123 No Gall No Glory

“You!”

An injured Bulal Blood exclaimed as he saw the Meta ranker he wanted to kill right in front of him after he got teleported with him. The place they both got teleported to was still in the Pointlet forest. However, it was tens of miles away from Bulal’s base.

Eren knew he was in trouble as soon as he found himself alone with Bulal Blood. While holding both of his axes, he executed his movement spell to the fullest extent he could to flee.

Ern knew that it would be difficult for Kiara and others to follow Bulal through the teleportation array. They didn’t have the right to operate it. And it would be a while for the isolation array to wear out. It meant that Eren was going to be Bulal’s only opponent for a long time.

He cursed his luck once again. Cursing, however, could not help him. So he just bolted.

‘If you can’t solve your problems, run away from them.’

Eren thought to himself as he zipped past the dense vegetation surrounding him. Bulal Blood wasn’t someone he could mess with.

The demonic ranker was stunned by the sudden action taken by a puny Meta ranker. He cursed his luck as well because his plans for his rank-up were foiled by Kiara’s raid.

A balanced team would be sent to purge him once he made his kidnapping activities obvious. But he did not have a choice. He needed to break into the Arch rank or succumb to old age for good.

He had set a trap for the rankers in Pointlet town for this reason. In addition to providing him with worthy sacrifices for his ritual, it would also solve his potential problem. Too bad, the trap didn’t spring.

Still, Bulal was glad that he could escape from the battle using his own men as disposable pawns. He still had his plans to continue the ritual. That’s because he had already collected a substantial amount of sacrificial energy.

Bulal was thinking all these thoughts when he saw Eren escaping from his view. He felt enraged that a puny Meta ranker dared to escape from his grasp now that they were the only two people.

Bulal wanted to vent his anger on Eren. So he activated his movement spell and tried to chase after Eren.

“Aaargh!”

Bulal forgot in his excitement and blindsided emotions that his body was damaged by Kiara. He was not in danger of succumbing to his injuries. But he was far away from his peak.

The wounds on Bulal’s legs spewed blood when he tried to approach Eren using his movement spell. He had quickly covered the distance between Eren and him due to his higher rank and higher grade spell. But his injuries prevented him from going any further.

“Run, you scurrying rat. Run. and don’t let me see you ever again. Otherwise, I’d chop you into a thousand pieces before making flesh golems out of each one of them.”

Bulala imbued his voice with his mana and spoke up. Eren felt like his ears would bleed and his mind would become blank when he heard the voice. The voice wasn’t loud but it was very sinister as it contained Bulal’s Awakened rank aura.

Eren stopped moving when he realized that Bulal Blood was giving up chasing him. He felt weird that an Awakened demonic ranker like Bulal would be so forgiving. He stopped his movement spell and looked back.

Eren maintained his distance and observed Bulal’s condition. He still had tricks in his sleeves to get away from Bulal using his potion bombs and array of traps he had bought. Those should give him enough time to distance himself from Bulal if and when in a pinch.

Thus, Eren decided to take the risk and see what Bulal was up to. To his surprise, he found out that the old man was heading in a different direction.

As Bulal disappeared from his position, Eren appeared at the same spot and saw blood drops on the dry leaves. The moonlight on the blood-drenched leaves was especially reflective. It didn’t give away the color of the blood– making it look more like a black liquid than anything. But the stench of blood could not be masked.

‘That old man is severely injured.’

Eren had a pleasant smile on his face as he realized Bulal’s condition. If he wanted to claim the price on Bulal’s head all to himself, this was his chance.

‘Take the risk or lose the chance.’

As Eren gripped his two axes, he decided to act on his resolve. Running away from the Awakened ranker was the sanest thing a Meta ranker like him could do. But sanity wasn’t always helpful in a ranker’s life.

Sanity teaches one to avoid risks. But one won’t get anywhere in life without taking risks. This was especially true for any ranker of any faction or belief.

To get away from Pointlet, Bulal followed a different route to a distant location that could be used as his new base. He thought that the coast was clear for him to march forward without any restrictions.

But suddenly, the demonic ranker sensed something. He turned back to find out that a flock of fire sparrows was approaching him at a critical speed. One of the birds struck him right in his face before bursting into flames.

Eren had cast his summoning spell that could be cast at a distance. He kept on stacking the spell using his infinite mana core, which created a large flock of firebirds.

These firebirds kept performing their kamikaze attacks on the Awakened ranker all at once. Eren didn’t bother using the ignited flames to create firebirds out of them this time. He was using his infinite mana core and he had more than enough of his mana to spare.

“Aaargh!”

Bulal’s cry was heard in the silent surroundings. He stayed in his place not because he was incapacitated. But he was so angry that he forgot to move. A mere Metahuman had attacked him while he was trying to run away from him.

“You little rat… I’ll kill you!”

Bulal yelled and charged at Eren.