“I was walking with-” The girl paused to heave large mouthfuls of breath between her sobs. “now he’s dead, just like Greg” She continued to breathe heavily, unable to get the words out while she cried.
Tabitha put her hands on the girl’s shoulders, trying to calm her. “Calm down, or I can’t do anything to help.”
The girl was still breathing heavily, but she took a moment to collect herself so she could speak. “He went into the woods and said he would be right back, but he didn’t-” She couldn’t finish the sentence, and instead started to sob into Tabitha’s clothing again as she pointed into the woods.
Tabitha let out another sigh, then turned toward Edwin. “Can you track him.”
Edwin went to examine the underbrush of the forest, then turned back to her and nodded.
“Alright, let’s get this over with.”
Chapter 42
Dante’s Immortality – Chapter 42
Layla Calman
Sir Andres gave her a formal bow as he walked into her office without even knocking. “We have a minor issue, my lady.”
“What are you doing in here? You should be holding those bastards off.” She was not in the mood, the damned headmaster had been even more of a nuisance than usual. He seemed to be losing his mind over the destruction of the academy.
Sir Andres glared at her. “For the most part, the enemy has already fallen back. Something that we should have done as soon as the fight broke out in this Goddess forsaken academy.”
Layla glared back at him, the two of them had more than one heated discussion about the best way to handle House Ramotar’s combatants. They had been at a significant disadvantage when the fighting broke out, so Sir Andres had practically demanded they retreat.
Holding off the enemy meant massive casualties, but she hadn’t budged. They couldn’t afford to show House Ramotar any weakness.
Sir Andres cleared his throat. “Anyways, the news I brought may be of greater interest to you. The guards that were watching Dante’s cell were found sleeping when their shift ended, and his cell itself was empty when it was checked.”
“What?” Layla shot out of her seat. “Did you send the trackers?”
Sir Andres nodded. “They already picked up the scent, and I sent a more than capable group of combatants. They should have him back by morning.”
His words did nothing to reassure her, Layla’s breathing was becoming even less controlled. “Listen to me. Do whatever it takes to capture him. I already told mother about him, and she’s very interested.” If Dante weren’t found, it would be bad, very bad.
Sir Andres eyebrows rose, and his expression was much more severe than before. “I will send out a few more groups… We don’t have many combatants left, but if we abandon the academy we can cast a large net.”
Layla nodded. Abandoning the academy wasn’t much of a setback. The academy had stopped being a pillar House Calman’s fighting force long ago, it was why they were so lax about deaths in the arena. “See it done, and have the guards that were caught sleeping executed. We need to set an example.” She drummed her fingers for a moment. “Do we know who helped him?”
Sir Andres shook his head. “No, they were the only guards on duty in that area of the academy. We have been stretched too thin.”
Layla rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Very well. Just get Dante back here while the situation is still salvageable.”
“Yes, my lady.” Sir Andres bowed, then turned to leave.
Dante paused, straining his senses outward. He had kept a reasonable pace for almost four hours, making him think that he would be well out of a Tracker Classification’s range. But just for a moment, he thought he heard a noise.
It was faint, but there was a constant sound of something crashing over branches in the distance.
Damn.
It was possible that some creature was the source of the noise… but it was more than likely a pursuer. He looked around for a suitable tree, then Blinked up and waited to see who was following him. He briefly considered Blinking to other trees and attempting to escape unnoticed, but if he were being hunted by a Tracker Classification, he would need to kill the Tracker before he could make an escape.
The crashing noise got louder, and far more constant as it came closer. It seemed like there was a large group headed his way.
Dante stood in the crook of the tree, leaning against it in an attempt to hide as much of himself as possible.
A single rider mounted on a horse burst out from the underbrush, his eyes were scanning the ground, and he came to a halt in the exact spot that he had Blinked from. Only a few seconds later, another five riders broke into view and stopped next to him.
“Edwin, why did you stop?”
He had to hold his curse in. Sitting on one of the horses, with a bored expression on her face, was Tabitha. The headmaster’s daughter had left quite an impression on him when she dealt with Jack, and he still hadn’t removed the lingering fear he had of her from his heart.
The single rider dismounted, then examined the floor carefully. “The tracks stopped here… but it makes no sense, it’s like he just vanished.” The scout’s eyes drifted upward, and Dante quickly pressed himself against the tree. “There isn’t even a depression in his tracks, so he couldn’t have jumped anywhere… but that’s the only thing that seems possible.”
Dante let out a breath of relief. They didn’t have a real Tracker Classification so he could leave them without worrying about being followed, and he didn’t need to kill any of them to do so. Still, he decided to wait until they were gone before he left. One Blink into a creaky branch would still give him away.
Tabitha didn’t budge. “See if you can pick up a new set of tracks.”
The man who had been examining the floor moved around the general area, paying close attention to the ground. Then he turned back to Tabitha and shook his head.
“What a waste of time.” Tabitha took in a large breath of irritation. “Mount up, we don’t have the time to follow him without a set of tracks.”
