Chapter 40 – Helpless Again
"What are you doing?"
Jhin roared in anger the moment he turned. He could see a silver-haired man gripping Aria's head.
As the man clamped her head, Aria continuously emitted a pained cry, she was suffering!
Swish!
Without hesitation, Jhin drew his bow and fired an arrow while he himself rushed towards the man.
The distance between them were only thirty meters away. The arrow quickly hit the silver-haired man. But instead of wounding him, the arrow bounced off after colliding with the man's armor.
"STOP!" Jhin shouted. He arrived next to the man and sent out a punch.
However, when his fist was about to reach the man's head, a strong gravitational force acted on his body. Intantly, he lost control over his body and he fell in the ground. He was suppressed!
Jhin tried his best to stand up but no matter what he tried; his body just wouldn't listen. His eyes turned bloodshot. Aria's cries filled his ears.
'Dammit!' he cursed inside. 'Why…? this keeps happening to me? I've been doing my best to exact my plans but why! I'm… so powerless!'
'I asked her to become my adopted sister… I told her I'll protect her, but… Can I really?' Jhin couldn't help but questioned himself. He felt so useless. He couldn't even stay true to his words!
Jhin hated himself! The scream of Aria… the hard ground… the control over his body…
'Damn it! I'm so useless…' A teardrop formed from the corner of his eyes. 'It's all because I don't have the strength!'
"Fuck!" Jhin's eyes turned firm. He flicked his wrist before gritting his teeth, "Attack! All the ink soldiers!"
The four ink soldiers' runes from his wrist flew towards the silver-haired man. But before they transform and attack the man, a cold snort resounded in the field.
It was as though a gentle gust of wind passed by, Jhin could feel his body lightened. The gravity field suppressing him disappeared. Before he could react, a furious voice echoed in the field.
"How dare you lay a hand on my experimental subject!"
A terrifying aura burst forth. The silver-haired man holding Aria was blown into the distance.
"Lucy…" Jhin mumbled as he saw the scarlet-haired woman holding Aria and casting a healing spell, "I…"
"Shut up!" Lucy cast a glanced at him before looking at the silver-haired man in the distance.
The man was covered in dust, his mouth has some blood dripping out of it. The man started casting a spell, however, before he could attack, a grave voice sounded.
"Lucy? What do you mean by this?" The black-armored Serg walked towards the injured man. He looked at Lucy and in a displeased tone, he said, "Why did you injure your fellow captain?"
Jhin followed the voice and saw Commander Serg. Following behind him were three other captains; Captain Mon, Rafael, and a burly young man with a shield on his back.
"Injure? It's his fault for being weak!" Lucy replied, "How dare he touch my experimental subject? I already spoke to you about it yesterday!"
Commander Serg furrowed his brows as he glanced at Jhin, then he remained silent.
"Captain Lucy, you might not know, but that child contains a very important information. It has great implication on the security of the shelter. Thus, it is a must to use soul search on her."
Captain Mon stepped forward and started explaining.
After a long while of explaining, the tension in the air finally disappeared. Commander Serg gave Lucy a deep look before saying. "We are lacking in time, we must attack the enemy within an hour, else, they'll be able to prepare. We need to instantly scan her soul."
Hearing their words, Lucy looked at the child before asking Jhin, "Is that true?"
"Yes," Jhin said as he stood up. He collected the ink soldiers before bowing at Lucy, "Can you help me this once?"
Fighting the soldiers was definitely a bad choice. Not only was his strength not enough, but he would also suffer great repercussions if he revealed the existence of the ink soldiers to the public.
Once he revealed the ink soldiers, without a doubt, the soldiers would become wary of his power. And it would have negative effects on his plan. For example, they might ban him from entering the Tower of Death, which he didn't want to happen.
That was also the reason why he didn't directly summoned the ink soldiers earlier. Unless he reached the strength of the Power Tutorial, just like on the shrine, revealing the ink soldiers right now would invite troubled on him.
Fortunately, before the ink soldiers reverted to their soldier's form, Lucy arrived and beat the silver-haired man.
"Hmm…" Lucy nodded. Her gaze trained upon Commander Serg and she said, "I'll do it myself."
"Okay then, you have one hour." Serg let out a sigh as he shook his head. He was already accustomed to Lucy's behavior. Even if he scolds her, she wouldn't listen to him. It'll just worsen the situation.
"I understand," Lucy nodded. Then she looked at Jhin, "Carry her, let's go back to the stone house."
Jhin nodded and carried Aria, she followed behind Lucy as they exited the hall.
"What's that?"
The moment they left, a commotion welcomed the field as the soldiers woke up from their daze. They were dumbstruck!
First, they saw a Tier 0 existence shooting one of their captains. He even rushed forward like a fool seeking death. And indeed, before he could even touch the captain, his face slammed to the ground. But just when they thought that everything was over, they saw a red flash followed by a loud boom.
That was then they realized that their captain, the silver-haired man was thrown into the distance. They looked at Jhin only to see the terrifying woman, the scarlet devil standing in front of him.
They were stunned! All their mouths were twitching. Thinking, why would the devil protect someone? However, when they heard that Jhin was her experimental subject, realization dawn on their faces, as they stared at Jhin's back in pity.