The old man was around 6 feet tall. He was wearing an old Yukata. He was holding a golden spear in his right hand. He had a diamond-shaped black earring on his left ear and he was wearing a jade bead on his right arm.
"If you want to stand in my way then I will have to kill you all as well." The old man replied in an emotionless tone. Even though there was no killing intent in his words, everyone felt a chill running down their spine hearing his words.
The next second the old man vanished. At this very moment, both Sylvie and Nora had a very bad feeling in their hearts. Not even a whole second had passed when the old man returned to his former place.
But.....
One by one, all the elite soldiers began falling down. Sylvie, Noah, and Nora all three stared at the elite soldiers in shock. The heads of the elite soldiers has been severed and were lying next to their bodies. After their heads were severed, all the elite soldiers had a look of confusion before their eyes landed on the old and they lost consciousness.
"I gave you a chance now I will kill everyone here." The old man vanished and reappeared in front of Noah. Even before Sylvie can react, the old man grabbed Noah by his throat and lifted him in the air.
Gwaaa!!!!
Noah struggled to free himself but nothing worked. With each passing second, Noah felt his vision was getting blurred. "Release him. Do you even know what would happen if you kill the crown prince of the Ethereal Empire?" Sylvie tried to use Noah's identity and background to make the old man stop.
However, the old man did not release Noah. He instead put more strength in his grip, making Noah feel choked. By now Noah's eyes had turned red. His face had become pale. In the hand of a Peak 5th-order, he couldn't do anything. He was like a chicken that is going to be slaughtered.
"Hmph! This old man has long stopped caring about anyone in this world. I don't care about the Crown prince nor do I care about the Ethereal Empire. Farewell Crown prince." Just as the old man was about to put more strength in his grip, a crimson lightning flash appeared right in front of the old man. The old man widened his eyes in fear seeing the very man who was only a few minutes away from death now was close to killing him.
Aditya's body hadn't healed yet. He someone managed to make it in time to save Noah. Aditya used half of his remaining mana to summon a strong powerful crimson bolt of lightning. Also that the same time, he swung his sword aiming at the old man's left hand.
'How did he suddenly become this fast?' This question was eating the old man's warrior heart. Seeing that Aditya was aiming at his left hand, the old man was about to move his hand when a powerful bolt of crimson lightning struck his head which sent him flying. Meanwhile, Aditya hurriedly grabbed Noah and moved back. He knew that with his injured body he cannot continue this fight.
Aditya is not sure how far the old man has been sent flying. Holding Noah in his left hand Aditya came up to Sylvie and Nora. For a split second Aditya glanced at the dead bodies of the elite soldiers. Seeing their dead faces, Aditya felt his heartache. These soldiers had blocked the old man's path which gave him enough time to take the healing pill.
"We will have to escape. Just hold on to me, I will try to fly away as fast as I can." Since there were only 4 people other than Aditya left on the expedition team, Aditya can just take them with him. Also, they were against a Peak 5th-order someone that could easily kill them. At this moment, Aditya's priority was to escape as soon as possible. Though he is not sure if even can outrun a Peak 5th-order.
"I have a better plan. Aditya please go and bring Alicia here." Sylvie without any hesitation took out a golden triangular-shaped crystal. Upon a closer look, Aditya discovered that this golden triangular crystal object had a very advanced form of runes engraved on it. Even though he was a 3-star runemaster, he couldn't understand even a single word written on the crystal.
Aditya wanted to ask about this artifact but decided to hold him and do what Sylvie told him to do. He quickly disappeared. Not even two seconds had passed, and Alicia was in Aditya's arms.
At the same time, a loud explosion took place. Aditya, Sylvie, Nora, Noah, and Alicia's faces turned pale as they sensed the Aura of an angry and raged Peak 5th-order. Even though the old man was more than 500 meters away from them at this moment, Alicia and Noah almost felt their consciousness just from the pressure that descended upon them when the old man released his Aura.
Sylvie seeing that the old man was going to return, quickly crushed the triangular crystal on her palm. As soon as the blue crystal was crushed, a blue color magic circle formed beneath them. The magic circle was around 20 meters big. The entire circle was glowing. When Aditya took a closer look, he found that the magic circle was made up of 9 rune circles, each circle being bigger than the other.
