Kane felt a cold liquid flow from his throat down into his stomach. This made him feel relaxed and unwind his muscles that tensed up due to anxiety. He raised his small smiling face and looked at the adults who were eyeing him like an endangered species.
Abel and Mr. Abdul were just about to sigh in relief when Kane suddenly had a seizure. He crashed onto his back and stretched out all of his limbs as if they wanted to detach from his torso. Before he could bite down on his tongue, Abel formed an energy arrow and placed it between his teeth.
All of Kane's blood vessels began to radiate blue light and he promptly fell unconscious. Abel who was going to check on Kane's condition instantly felt that he would die at the next moment.
He formed an arrow of light and swung it behind him. There was a loud bang and Abdul who swung a dagger at his neck was revealed. "Your balls are big enough to block the sky, I will give you that. I will cut them off as an offering to this promising young man you killed tonight" Abdul was fuming and killing intent from his body spilled to every corner of the vehicle.
"First of all like I've said time and time again, this is none of your fucking business. Secondly, if you even bothered to check, the boy is still alive, just unconscious. I know you were sent by the hunters association but I am not afraid of you. Push me too hard and I will make sure at least one of us dies here tonight" replied Abel.
He was not too terrified by the hunters association. Although the association was an extension of the earth, they were independent and worked without the earth intervening in its matters. Earth only descended into that branch because it got to know of Kane's capabilities.
Even if he killed this Mr. Abdul now, he could relocate to another city and lay low. As soon as he confirmed that Kane was still alive, Mr. Abdul's killing intent subsided before saying "if anything happens to the boy, this dessert will be your burial ground" before moving back to the driver's wheel.
That night, Mr. Abdul and Abel didn't sleep. Their guards were up against each other as they watched the other person's movements. Abel was afraid Abdul would slit his throat in his sleep and Abdul was afraid that Abel would escape if he fell asleep.
The next morning, both adults were feeling especially grumpy and Abel did not even bother to make breakfast. Kane was still unconscious but his breathing was already stable. His blue veins returned to normal and if one were to listen closely, they could hear faint popping sounds coming from his body as if his bones realigning themselves.
Abel and Abdul knew that Kane was growing stronger. In the grunt realm, the focus of improvement when one breaks through tiers was the enhancement and strengthening of the cultivator's body. It was evident that Kane's tier level had improved.
Tatatatata…
The sound of automatic gunfire erupted and metallic rings which indicated bullet collisions could be heard. They were under attack.
In the distance, Abel could see an armored vehicle with a mounted gun speeding towards them. "Get us out of here" shouted Abel. They would be sitting ducks if they stood still and would be ripped to shreds in no time by that mounted gun.
Abdul was going to flee even without Abel's order as he was deeply concerned about Kane's condition. He drove off full speed and tried as much as possible to avoid the gunfire. Abel was waiting for an opportunity to act until he saw it.
When the RV swerved to the left in order to dodge gunfire, the armored vehicle behind them was no longer completely aligned with the RV. Most of the body of the pursuing vehicle could be seen from the windows on the right side of the RV.
Abel quickly leaned out from the window before stretching out his hand. His longbow appeared in his hand and an especially thick arrow of light was shot towards the pursuing vehicle.
The arrow pierced the vehicle's bonnet causing it to suddenly flip and crash upside down. Abel could not let go of this opportunity. He directly jumped out of the moving RV from the window he was leaning out of.
He landed steadily on his feet and ran towards the crash site. He could not allow people who raised their hands against him to live.
At the crash site, six people climbed out of the wreckage without serious injuries. They were all at least in the mutant realm and such accidents could not pose a threat to their powerful bodies.
If Kane were to see them he would have recognized one of them as the beggar he met when he first arrived in Edan city. When they got out of the wreckage, they noticed a man with a bow running toward them. They immediately aimed their gauss rifles at the man. Before they could pull the trigger, they each had an arrow of light piercing into their foreheads except for one of them who Abel seemingly missed.
"That's not right, how could I not hit a mutant" Abel mumbled to himself in doubt. He took another look at the man and then realized he was not a mutant. This was a bonafide warrior realm being.
'When did warrior realm beings become as common as cabbages in a remote place like Edan city' Abel thought to himself. The man had a face filled with wrinkles and bright eyes. His fingernails were not too long but had a cold light glint on them as if it could test apart steel.
"Young man, You can call me Talon, I think we have some kind of misunderstanding. I'm only here for what's mine" said the old man. "I don't remember taking anything that belonged to you" replied Abel. He could now more or less guess what Talon was after. He was not afraid of such characters who used their strength to establish racketeering firms to bully the weak mortals of Edan city.
"The boy, I want the boy. My men who you just killed were the first to find him. I was willing to split the ransom money with you but it will now be used as compensation for my men you killed today" said Talon.
Abel could not be bothered to reason with the old man he jumped backward and shot three light arrows towards Talon while still in the air. He had to create some space between them as he felt threatened by Talon's nails and thought he was a melee fighter.
Talon created a sudden burst of wind around himself that rotated clockwise which changed the direction of the arrows at the Nick of time causing them to miss. He waved his arm and a formless and almost transparent wind blade was formed and flew towards Abel at a speed not lower than that of Abel's arrows.
The move shocked Abel as he now knew that Talon could also use deadly ranged attacks. Abel sensed a threat of death and promptly jumped to the side and shot three more arrows at Talon. He had to be extremely careful with this old man. His elemental affinity was with the wind element and his wind blades were quite difficult to notice. He could only rely on his danger premonitions to know when his life was in danger.
Talon did not even flinch as he waved his hand and a fierce mini-tornado was formed in front of him. The arrows shot by Abel were quickly swept into the tornado as he also swung his arms which sent two wind blades that traveled in a curved path towards Abel.
The wind blades split up to avoid the tornado in front of Talon and converged at Abel's current location. As Abel just landed from a jump to the side, he did not do so again. Rather, he sent his longbow into his storage ring with a thought and conjured a thick light arrow which he used to block the space in front of him.
The two wind blades crashed into Abel's light arrow and the force of the impact dragged him backward a few feet and he felt his bones being rattled by the force. When the wind blades dissipated, he jumped six meters into the air and took out his longbow. He placed the thick arrow into his bow and drew back the bowstring as far as it could go.
Talon felt threatened by the next attack from Abel and moved the tornado towards Abel's direction and fired two more wind blades at Abel who was still in the air.
Abel let go of the bowstring and the arrow was shot towards Talon. It first met the wind blades and tore through them and directly dissipated them. Instead of being swept away by the tornado, it also tore through it and hit its target which was Talon's heart.
There was a huge boom as the arrow which had high power and penetration hit the ground and a plume of sand filled the air. Abel landed on the ground but was still on guard and could not relax until he confirmed that his opponent was dead.
"Good, good. If I don't kill you today then know that I, Talon, am not fit to have two balls between my legs" Talon's voice seething with anger could be heard by Abel who had a serious expression on his face.