Ryder had wrapped Kaylee around his chest, he made her hug onto him with her whole body as he used his legs and one free arm to quickly leap forward trying to escape at all costs!
"They are gaining fast! The mostly uninjured man is charging up a Spirit Art!"
Cain had been watching his back giving Ryder warnings about the two clearly stronger beings. This allowed Ryder to prepare usually dodging their attempts with a last second quick movement in a completely different direction!
When he heard Cain he took a quick glance back to see the cloaked man charging up his soul force before condensing it into his fist.
"Just die already! [Leaping Dragon Fist!]"
With one powerful leap he closed the distance between him and Ryder! This was a little bit of a shock but what happened next took the cloaked man by surprise!
Ryder having anticipated his moves started to bend back only to fall on the ground placing himself under the airborne man just to launch himself up with his feet planted in the man's chest!
He immediately coughed out blood! First his attack was completely avoided since the area of effect wasn't big enough to catch him. Then his skill was dispersed forcibly causing a minor backlash as he was sent up into the air just barely above the trees!
The boy quickly used this chance to do something unexpected! The women also chasing him was right about to continue running seeing Ryder in a position to sprint away! She was almost up to him a green bladed dagger in her hand as he turned around in a low position sweeping his leg forcing the women to trip!
'Huh!? He chose to attack me instead of run!?'
She was beyond surprised at this point, how could a 1 star gold rank at most be able to take her a peak gold rank marital artists!
"Your foundation is just too… WEAK!"
He used his left hand to grab hers making her unable to use her dagger before slamming his right hand into her solar plexus twice as she was falling!
"The both of you are WEAK! Your martial arts aren't practiced enough! Your stance is shaky! It is clear you only got to this level because of pills!"
He was beyond furious, these two had the audacity to come here, attack his group, take the princess when he was fighting, and even try to kill him for retaliating!
'How dare these bastards even think of harming those I wish to protect! I will devour both of you or my name isn't The Heaven Devouring Wolf! … wait… what's going on? Is Cain… influencing my emotions?'
After noticing something off about his behavior he tried to calm down a little and think rationally but Cain wasn't going to allow that!
'Kill them! Tear their flesh to pieces for daring to go against us! Kill! Kill! Destroy them!'
Cain was transmitting his emotions and instincts to Ryder! He could feel his rationality slowly slipping away as the intense emotions fueled his anger!
'W-what is happening…! I… I need to get Kaylee back to the safe zone and away from me before I lose myself!?'
As both peak gold rank experts began to stand Ryder began to draw a couple of symbols in the air using both hands! He quickly finished the rune before sending it to the man who was in a much better condition then the women.
He tried to get away as an invisible pressure began to weigh down on the man restricting his movements!
Instantly Ryder ran forward towards Jacob who wasn't too far away now!
'Damnit! This kid is making a fool out of us!?'
The women yelled out as a scaled creature slowly started to leave her body out from her back! This creature was as large as the oak trees around the group! It was a massive green scaled Python!
She quickly jumped back phasing through the avatar before her body was carried up to sit inside the translucent green snake with swirling green energy!
'We were only supposed to take her away and test your resolve! How dare you cut off my arm and belittle our powers! I don't care anymore! I'm going to kill him and the princess for daring to go against the 7 sins!'
She yelled out as the snake rushed forward tearing down trees as it spits green energy globs towards Ryder!
"[Venom Injection!]"
More snakes began to appear, no where near as big but their small bodies made them quick! Hundreds of the green snakes tried to surround Ryder while attacking him from every direction while he runs!
'WHY ARE YOU RUNNING AWAY!? KILL HER!! KILL HER IMMEDIATELY!!!'
Cain was only getting angrier seeing Ryder still trying to escape only to have the boy forcibly ignore him while cutting down snakes and dodging attacks left and right!
He was panting, his body was running out of energy as he leaps forwards with a quarter of his soul energy in his legs bursting out of the encirclement into a miniature clearing where Jacob finally ran up before throwing his hands towards the horde of snakes!
"[IGNIS UNDA!]"
A wave of flames poured out in front of him! It was like a dam had been broken all of a sudden! Anything and everything standing before Jacob had been engulfed in the destructive flames!
Ryder was shocked the next moment when he saw Jacob bring out his Avatar causing his flames to heat up turning the area in front of him into a blue fiery hell!
"Go! Get her back to the safe zone! I'll hold them off as long as I can!"
He yelled out as a massive snake rushed out of the smoke only to be met with a fireball knocking the snake back into the cloud!
"Go!"
Ryder forced his mind to calm slightly in that moment nodding to Jacob before running at full speed back to the apes corpse. His free hand quickly picked up his sword still glowing with his Durable rune as he cuts down any stragglers that try and attack him on his way out of the forest!
———
Anna POV
"Mom…. Why are you always so bossy to me… would it hurt you to say please for once…?"
She sighed after getting off the call looking at the situation with a slightly annoyed look.
"Why am I always the one that has to do everything!? Get Evan over here! Get Kyle, or Mari! Why do I have to do more and more work all the time…"
She was complaining to herself before she perked up seeing Ryder use a silver rank rune with ease before another shock filled her when the women activated her Avatar!
"What is she doing!? Is she really so pathetic that she can't beat a kid half her age without using her Avatar? Wha!? She's even using Spirit Arts!?"
She finally stood up from the lotus flower, a look of anger filled her face as she watched the events unfold. She was tempted to go down and stop her however seeing Ryder suddenly pass by Jacob made her wait just a little more before she was filled with another shock!
"What a powerful attack for a silver rank!"
The flames had torched the entire area in front of Jacob, strangely no fires had started on the trees or plants close by. However it was hard to see what was left with the dust and smoke filling the air!
———
Jacob's POV
He began to pant out of breath after carrying Daki with him after breaking out into a full sprint going after the princess when she was taken.
His stamina was low and now his soul force was a little below half after the massive wave of fire.
'Damnit! You ignored me completely! You went after Daki and the princess and completely ignored me! The future head of the Fireseed's!! If I don't at least hold you back here then I should be ashamed of myself as a noble of the Cosmos Dynasty!!'
He began to yell out as flames coat his body creating a flame wheel behind his back as his black hair raises up becoming a raging fire!
"Come at me! I'll be sure to show you the power of the Fireseed family!"
He grabbed the air before a spear appeared out of thin air! With all the runic lines and words carved into the weapon it was clearly not a normal spear!
"Get out of my way!? That brat needs to pay for what he has done to us!"
She used the snakes large body to swat away the dust and smoke while also swinging it towards Jacob who covered his feet in flames propelling himself into the air barely dodging the attack only to counter with a stab into the snakes body.
He was happy to see that the spear head stabbed into the snakes body injuring it slightly as he lands on its back just to start running towards the hooded women.
"Like I would let you get past me! I have vowed to protect the royal family and the citizens of Cosmos! I can not allow you to hurt them even if it costs me my life!! I will protect them as a noble of house FIRESEED!!"
He jumped up towards the snakes head as blue flames pour out of his body only to compress around him creating a dense layer of flame around himself before unleashing it all on one point towards his enemy!
"YOU BASTA- AHHHHHHHHH!?!?"
The women began to scream as the heat pierced through the snakes body slamming into the center of her chest!