Chapter 137 (2)
Lucas watched her go, and he did not let his relief show on his borrowed face.
Tisha walked through the warehouse with the nagging feeling still gnawing at the edge of her thoughts.
She had let the man go because she had no reason to hold him, but the wrongness of his footsteps still bothered her, and the familiarity of his mana still tickled at her memory like a splinter she could not remove.
The voice of the Calamity Tiger echoed in her mind, deep and resonant.
That boy is strange.
Tisha's steps slowed. "Why?"
His perfect mana control is really something which no one should have. It seems like his bloodline is truly blessed. And also... it is different. His mana signal seems like the one we met at the border.
Tisha frowned, searching her memory again. The border. She had encountered many people at the border over the past months—scouts, messengers, the occasional skirmish patrol. But none of their mana signals matched the one she had just felt. "I do not remember a mana signal that is the same as his."
The one we met with that Clover Clan boy a year ago, I think, the Calamity Tiger said.
The memory surfaced slowly, drawn up from the depths of Tisha's mental archive. A year ago. A mission near the border.
A young man from the Clover Clan—Austin Motomato, the war legend—and his companion.
She had stopped them on the road, surrounded them with her squad, and let them go only because Saint-Class Ronan had been nearby.
The companion's mana signal had been... similar to this one. Not identical. But similar.
"They are similar but also different," Tisha said.
Yes. I am only saying they are similar. That is why you feel like you have felt it somewhere before.
Tisha nodded slowly. The explanation satisfied her conscious mind, but the instinct that had kept her alive for so long remained unsettled. She needed more information.
She closed her eyes and retreated inward, into the space where the Calamity Tiger dwelled.
The beast space opened around her, vast and dark, lit only by the blue flames that composed the great tiger's body.
The Calamity Tiger sat before her, massive and luminous, its form rippling like fire given shape and purpose.
It was beautiful in the way that a wildfire was beautiful—terrifying and mesmerizing in equal measure.
"Can you sense his cultivation method?" Tisha asked.
If I touch him, the Calamity Tiger replied. It is impossible for normal senses to detect which cultivation method another person uses. There are only five proper ones that create elite cultivators. The others create semi-cultivators, and those can be identified by a single look. But their specific method cannot be sensed without contact. I can do what others cannot. But I must touch him.
Tisha nodded. She left the beast space and opened her eyes.
Lucas was moving toward the meeting point when he felt the shift in the air behind him. He did not turn, did not break stride, did not give any indication that he had noticed her approach.
But his Mana Eyes, still active behind his goggles, tracked her movement with perfect clarity.
Tisha appeared behind him without sound. Her hand pressed against his back, light and brief, the touch of someone offering a casual farewell.
"Walk safely," she said.
Her hand withdrew. She turned and walked away, and Lucas continued toward the exit without looking back.
Inside Tisha's mind, the Calamity Tiger was silent for a long moment. When it spoke, its voice carried something that Tisha had rarely heard from the ancient beast: shock.
I could not sense anything.
Tisha stopped walking. "What do you mean?"
I tried to scan him. The moment my senses touched his body, I was blocked. Completely. I have never encountered anything like this before.
Tisha's expression remained calm, but her thoughts were racing. "How is that possible?"
There are three possibilities, the Calamity Tiger said. The first is that he is a super powerful being whose natural defenses exceed my ability to penetrate. The second is that his control over mana is on a level of divinity—so perfect that nothing can enter without his permission. The third is that there is a powerful rune on his body blocking external senses.
Tisha considered the options. The first seemed unlikely—if he was that powerful, he would not need to disguise himself as a warehouse worker. The second was impossible; no one's mana control reached that level. The third was the only explanation that made sense.
"A rune," Tisha murmured. "The old bastard is more cautious than I thought."
The Calamity Tiger did not argue, because the third option was the most logical. But deep within the beast space, where Tisha could not see, the great tiger's blue flames flickered with uncertainty. It had encountered runes before, had shattered them with casual effort. Whatever had blocked its senses was not a rune.
But it said nothing, because the truth was something it did not yet understand.
Lucas emerged from the warehouse into the fading light of evening and found Ethan waiting for him near the perimeter wall. The illusion that disguised Ethan's features flickered slightly at the edges, a sign that he had been maintaining it for too long.
"We have a problem," Lucas said, his voice low. "Tisha is suspicious. She tracked our movements inside the warehouse."
Ethan's expression tightened. "Does she know what we planted?"
"No. She checked the places we stopped and found nothing. But she knows we are not who we claimed to be."
"Then when the bombs detonate, she will come for us first."
Lucas nodded. "We cannot meet up with Austin and Kaya. She will follow our trail, and that will lead her directly to them. We need to draw her away."
Ethan was silent for a moment, processing the information. Then he raised his hand, and wind began to gather around his fingers. The spell was small, subtle—a bird shaped from compressed air, invisible to anyone who was not looking for it.
[Wind Spell: Messenger Sparrow]
The bird shot from his palm and disappeared into the evening sky, carrying a simple message to Austin and Kaya: the meeting point had changed, and they were to complete their objective and retreat without making contact.
"Where do we go?" Ethan asked.
"South," Lucas said. "There is a river valley about ten kilometers from here. Narrow passages, heavy tree cover. If she follows us, we can lose her in the terrain."
Ethan nodded. "Then we move."
They turned away from the depot and began to run, their mana suppressed, their bodies moving at speeds that the human eye would struggle to follow. Behind them, the warehouse waited in silence, its bombs still ticking, its guardians still unaware.
The explosion came sooner than expected.