964 Departure 2 (1/2)

Garen nodded hard, and ordered the slightly panicked Big Wild Wolves to pick up the pace and run as though their lives depended on it.

”What on earth are they doing to determine your location!?” he roared without looking back.

”Willpower, we Divine Wind Generals are connected to the Black Flood Holy Pillar by our Willpower, it will give us a larger boost in power, but it will also be able to track our general location.” Sixth's expression remained impassive as he looked up at the red shooting stars in the distant sky. Right then, the three of them turned to the left and spun rapidly, slowly leaving the direction that the shooting star was coming from.

Only then did Garen and Sinno heave a sigh of relief.

The two of them realized that their hearts were pounding extremely quickly. In that moment just now, Garen even felt as though he might have to use the trump card that he had been saving to keep himself alive. All this time, in order to increase his chances of survival, he had created a single trump card according to the standards of the Energy Machinists. But this thing was single-use only, once he used it, it would be gone. He had modified it based on the Instantaneous Paper Box that he had used up back then, although its function was gone, its shell and materials remained. These were all precious materials, so Garen used the Energy Machinist's internal network to find a small tool that could accumulate Willpower. He inserted the Willpower that he had accumulated for a long time inside it, it was probably ten times as concentrated as his current Willpower by now. If it weren't for the resilience of the Instantaneous Paper Box's materials, such a small tool would have been destroyed a long time ago.

But precisely because of that, Garen could barely just make a small item with great single-use explosive power. If he could ignite that Willpower once, it would form a short-term Impact Storm. Its power would probably be considerable, but he really could not be sure against an Inherited Level.

He just had to pray that the Cold Radiation coming off from him would be enough to hide their scents, and could influence the Inherited Level's sense of direction to a certain extent.

If the opponent really caught up to them, their imminent doom was almost certain.

Although they would very likely die if he caught up to them, the Sixth Divine Wind General had saved Garen before, so he did not give up or abandon him in his time of need, and the results were very clear.

The Divine Wind General knew that as well, that was why he kept asking Garen to leave him and save himself.

”If you have any tricks you can use to save yourself, better get them ready now,” said Garen without looking back. He did not believe that the Sixth Divine Wind General would have nothing of the sort.

”I've already used it,” replied the Sixth Divine Wind General calmly. ”Look above you.”

Garen and Sinno instantly looked up, and saw a slightly black semicircular defense shield covering the tops of their heads. This shield was translucent and barely there, vaguely hanging above them, and moving as they moved.

”This Willpower Barrier should be able to block off our scents to a certain degree, but I can't hold it for long,” said Sixth softly.

He seemed to treat everything with indifference, no matter how serious the matter, he still used this calm and cool tone.

Be it losing the most precious thing to a pilot, his personalized Mech; his own grave injuries, to the point of paralysis; or the fact that he was running for his life, and could die at any moment. He did not seem to have many variations in his emotions, as though he was forever this calm and collected.

”How long can you hold it?” Garen asked in a low voice.

”Twenty minutes, I need to rest for half an hour in between.”

”That's enough!” Garen calculated the rough distance, and found that it should be fine.

He looked up, and saw the red shooting star crash into the ground hard from the distance. Even the plains were shaking slightly, making a loud wailing sound.

Garen turned around, and looked at the Sixth Divine Wind General.

”I have one last plan, I can rapidly heal your injuries, but without Mechs, the chances of us surviving aren't high. The only way is to go Berserk, but there's a high chance that you'll become something like us, and your mind will be under my control. If there's no choice…”

He let the Big Wild Wolf approach Sixth, and stuffed a handful of something blue at his left chest.

”If you really have no choice, then release the automatic Willpower protection over your heart. But when that happens, there will be no more turning back. You must remember, unless you're desperate, don't use it,” Garen kept reminding him.

Sixth looked down at the thing in front of his chest, it looked just like a plump blue ball of flesh, fist-sized, completely blue, and covered with tiny blue tentacles that twitched slightly. Strangely, as soon as it touched his chest, it immediately attached itself to him, as though it had a mind of its own.

”It's very odd, but also a very fascinating power.” For the first time, there was surprise in his eyes. Even with his level of Willpower, he still could not analyze what this thing was made of! And this was coming from an Energy Machinist who could not even reach Resonance Skills.

This kid…

For the first time, he began to have a bit of faith in his young friend, Garen. At first, he thought that with the ambush and betrayal to him, as well as the murder of Third Brother, the Black Flood Party and Blackboard were more or less done with. He thought it was over, and there was nothing left but inevitable death, but he never thought there might still very well be a chance here.

He was just lucky, to be saved by the young one he had saved once before. Just like that, he escaped the misfortune of being caught by the enemy at the first chance, and now he might actually have a hope of escaping this completely.

An Energy Machinist with merely Level Three Willpower…

He looked at Garen in front of him again, a ray of hope finally rising in his eyes.

Suddenly there was a flash of red, and a group of Predators appeared from underground abruptly, pouncing straight at the three of them, who were still running.

Roar!