Life didn't get easier, even in another world

221 Not a second time

“Ugh!”

Something landed in front of him, destroying the ground and creating a huge shockwave.

Kairen was, naturally, sent back flying due to the impact of that thing landing just beside him.

BAM

He hit the ground and rolled a few times until he stopped moving after his back hit a car. If it wasn’t because of the shield he had cast when he flew into the air, he was sure he would have turned into dead meat by now.

“What-”

He raised his head and lifted his aching upper body with a confused face. He was not dead, but his body was still hurt. He could see that he was bleeding as the ground under his body was turning red, but he didn’t know where exactly he was injured.

“Kyaaaa!”

“WAAHHH!”

.....

“H-honey!”

“Gasp!”

Kairen couldn’t help gasp once he turned his head to the place where people’s screaming was heard.

Blood

Blood was splashed everywhere.

Some people were lying on the ground, unmoving. Some bodies had been crushed after being hit by the broken pieces of the asphalt and were lying around, dead. The others were all pushed away due to the impact just like Kairen, but unlike Kairen, they didn’t have a protective barrier around them so...

Most of them were either dead or badly injured.

“Ops!”

And the one responsible for this mess was standing firm in the middle of the dead bodies and the blood and looking at the people, with a disgusted expression.

“H-Help!”

“WAHH!”

“Run!”

“An attack!”

He glanced at the still alive citizens who were either frozen in their spots or were running away with a smirk before turning to look at the supermarket. After that, he looked at Kairen who was slowly standing up, and smirked even more.

“How surprising!”

He raised an eyebrow.

“I wonder how you guys managed to know about these locations?”

Unlike his smiling face, his eyes had a threateningly murderous intent on them.

“The Fifth?”

There was no way Kairen wouldn’t recognize that face. It was definitely that man he had seen a few months ago on a mission.

“Hmm...”

Tap

He took one step toward Kairen was finally managed to stand on his two feet while leaning on the car.

“Tell me, Mr. agent!”

Tap

Kairen was not an aura user, but he was not a fool. Even he could feel the power that man had. Kairen had heard that the man’s aura was invisible. So even if couldn’t see it, he was sure that the man had a few attacks prepared while he was moving toward Kairen.

Kairen looked around. There was no place for him to retreat.

‘Why is he here...’

He couldn’t stop his brows from frowning.

‘Is he here to start another mascara, or because we’ve found the location of the bombs?’

Kairen glanced at a place in the distance. The flames that had been burning down the central prison had gotten fiercer and had also spread around.

‘Did he come from that place?’

Was he the one who had attacked the prison?

“Who told you about this place?”

Kairen pushed back his thoughts after hearing the man’s voice and bit his lips.

“What are you doing here?”

While staring at the man’s eyes, Kairen moved his hand. He knew by experience that creating barriers in front of a swordmaster was a useless act. A swordmaster could easily break them all in an instant. Still, he created some shields all around him.

It was because he couldn’t fight this man or attack him.

“We should run!”

“Move!”

“Mom! Stand up!”

He glanced at the people who were running away and then looked back at The Fifth’s scary face.

He couldn’t fight this man right here right now.

“Oh!”

The Fifth seemed a little bit surprised at Kairen’s action as he halted for a second. But he soon continued to walk towards Kairen again.

“I see. You are the boy that the Master was talking about.”

Flinch

Kairen flinched upon hearing those words.

“What?”

“Puhahahaha!”

The Fifth burst into laughter.

“I guess it wouldn’t be half bad to take you with me now that I’ve come all the way here.”

He scratched his chin.

“Though that newbie might get a little bit mad at me.”

And mumbled that under his lips.

“Pardon?”

Kairen blurted that out loud with a disgusted face.

‘Come on! Get away from this place already!’

He peeked at the people who had mostly run away by now while preparing an attack spell.

-Kairen, what was that just now?

Just then, he heard a voice in his ear.

-Did something happen? It wasn’t the bomb, was it? Something fell from the sky!

It was Kain’s voice talking on the communication device.

-Hey! Are you fine? Why aren’t you answering!?

Kairen frowned even more.

‘How am I supposed to answer you with an enemy right in front of my face?’

Kairen took a deep breath. Now, almost all of the citizens had run away.

“Stop babbling bullshit and answer me.”

But the fact that the citizens were gone didn’t mean Kairen would rush at the man instantly. This person was multiple times stronger than him. If Kairen attacked this man, he would turn into nicely cut meat in the blink of an eye!

Also, he didn’t want the man attacking him first either as the result would still be the same as before.

‘I should avoid fighting him as much as I can.’

There were only a few things he could do at the moment.

.....

One was to play dumb. He had to pretend that he knew nothing about the bomb and make it seem that he was clueless.

‘I mean, the soil dude would be in danger if they find out that we know about the locations and suspect him.’

He didn’t know if this was possible or not, but he wanted this man to turn around and walk back to where he had come from. They couldn’t effort to fight him in the current situation.