The single rider began to walk back to his horse, a somewhat embarrassed expression on his face. “Sorry Tabitha, I’m not sure what happened to the tracks.”
As soon as he finished talking the man was suddenly knocked off of his feet. Everyone stared in shock as he flew through the air, unsure of what had happened. But when he finally came to a stop on the ground, the arrow that pierced his throat became fully visible.
Curses rang out from the mounted group, and they all drew their blades or bows. Tabitha even moved in front, sword out in preparation to block any attack from where the arrow had come from.
A single voice penetrated through the tense atmosphere. “Hold your fire, you moron.”
Shit.
He knew that voice. Knew it well, and there was no way he was going to get away from Archie, even if he used Blink. He had never reached the extent of his instructor’s abilities, but one thing was for sure; he wasn’t just a standard Warrior Classification.
Archie cleared his throat loudly in the distance. “Sorry about that, one of these idiots was a bit too eager.” Then Archie’s burly form stepped into view, both of his hands were held over his head and a smile was on his face. His smile disappeared as he turned to look back. “Get out here and apologize you imbecile.” There was no reaction from whoever he was shouting at, and Archie smiled. “If you don’t, I’ll kill you.”
Archie hasn’t changed a bit.
The most surprising thing about the situation was Tabitha. She immediately calmed and sheathed her sword when she saw Archie.
A second man stepped into the small clearing with his hands raised. He was middle-aged with a bow slung over his shoulder. “I don’t know why we’re apologizing. We know that someone helped him escape, and Alric said that our target was just ahead. It’s obvious they are traitors.”
Three more people stepped into view. Two had their hands raised and weapons sheathed, but the third was unarmed and did
n’t bother raising his hands.
The archer next to Archie turned back to the unarmed man. “Is he here or not?”
The man hesitated for a moment, then spoke. “It smells like he’s right next to us.”
He chose to act, he had no chance of escape as long as a Tracker held his scent.
Dante Blinked behind the Tracker with a freshly created blade, then slashed deeply into his throat before Blinking back up to the tree. He didn’t waste any time and immediately Blinked away, intent on losing the group of combatants sent to capture him.
The combatants acted far faster than he could have anticipated. Two arrows slammed into the tree he had just Blinked to, only narrowly missing him by a fraction of a second as he Blinked away.
Dante glanced back at the arrows in horror, the combined force of their impact was almost enough to split the tree in two, and the sheer speed that the archers chased after him made his escape seem like a lost cause.
Not giving up, he began to jump between trees in an attempt to preserve his mana. It was something that shouldn’t have been challenging given his Agility and Dexterity, but the arrows raining down on him hindered his movement and forced him to Blink when he couldn’t avoid their path.
His mana regeneration wasn’t enough to keep up with the number of times he Blinked. The chase hadn’t even lasted more than five minutes before he began to run out of mana, only having enough left to use Blink one more time. After running out, he would need to wait a full ten seconds in between uses.
Cursing, Dante glanced back, checking the distance between him and his pursuers. If anything, the two archers were gaining on him. Even with Blink, his speed couldn’t compare to their Agility. Archie followed close behind, on the back of a horse that he assumed belonged to the dead man from earlier, and just behind him was Tabitha and the other four members of her group. Apparently, they decided to join the chase as well.
His train of thought froze as realization hit him.
One of them was missing. It was possible that the last combatant was just slow, but that was just useless optimism.
An arrow shot directly at him while he was in midair, forcing him to Blink out of the way and draining his remaining mana. Without any warning, something smashed into his side as soon as he used Blink, tackling him to the ground while he was completely defenseless and out of mana.
Dante glanced up at the man who was on top of him, it was the last member of the group.
How did they know I was almost out of mana?
The man on top of him quickly subdued him despite the struggle he put up, but it didn’t matter. He only needed to wait a few seconds, and he would be able to escape by Blinking out of his grasp.
The two archers were almost immediately standing over them, each of them had arrows knocked in case he tried to flee. The one who killed Tabitha’s scout had a smirk on his face, and he walked up and kicked Dante hard in the side, causing him to grunt in pain. “You’ll pay for killing Alric. If we’re going to get punished for losing a Tracker, I’ll be sure to take it out on you first.”
At least one of the archers seemed distracted, and he had enough mana left to Blink, but decided to wait until he could use the skill twice and make it back to the trees.
“Well, you did far better than I expected.” Archie had a broad grin on his face as he came to a stop and hopped down from his horse.
Dante glanced up at him. Archie seemed to be taking the entire situation rather well.
Tabitha and the rest of her group came to a stop close behind Archie. And although the other riders seemed excited to be a part of the chase, Tabitha remained expressionless.
Dante checked his mana, just enough for two Blinks. He focused on an area away from the group and tried to Blink. Nothing happened.
Archie saw the change in his expression. “Unpleasant isn’t it?” He pointed to the man who was holding him down. “Sid here has a Forsaker Classification. The bastards focus on blocking their opponents Mana and disrupting it so that skills can’t be used.”
