章 48: Desperation
Taku and Maka sprinted away from the city at the fastest speed possible. At first Maka thought that she would either have to slow down because of Taku's low cultivation level. Worst case scenario she would have to carry the guy. But she was surprised. When she was using about 70 percent of her speed, Taku was still able to keep up.
Taku at the moment only had some smoke covering his legs. He was pushing himself to the limit. He knew that he could not keep this up for long since he had fought for a while before they met this screwed up situation.
Taku could slowly feel himself lose control with every passing second. He was cursing at himself for not coming up with a better plan. If he was to lose control now...
Taku subconsciously took a glance at Maka who was beside him. He was afraid that he would do something that he would regret for the rest of his life. He knew that if he lost control then in his eyes every person is an enemy. Maka felt Taku's gaze and turned to face him whilst maintaining their speed. She looked at Taku's bloodshot eyes and knew that something was amiss. "How long do you think you have?"
When she asked this question she couldn't help but think of that incident from way back then. Even though it wasn't her first time seeing something so gruesome, it was her first time seeing a ten-year-old kill with such ruthlessness. She replayed that fight every night. Taku on the other hand had nightmares about that day.
Taku sighed. "A couple of minutes at best. I don't really know to be honest. I am just afraid..."
"Don't worry." Maka cut him off. "I will knock you out before you can cause any trouble. Besides, even if you go crazy it won't be hard to put u down."
Hearing this Taku actually frowned a little. Not because her words were hurtful or anything but he actually felt his heart racing when he heard that. What the heck! Am I turning into a masochist because of this girl.
Taku made a note to stay as far away from this girl until his current self grew older and learnt how to control his emotions. He shook his head and continued running in silence with Maka. After about five minutes or so Taku finally felt as if he was losing control.
He quickly came to a stop and sat down to meditate. Maka also stopped. "You have about half an hour before those things catch up, so if you can be ready in 15 minutes then it would save us a lot of trouble."
Taku did not even open his eyes as he nodded. Exactly fifteen minutes later Taku got up and the two began running again. Due to the momentary stop a the two beasts had almost caught up. After running for another hour Taku began feeling like he was losing control again. He threw a helpless glance towards Maka as he stopped again.
"I am sorr-"
"Don't waste your breath." With that Maka went and grabbed Taku and placed him on her back. "Just meditate and leave the running to me. Even though this will reduce my speed a bit it will still be enough to shake those two off."
Before Taku could even reply Maka took off. Maka was moving at the same speed that they were moving at before. Was she slowing herself down on purpose so that I won't be left behind...?
For the first time ever in his life, Taku felt like a burden. He was silent for the following two hours as Maka ran. And after these two hours, Taku could clearly tell that Maka was getting tired. She would have been able to run faster and lose less energy if she was alone. Maka was at the Kusakura level, thus she could achieve incredible speeds. Speed was actually her weakest attribute but if she moved at full speed Taku would not be able to survive the force generated, not to mention it could make him go haywire.
Taku knew that this was not the time nor place to be belittling himself so he quickly got off her back and then reversed their roles.
Maka was now on Taku's back. Taku had been resting for the last two hours so he was close to his peak condition. In the blink of an eye, smoke covered his whole body as he exploded forward at full power. Maka was a bit shocked by the speed that Taku had unleashed. They ran for another hour and Taku was starting to pant heavily.
It was at this moment that they both felt a chill run down their spine as a grave sense of danger overwhelmed them. Taku quickly leaped off the ground and just as he left the ground, the place where he had jumped from caved in.
Taku looked down and saw a 30-meter long worm-like creature that was staring straight at them as if it was looking at its dinner. Whilst in the air Maka tightened her grip on Taku as she began flying away. She had not flown before because it took consumed too much energy. There was no other choice in the matter now. They had to escape not only from the Mastiff and Gorilla but now there was a new addition to the chasing party.
The giant worm-like creature charged underground and occasionally came back up to check it's progress. Taku noticed that no matter which direction they flew in, the worm was still able to follow them.
Taku knew that Maka would not be able to hold on for much longer. "Make me face the direction that we last saw that worm." Maka did not ask why she just did as Taku asked. She knew that Taku wanted to try something so she tried her best not to obstruct his hands. Taku waited for a couple of seconds before finally seeing the worm emerge again. Taku grinned and extended his hand, his bow materialized in a second and he did not hesitate in pulling the string. He did not bother with aiming at any specific object he just released his flame arrows at rapid pace.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
As each arrow landed a deafening explosion would follow. After shooting out a dozen arrows Taku finally stopped and breathed in a sigh of relief. Most of the surrounding area was covered by flames. The huge worn attempted to go underground and then pop up at an area that had no flames, but by the time it managed to find a safe area, it was already several kilometers away from Taku and Maka.
