“…ah…! What if the other man got him just as the magician died…?!”

Rhodes flinched and straightened his back in a morbid realization.𝒐𝓥𝓁xt.𝗇𝓔t

With the dust still blocking his vision, the martial artist from the Blood Star sect moved forward in search of a wall and…

*WHOOOOSH*

“!!!!”

The still air was pierced through by a hand that shot out at Rhodes out of nowhere, grabbing his head from the side and locking it in a monstrous grip…

*WHAM* *BOOOOOM*

“GHHHFHAA…?!”

Before Rhodes know it, his body was lifted off the rubble and slammed against the wall he searched for a moment earlier – and the strength of the impact blew off any and all dust away from the passage, clearing out the view.

And what a sight to behold it was.

A grim-faced dusty black-haired man was grabbing unconscious Aaron with one hand and holding the twitching, barely conscious Rhodes against the wall with the other one.

Behind his back, he had a crunching young reddish-brown-haired man, pale as a ghost…

…and the only evidence of being struck with the spectral arrow was the perfectly round hole in the clothes in the middle of his chest.

That was it.

The black-haired man’s skin at the spot where the arrow hit bore not a single trace of damage.

“We have a lot of things to discuss, Rhodes. You are the third being that managed to hit me and had their attack not disperse completely. In that sect of yours, you are not a mere grunt, are you?”

Zoemi’s face twisted in a furious grin that sent chills down the spine of the captured man while also chasing off the mist that was about to swallow his mind into unconsciousness.

“Fh-fho ahrr you…?”

Rhodes asked, with his face mushed against the partially broken wall.

“Zoemi Benevi Banemor. Chosen champion of your god of stars, Guide.”

The black-haired man announced grimly, keenly observing the captured man, ready to react to the slightest movement he would make.

“…chosen…? Then… you…? Have you really reached the supernova level…? Ugh…!”

Rhodes gasped in shock, but before he could say anything more, blood gushed out of his nose and his eyes flashed whites as he fell unconscious.

“Too much pressure I guess?”

Zoemi raised his brow and pulled Rhodes away from the wall, looking between him and Aaron.

Father and son, both knocked out cold.

“Master Alan, climb on my back, we are getting out of here.”

“Huh…? Oh…! O-okay…!”

The black-haired man looked back at the young marital artist and declared, having his employer flinch himself back up to his feet and slowly approach him on wobbly legs.

“…that was scary… this guy must have fully mastered all nineteen star levels of the law of Sagittarius…”

As Zoemi crouched down for Alan to take his spot, the young man leaned fully on his comrade’s back, resting his head on the black-haired man’s shoulder and whimpering in a vulnerable voice.

“Maybe, or maybe he is even stronger. We will wait for him to wake up and ask. Like I said before, he and I have a lot of things to discuss. Now hold on tight, and not just the leash. Law of Capricorn is no free flight spell, if you fall, I might not be able to catch you in time… not without breaking one of those two’s necks.”

“…y-yeah… Okay…”

The black-haired man pointed out with a serious expression and Alan blushed and wrapped his arms around his neck tightly.

It was especially embarrassing for Alan because the bandages keeping his chest in place loosened.

“…?”

“Don’t worry, getting a piggyback ride will not affect your manliness. You are in no condition to move, master Alan. Knowing when to accept help is important.”

Alan glanced up at Zoemi to check for his reaction to the softness on his back, but the black-haired man didn’t seem bothered in the slightest and only smiled reassuringly in response to the worried look of his employer.

“…I know… we can go now…”

The young man blushed even harder and burrowed his face in Zoemi’s shoulder to hide it before murmuring.

——–

As the part of the land didn’t lack rocky areas, it was quite easy to find a convenient spot to make a case for hiding.

Yes.

Make one.

“…”

As Alan was carefully put down back on the ground next to the unconscious father and son duo, Zoemi dug into a solid rock with his bare hands as if it was sand.

“Nothing much, but should be enough for the night.”

The black-haired man stepped outside after a few minutes of digging and shoveling out the debris and declared with an apologetic expression.

“Zoemi… I just want to say that… watch out for what that guy will say, okay?”

As he did, Alan hurriedly straightened his shirt and started talking very fast while pointing at Rhodes.

