Seth Chapter 66

“We meet again, Noah,” he said, looking at him and giving off a smirk. 

Noah frowned. His left arm stung badly as the healing potion and his regenerative abilities worked to heal it. Ignoring the pain, he looked up at the man. 

The dark cloak, the red eyes and the tall frame alongside the destructive abyssal mana around him easily give off his identity. He didn't have to think twice about it since it was so familiar. 

“Gabriel,” he called out and the man smirked. “I should have expected this was a trap.”

“You remember me?” He asked, looking pleased. “Last time we met was seven years ago. It seems like your memory is still intact.”

“I can't forget one of the Seven Sages. Especially one who had destroyed whole kingdoms in well under a week.”

“It was only one small kingdom. You killed a lot of my subordinates in response. I think we both did equal amounts of damage to each other,” he said, frowning like the memory of it passed by his mind. 

“Killing a few cultist isn't the same as killing thousands of innocents,” he said. “It's a shame I didn't manage to kill you back then.”

“You can try now.”

Noah kept silent, berating himself inwardly for not guessing earlier that this was a job of one of the Seven Sages. It was out of expectations for the organisation to send one of their heads after him. 

But it seemed like they were taking him far more seriously now. 

He had been feeling strange since he had left Sacria City, and it seemed like Gabriel was the reason behind it. 

“Noah, who's he?” Seth asked, breaking Noah's thoughts. 

“One of the Seven Sages that rules the Seven Seals. You remember we talked about them before. He is the one who has the seat of Wrath, Gabriel,” he explained, his voice barely a whisper as both Seth and Rebecca stared at the Sage. “You two need to get out of here.”

His voice pulled their attention back. 

“Why?”

“You two are outmatched. If you stay here, you are just going to lose your life. The difference in strength isn't of a few levels, but entire ranks. Even if I wasn't injured, it wouldn't have been possible to fight him while trying to protect you—”

A beam of light pulsed out of a magic circle on Gabriel's hand and barely missed the three of them as Noah picked up his companions and jumped back on to the forest area around them. 

The area where the beam hit broke down as a crater formed there. Looking back, Noah saw more beams heading their way. 

“Hold on!” he said to the two people that were hanging on to his shoulders. They didn't seem to have an inkling of what was going on. 

Then, he leaped. Reinforcing his body with his mana, he jumped through trees which turned scorched the next second as the beam passed through them. 

Shares of splintered wood rained around him as adrenaline pumped up in his veins alongside mana. A few of them hit the three, but it was minor inconvenience. 

Noah accidentally stepped onto the head of a wolf who growled at him.

“Sorry,” he said before rushing through the undergrowth.  

The wolf stood up to chase him, but its body soon turned into charred flesh as the destructive beam touched it. 

Everything in its path turned scorched and the whole earth seemed to shake. Noah didn't look back, but going by the shouts of destruction behind him, he knew Gabriel chased them. 

“I forgot, but what happened to the carriage driver?” he suddenly asked, taking a turn towards a slope that hopefully led to safety. Thorns dig into their clothes from the bushes around them as Rebecca whimpered. 

“I think he ran away when we were fighting with the lesser abyssal horrors. I didn't see his carriage there.”

“At least someone managed to get away.”

He muttered before taking another leap into the sky. 

Behind him, the cries of monsters and trees getting crushed and scorched rang. The whole land seemed to be ravaged by the wrath of a cultist. 

Once I get these two to safety, I'm definitely going to come back for you, Gabriel. 

Noah thought and kept running. 

***

Seth barely managed to stop himself from letting out a yelp as a branch hit him right on top of his head. Looking up ahead, he saw that they were deep into a forest with no definite trails to move forward. 

There were no roads. Only trees, undergrowth and rocks were around as Noah kept running into the dense foliage under the night sky. 

From behind, he could feel the heat that touched his neck. The humid air was filled with a heavy smell of scorched earth and monsters that hit his nostrils. 

Glancing back, he could see splintered trees and skeleton remains of monsters amidst a beam, filled with abyssal mana that chased them. Footsteps echoed right behind it as Gabriel chased them. 

He had briefly glanced at the monsters as Noah had moved and they seemed to be at least on Rank 3. Despite that, they had turned into bones and scorched flesh in a second.

Maybe, he would have been the same if Noah hadn't picked him up alongside Rebecca. 

He briefly recalled information about the Seven Sages due to his talks with Noah, but he had never imagined their power to be so destructive. Nor he had guessed that he would meet one so soon. 