Maka also let out a sigh of relief. "Maka watch out!" Just as she was about to let her guard down she heard Taku's desperate cry, so she looked back only to find that several large boulders were heading straight for them. It would've been easy to deal with such a threat if she was not carrying someone. Taku on the other hand had used up most of his power in his previous attack.
Maka just grit her teeth and sped along. Taku on the other hand kept on looking around to find the source of the boulders. He noticed that about several meters away from the flames stood three gigantic beasts. The gorilla, the Mastiff, and the giant worm were all staring at them intently. The Gorilla smiled and then picked up another boulder and threw it towards the two of them.
The following scene really surprised Taku, because right after The Gorilla threw that boulder, it immediately grabbed the Mastiff, and with a loud roar, it also threw the Mastiff towards Taku and Maka. Most demonic beasts did not have any type of specific skill and only possessed tremendous physical strength. But the Mastiff was different. The Mastiff was part of a certain bloodline that had one specific skill.
This skill allowed the Mastiff to burn its life force in exchange for ten minutes in which it would be able to control any element of its choice. The Mastiff this time around chose to control air. The Mastiff roared and gale swept up everything in the surrounding area. This gale slowly began taken form as it turned into a tornado. All of this happened so fast that the previously thrown boulders had not even reached Taku and Maka yet.
By this point, the two of them did not even bother about the boulders anymore. Not only was there a tornado chasing after them but right behind it was the Mastiff which was surprising manipulating the air around it to allow it to fly. Seeing this Taku frowned. What was the point of you getting thrown if you could use your ability to fly? I am starting to question your intelligence now…
Maka did not have time to think to think about any of this because the suction force from the tornado was so strong that she had to use all her remaining power to try pull away. It was to no avail as the tornado became fiercer and fiercer. The two of them suddenly found themselves several meters away from the tornado and the Mastiff. The Mastiff licked its lips and roared yet again. This time around the Mastiff formed a bunch of wind blades.
"Maka stop flying and hold on to me." She knew that this was not the time to ask unnecessary questions and did as she was told. Before the two could even fall to the ground they got pulled in by the tornado. The Mastiff was elated because it thought that it would have to put in more effort, but who would have thought that the people they were chasing would willingly give themselves up. Soon after these thoughts the Mastiff's eyes almost bulged out of their sockets.
Taku, who was several meters away from the tornado, unleashed a series of flame arrows at record speed.
Boom!
As the deafening sound rang out, the shock-waves threw the now powerless duo far away from the tornado. The Mastiff stared in horror as its tornado got engulfed by flames. The air around it began heating up as it quickly retreated. There was something very weird about this flame. It felt as though this flame could burn anything it touched. Even though the Mastiff was a demonic beast of the fifth tier, it still felt weary when facing this kid's flame arrows.
The Mastiff retreated back to the only place that was not shrouded in flames. The Gorilla was quite angry at the moment. It had really wanted to get a hold of that kid and torture him. When he saw that they were being pulled by the tornado it could not help but be happy. The issue came when that kid began shooting those red arrows towards the tornado. It was at that moment that the Gorilla knew that it would not be able to get a hold of Taku.
It had become very familiar with this flame, it vowed to find Taku in the future and kill him at any cost. This kid had not only ruined their plan, but had also redesigned its face. The three beats knew that they could no longer chase the two youths so they all turned and left. As they felt the Mastiff took a close look at the gorillas face and shrugged. It almost felt as if the Mastiff preferred this version of its partner. The gorilla was slightly enraged as it saw its partner's actions. It quickly swallowed its anger as it knew that they were in no position to fight. The three beats retreated at rapid pace.
On the other side of the forest in a cave, the paled faced man had a grim expression on his face as he looked at the hooded figure in front of him. "What do you mean by that? How could they escape?"
The hooded figure did not answer his question as he also replied with his own question. "I thought you said that she was not related to the royal family? I might stay away from worldly matters but I know that Saru's connection with the royal family is weak, in fact, he has many enemies within. So tell me why the Nether Flame appeared? You wanted to capture this girl as a way to lure out that old freak? You should have known that it would be hard, and even if you knew this I am surprised that you did not find that she had someone from the royal family with her. I don't want to get involved with those monsters so if you may, please take your leave."
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