As the group passed the tree in which Rudra was hiding, Rudra started to follow them after they got a little far ahead. Hiding and sneaking through the trees, Rudra was chasing them. Half an hour passed chasing them and Rudra began to wonder.
'Does Miss black cloak even know that I am chasing them and she now has to do her work.', then he heard Miss black cloak's voice.
"Hey, Rilaank, I think now we should get some rest, we all have been traveling continuously since one day.", Miss black cloak suggested.
"Alright, Miss black cloak if you say so, let's find a safe spot and take some rest.", Rilaank the other practitioner rank guard said.
After that, they found a cave in which they were able to hide the supply cart perfectly and all of them sat outside to get rest. Taking a deep breath Rilaank called out to the other guard, "Hey, give me the sack of water."
As soon as he got the sack of water he raised it to pour water in his mouth, but all that came was a single drop.
"God! Who devoured all of the water?", Rilaank was furious.
All of the guards pointed toward Miss black cloak. Rilaank couldn't do anything except shake his head.
"If you want water, go and get it from the nearby pond.", Miss black cloak said casually.
Rilaank sighed as he got up and ran in the direction Miss black cloak pointed towards to get water.
"What are you two waiting for? Go and gather some fruits, I am feeling hungry", Miss black cloak insisted.
The two guards hesitated at first but when they found Miss black cloak staring at them, they ran into the trees and disappeared.
Rudra was shocked to see how miss black cloak used them. Now only three more guards were left there except Miss black cloak.
Miss black cloak then got up and walked towards the tree Rudra was hiding in, as she came closer she looked up to the branch of the tree upon which he was, hiding in the leaves. Miss black cloak then winked at Rudra as a signal in such a way that only he could see it.
Then she raised her finger and gestured for him, it was a clear signal, but she had done it in such a way that anyone would think that she was observing the tree. Rudra seeing the signal took out the potion given by Marya and drank all of it, due to which as if his blood began racing, his body energy increased.
"What happened Miss black cloak, did you sense something suspicious?", Another guard asked.
"yeah, I felt something abnormal about that tree, but upon observing I didn't find anything, maybe I am too hungry", Miss black cloak replied as she tried to cover herself and walked towards that guard.
Upon getting close, without giving the guards even a moment to realize, Miss black cloak took out a dagger and swung it toward one of the guards. This was unexpected, causing that guard to be caught off defense and he got severely injured.
The guard fell down, writhing in pain, and then the second guard attacked her. The third guard was also about to strike, when a hand came from behind, and tapped him on his shoulder. As an instinct, the guard turned back suddenly. When he turned back, an image of a fist seemed to get bigger and bigger in the guard's eyes.
Soon the fist got enough big to touch the guard's nose, and it recklessly landed on the guard's nose. That guard lost his balance as he fell down with a lot of blood flowing from his nose. But the guard without caring struggled to stand up. He swung his dagger at Rudra. But Rudra ducked down and delivered a punch to that guard's stomach.
The guard was pushed a few steps back. This was when another guard came ahead and delivered a punch on Rudra. It seemed an abnormal and fast punch to be delivered by someone on the ninth stage of the beginning level. Until Rudra realized the power of that punch, that punch hit him and threw him off. Rudra rolled on the ground a few times and somehow stopped himself.
'This couldn't be a punch delivered by an edge beginner warrior!', Rudra was confused.
"You too are at practitioner level?", Miss black cloak asked.
"Yeah, I always hid my abilities as a backup.", the third guard said With an evil smile on his face.
Then that guard dashed towards Miss black cloak. Miss black cloak swung her dagger towards the fist that was thrown by the third guard. She was able to deflect that punch with her dagger and delivered a kick to the third guard's chest. The third guard staggered back and fell down. But then he stood up and ran towards Miss black cloak. Rudra didn't want to miss this opportunity.
He stood up and ran towards the cave, but the second guard jumped in. The second guard's nose was still bleeding. The second guard kicked on Rudra's waist, but Rudra dodged it and grabbed the second guard's hand. He then gave a sharp hit on the second guard's chest with his knee. The second guard fell down and now Rudra's way was clear.
But as he was about to enter the cave, "Halt!"
Rudra turned around to find the fourth and fifth guards, who went to bring fruits.
The fourth and fifth guards dropped the fruits and rushed at Rudra. Both of the guards took out their daggers. The fourth guard lunged forward, and Rudra moved with amazing speed, sidestepping and counterattacking the fourth guard with a swift kick in the chest. Unaware of the fact that he was being distracted, he heard the sound of a blade tearing through the air, as he got goosebumps.
