Chapter 26

Chapter 10. Jin, the Cadets, Suin, and... (4)

'They haven't been lying in wait for a long time. The ones with Messa can't be far away either.'

Sweat poured down Jin's body like rain as he ran. Since yesterday afternoon, he had been searching, pursuing, and fighting for over 24 hours, and the physical strain was starting to take its toll.

The simultaneous casting of the tracking spell and the secret use of 'Blade Wind' were the decisive factors in his physical decline.

There were about fifteen enemies left.

In the worst case, he would have to face all of them, but if he was lucky, he could defeat them in groups of two or three, as he had been doing.

'It hurts to realize how young I still am. If I had the combat strength of my previous life, I wouldn't even have to think about how to deal with these guys.'

During the pursuit, Jin had noticed that the attackers from Kinselro were quite sloppy.

They were clearly former mercenaries or knights, but they hadn't even bothered to cover their tracks.

'They must be underestimating us.'

He was right. Kinselro completely underestimated the cadets of Runcandel. They saw them as mere children with no real combat experience, even if they belonged to Runcandel.

This was evident from the fact that only two men were left to finish off the second group after kidnapping Messa. They had also set up an ambush with one mage and two warriors in preparation for the pursuit.

'Keep underestimating us. I'll make you regret it.'

Their underestimation was his greatest weapon. It was also why he wasn't afraid of them despite his physical exhaustion.

Another hour passed. This time, he moved while checking for ambushes, but the footprints continued to be consistent.

Moreover, wagon wheel tracks began to appear. Jin stopped for a moment to examine them.

'The ones who kidnapped Messa must have joined up with others here. They started moving Messa by wagon.'

A wagon would make it much easier to catch up. The ground was uneven due to the sleet that fell last night, making it impossible to move quickly.

After following the wagon tracks for a while, he came to an unfamiliar forest path.

A path leading to the territory of the Suin.

Jin took a deep breath and entered the forest path. The wagon tracks continued along the single path inside the forest.

'So, how should I start?'

Jin was currently on a mission to rescue the cadets. An unexpected situation had arisen during the search, turning it into a rescue operation. Searching for the son of a wealthy family was no longer the main issue.

What was the most important thing in a rescue mission?

Obviously, the safety of the person being rescued.

'Protecting Messa is more important than killing the enemies.'

It had been about three hours since Messa was kidnapped.

Three hours. Enough time for reckless kidnappers to mistreat her.

However, Jin still believed Messa was safe. If she had been violated, he would have caught up to them already.

Jin knew only what he had read in the news before his regression. Kinselro was an extremely radical and hierarchical illegal armed group.

The strict hierarchy.

This was what Jin was focusing on. He believed Messa was still safe because Kinselro likely followed a hierarchical order even when taking 'spoils.'

'If I go a little further, I'll reach their base, and Messa probably just arrived.'

Thirty minutes? An hour?

It must have been around that time. The kidnappers were likely just handing Messa over to their superiors.

This was the last chance for Messa to be safe. He needed to rescue her as quickly as possible, so a direct attack was the fastest option.

However, attacking their base head-on would cause several problems.

If all the remaining enemies were gathered, he would face a one-against-many battle. Even if he killed them all, a hostage situation could start.

After a few seconds of thought, Jin nodded.

'First, I need to make them panic. Make Messa's situation as desperate as possible. Fortunately, this is a forest.'

Red mana gathered in Jin's palms. It was the 4-star fire magic, Flame Whip, used by the mage he fought earlier.

'I'm glad I reached 4-star magic before coming here. 3-star fire power wouldn't have been enough to burn a wet forest.'

Whoosh!

Jin began to scatter the Flame Whip in all directions. The Flame Whip was a powerful magic that, once it clung to its target, wouldn't easily fall off.

It was the perfect magic to set fire to a wet forest. Jin, drenched in sweat, recast the same magic.

Setting a forest on fire with magic is a serious international crime.

But it didn't apply to Jin, a Runcandel student. As soon as enough flames formed, Jin summoned wind mana.

'Wave Wind.'

It was also a 4-star magic. As soon as the incantation ended, a blue wind infused with mana carried the flames forward. It was a massive wind, like a wave.

The flames began to consume the forest. At first, they struggled to burn the wet trees, but once they grew, they rapidly devoured the forest.

Jin advanced, burning the forest, using the fire resistance from the Phoenix Heart to hide in the flames.

The extreme mana consumption from casting 4-star magic was severe, but it was very successful.

In the distance, people were starting to run out of Kinselro's branch building.