Also at the same time, the old man appeared in front of Aditya. To Noah, Sylvie, Nora, and Alicia, it felt as if the old man had just teleported right in front of Aditya. "Brat, don't think that I will allow you to leave like this." The old man tried to attack Aditya with his golden spear. But just as the tip of the spear was about to touch Aditya's chest, everyone disappeared from the old man's view.
"I WON'T LET YOU ESCAPE. EVEN IF I HAVE TO SEARCH THIS ENTIRE CONTINENT, I WILL DO IT."
A huge roar shook the entire outer region of the Heavenly Hemlock forest. The old man was too angry. Never did he think that a mere beginner 3rd-order would be able to send him flying with an attack. The old man felt that this was the biggest shameless moment of his entire life. He wishes to wash this shame by killing Aditya and everyone else.
The next second the old man disappeared and reappeared in a different part of the forest. He suddenly grabbed a beginner 5th-order and raised the 3-meter big mutant fire up in the air. "Inform your queen that the target has managed to flee using an ancient teleportation crystal. Tell her to send her army to search every single corner of the Heavenly hemlock forest."
After saying those words, the old man threw the beginner 5th-order ant-like garbage. At this moment the old man felt that even if he killed every single mutant fire ant here, then also the anger in his work won't calm down.
"I originally came here to kill the Crown prince, the princess, and the two annoying 5th-orders in the team, but I wasn't expecting to find someone who is capable of injuring a Peak 5th-order like." Earlier the old man had managed to reduce the power of Aditya's lightning attack because of a certain artifact that he carried with him. Even if he had not reduced the power of the crimson lightning strike, then also the attack wouldn't have injured him that much.
"I won't let you live." The old man was angry that his prey had managed to get away. A moment of carelessness had cost him this trouble.
[Ashley, are you done with your mission?] The old man was about to fly away and personally look for Aditya and others but then a voice stopped him. It was the voice of a woman. The woman was speaking with the old man whose name was Ashley through an advanced communication device.
[Unfortunately, because of the appearance of an unknown factor which we didn't see coming, the targets managed to escape using a teleportation crystal.] This was the first time the old man Ashley had failed to complete his mission or rather complete the mission within a certain time period.
[Unknown factor? Explain] The female who was communicating with Ashley clearly sounded displeased and even angry.
[I believe his name was Aditya. At least this is what the princess and everyone else called him. He is a young man who is somewhere around 18 to 20 years old. The dragon brat had the power to manipulate Crimson lightning. Aditya is strong enough to like beginner 5th-order cultivators within seconds. If Mid 5th-order cultivator was sent in this mission, I am afraid that cultivator already would have died in Aditya's hand.]
After hearing Ashley's words, the female went quiet for 5 minutes. After a long silence, the woman's voice sounded again. But this time, for some reason Ashley felt as if her voice was slightly trembling. [Aditya is the rumored Divine Crimson dragon. He is also the current husband of the Goddess of alchemy. I never thought after almost 3 months, Aditya would come to Westnia and be with the Goddess of Wealth.]
Hearing the woman's words, a shocked expression appeared on Ashley's face. 'He was the divine crimson dragon? No wonder the brat managed to still live even with those deadly wounds.'
[Ashley, the mission has been changed. Do everything in your power to find Aditya and others. If Aditya agrees to join us, then let him come with you but if you find that he is a threat or might become one to our organization, you have my full permission to kill him.] The woman's voice sounded a little urgent. She sounded a little desperate.
[What about the princess and the crown prince?]
[Just kill them. Try to complete the mission within 2 days. Our preparations are nearly complete.]
[Understood]
Really Thank you very much to all those who sends support with valuable golden tickets. I hope we can keep it up!!!
This is the last chapter of this month. Honestly I wanted to upload 2 chapters every single day but I couldn't do it for various reasons. I will not make a promise of uploading 2 chapters for the next month. But I will give my best to increase the uploading rates.
Thank you for all the supports. Honestly I really appreciate all the golden tickets and the gifts you guys has been sending me.