Rudra ducked and rolled away, narrowly avoiding the blade of the fifth guard as it sliced through the air. The fourth guard again attacked Rudra, and Rudra dodged that slice of blade, as he delivered a powerful kick to the fifth guard's stomach, the fifth guard was pushed a few steps back. Rudra then at the same moment grabbed the fourth guard's wrist and twisted it. Then Rudra kicked on the fourth guard's knee.
*Crack
With a crack in his knee that guard fell to the ground. Rudra again heard the sound of a blade. He snatched the dagger from the fourth guard as he ducked down to avoid the slice which was enough to behead him and thrust the dagger towards the fifth guard. The dagger left behind a severe cut on that guard's waist, the fifth guard fell down and wasn't able to stand up.
If the members of the skambha clan were to see him fighting in such a way, their jaws would drop down in awe of his fighting skills yet his weakness. But this fight made Rudra completely exhausted, on the other side, Miss black cloak was engaged with the guard, who was at practitioner level. If Rudra were to face that guard, all of his limbs already would have been broken.
Rudra fell on his knees and took long deep breaths to balance his body and calm himself. Rudra tightened his grip around the dagger as he heard
Miss black cloak screamed at him, "Rudra I can't engage him for longer, get up, get the supply cart, and run."
Rudra crawled half his way to the cave and somehow got up, as he entered the cave he spotted the horse attached to the cart. Rudra grabbed the horse's bridle and pulled the horse with him, and along with him, the horse pulled the cart. As he pulled the cart out of the cave, Rudra spotted that Miss black cloak had managed to disarm that guard.
But still, Rudra felt as if something was wrong. Rudra had spread his spiritual energy in all directions within a limited range to sense everything while he was engaged in combat with the guards. With his spiritual energy, he felt a weird sensation, as if someone was lurking behind him, with their keen blade that swung at him to cut through.
But the swing was incredibly fast, as soon as he moved aside, there was already a huge red cut on his back. Rudra spotted the sixth guard, Rilaank who went to collect some water.
Rilaank had an evil expression on his face as he laughed, "You guys made it even easier for me, I already had plans to loot all the valuables, but it was pretty hard for me since except me, these five were incredibly loyal to the black mask.
But you did my work, now I will kill you two exhausted guys easily and take everything. I will tell the organization that miss black cloak betrayed us and I survived.", Rilaank revealed all of his plans in a few moments.
Due to the severe cut, Rudra lay on the floor, not being able to move. While here Rilaank engaged in battle with miss black cloak. Rudra gripped the dagger in his hands tightly and aiming it towards Rilaank threw it, using it as a projectile. But Rilaank seemed to notice the projectile, as he turned around and deflected the dagger with his own.
"After fighting so much, you have become completely exhausted and weak, now you can't do any harm to me, as I am on the practitioner level, and you are just a mere edge beginner.", Rilaank laughed.
Despite the fact that Rilaank had deflected his projectile strike, a huge grin appeared on Rudra's face. Rilaank realized something was wrong, but it was too late. As soon as Rilaank turned back, he spotted the dagger of Miss black cloak coming close to him, And without even giving a moment the dagger was inserted into his chest.
Rilaank took a few steps back as he murmured, "What?"
Miss black cloak had used her special technique, 'Dagger burst technique' for that strike.
"Ha-Ha-Ha, your dagger technique won't be able to kill me!", Rilaank pulled that dagger out of his chest and laughed like a maniac.
Within all this time, Rudra directed his kundalini in a specific way to his hand and chanted a mantra. His hand was filled with an amazing energy.
Rudra called out to Rilaank, "Hey!"
While Rilaank was busy with Miss black cloak, when he heard Rudra, he turned around. Rudra dashed forward and launched his Black Line Punch. Rudra's fist landed on Rilaank's chest, and as it blew against Rilaank, he was thrown away. Rilaank flew backward and collided with the trunk of a nearby tree, and fell down.
He was knocked out of his senses. Here Rudra had almost used all of his kundalini in that one strike. Therefore that strike was enough powerful to make Rilaank go senseless.
Just because he was a saint cultivator, and he also drank that potion to increase his body energy as equal to the ninth stage of beginning level, he alone was able to defeat most of the guards on the ninth stage of beginner level
But right now Rudra fell to the ground. The same chest pain emerged as he again felt his kundalini being sucked out to the lowest level. In such weakness he wasn't able to endure it and fell down, he fainted.