The Reincarnation of the Kingmaker

Chapter 121: Jude's Secret part 4

Seeing Kayn's predicament, Charles quickly waves his hand to get another sword from his Storage Ring.

"Don't come to me, assist Jude!" Kayn exclaimed at Charles after seeing him approach his direction.

"I…" Charles felt troubled. He looks at Kayn before looking at Jude who is currently dodging Ivan's attacks, completely unable to cast any magic spell to defend himself. "This…"

"Are you sure?"

"You definitely won't take long, right?!" Kayn raised his voice.

"Definitely!" Charles was confident that he can defeat a mere Priest in no time.

"Do it! Now!"

"Okay!"

Charles immediately turned around and charged toward Ivan.

Ivan evidently notices Charles coming at his as he had heard the latter's conversation with Kayn.

"You're in luck," Ivan retreated. "If it wasn't for Kayn, you would have died along with everyone else,"

After saying that, Ivan runs in the direction of the leader's squad. It's quite obvious already that the enemy group long knew about the incoming betrayal of Ivan.

"No wonder there were barely any heals," Charles can't help muttering before looking at Jude who is currently catching his breath.

"You… can… go… and… assist… Kayn!" Jude uttered in a hurried voice.

Boom!

All of a sudden, a smoke bomb exploded where Kayn and the leader were fighting.

"You don't have to," Kayn pulled Jude's arm as he made a run to the direction of the lake while forcefully dragging the latter behind.

"Wait for me!" Charles quickly followed.

"What are you doing?!" Jude can't quite comprehend what exactly is going on.

"We are running away, obviously!" Kayn rolled his eyes as he runs.

"It's very obvious already that we can't defeat their leader," Charles can't help adding. Even without needing to ask, he could easily understand the reason behind Kayn's action.

At first, he thought that Kayn was stupid because he came to help them instead of just running away. Now he finally understood that Kayn was only intending to help them and not face off against the leader of their enemy.

Finally understanding Kayn's intention, Jude pulled his hand away and started running on his own. "Do you know which way to go?"

"I don't," Kayn shook his head. "I am only going whichever direction could get us out of this place and save our lives,"

Jude looks at Charles.

"Don't ask me. I also don't know if there's any place that can be considered safe. How about we just go and climb the canyon?"

"Idiot!" Kayn berated.

"I know. That's why you shouldn't ask me,"

"Screw it! Follow me!" Jude went ahead of Kayn.

"Where are we going?"

"Don't ask questions and just follow me. Whatever you see later on, I hope that you won't reveal it to anyone else and just keep it to yourself. Otherwise, you might get yourselves into danger,"

"We understand," Kayn nodded his head while at the same time glimpsing at Natas who has now shut his mouth up.

"I don't know what you are about to do. But whatever the requirements you want me to do afterward, I'll follow, even if it's marrying a man, I would willingly do so, as long as you get me out alive here," Charles cried out.

Kayn and Jude instantly looked at Charles in a weird manner.

"My life is definitely more important than my freaking dignity,"

"Well said," Kayn could only agree as he doesn't want to hear any more weird stuff coming out of Charles' mouth.

Looking behind, Kayn and the others could instantly see the leader of their enemy's squad still chasing after them.

Knowing about that, they hasten their feet so that they can widen their distance even more.

After a few minutes of running away, the lake located at the very center of the Springwater Canyon was finally in sight over a few tens of meters away.

"A lake?" Kayn pretended to be clueless.

"Don't act as if you don't know this place. I've seen you visiting this lake plenty of times over the past week," Jude admonished Kayn.

"Have you been following me?"

"I wasn't. I've always been guarding this place ever since we arrived here," Jude has never truly done any scouting. He was already familiar with the terrain in this place, so he simply made dozens of copies beforehand and submitted them every time he returns.

"So, do you know why these people are attacking us?"

"I have a guess. But I don't know if that's really the case or not,"

"Why didn't you tell us about this from the very beginning?" Charles felt slightly irritated that they were made fools by Jude.

"You saw what happened with Ivan, right? Say that I told all of you. That would mean that they won't have to wait for a week before deciding to attack us anymore,"

"He's right," Kayn quickly interrupted as he doesn't want to see an internal conflict happening in their group in the current situation. They are already facing a huge predicament right now, and if another problem is added, that would no doubt spell death for all of them.

"And trust me, this was a secret that's best to be kept by one person. I only decided to reveal this to you because we have no other choice and I also don't want all my comrades to die,"

As they reached the shore of the lake, Jude suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Kayn and Charles also did the same as they both moved behind Jude before quickly turning around to face the incoming enemy squad.

Regardless of how fast they've run, they are fully aware that it's impossible for them to get away from their pursuers.

"Why did we suddenly stop?" Charles is now starting to feel nervous and panic deep inside as their enemy gets closer and closer to them.

"Just wait for a moment," Jude picked up a stone from the shore. "If it wasn't for you showing this to me, I wouldn't have thought that there would be an easier way to call it,"

"That was merely a coincidence,"

"Whether it's coincidence or not, it won't change the fact that you did this,"

In the next moment, Jude threw the stone that was imbued with mana.

Whoosh!

Unlike Kayn's case in the past, Jude's stone created an even bigger wave that caused a ten or so-meter-deep split in the water of the lake.

Bang!

Similar to the last time, a huge turtle shell suddenly appeared to block the stone.

"What on Earth is that…?" Charles was instantly rendered in disbelief as he stared over the distance with wide eyes open.

Quite some distance away from Kayn and the others, the leader and his squad immediately halted on their step and stared with shocked expressions at the huge beast that suddenly surfaced out from the lake.

Jude started explaining to Kayn and Jude, "Sometime in the past, I fell from the top of the Springwater Canyon. I thought that was the end of me, but when I woke up the next day, I discovered myself being carried on the back of a Guardian Turtle,"

"From then on, I made a bond of friendship with the Guardian Turtle after it took care of me for a very long time. In exchange for its favor, it asked me to keep its existence a secret and help it keep this specific area of the Springwater Canyon safe from any people other than me,"

"That's why I decided to accept this mission. It wasn't for the reward, but it was so that I can secretly tamper with the information we gathered and prevent anything to happen to my friend,"

"Did that happen at that time we thought that you were dead?" Charles wanted to know. If his memory serves him correctly, that was the time when their sixth member had sacrificed himself to protect their party. Albeit it wasn't enough since Jude also decided to stay behind so that they can escape.

"Yes,"

"If you're the only one that knows about this secret, then why is there someone else that seems to know that you are hiding this?" Kayn wonders.

"My guess is; the person who had posted the mission to gather information about this specific area here is the same person who intended to kill me in the past. He probably felt suspicious at the fact that I am still alive and suspected that something great is hidden in this place,"

"Do you have any person in mind?"

"Sadly, even back then, I still don't know who wants me dead. And no matter how hard I try to recall, I can't remember offending anyone that is powerful enough to hunt me down relentlessly,"

"I also can't," Charles shook his head. He had been a member of Jude's party from the moment they both came to 'The Bridge'. Simply put, they both entered at the same time and had made the plan to create a party before deciding to use an Entry Crystal. As for the other members, they both slowly got to know them as they continued to stay in 'The Bridge'.

"I am guessing that there's something only that person knows about that you probably have in your possession without you being aware that you have it in or on you," That's the only assumption that Kayn could think about.

"If that's truly the case, then I am willing to give up that item as long as we can get out of this place alive," Just like Charles', Jude also put more importance on his life than some secret that he isn't aware of.

"Anyways, what are we going to do next?"

"It's time for us to launch our counter-attack!" Jude smirked.