"Fire! The forest is on fire!"

"Report to the leader! Mages, get out quickly!"

"Water buckets, bring water buckets!"

"What kind of fire suddenly...!"

The Kinselro members cursed and ran. They were trying to extinguish the fire before it reached the branch.

'No matter what kind of leader they have, they won't be crazy enough to take spoils while the forest is on fire.'

Now, he would kill them one by one and rescue Messa. Jin drew the two daggers tied to his boots and surrounded them with spirit energy.

Meanwhile, Kinselro didn't even imagine that Jin was targeting them. When a sudden disaster strikes, people can't think rationally.

If there had been a calm person among them, they would have immediately realized that the fire was man-made.

However, the warriors were frantically sprinkling water, and the mages were hurriedly casting ice or water magic.

Jin, hidden in the flames, smoothly infiltrated their ranks.

Swish! A blackened dagger flew and embedded itself in a mage's neck. The mage let out a small scream, but it was completely drowned out by the sound of burning branches.

'One down.'

Jin threw the body into the flames and immediately spotted his next target. A warrior carrying a bucket, who also met his end in the same manner as the mage.

It was difficult for 4-star warriors to spot a black dagger flying between the flames.

He had one dagger left from the ones he threw and still had two more in his robe.

'If I keep doing this, it will be perfect. But even if they are fools, they will start to notice soon.'

Jin, crouching low, observed the situation. One of the men, who seemed to be of a higher rank, seemed to sense something and began to give orders.

'I need to kill him first.'

As the man shouted, the Kinselro members around him drew their weapons and began to disperse around the branch building.

'He ordered two mages and two warriors to extinguish the fire and the rest to guard the building. Not a bad decision.'

If it weren't me here.

Jin swiftly approached the remaining man. He didn't draw Bradamante, as the metallic sound and the unique glow of Bradamante would interfere with the ambush.

Clang! As Jin suddenly appeared from the flames, the man swung his sword in surprise. Jin ducked to avoid the sword but couldn't dodge the man's kick that followed.

Thud! Jin rolled on the ground once, and the man's follow-up attack continued.

"You little rat! Did you start the fire?"

Thud! Thud! The man stabbed his sword into the ground, and Jin kept rolling. Soon, the man dropped his sword and pounced on Jin.

"Damn brat, you will definitely die..."

But Jin let himself be caught on purpose. Not drawing Bradamante after being discovered and provoking a fight were also intentional.

Jin's body, pinned by the man, moved like a snake. Before the man realized what was happening, Jin had already twisted his neck into an unnatural position.

Crack! The sound of the neck bone breaking was followed by a trickle of saliva from the man's mouth.

'This is the first time I've used Meyer-style combat techniques. Damn, it hurts.'

Jin had used Meyer-style combat techniques to twist the man's neck beyond human limits.

He dislocated his shoulder momentarily, inserted his leg, and strangled the man's neck, a technique called 'Goblin Assassination,' one of the Meyer family's secret techniques.

He had killed the leader.

The remaining enemies were either running around the flames like fish or guarding the branch building, tense and alert.

Jin, having reset his shoulder, focused on the Kinselro branch. The old stone building, slightly smaller than the mansions of middle-ranking nobles, likely had few remaining enemies.

'There's a key ring too.'

Searching the man's body, Jin found a key ring and a few gold coins. He threw the gold coins into the flames with the man and headed for the building's main door.

Creak...

Opening the rusty iron door, the first thing he saw was a candle. There were also a few strange, incomprehensible paintings on the walls, all symbols of Kinselro.

'Creepy bastards.'

While moving along the corridor, Jin soon realized there was no one on the floor he was on.

After trying all the keys on the doors, one remained.

'Is this the key to the basement?'

Thanks to the simple building structure, Jin quickly found the entrance to the basement.

The remaining key fit the lock perfectly, and as he descended the stairs, he saw Messa chained to the wall with iron chains.

"Messa."

Seeing her, Jin felt a weight lift from his chest.

What he feared hadn't happened. She was still wearing her cadet uniform, but there were bruises on her face, indicating she had been beaten.

Crack! Crack!

Jin surrounded Bradamante with aura and cut the chains binding Messa.

"It's dangerous... Young Master, why are you here?"

Hearing Messa's first words, Jin gritted his teeth.

"Messa Milcano. Is this the time to worry about me? Can you walk?"

"I don't think I can run."

"Understood, let me support you..."

Boom!

Both of them flinched and looked up. The sudden explosion shook the entire building.