The second thing he could do was to waste time as much as he could until help would come. He had contacted Kain before and told them about the bomb so they would be here in no time.

‘Nah, that would be troublesome.’

He didn’t want to put the others in danger.

Thus, there was the last plan.

‘If I try a little bit hard, I might be able to kill this man...’

No matter how strong he was, The Fifth too would die if he was caught in the explosion of one of those bombs.

On the other hand, Kairen had his power to protect him. He could just lure the man inside the building and wait until the bomb exploded. The man would die while he was being protected by his cracks.

‘Nah, I can’t do that either.’

If he protected himself with the cracks and let the bomb explode and kill The Fifth, then the whole city center would also turn into ashes!

Why would he do such a crazy thing when his only intent and priority was to prevent the bomb from damaging the city?!

Still, if he manages to somehow trap the man in between his shield and the bomb just before it explodes...

“So you are so relaxed to doze off in front of your enemy?”

BAM

Something hit the ground a few inches away from Kairen’s feet and exploded. Small sharp fragments burst out of the thing as it exploded and scattered everywhere.

Crack

That small explosion was enough to break Kairen’s shields.

“....”

Kairen looked at his cracked shields and gulped.

‘Screw all these plans I gotta run away!’

He would be dead meat before he could complete the ‘P’ of a ‘Plan’!

“Answer me first!”

The Fifth raised his hand to the air. It seemed that there was nothing in his hand but Kairen knew that he was probably holding an aura blade or one of those bombs.

“How did you find out about the bombs? Who told you about them, huh?”

He looked at Kairen in a way that showed he wouldn’t hesitate to aim for his neck if he didn’t answer his question.

“Weren’t you with that prince? Hmm?”

His cold gaze inspected Kairen up and down. There were only a few small burn marks on his body and nothing more.

“But the bomb must’ve not exploded this soon...”

He mumbled under his lips.

‘The bomb wasn’t supposed to explode this soon?’

Kairen tilted his head.

What? Did the soil dude do something to the bomb so that it would explode sooner?

Kairen shook his head. He had to do something about The Fifth before anything else.

‘Should I feign ignorance?’

That was Kairen’s original plan, but it now seemed useless. He was supposed to die with the prince, but he was here safe and sound.

“Huuu!”

Kairen took a deep breath and raised his hand.

“Fuck off!”

SWOSSHHH

And shot a blazing ball of fire at the man’s face.

Slash

The ball of fire was slashed in two by an invisible blade and the spell faded a few seconds afterward.

BANNGG

BOMMM

SWOSHH

But Kairen didn’t stop there. He kept throwing different spells at the man. All of them either faded after being cut or hit the ground after the man dodged them.

“Oh, man!”

The Fifth looked at the pathetically weak attacks aimed at him and scoffed.

“So there really was a spy among us, huh?”

SLAASH

Seeing the man move his hand horizontally, Kairen hurriedly crouched down on the ground and hugged his head.

BOMMM

The next second, the upper half of the car he was leaning on slipped down to the ground. There was a neat cut mark on the car.

“Gasp!”

Kairen gasped as he looked at the car with wide eyes and with a heart that was beating like crazy.

‘I almost got cut in half!’

He then looked back at The Fifth.

‘Didn’t he say he wanted to capture me? I thought you couldn’t capture someone if they are cut in half!’

With a trembling body and an anxious mind, Kairen gut up again. The Fifth wasn’t waiting for him though, he was already rushing at him. He didn’t seem to be holding any aura blades this time but he was moving his hand towards Kairen’s neck as if to grab it.

“Ah!”

But he froze on his spot before he could reach Kairen.

SHAAAPPP

And then, a blur of blue cut the air and slammed against his back.

“Gasp!”

That attack must’ve been too strong. Kairen could clearly see the pain in the man’s eyes before he was flung away due to the impact.

“So he was here!”

Kain glared at The Fifth with deadly cold eyes. One hand clenching his whip so hard that the vessels on the back of his hand were seen, he moved his other hand towards his communication device.

“We’ve found where The Fifth ran to after leaving wreaking havoc on the central prison, sir!”

“Gah!”

The Fifth looked at Kain and Alan, and also the rest of the agents with annoyance and anger.

“Capture him!”

Kain ordered the other agents beside him. They all nodded and moved towards the man while holding restraining devices.

The Fifth was being held down by Alan’s power. He could move, attack, run away or do anything else.

Was there a better chance to capture him than now?

“Hah!”

However, as if he was not fazed even the slightest, The Fifth started to smile.

“Pfffttt hahaha!”

His smile soon turned into laughter. The Fifth kept laughing as if he had seen something really funny.

“....”

“....”

Sensing the strange atmosphere, the agents stopped walking toward him. They looked at each other one before looking back at Kain. Even Alan and Kain frowned after seeing the man laugh like that.

“This annoying power!”

The Fifth glared at Alan. He smiled at the confused man who was restraining all of his movements.

“Sorry, but it won’t work on me a second time!”