The archer who had kicked him glared at Archie. “Stop chit chatting, this isn’t some happy reunion.”
Archie turned to the archer, the smile on his face only growing wider. “But that’s exactly what this is.”
Before anyone could react, Archie drew his blade and stepped forward in one motion. Effortlessly slicing the man’s head off with speed that was far greater than what he showed earlier.
Chapter 43
Dante’s Immortality - Chapter 43
Archie didn’t stop at just killing the first archer, he immediately charged the second.
The archer reacted immediately and shot at Archie’s charging form. He must have used a skill because the force of the arrow was absolutely staggering, it had the same strength as when they had almost split the tree earlier.
Archie seemed to take the attack in stride, his sword filled with world essence instantly and obliterated the arrow as he sliced it out of the air.
The instructor had clearly been holding back on him, his world essence control was the best he had seen so far, aside from possibly Mia.
“Stop!” The man who was restraining him seemed to be horrified, but he hadn’t broken contact yet and was still blocking his skills. “Archie, have you lost your mind?”
The archer leaped backward, away from Archie’s nearing form, and he would have continued watching if not for the scream that he heard coming from Tabitha’s group.
Dante glanced over to see Tabitha laying waste to the third member of her group, two others were at her feet while the fourth was screaming as he turned to run away. Tabitha glanced over at her fleeing group member, then threw her sword.
Its flight path was unnatural, curving in the air slightly and taking the man straight through his back and toppling him from his horse.
To his right, Dante heard a gurgled groan and turned to see Archie finish off the archer.
“What in the hell is going on?” The Forsaker Classification that was holding him down was becoming hysterical as he watched both Archie and Tabitha finish their slaughter, but he still didn’t let go. His hold seemed to change though, now using Dante as more of a shield than anything else.
He had to admit, the man had a valid question.
Tabitha released a sigh as she rubbed her eyes. “What a mess.”
Archie began to walk back toward him. “They were bonded by a contract anyways, probably the best death they could have gotten.”
The man holding him began to yank him backward as he tried to escape Archie. “Stay away from me.”
Tabitha rolled her eyes. “Obviously, but how in the hell am I supposed to explain this? Father is already under suspicion for what he did to help out during the fighting.”
Archie brushed her comment off. “I’m sure it will be fine.” Then he flashed the man holding Dante a smile. “How about we make a deal? You let go of him, and I let you live.”
“Okay.” The man said it quickly. “Okay, here you go. You can have him. Just let me go.” He felt himself being shoved away.
And I thought that I could be naïve…
He didn’t wait for the combatant to reconsider, and Blinked away.
“Wait, wait, wait-” Those were the last words that he heard before the sound of flesh being sliced reached his ears.
Dante turned back to Archie, keeping Tabitha in his vision. Neither of them were making a move for him. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but he assumed that he would get an explanation since he wasn’t being attacked.
He was more than willing to hear them out. Any time that they wasted talking would only give him more mana, and a better chance to escape.
Archie knelt by the man he just killed, cleaning off his sword on the dead man’s clothing. “I suggest that you return to the academy before more problems arise.”
He was about to say something, thinking that Archie was talking to him, but Tabitha nodded as she got back on top of her horse and rode off into the dense fore
st.
Archie stood up and flashed him a smile. “Killing the Tracker first was good thinking, but in the future, it may be a good idea to keep track of all the opposing combatants.” He pointed to the Forsaker Classification’s corpse.
That was a rather large mistake…
Dante gave a reluctant nod of agreement.
Archie barked out a short laugh. “And to think that some people think my method of teaching is too extreme. If you don’t make a mistake yourself, you won’t take the lesson seriously.”
Archie saw Dante’s lack of enthusiasm and cleared his throat. “Anyways, I’m not here to play teacher today.” He paused to dig through a pocket in his jacket. “Today, I come bearing gifts.” Archie said it magnanimously, a smile still plastered on his face. He pulled out a black sack that seemed to be too large to fit in the pocket, then tossed it to him.
Dante made no move to catch the sack, and it fell to the floor.
Archie had a fake look of mortification on his face. “How rude. The person who sent it will be so sad when he hears you didn’t take the bag.”
Archie paused as if his words alone would be enough for him to change his mind. Then, when he didn’t move, he continued. “Your chances of actually making it out of the Calmans reach will be far better with what’s in the sack.”
That caught his attention, but he wasn’t willing to lose one collar to gain another. Dante walked backward, then motioned to the bag. “You open it first.”
Archie shrugged and walked toward the bag. “Can’t fault you for actually thinking.”
He couldn’t hold in his curiosity. “Who sent the bag… and why did they send it?”
Archie picked up the sack and began to untie the knot in the drawstrings. “Well, that’s a tricky question. You don’t know him, but you know his… goddaughter, Mia.” Dante’s eyebrows rose. “As to why he would send it to you, there are two reasons.”
Dante's Immortality: Beginnings Page 37