Chapter 22 - Variables

An hour earlier...

"Young Elijah, do you think we will find the Green Crystal Flower in this area?" Roger asked as they walked near the lake area, opposite where Nerun, Menke and the rest of the guards had gone.

Elijah was at the head of the group, keeping a close eye on everything around him to avoid any mishaps, or entering any Magical Beast nests unexpectedly. Roger was signalling to his companions, unnoticed by Elijah. They were about to act on their plan to kill Miss Julieth and eliminate the rest of the guards. The original plan was to kill Elijah by surprise, to prevent him from using his knowledge of the area to trap them or escape with Miss Julieth. They would then lure a small nest of Magical Beasts to where the other group was and then betray them, activating the mana bombs to kill them and incapacitate them and escape, while the Beasts did the rest of the job.

Mariuz wanted to kill Elijah himself, but Roger restrained him. They were waiting for the right moment when Elijah would not notice. After all, there was one thing that didn't fit into their plans, and that was the fact that Elijah was a Qi Grandmaster, even at his young age. If they fought him head-on, it was possible that he could escape and alert the rest of the squad.

The only thing is that Elijah kept a safe distance from all of them, and there didn't seem to be a place where they could get rid of him easily. Eventually, they came to a clearing and Roger decided that this was the perfect place to ambush Elijah. However, just then they spotted a rank 4 magical plant, a Twilight Orchid. Elijah ran towards the plant at the edge of the clearing. Roger, Mariuz and the guards were not expecting this and ran after Elijah to get to the plant first, but it wasn't until Elijah entered the trees and vanished from view that they heard a bloodcurdling roar and stopped dead in their tracks.

A crowd of Shadow Macaques came stampeding towards them from the trees into which Elijah had disappeared. At that point, they had no choice but to flee backwards in terror, running towards the rest of the party. Roger thought that Elijah in his greed was attracted to the magical plant and did not realise that it was part of the Shadow Macaques' nest. Two of the guards failed to escape and were torn to pieces and then consumed by the magical beasts.

....

"Young Nerun, I don't know what you are talking about, what has Mariuz done? Young Miss, I'm confused," Roger said as he looked with mock concern at Julieth and slowly approached them.

When Roger got within 10 metres of them, he suddenly jumped up, raising his sword with both hands and lunging at Nerun and Julieth. There was despair painted on Julieth's face. Nerun however was calmly looking towards Roger, for he knew that they were no longer alone. In the middle of Roger's leap, a figure leapt towards him with a kick that crashed into the sword as it was at its highest point, nullifying the force of the sword.

After the aerial collision, Roger and the other figure were both ejected several metres backwards, albeit with differences, as Roger was only a couple of metres back and the other was at least 5 metres.

"Are you all right, little brother? Forgive me for not coming sooner. I had to escape from the Shadow Macaques and had to take a slightly longer route before I could come," said Elijah.

When Elijah, the captain and the others were alone, Elijah knew that something was afoot and that it was very likely that they were going to ambush him. For that reason, Elijah decided to take a gamble and lead the guards to the Shadow Macaques' nest, to try to counter-ambush them with the beasts.

"I get it. You're the one who led us straight to those nasty apes. You're the variable that put a wrench into our plan... No. It wasn't just you. The main issue was the brat behind you. Who could have guessed? A kid not even 6 years old could lead the rest of the group towards the Green Crystal Flower with such celerity, and safety, and then run away, chase Mariuz and manage to wound and incapacitate him, rescuing the Young Miss. I have to admit that you are not just ordinary orphans. But I have a recommendation for you Elijah. Don't stick your nose where it's not wanted. You are making enemies far more powerful than you could ever imagine and they could make your lives a living hell." Roger threatened.

He then tried to convince Nerun and Elijah by saying, "I don't understand why you are risking your lives to save this little girl. You don't know her from anything before. We can come to an agreement. Leave her with us and in return you can get more money than you could spend if you had 10 lives. The rest of the guards are dead. I wouldn't want you to die too. Don't think I'm trading with you because I'm afraid of you. I just want to make things simpler. But if you force my hand, I assure you, you will suffer untold pain when I get my hands on you."

Roger was using threats and persuasion to gain Nerun and Elijah's trust. They knew they were orphans and lived in a pigsty. He thought they were probably helping Miss Julieth in order to get a reward. After all, in the minds of these scavengers, there can only be ideas of theft, violence and the like. He thought he could convince them and then when they had let their guard down he would kill them both and the whole orphanage. After all, there is no better security against gossip than a dead witness. Besides, both Nerun and Elijah had caused Roger and his group great losses, and he was filled with deep resentment.

Julieth was very fearful that Elijah would be swayed by Roger. But Nerun who was by her side, again squeezed her hand and looked at her with his clear eyes. Nerun's gaze told Julieth that they were on her side and would not betray her. What's more, Julieth didn't know why, but she was sure in her heart that the reason they were helping her had nothing to do with any possible reward they might get, but that they were doing it because, despite their poverty, there was a true nobility in their hearts. Not a nobility that had to do with money, power, or position, but rather with their character, with the very core of their being.

