attempt. 

It barely made him grunt as he continued his dive toward the mage. He created a shell around himself just before he made impact and laughed as he cratered at the mage and into the forest floor, creating a massive explosion.

The mage still had some tricks up their sleeve and used a skill at the last moment. It was like a weird film that covered their body with a white haze. This somehow protected them from the impact, but Julius would have been disappointed if that was enough to take out the Tier 4. 

He siphoned as much kinetic energy from the landing as he could and used it to burst himself at the mage who was still stumbling to their feet. He felt the mage reach to use another skill, this time it was one he was somewhat familiar with.

Julius was curious enough that he didn’t try to prevent the mage from using their short-range teleportation. Instead, he examined how the person was able to use it in the forest. When he used [Void Step], he didn’t feel the slightest bit of resistance. He would have never known that normal spatial skills were limited if nobody told him.

However, he could see what other people were talking about when he analysed the mage’s own spatial skill. Even from Julius’s perception, it was like someone covered from head to toe in honey trying to squeeze themselves through a tiny pipe. 

It obviously took a lot of effort, because when the mage teleported, it looked like he had tired himself out immensely. He was so tired that he didn’t realize that Julius was already at the spot where he had sensed the exit point. He was still recovering his breath when Julius’s fist slammed into the back of his head.

However, Tier 4s were known to be durable for a reason. Despite the clean shot, the mage didn’t die right away. He would have one hell of a headache, but Julius’s fist wasn’t able to put a hole through their skull, like he had been planning to.

However, the fight was already over. Julius used [Void Step] to quickly appear in front of the mage who had been blasted into a tree. He sensed the incoming attack from the mage’s teammate and side-stepped it before it could hit him. 

He barely took notice as he was already swinging the blade at the semi-conscious mage. Without any more barriers to protect them, Julius was able to cut through their neck cleanly.

He heard a distressed cry come from the mage’s teammates.

He looked on with a slight grin as they approached him. It was so lovely that they decided to come to him. It would have been a pain to chase them around this forest.