Chapter 445: Encounter

The first week was rather fulfilling. Not only could he train Roselyn a bit to match their pace, but the group didn't bother to fight with each other anymore.

"Sir Arnaud, three on our left," Kai commanded while listening to the footsteps of three magical beasts coming before focusing on the ten in front of them.

Arnaud nodded as lightning covered his body. His power and speed were boosted greatly as he raised both hands like a boxer.

The three magical beasts roared, but Arnaud disappeared from his position, moving so fast. Even Kai got taken aback at first, but he seemed slower than Ikeda Kenzo, so he simply took note of his speed and was done with it.

Arnaud appeared right next to the three beasts and threw a punch forward. The lightning sparked and obliterated the three beasts in an instant.

Kai took down the ones coming for him with ease as the group continued forward. Their current location was that of savanna, so their position would be exposed all the time.

Luckily, they had found a nearby forest where they could cover their appearance while crossing this area.

"We are going to use that forest since we are already at the edge of this savanna. We can have lunch there." Kai informed the group and listened to the movement.

"Right. It's still five kilometers though. We need a few more minutes to reach there."

"No worries. Take our time. There are still fifty beasts to kill." Kai smiled as he had planned their movement as soon as they entered his hearing range.

The group was not surprised anymore and followed his command wholeheartedly since Kai had proven himself during the past week.

However, there was one weird thing happening on the edge of his hearing range. Right in front of the forest's entrance, he found two people's footsteps marching toward them.

"Hmm?!" Kai narrowed his eyes and asked Arnaud, "Are you sure there is no person who has stepped upon this land?"

"Yes, why?" Arnaud answered with bewilderment.

"Because there are two people coming out of the forest soon." Kai pointed right in front of them.

"!!!" The group couldn't believe what they just heard, but Arnaud took this more seriously. The moment Kai gave the direction, the lightning sparked again as he said, "I'm going to check them."

Kai nodded and Arnaud disappeared right after, moving faster than anyone else to help whoever Kai found. After all, they never found someone venturing this deep.

In his mind, they were either refugees or an original survivor that had lasted for centuries. If it were the latter, their knowledge would benefit the entire Union, so he wanted to secure them no matter what.

Yet, he couldn't even be more shocked when the two made their appearances.

The male had silver hair and cold blue eyes, but the most noticeable thing on his face was a pair of horns. If Kai were here, he would recognize these horns, but Arnaud just misunderstood him, thinking he was a Zodiac.

But it also contained a problem since he never heard of any Zodiacs other than Kai and the others. At the same time, his clothes were close to that of Japanese Hakama, so he had no clue about this person. There was no way United Asia had a Zodiac.

He then looked at the other one, who turned out to be female. Her black hair and facial features appeared to be someone from United Asia. And the fact that the male seemed to be holding her hand as if dragging her somewhere made Arnaud think she was kidnaped from United Asia all the way here.

The male seemed to have the same thought as Arnaud as he raised his right hand that was holding a huge black sword.

Seeing this hostile action, Arnaud couldn't help but release his lightning toward the sword to blow it away.

"Lightning Discharge."

The male clenched his teeth as his black sword turned red before he smacked the lightning to the side, blowing it away until it exploded to the ground. He then slashed forward to cut Arnaud.

"!!!" Arnaud dropped on his knees to dodge that swing and pulled both hands, planning to strike the male's abdomen to knock him out. "Great Lightning Sh—"

Before he could finish the magic, Arnaud was blasted several meters away as the male just kicked his face.

"What a strong kick…" Arnaud quickly raised from the ground and looked at the male with a serious expression. "Who are you?"

The male didn't respond and quickly turned around, planning to escape. Unfortunately for him, Arnaud didn't let him go as he appeared again despite blood coming out of his mouth.

"I shall take you into custody first."

The male obviously found that offensive and kicked Arnaud again, but the latter seemed to expect this kind of attack and received it with one hand.