When Elijah heard Roger he smirked to himself but didn't answer. Roger was very wrong if he thought Elijah, Nerun and the rest of the orphans were poor or vagabonds like other scum of humanity. They had signed a contract. For them, a work contract is a sacred pact. Julieth's safety is part of that contract. Not to mention, Maikal's teachings to never act against their conscience.

Roger noticed that his words were having no effect on Elijah, and his killing intent grew much stronger. He had no time to say more, however, for Elijah had appeared with great agility in front of him, and was attacking him with multiple high-speed kicks that he could hardly defend himself against with his sword and his other arm as a guard. He tried to attack him with his sword, but Elijah dodged it by ducking and putting one hand on the ground he supported himself while with his legs he attacked Roger's body, driving him back several metres.

While Roger was not seriously injured and was attacked by surprise, he was markedly shocked. After all, he was a true level 33 Praetorian, and Elijah, genius though he was, was only a Qi Grandmaster. Even if he was level 29, the difference in Qi quality and physical power between each level was multiplied exponentially and was not easily overcome. To give an example, if a Qi Master is the equivalent of 2 times the power of a normal person, a Qi Grandmaster would have 4 times that power, a Qi Praetorian would have 8 times that power and a Qi Centurion would have a power of 16, and so on.

In other words, if a normal adult person could lift a maximum weight of 50 kg, a Qi Master would lift 100 kg, a Qi Grandmaster 200 kg, a Qi Praetorian 400 kg, etc. These differences became more and more pronounced with each increase in Qi rank and affected not only strength, but speed, agility, and in general, all aspects of the human body. For this reason, it is universally accepted that no one can jump levels to defeat an enemy of an upper rank.

But Elijah was faster and more agile than Roger, which could be explained by Roger being more focused on the physical strength aspect, however this does not mean that Roger was slow, as he was even slightly faster than Mariuz who was a Qi Grandmaster specialising in agility. But Elijah surpassed him in this. And although Roger had more strength than Elijah, the difference was not insurmountable.

Elijah continued to attack Roger with great speed and ferocity, giving him no chance to catch his breath or control the pace of the fight. Like Nerun, when it came to attacking an enemy he was relentless. Apart from that, his martial arts were incisive, aggressive, powerful and quite difficult to defend against. While Roger was not in immediate danger, the fight could go on for a long time, and in the meantime, other dangerous variables could appear. In fact, the idea of possible defeat started to emerge in Roger's head. The other two guards and even Miss Julieth herself were stupefied, with Elijah's proficiency in the fight.

At that moment an inconceivable idea crossed Roger's mind. Elijah had a Perfect Set of Meridians. That is, with each Central Meridian, there were 4 or more connected auxiliary meridians. This is the ideal to be achieved, and the most powerful people on the continent possess it. However, achieving this set of connections is extremely difficult, and it requires not only great talent but resources, money and a myriad of materials to help a Warrior or Adept reach their full potential. Every great Expert on the continent was a walking gold vacuum, due to the great personal consumption of resources used to increase their power.

In fact, the vast majority of Warriors and Adepts do not have all the auxiliary meridians connected to their Central Meridians or Celestial Gates, so their power and potential are severely diminished. Roger himself only had 2 auxiliary meridians for each of his first 2 Core Meridians and only 1 auxiliary meridian for his third, and that was considered rather good. For all these reasons, it is said on the Continent that the sine qua non-condition for becoming a Great Expert is to have a perfect set of Meridians.

For all these reasons, Roger, for the very first time since the battle and his betrayal began, began to feel regret. A penniless orphan from a lost corner of Ansem had a Perfect Set of Meridians and that clearly implied that his future would be immensely promising. To have offended someone like that was a terrible thing in Roger's eyes. It would be very difficult for him to keep Elijah from running away, even if he did manage to defeat him.

Roger quickly formulated a plan in his head and accumulating his Qi on his sword, he used his secret technique: <Air Slash>. His attack, however, was not directed against Elijah, but against Nerun and Julieth. Elijah when he saw this could not help but stop attacking Roger and intercept the attack by crossing his arms and gathering all his Qi to form a temporary barrier to resist the wave.

- SLASH!

Elijah was able to resist, but a line of blood was drawn across his arms, with a deep cut down to the bone in both his arms.

"Big Brother" shouted Nerun in concern.

Roger was able to regain the rhythm of the fight with this attack and immediately ordered "I'll keep him busy. You two go after the two kids."

'Damn,' thought Elijah. Nerun was still bruised from his fight with Mariuz and Roger started attacking him frantically to prevent him from coming to Julieth and Nerun's rescue. The other two guards wasted no time rushing towards Nerun and Julieth, who seemed helpless to defend themselves.

However, a new variable appeared in the battle.

"Παγοθήκη" - /Pagothíki/*

Ice quickly formed at the feet of the two guards, who watched in horror as their legs froze to the roots of their thighs, becoming completely immobile. Roger stopped attacking Elijah and turned around. His pupils shrank as he saw that on the other side of the Forest stood an angry-eyed Menke, along with Dennis and the rest of the guards who looked at them with revenge-filled eyes.

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"Παγοθήκη" - /Pagothíki/ = Ice Box