"Come out already, you coward — I can see you." The white-haired old man called out loudly, scanning his surroundings with focused attention, trying to locate whoever had attacked him. But the lighting in the tunnel was poor, and after searching for some time, he still could not find his assaint.

  "Grand Sorcerer, sir — those people are getting further away. What do we do?" The middle-aged man in white grew anxious as he watched the Rebels retreat further and further.

  The white-haired old man thought for a moment, then said, "They already know our identities — we cannot let them go. Go after them and cut them off."

  The middle-aged man in white acknowledged the order and immediately set off after the Rebels at a brisk pace, silver staff in hand.

  A howling gale erupted — a violent whirlwind materialized from nowhere, sweeping up rge quantities of debris and stone fragments from the ground and driving them straight at the pursuing middle-aged man.

  Caught in the whirlwind, his body was pelted relentlessly with flying rock. His robes and skin were torn open, and gashes appeared across his body and face. He crouched down, wrapped his arms around himself, and cried out in pain — there was no way he could continue the pursuit.

  "It seems I must deal with the other Magic Ultra-capable first. Otherwise there's no way to go after those people." The white-haired old man spoke, then swept his hand. Another whirlwind materialized and smmed into the one already engulfing the middle-aged man. The two whirlwinds spun in opposite directions — when they collided, they cancelled each other out and dissolved into nothing.

  "Under normal circumstances, a Magic Ultra-capable's range of effect is only thirty or forty meters. That person must be somewhere close." The old man muttered to himself, and began carefully examining the area within thirty or forty meters of the middle-aged man.

  Suddenly the white-haired old man's gaze stopped on one of the wrecked armored vehicle sections. He gave his golden staff a flick — the vehicle fragment lifted off the ground and floated three or four meters in the air — and behind it, a slender figure was revealed.

  "Heh heh heh, there you are at st." A look of delight crossed the old man's face. He immediately directed the hovering wreckage to crash down on the slender figure.

  Wind screamed through the tunnel. A fierce gale surged around the slender figure, and riding its force, the figure's feet left the ground — unching through the air toward the darker reaches of the tunnel and vanishing into the shadows. The armored vehicle chunk crashed to the ground with a heavy impact, missing the figure entirely.

  "Oh? Wind-riding flight — quite impressive. But escaping from me won't be so easy." A flicker of surprise crossed the white-haired old man's face. He waved his hand, and a sphere of white light appeared at the spot where the figure had disappeared, illuminating the surrounding area.

  In the glow of the white orb, a dark-haired youth dressed in bck was revealed, his back against the rock wall — it was Rulu.

  "Quite young, I didn't expect that. What is your name? Are you with the Sanctuary?" The white-haired old man called out to Rulu, trying to determine his identity.

  "Hmph. The Sanctuary? Never heard of it," Rulu said coldly.

  "What a shame. With ability like yours, if you were to join the Sanctuary, your future would be limitless. Truly a pity, a pity indeed…" The white-haired old man shook his head repeatedly with an air of genuine regret.

  "Stop putting on an act," Rulu snapped. "Just say what you want to do."

  "Since you're not with the Sanctuary, I have no reason to hesitate. Come then, child — let me send you on your way." The old man spoke mildly. With a swing of his golden staff, the nearly four-meter boulder from before lifted silently off the ground and shot toward Rulu at speed.

  Rulu summoned a gust at once, and riding its force, his feet left the ground. He took flight through the spacious underground cavern, weaving and darting to evade the boulder's attacks.

  The white-haired old man kept the boulder in relentless pursuit. Powerful as it was, and fast as it moved, the boulder was far less agile than Rulu. It smmed repeatedly into the ground near him and against the surrounding rock walls. The old man kept driving it at Rulu for a while, yet he could not nd a hit.

  "Well done — truly impressive. It seems I'll have to take this seriously." The old man's words held genuine praise, but his expression grew steadily more grave.

  With a rush of air, a second boulder — about two meters across — rose from the cavern floor and hurtled toward Rulu. Now two boulders came at him in tandem: one chasing him from behind, the other sweeping around to his front, cutting off his escape route.

  "Tch — this is getting troublesome." Rulu's brow creased. He sharpened his focus on controlling the wind, but with a hiss one of the boulders grazed past his shoulder — barely clipping his left shoulder — and yet it felt like being struck by a vehicle. The impact sent him tumbling two meters through the air, and a searing pain exploded from his left shoulder.

  "I can't keep this up. I need to get away from them." Cold sweat broke out across Rulu's forehead. He felt like his bones had nearly been shattered. He wanted to put as much distance as possible between himself and the two white-robed men — but he also knew that leading them in the wrong direction would put Captain Guan and Nana in danger.

  "That's it — I'll flee in the opposite direction. That way, even if they come after me, it won't matter." With that thought in mind, Rulu gritted through the pain in his left shoulder, rode the wind up and over the two white-robed figures, and shot off at full speed away from the tunnel exit.

  "He's trying to escape — stop him!" The white-haired old man saw through Rulu's pn at once and shouted urgently. The middle-aged man raised his silver staff.

  A fierce bst of wind erupted from nowhere and tore toward Rulu. Caught mid-flight, Rulu was thrown off bance — he lost control of his direction and was sent careening sideways.

  With a bang, Rulu crashed into the side of the cargo compartment and came to a stop. A boulder came thundering after him. Rulu barely threw himself aside in time — the boulder smashed into the compartment with a thud, punching straight through and leaving a gaping hole.

  "This is getting bad — I need to finish him off quickly, or things are going to get complicated." A look of arm crossed the white-haired old man's face. He turned sharply to the middle-aged man beside him and barked: "Pin him down. Don't give him a single chance to escape."

  "Yes, Grand Sorcerer!" The middle-aged man answered, his expression grim. He turned to face Rulu and raised both hands high. The wind screamed — a powerful gale surged into being directly above Rulu and pressed down on him from above.

  In an instant Rulu felt a crushing force bearing down on him from overhead. Under the immense wind pressure, his body buckled at the waist. He smmed down hard onto the ground, feeling as though a thousand-pound weight had been loaded onto his back. He could barely move. Wind-riding flight was no longer possible.