Celestial Era: The Rise of the Full-Time Enhancer

Several hours had passed as the two finally arrived at the foot of the Withered Mountain.

During this time, they have not encountered any aggressive Savage Beasts. This is actually quite suspicious since he heard from his grandfather that path here can be dangerous for Journeyman like him.

Raizen hinted to him that he must reach the Master class before even attempting to explore this region.

'Is it because of Tara? Hmm… No, she's not even releasing any kind of Aura right now. She just looks like a normal traveler. There must be something else.'

As Vincent was wandering about the suspicious smooth journey that they have, Tara suddenly looked behind her.

Since he was paying attention to her most of the time, he immediately noticed this.

"Is there something wrong?" Vincent asked as he looked in the same direction. However, he didn't find anything there.

"We are being followed."

"Eh? Are they beasts or humans?"

He knitted his brows as he looked confused. After he reached the 500 units of Mana, his sensitivity to any activities around him had tremendously increased. As long as they are manipulating their mana, he should be able to sense it a little bit, unless they were truly far from him.

This is why he was confident that he wouldn't get easily ambushed or spied on without him noticing.

Of course, if they are capable of evading his senses, it means that they are really strong, or perhaps, they have unique skills or magic items capable of hiding their movement.

"They are humans… but I think it's just a coincidence. They seem to be following someone else." Tara followed up.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"There is another small group of people ahead of us. Their life signs are weak so they are probably injured or in a difficult situation."

"This… Let's not get involved for now. Let's change our path. Perhaps those people behind are their rescuers."

Vincent said as he used his Shrouded Steps to easily cover his tracks and went on a different path. Tara realized what he wanted to happen so she also used a very stealthy foot technique and left no traces of her movement.

Vincent saw all of this and thought that Tara seems like a ghost with her movement. There were no sounds or movement on the leaves on the ground she stepped on. It was quite mysterious, especially from how Vincent did not feel any circulation of mana on that.

'How did I miss that? Or perhaps she didn't really use any Mana to execute that foot technique? Then that's a cheat…'

"Are you afraid of your fellow species?" Tara suddenly asked which stopped Vincent from moving.

"Well, not really. But people can be really mean sometimes so I have to be careful. Anyway, we're not just going to leave right away. I'm planning to observe them for a little bit in case we get some information related to the place ahead of us."

"Hmm… You're right."

With that in mind, the two swiftly hid themselves to avoid being detected by the two groups.

They stealthily went to the side of the group ahead of them and just like what Tara said, they were indeed injured.

They found six people leaning on a huge rock while two more others were guarding the surroundings. Aside from that, there is one woman among them and she's treating the six injured men.

"Lady Yvette, please leave us here. Bring Dan and Sylvain with you and cross the mountain. Once you enter the city, you won't be followed by Ralph's men. You have to prioritize your safety, my lady."

One of the men, who was wearing decent leather armor, weakly said to the well-dressed woman who was trying to replace the bandage on his thigh.

Vincent wasn't an expert when it comes to dresses but seeing her expensive blue dress tells him that she's probably the most important person in the group and probably a daughter of a rich nobleman.

He can at least guess that the eight men around her were her escorts or hired bodyguards.

"Hmph! I won't leave you here… We'll all leave this place and deliver the message to father."

"B-but Lady Yvette. Someone must tell your father that Ralph has betrayed us. Someone needs to survive and it has to be you."

Vincent and Tara heard their conversation loud and clear. He finally realized that the group following them wasn't their rescuers but their pursuers.

"They're probably from a rich noble family…" Vincent guessed. They could also be from a rich merchant organization or even from a nearby Sect.

However, he had guessed that she was from a noble family instead since he can tell that the guards are wearing quite identical armors with the insignia of the house they probably belong to.

More than that, Vincent can tell that the woman who was called Lady Yvette wasn't just a simple woman who needs to be protected. Although he was quite far, he can feel that she was at least a Master Magician.

He wouldn't even be surprised if she's an Adept Mage already.

"They're here."

Vincent muttered as he looked in the other direction. He can finally feel their presence as they have gotten nearer.

He found fifteen heavily armed men grinning wickedly after seeing the group of injured guards.

"Hahaha! You found quite a nice place for your grave… No one will see your corpses here and once the night approaches, your bodies will be eaten by the monsters of this forest…"

The leader of the group of pursuers couldn't help but laugh after seeing Yvette's group. They were hunting them for a while now and it seems that this would be the end of it.

He's not wearing any complicated armors like the guards. However, he has two large intimidating blades in his hands as he emitted a murderous aura.

"Hmph! You traitors! Our family has supported your organization for a long time and you're repaying us with this!"

Yvette said as she pulled out her weapon. It is a small blade but it's definitely a top-tier weapon. Meanwhile, the guards, including those injured stood up even if they are injured as they held their swords.

"Gahaha! I won't argue with you, young miss. We're indeed quite shameless with our act. However, this is what we believe we need to do in order to get stronger! So quietly accept your death!"

The leader of the pursuers said as he gave the signal for his men to kill everyone.

In the meantime, Tara just glanced at Vincent waiting for his decision.