Freedom Jumper-Chapter 140: Armory Additions

"BEHIND THE TREES—"

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BABOOM!

During the few seconds leading up to the explosion, Novius began to see runic symbols appearing in his vision – blanketed by the color of red and accompanied by pain.

The only choice Novius made was to relay his feelings to his friends who were desperately weaving through the thick and tall trees. Thankfully, Novius' voice reached Alexia, Emery, and Thaylen just in time – while also each one of them understanding what to do.

It came as an instinct immediately acted upon. The meaning behind Novius' words were completely understood, even within the dire moments.

Unfortunately, the attacker who was chasing them through the trees did not get the memo, and was slammed against a tree at neck-breaking speed. All the while, the four stooges held firmly to the tree, watching scraps of the carriage and different natural parts of the earth fly by their heads.

When all was said and done, each one of them rolled on their back to see three towering trees slowly tipping over into the depths of the forest. Inaudible sounds were heard by each one of them while trying to communicate with each other. Thankfully, they all had the same plan: run into the opening behind where the explosion took place to avoid the threat of the falling trees.

Before stumbling across the beaten and soiled ground, Novius took the black sword that had lost its red glow out from the trunk of a tree and followed behind.

A few grueling minutes passed of them regaining their sanity, and when they had all come to, a plan to loot the bodies and return to the wall formed. This was decided before realizing the Protectors who stood atop the wall would be coming their way.

An explosion of this magnitude could not be ignored.

While Emery was looting and checking the life signs of the still body, he looked up from the lights he saw out of the corner of his eye. "Look! The Protectors! We have to run through the trees again!" Afterwards, Emery pulled a four inch curved knife with a small hole for a finger out of the man's jacket.

"G-guys... I think I am bleeding somewhere..." Alexia was beaten, and likely picked up a stray chunk of earth that flew by their faces.

"Quick! Into the Jungle, the trees have already fallen!" Novius said before inspecting her wound. A piece of wood – likely from a tree had punctured her hip pretty deeply. Thankfully, it is not a fatal wound, but would complicate their entrance into the Kingdom. "Theon! Can you put your ice around the wound? I'm not sure we should take it out..."

"I got it!"

Now, surrounding Alexia's bare hip was a bandage of ice that surrounded the splintered bark of the tree. Being that Emery was the tallest and strongest of the group, he carried Alexia in her arms while running quietly through the edge of the forest, weaving between the fourth and fifth layer of trees in order to not be seen.

Novius had expressed his interest to watch their investigation after telling his friends to continue moving forward.

Conversations related to an unknown and sudden explosion took place while ascertaining the reason why. Phrases related to The Kingdom of Rentri, coming danger, and spies were voiced while communicating through a magical device similar to Astraea's communication amulet.

Not a single soul noticed any movement within the border of the Crosstree Jungle as they were focused on what was in front of them.

However, the group did have to wait for the right opportunity to enter the kingdom through a climbable tree. After two hours, they finally made it back to their two-story house – talking up a storm on how to heal Alexia.

"G-grab the healing potions! The bottom drawer on the kitchen counter..." Novius anxiously relayed.

A warm liquid was welcomed down the throat of Alexia, and within seconds, her body began to replenish its cells in the damaged area whilst Novius slid the five inch wooden splinter out of the front of her right hip.

"Please don't tell me you guys had something to do with that explosion..."

The voice of Don froze the children in their place while Alexia laid on the single couch – reclined into a relaxing position.

"We..." Novius thought about lying, but shifted to telling all of the truth. "We were the reason why the explosion didn't destroy the wall. We wanted to hunt the beast by ourselves, taking all of the profits. But we encountered a carriage with a bomb."

"We stopped a tragedy from occurring, okay! I wouldn't change anything!" Novius sadly explained while looking at Don's worried expression.

"And in the process, you killed people right?" Don asked, creating a silence no one wanted to break.

Novius walked up the stairs into his room knowing why he was acting like this. Don had lost his son, and now, what he had left were the best friends of his children. Just three and a half fortnight's ago they arrived in Gion. Don had made it obvious that he wanted no part in the war or hunting beasts anymore, which occurred because of the truth that was spread by Novius while also learning about the history of Gion.

Granted, Novius was not told everything by Elijah, and now certainly knew that he was right the entire time!

Astraea was a lie masquerading as the truth...

A flashlight imitating the sun...

Everyone else followed – returning to their room. Instead of sleeping, they began to inspect the weapons and equipment they had gathered from the men after their lives.

In the hand of Emery, was a wildly curved knife with a hole for a finger – known as a karambit. A small rune was carved on both sides of the blade, and when mana was pushed inside it, a bright reddish-orange glow appeared – causing mirage effect to occur around the blade. "A heat rune... Maybe I will switch my combat style for the time being."

Held within the arms of Thaylen was a double-sided axe with ornate details, and another rune engraved into both sides. When activated with a small amount of mana, small sparks began to trickle off the metal post and the rounded head.

Alexia did not bother to inspect her black sword she had received, but assumed it would light up brightly with heat that could cut nearly anything with different amounts of mana.

Finally, inside the hands of Novius, was a broad sword that glowed a bright reddish-orange signifying the rune had something to do with heat. However, before even activating it, Novius' eyes were filled with the same runic symbols that blanketed his vision – creating headaches and an understanding of such rune. The only problem being that it would require two hands to wield effectively.

What Novius had realized the last time he talked to Elijah was how something had fundamentally changed within himself.

Now, a new feeling deep within his soul was found, eager to be used. An ability that gave him a deep understanding of the complicated runic symbols that this kingdom used in great masses. Although, a side effect was that he had no control over this ability. Every time a glance was made toward the sword that he placed in the corner of the room, his vision became filled with the symbols and understandings of its workings.

A power with a flaw...

...

The next day came with conversations at the table related to the previous events. Mainly their academy admissions, which would allow them to further advance through power far easier than if they were to go at it alone.

Don had no argument over this, and even encouraged it. However, he has heard from people passing by on the streets of the market district that the entrance fee is quite expensive if you were to be accepted. This caused problems within the group because soon, they would be on their own for housing.

It was decided before they left to apply to the academy, that they would focus all of their efforts on stacking Genny while optimizing Don's potion selling business.

In fact, Don had heard that when the end of the Quarter came, the tax collectors would be coming by to do the work everyone hated. Being that Don had not been tracking any of his sales, he had no idea how the taxes were going to affect him.

In the end, everything would be figured out as they hoped the protection Jarth had promised them in exchange for Landon and everything they knew would stand strong.