My Guardian System: The Trader

Fortunately, he instinctively blocked the knife with his right hand. If not because of it, the knife would have already penetrated deep into his throat. But still, the knife pierced his hand, and the tip of it wounded the skin of his neck.

"Ngh! Dammit!" The rebel groaned as blood dripped on his wounds. 

Everyone was dumbfounded at that instance. They looked at where the flying knives came from. They saw the boy walking unhurriedly to the front.

A glint flickered in the rebel's eyes. Then his face began to twitch into an angry expression.

He looked ahead and saw the boy moving slowly towards them. But the boy stopped halfway. The expression on his face was indiscernible as it was overcast with shadow. Only his glaring eyes are discernible at this moment.

Anger rose within the rebel's soul and caused a deep sense of killing towards the cause of his pain. The wounded member of the rebels angrily yelled. "Damn you, bast*rd!" Although he was bloodied, using his left hand, the rebel fired a wave of magical energy at Jem.

The shiny ring magical array appeared on his left wrist this time, as he was using his left hand to shoot a magical attack at Jem.

Seeing that one of his men lost control, "Idiot! Don't kill him!" The rebel leader warned angrily. Their mission was not to kill the three young ascenders but to bring them with them.

"Ah?" It was already too late! The wave of magical aura had been shot already before he realized it.

Swoosh~

"No, Jem!" Hope shouted in worry. If something terrible happened to him, her conscience would haunt her for the rest of her life, as she was the one who persuaded him to come along with them and dragged him along with them to this situation. Hope regretted.

The attack traveled straight towards its intended target. Looking at its speed, it was impossible to dodge! And yes, that attack hit him, however. The expected result did not happen.

"What!?"

"H-how—!"

Everyone gawked in disbelief when the wave of magical energy disappeared at contact with him, as though the magical energy scattered into thousands of pieces like fireworks, then it went poof at that instance.

Everyone turned silent. They could not process in their minds what had just transpired in front of their eyes.

Yet, they saw Jem standing in the middle without an injury.

How the hell did that happen!? That was an attack from a level 1 ex-human. All the present people understood how strong that attack was, coming from a level 1 ex-human.

They also understood how unusual of a situation it was. Could it be… the attack did not hit him? Their minds are trying to find excuses.

However, it was different from the wounded rebel. It was his attack after all. Although there was a hint of relief that he did not end up killing him, for some reason, his pride could not accept the result. He could not accept that his attack was being looked down on by others. He's a level 1 ascender after all! And to think that his attack did nothing against an underleveled ascender, the thought haunted him. His hand trembled slightly before he yelled, "AH! DAMMIT!" 

Summing up the frustration he got from the injury he suffered, he lost it! He fired another magical wave of energy.

Swoosh~

At that instance, everyone was looking with wide eyes.

"....."

Yet again, nothing happened. The boy was still there, standing without a hint of getting injured.

"W-What…?" The wounded rebel stuttered as his lips began to tremble. Blood was still dripping from his wounds. And his breathing started to feel heavy.

"E-eh? Jem?" Hope whispered his name in disbelief when she noticed he was fine after receiving that scary attack. Regardless, thanks he was fine.

"Please, Jem! Escaped with Sister Ann and Meir!" Hope, once again, tried to persuade him. But the boy did not respond. 

"....."

All the people present on that site were having trouble accepting what was happening. There was reluctance in believing it the first time they saw it. However, when the same thing happened again, they finally understood that there seems something unusual about this boy.

Taking advantage of everyone's surprise, he slowly raised his hand. They were staring at him in wonder. He only stopped when his palm was facing the wounded rebel.

The wounded rebel raised a brow, he wondered what this boy was trying to do.

Nonetheless, he fired another attack of magical energy at him. Even the rebel leader had already stopped to stop him. He was curious why his subordinate's attack did nothing to the boy. Is there some kind of mystery playing here? He must find the truth.

[Light Wave!]

The wounded rebel shouted the name of his spell. He usually fired the spell without shouting the name. But this time, his agitation caused him to shout it.

Then again, nothing happened.

[Light Wave!]

[Light Wave!]

[Light Wave!]

He fired and fired until he got exhausted. The people around just staring without blinking their eyes.

"For real?" Mags, who was still on the Airboat, mumbled in disbelief. The others too had the same reaction as him.

Even the rebel leader could not believe that his men's attack really caused no damage to the kid.

"Hey, you! Help him! Capture him, now!" The leader turned to the other subordinate, who was in shock at the current situation.

"Ahk," he shrieked upon hearing their leader's agitated voice. "Y-Yes, boss!"

He immediately summoned his weapon that was hanging on his back this whole time, a short sword.

But in that instance, they noticed something in the boy's hand.

It glowed. The same glow as the wounded rebel has, but the boy's magical energy was a little darker, then a magic ring array appeared on his wrist.

What! L-L-Level 1!!!

Everyone had almost the same reactions upon seeing the magic ring array on his wrist. 

Since Jem's back was facing Hope and the others, they had no idea what was happening. But they noticed the surprise in the rebels' faces at that moment. Also, they heard some of them exclaim the words— Level one!

Then, a cold voice resounded that took their attention.

[Light Wave]

The person who spoke it this time was not the wounded rebel.

It was coming from the boy!

His voice wasn't loud. But it was enough for all of them to hear it.

A strong magical aura shot towards the wounded rebel.

While having a shocked face, the wounded rebel was knocked away when a little darker bluish magical aura hit him. He was sent flying until his figure collided with the Airbot behind him.

Woosh~

A gush of wind silently passed by when silence descended after that moment.