Knowing that Gabriel was behind the destruction of Nasper Town and the summoning of the void sceptre, he felt anger rise up in his throat, but he didn't know if he would hold up his own against him. 

Just the beam that chased them was a hard task to get away from. 

He had tried to check his status back then, but had only gotten question marks. He wasn't even able to peek into what his class was. 

Noah's reaction also said the same thing.

He was simply a burden who couldn't last against Gabriel and would slow Noah down. 

Biting his lips, he felt Noah turn around a corner and jumped through what seemed like a hill with caves on the side of it. He jumped on top of one and wind swirled on his feet. 

Seth felt it as they were pushed up, getting over the hill in a matter of seconds. 

As they descended, Noah took a moment to look behind and they saw the destruction that ravaged the forest area. 

A lot of it had been flattened and Seth could hear the yells of monsters as they ran away from the beam of destruction that scorched their homes. 

Though, they seemed to have moved far ahead as he could only see a faint light in the distance as Gabriel searched for them. 

Seth felt himself being put down and looked at Noah. Next to him, Rebecca crouched down, her face pale as she emptied her stomach. 

“Sorry,” she said. “It was just too sudden that I wasn't able to prepare myself.”

“It's alright.” Noah shook his head. “Anyway, you two need to get away. Find a town or a city and stay safe there.”

“What about you?” Seth asked, blinking his eyes at him. 

Noah pointed at the forest area, “I will deal with Gabriel. He won't let us loose and would definitely find us. He was keeping an eye on us since the moment we left for the academy. If I don't kill him, he will keep being a bother and I don't want more towns to be sacrificed due to his schemes.”


“Let me come with you,” Seth said and Noah immediately shook his head. “You can face him head on and I will use my skills to hide and stab him in the back. He won't see it coming.”

Seth was used to dealing with opponents stronger than him thanks to his skills. In the Tunnels of Grithza, he had mostly hid and backstabbed monsters. 

It was only after coming out of it that his fighting style had changed to be a bit more upfront. 

“No,” Noah rejected. “I won't have a problem with it if it wasn't against Gabriel. He's too strong and you might just become collateral damage in our battle. If his attacks even touch you, you are going to be scorched.”

“But—”

“Seth, you saw his strength. Noah would have to look out for you if you are there. Let's just escape and let him handle it.”

Rebecca interjected in the middle and Seth glanced between the both of them. 

Lots of thoughts ran in his mind, but he knew both of them were right. He could be stubborn and ask to go with Noah, but he didn't have any defences against Gabriel, and there was only so far he could run even with his stats and new class. 

Biting his lips, he nodded his head and sighed, “Okay.”

“Go down the hill and see if you can find a carriage or just take the road. There should be a settlement close by.”

He said and looked down the hill. 

Seth recalled something just as Noah was about to jump down and shouted out, “Wait!”

“What?” 

“Let me put a mark on you.”

He said and used the last bits of mana on Noah. The next second, a mark appeared on his left hand. It was a strange symbol, one Seth translated as “Target”.

He felt weakened since he only had a low amount of mana left now. 

“What is this?” Noah asked. 

“A skill to mark you. It will help me track you, so once the battle is over, I can find you.”

“Okay, but there's no need. I will find you two once I kill that bastard.” They heard a shrill voice the next second and looked down to see trees getting crushed by Gabriel. “Move!”

He said and jumped down. 

Seth saw him arrive right in front of Gabriel as his dark flames burned the ground around him. 

Gabriel hit back with his beams and took out what looked like a curved blade, a katana and swung it at him which Noah dodged easily. 

Both of them kept fighting and Seth stared at it in awe before he felt a tap on his back. 

“We need to move!” Rebecca said, tugging at his arm. 

Seth gave a last look on the ground and nodded. 

Begrudgingly, they made their move down the hill and Seth kept looking back when he heard a loud yell or sounds of explosions, but he didn't stop. 

He knew that Noah was strong enough to deal with Gabriel. For now, they had to get to safety. 

“Seth, you think Noah would be able to handle him? I have never seen something like those beams,” Rebecca said suddenly as they walked past a crater. 

“He will. He's ranked 8. Even if Gabriel is strong, he can't be that strong. Probably just around that. Moreover, we have only seen the mage part of his class till now. He had never truly revealed his other abilities such as his physical skills.”

He said, thinking back to how Noah had picked them up. He doubted even Derek could run for so long and with such a speed with two people on his shoulders. 

“True.” Rebecca nodded. “I think I saw a road before. Let's keep heading straight once we get down.”