Arnaud then jumped to make the male slip, but it didn't go as he planned as another kick sent him away again.

Bam.

If Arnaud didn't have his exoskeleton, he would be in trouble by the two kicks alone as it would probably crack his school.

"It could even spin its body to send another kick? This guy must be a human… Yeah, a Zodiac. As for his backstory, I will hear it after capturing this guy." Arnaud clicked his tongue and chased him again.

The male got angry because of Arnaud's persistence and raised his sword. The red-colored sword emitted powerful magic energy before the male swung the sword downwards.

A red-colored sword strike ran through the ground, creating a small shock wave to its surroundings.

"!!!" Arnaud widened his eyes and jumped to the side before observing the aftereffect for a split second, finding something unbelievable. At least, that was what it looked like to him. The slash created a two meters deep hole that stretched over thirty meters straight.

Even he had no ability to do something like this.

Knowing that the person before him was probably so strong, he planned to receive Kai's assistance.

'I will buy time for now. And there is also the female… Should I rescue her first?' thought Arnaud before jumping to the air as the male just sent a low kick.

Arnaud would probably become even more annoying sooner or later, so he planned to kill him first. After all, he could sense a powerful person coming toward him and he would reach this place in a minute, so he needed to run away as soon as possible.

He let go of the woman's hand for a bit and jumped toward Arnaud with both hands on his sword.

'What is this? I feel fear?' Arnaud widened his eyes as if he got disturbed by the sudden transformation of the male after letting the woman go. This simply meant that the man would get even stronger.

Gulping down, Arnaud raised both hands and started moving to the left and right to confuse the male.

If this were a normal person, he would have been defeated already. Unfortunately for him, his opponent was not an ordinary human… or he couldn't even be called human anymore.

The male simply struck the ground with his giant sword, creating a crater.

"!!!" Arnaud found himself in a dangerous situation because his feet didn't touch the ground because of the sudden strike.

He stepped on the ground first, but the earlier pause disrupted his rhythm as his opponent managed to catch up and stopped him from using that confusing movement.

"Kh!" Arnaud raised both hands and created three Magic Shields next to him to block that sword, but all of them ended up getting shattered into pieces. Luckily, it bought enough time for him to duck down and retreat a few steps, going toward the woman.

The male found his attention and quickly protected her again as if he was afraid this woman got stolen by Arnaud.

"Whoever you are… You are going to pay for this." Arnaud threatened the male while clenching his fists, ready for another round.

His opponent also took one step back before launching himself forward, swinging his sword. The two seemed to have forgotten the fact that Kai was able to see them already and used his strength to reach them.

That was why when Arnaud took one big step forward to hit the man, Kai appeared between them, confusing both people with his action.

"Kai Carter! Move!" Arnaud shouted, knowing that his attack would surely hit Kai if he didn't dodge.

The same applied to the male, but he didn't say anything since there wasn't a need to do so.

Surprisingly, Kai didn't do anything. Even his swords were not in his hands. He stomped the ground, crossed his hands right in front of his chest, and opened his palm, trying to receive both fist and sword at the same time.

Two green-colored magic circles appeared on his hands. "Oscillation Shield."

The lightning was blown away as Arnaud ended up hitting the shield without any power.

The same applied to the male because he couldn't cut this magic shield. Before the two could recover, Kai's magic circles disappeared and their momentum forced them to get closer to Kai.

He then grabbed Arnaud and the male's wrists and opened his arms wide, spinning them to the air.

"!!!" Arnaud widened his eyes and shouted. "What are you doing, Kai Carter?"

Even Jules couldn't say anything regarding this person because he never saw someone having horns on his head. Sofia had some understanding about it, but she couldn't confirm it yet since the only one she met was Mia.

When the male landed, he clenched his sword, knowing that there was a strong opponent here.

Right before he jumped forward, Kai suddenly shouted with the only other race language he had learned.

"**$&%$ (Cease Your Action!)."