65 Pursuit
The smoke seemed to have a particular property to make anyone's eyes water if even a little bit came into contact, and this was the main reason why Aaron had needed so long to respond.
Of course, Max had been prepared, so he had taken precautions, and it looked like he had also mapped his route beforehand. Anissa was still inside the smoke, and by the time she finally exited it while coughing violently, Aaron was studying two deep marks in the ground.
They were the hoofmarks of the Leaping Wild Boar that he had seen before, and Woof, who had come beside him, was repeatedly sniffing the air and trying to catch a scent.
After a few moments, it looked at Aaron and shook its head, which meant that Max had also been smart enough to leave behind the clothes to which most of his scent had belonged. The smoke seemed to have the effect of smudging whatever little was left, and this gave Aaron the suspicion that this guy was adept at escapes like these.
Well, he hadn't faced the two of them before.
It looked like Anissa had finally recovered her throat, as she said, "That bastard! It was all his plan! I'll go get him right now!"
Her anger was justified, but Aaron just idly said, "Which way will you go? Even if you fly, can you cover all the directions before he gets too far away?"
As Anissa heard this, she could only gulp and stop whatever she had been about to say next.
Right, which way would she go?
The footprints weren't enough to decide the direction, and because of the property of the Boar to be able to travel by only leaping large distances, it could keep switching around directions until anyone tracking it would be left going around in circles.
As soon as she got this thought, she asked, "Have we…er, you, failed, then? Because of me?"
She hated failing and losing, so even though she had matured because of her recent loss, the thought of being responsible for Aaron failing his mission horrified her. She hated being accountable for anything, so this was something she just couldn't accept.
As Aaron even took a few moments to think without saying anything, she became surer that this was the case.
However, what she didn't know was that Aaron was carefully considering the situation.
Going through many, many scenarios in the jungle had taught him one thing: whenever possible, it was best to plan first before going in. There were occasions when this wasn't possible, but if it was, Aaron liked to use everything he could to get them into an advantageous position. This was something he had picked up from Woof, and he had perfect it over time until it had almost become an art.
Right now, there was the additional resource of Anissa to consider, and Aaron knew that time was short. Each second he spent here was a second in which Max was getting farther away, but finding and taking the best approach still took priority, mainly because he was confident in his speed.
As he finally made a decision, he looked straight into Anissa's eyes and said, "I need you to follow each and every one of my instructions. The main limitation here is the bracelet. I don't assume you can get it off?"
Anissa seemed to have almost forgotten about this little thing, as she looked at her arm with a start to see the metal circlet and then get angry again.
However, feeling Aaron's gaze on her, she shook her head, and then said, "I will." This was her fault, and she was ready to do everything to make it right. Besides, Survivors were said to be like fish in water in the forest, and she was ready to follow him as she had almost no experience in the area.
"Good. Here's what we will do."
…
Meanwhile, Max was chuckling to himself while putting on clothes that he had stashed at a secret place in the woods that only he could find.
In preparation for the operation in the Town that had a high probability of getting him caught, he had stored all his valuables here beforehand so that he could get away without worrying about anything even if the worst happened.
Well, it had, and although he had lost one of those magical smoke bombs that were so, so costly, he had gotten away.
The best thing was that they couldn't even cover two directions as they had to stay nearby due to the cuffs, and even if they did eventually find his real direction after eliminating all the fake signs he had taken the effort to put along his way, they would be too late. He knew that the Giant Eagle of the Town's beloved Ascender was not an adult yet, which meant that it could only carry a single person. Hence, whoever was on the Eagle would have to wait for the one on the ground, and even if that stupid dog was fast, it possibly couldn't compare to the speed of his Boar jumping around even if it did run as fast as it could.
Yes, there was definitely no way.
After checking one last time whether he had assembled all of his precious goods, Max called upon the Boar which had taken a brief respite in the Core to continue their journey, but feeling something in the wind, he turned in the direction he had come from.
The sight he saw would forever stay imprinted in his mind.
First of all, in the air was that woman on that Eagle, flying at full speed. She had an expression of one who had caught up to a mosquito that had stung her and flown away, and the fury in her eyes made it clear that she really wanted to 'squash' him.
Yet, the main reason behind it being so shocking was the image below her.
A man and a dog with white, shining fur were sprinting along on the branches of the trees, as easily as if they were taking a casual stroll on the ground.
Each step was measured and careful, and each leap was calculated with the next two already planned.
He had never seen anyone with such coordination of their body before, and even as he began to forcefully control his shock, he saw the look in the eyes of the man he had waved to before running away.
They were those of a Mighty Lion that had found its prey, and he could almost feel its talons digging into him while it ripped him apart, with precision, until there was nothing for even the scavengers to eat.
