บท 22: Chapter 22 Let You Go?
Every single one of the assailants ran like the wind without a care in the world.
"One…two…three…"
Within five seconds, not a single one of them was in sight. Some hid themselves in the dense foliage and almost drowned in mud while trying to hide while the others used earth magic to hide under a mound of earth.
Zach nodded to himself and rushed off into the direction that Braxton had escaped towards. The reason he had delayed his pursuit so much was that he could have easily pursued Braxton if he had wanted to by using the satellite map any time.
The solitary red blip on the map was still blinking as it provided accurate whereabouts of the enemy leader at all times. Zach kept the map open as he rushed off following the same displacement vector.
Zach chose a roundabout way to intercept Braxton who was considerably slower compared to him. He easily crossed Braxton and moved ahead in the same direction that Braxton had been heading towards.
Waiting on top of a tree, hidden from plain sight, Zach kept a lookout for Braxton who could be coming towards the ambush site any minute now according to the satellite map.
Zach closed off the map and tried to listen to the sound of the footsteps. It didn't even take him fifteen seconds to spot a lone figure heading towards the ambush site while panting heavily.
Zach tightened the grip of his Flame Gloves and pounced on Braxton who was about to reach the spot directly underneath the tree that Zach had been perched upon.
Braxton was already very sensitive in the forest and that coupled with his paranoia that he was still being chased, he managed to sense the hidden danger coming at him from above. Braxton rolled to the side with surprising agility as he cast his signature wood magic to control some tree branches and used them to discourage any further assault attempts.
Unknown to him, his precious wood magic was nothing more than a scarecrow to Zach who was wielding Flame Gloves armed with enough physical attack power to break the wood into splinters and enough magic attack to burn the wood to ashes in a matter of seconds.
Zach's punch missed and landed on the ground which caved in slightly forming a small depression in the otherwise plain earth.
Zach wasn't discouraged because his ambush had failed. On the other hand he had a smile on his face because he had already seen the surprise on Braxton's face earlier.
Even if he hadn't caused any physical damage, Zach had definitely managed to shake the mental state of the enemy which could be the key difference between victory and defeat especially when it came to mages who relied on their mental faculty and their mana to cast spells.
"Y…you…you…" Braxton tried to form some coherent words but he was too overwhelmed by the fear of his opponent.
"Are you a broken record? Can you speak anything other than that?" Zach sneered as he laughed inwardly at the condition of his enemy.
"YOU…stop okay…tell me what you want?" Braxton was still flustered but his words had started to come back to him slowly.
"Ooh…you make it sound like I am some evil robber while you are the innocent victim. Let me tell you what I want then."
Braxton nodded hoping to solve the matter by losing a treasure or two if he could save his life.
"What is it? What will it take for you to put all this behind us?" Braxton regained some of his confidence thinking that Zach was just like those money hungry useless idiots whom he had left behind to stop Zach from coming after him. After all, he was confident in handling people like them with relative ease.
"Everything you have on you…that is of course after I kill you. Just like you intended to do to me, fair, isn't it?"
Braxton couldn't bring himself to utter a single word as he tried to rein in the fury that threatened to burst out of him. His face gained a purplish red tint as if all the blood in his body had rushed there.
The anger Braxton was feeling was too hard to contain. He wanted to shout and yell at the cruel fate that had left him at the mercy of his enemy despite being a peerless E rank mage who should have been respected and held in awe by all who laid their eyes on him.
Never in his wildest imaginations had Braxton considered that he might have to face such a critical situation or that he would have to beg and strike a deal to in order to survive.
Seeing an enemy so powerful and cruel, an enemy that could not be bought with treasure or wealth or anything that Braxton had to offer except his life, the fear of death gripped his heart chaining leaving him no option but to use the last of his trump cards.
"I admit that you are powerful and have the ability to win against me in a fight. BUT I will advise you to stay calm lest you do something you might regret." Braxton played his last card while creating just enough mystery to bring the battle of wits to a halt for a few minutes.
Zach carefully evaluated his words and fell into contemplation regarding his next course of action. Of course he wasn't thinking whether to attack Braxton or not, rather he was trying to choose all the different ways in which he could make the pig named Braxton squeal in the most painful ways possible.
"Hmm…let's see…what shall I do with you? Shoot you in the face? No, that would be too fast a death. You deserve some special treatment for pissing me off." Zach thought as he kept listening to the bullshit that Braxton had been spouting.
"Just my background is enough to bring someone like you to his knees. Don't be hasty and listen to me and you just might get some benefits from the power backing me up." Braxton's tone grew confident as he pushed out his chest and talked with a smug look on his handsome face.
The corner of Zach's lips twitched in annoyance as he heard Braxton brag about his background like a five year old. As if your background had something to do with your personal power. Smug little bitches like Braxton annoyed Zach to no limit and his expression slowly changed into disgust.
"Pummel you to death with Flame Gloves as the flames burn that smug expression of your face? I feel that I should give you some special treatment" Zach's methods grew more savage as Braxton kept talking.
Braxton was incredibly fortunate since he was unable to hear Zach's thoughts or he might have committed suicide to escape the fate of falling into Zach's hands.
"If you dare to hurt me, you will never escape the pursuit of those behind me. You will have to live in fear of being hunted down every moment…IF…you manage to survive somehow while hiding in some abandoned corner of this world." Braxton felt that his words were working since Zach hadn't spoken a single word and was lost in contemplation. To Braxton this was completely normal; after all, who in their right mind would want to live the life of a runaway when they could get benefits in return?
Finally Zach had had enough of the squealing pig as he decided to make it squeal for the last time.
"Not that I had any intention of letting you go to begin with, who is to say that you wouldn't get me killed after I let you go? Haven't you proved yourself to be a treacherous little bastard already?" Zach sneered as he held the dagger in his hands in a reverse grip as if intending to cut Braxton to pieces with it the very next instant.
Braxton wanted to defend himself as if he was some virtuous saint whose integrity had been doubted but even he had the common sense to shut his mouth. Zach had already seen him abandoning and using his subordinates only to escape behind their backs. Someone with even a shred of gratitude wouldn't be able to do something as heartless as that.
If a beast of that proportion offered to give Zach a reward in exchange for letting it live, let alone Zach whose intelligence was fully developed, not even a kid would be fooled by such blatant dishonesty.
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