“If he really is from a dark sect then I do not believe him to be trustworthy at all… even with all of what Aaron has said.”

The young man fidgetted, still a bit uncomfortable, and glanced up at Zoemi to gauge his reaction.

“Did I make it seem like I trust him? That is not the case at all.”

The black-haired man tilted his head and wondered out loud before smiling reassuringly.

“That said, it might be true and you could be the one with the bias of the environment you were brought up in speaking through you.”

He added tilting his head to the other side.

“Members of the dark sects kill people to use their spiritual energy for cultivation, Zoemi. That’s bad.”

Alan breathed out, holding back from rolling his eyes.

“True, I’ve heard Zoey speaking about using the villagers’ lives to further his cultivation. Still, I wonder if Aaron was serious when talking about the Heavenly Archer sect kidnapping him and killing his mother. Because if that is something a lawful sect would normally do then… you know. Pots and kettles.”

Zoemi nodded, walking over to the unconscious two and tapping his foot on the older man’s leg to check for a reaction.

“Didn’t you just say that you don’t trust Aaron?”

“Yeah. I do not.”

Alan asked slightly irked off to which Zoemi merely shrugged his shoulders and nodded with confirmation.

“…”

“…what is it…?”

Originally, the young man was going to comment on the behavior of his black-haired companion, but the man in question suddenly straightened his back and looked to the side with a frown, causing Alan to ask in a worried voice, also looking the same way.

“Nothing much. Let’s get those two to the cave, keep an eye on them but do not try to heal them with the law of Virgo unless their state will get worse.”

Zoemi shrugged the question off before hurriedly picking up the two unconscious people and jogging with them to the cave before backing Alan to follow him.

“Oh, okay, because that doesn’t sound suspicious at all…”

The young man muttered under his breath and yet he obediently followed the black-haired man’s instructions.

“Alright, come in too. So, what are we hiding from?”

After entering the surprisingly cozy shelter, Alan stuck his head out and motioned with his head for Zoemi to get inside.

“Something big that I have a bad feeling about. Don’t come out until I say it’s safe.”

“Wha…?!”

*THUMP*

The black-haired man shrugged his shoulders dismissively while picking quite a sizable boulder and pushing it against the cave’s entrance, blocking it.

“Zoemi?! What in the world are you doing?!”

Alan got on all fours and shouted at the small gap between the boulder and the edge of the entrance to the cave.

“I just don’t feel like having an audience. Be a good boy and stay there in silence. I m not fast enough to protect you with the numbers they have.”

Zoemi responded calmly, leaning against the boulder and looking around as the rustling sounds of a large number of creatures approached.

“Huh?! Who?! Are the members of the dark sect coming to save their comrade? Or is it the Star Pagoda or Heavenly Archer sect people?!”

Alan did not stay quiet as Zoemi requested and instead asked in a worried voice.

“Those don’t sound like humans. So shush. I will be busy, call me only if I will miss something trying to get into the cave.”

The black-haired man denied the guess that the young marital artist have made and put his index finger to his mouth even though Alan could not see him.

“…wait… so…!”

“Monsters.”

Alan gasped in realization and this time Zoemi nodded in confirmation.

“…”

The young man had little choice in the matter anyway, so he bit his lips and backed off into the cave.

The gaps between the boulder blocking the exit were just enough to let air and the faint moonlight in.

“Hmm~”

With one thing less to worry about, Zoemi smirked and moved away from the cave in a casual stride.

…and then the monsters began to show up.

Mole-like, fox-like, wolf-like, bear-like, owl-like, crow-like, rat-like, deer-like…

The best way to separate the myriad of different types of beasts was to say that they were all woodland creatures with a monstrous twist. The size, multiple limbs, talons, claws, scales, and fangs existed solely to survive in the environment with creatures that had the same arsenal at their disposal.

Every single one of them was grueling, staring right at the only human in sight.

Zoemi.

But, none of them attacked.

“None of you look possessed, but that means…”

The black-haired man furrowed his brows, observing the hundreds – if not thousands – monsters that swarmed the place, surrounding him from all sides.

Then, after a minute or so, one side of the encirclement opened as the monsters obediently moved to the sides to make a way for the final one.