The SSS-rank Guide Doesn't Need Saving

Regardless of the timing, Aisha didn’t mind doing the end of her deal right now. Though she didn’t mean to do it fully. Doing the basics of the basic should suffice so as to not raise any suspicions of what she could really do.

She lifted her hand and gently placed it on top of his head, feeling the soft tresses of his hair under her palms, and couldn’t resist running her fingers through them. Unaware of what her actions would make her feel, Aisha continued to stroke his hair a few more times before gliding down to the back of his head.

From afar, if one were to bear witness to this, they might mistake her for comforting him.

But Aisha didn’t stop her hands from going lower, touching his nape and finally stopping on his back. All the while she did this, she felt the tremors of his body become more intense.

Was he in a lot of pain? Even the back of his neck and tips of his ears seemed to redden. At this point, Aisha praised his pain tolerance. She had heard of many sentinels howling and rolling in pain the instant they made contact with miasma inside a contaminated zone, since the potency there was recorded to be ten times. Yet, he was able to endure this much with just one stone embedded in his chest.

And from what she could guess, it wasn’t fully suppressing it. In the future, if something were to trigger it, Zeke wouldn’t just have to deal with the miasma that the stone had stored inside it, but also the miasma that was sleeping within.

By then, there might be nothing left of him.

Letting her hand press flat on his back, Aisha closed her eyes. She thought about just tapping a bit of her guiding ability, just enough that it wouldn’t burst out like the last time or fully destroy the miasma inside him, just like they had agreed on.

But just as she released a drop of her guiding energy and was about to let it slip into him, her forearm was caught, and the arm wrapped around her waist let her go.

She watched as Zeke backed away and sat straight in his chair as if nothing happened.

Staring into her eyes, he said, ”I have recovered. So, there’s no need to guide me now.”

Aisha stared at him for a second, wondering why he didn’t just ask her to guide him. Some part of her wanted to leave it just there. But a bigger part of her was feeling upset that he relied on a stone that might crack any time and explode within him rather than asking her to guide him.

She knew she was contradicting herself. By guiding him, the risk of exposure would increase, but this body’s nature as a Guide somehow overrode that risk.

But the look on Zeke’s face suggested he was sure of his choice. He turned back to the cockpit and handled it before telling her they were nearing the Novalis villa.

Aisha went back into her seat and fell silent.

Forcing herself to look outside, Aisha noticed that black smoke was floating outside the window. She blinked in surprise, and just as she thought about telling Zeke whether the hover car had some problems, she saw a pair of red orbs glinting in the black smoke.

The smoke seemed to have its own consciousness as it glued itself against the glass.

No matter how adapted she was to this world, there was no way Aisha could ready herself for what was happening in front of her

Knock, knock.

The gaseous thing even knocked.

Zeke’s attention was also drawn to the sound, and his eyes hardened at the sight, cursing under his breath that even Aisha was shocked to hear it come from him.

”What...?”

Before she could form the question, Zeke answered, ”It’s Nykos. He’s following us.”

”How is he doing that?” Aisha glanced out of the window again and saw the wisps of condensed dark shadow wave.

”I’ve told you about Bloodlines earlier...” Zeke controlled the hover car to speed up, rising above the designed route to get away from the troublesome criminal. Then, he revealed, ”He’s using the uniqueness of his bloodline to enhance his psychic power.”

Aisha stared at the dark shadows as they chased after the hover car. When it looked like they’d lost him, he’d suddenly appear out of nowhere again. Suddenly, she thought about how formidable a sentinel can be and couldn’t help but lament. Why didn’t she transmigrate into the body of a sentinel?

If she had been a sentinel, she wouldn’t have to go through all this.

Sadly, she could only cry about it in her head and do nothing about it. Not like she could induce a second awakening and become a sentinel after becoming a guide.

However, what she was most puzzled about was Nykos’ persistence. Was it such a big deal that she guided him that he had to come and find her? He could just find someone else to guide him now that he had recovered from his Rampage; why did it have to be her?!

He was acting like it was the first time he had been guided. But that can’t be possible, right? There was no way that a sentinel of his sort would go and live without ever being guided.

So, there was just no explanation for his actions.

”Where are we going?” Aisha asked when she noticed that they had changed their routes several times.

Zeke didn’t take his eyes off the navigator as he replied, ”We’ll go to the Teleportation Array and head to the Association.”

Aisha shook her head. ”We can’t go there. I need to go back and take my things from the villa.”

With how things had ended with the Novalis family, the only thing Aisha wanted after leaving the imperial palace was to get her things and move out.

She didn’t know what the rest of the Novalis family would do when they got to the villa before she did. And there was also Daisy and her spiritual beasts, whom she had left behind there. She couldn’t stay out any longer than she already had.

”Will going to the Associate stop him from following us?” Aisha asked, gazing at the dark shadow still following them.

Zeke paused and took a moment to reply.

To be honest, he wasn’t certain that could stop Nykos from following them. That man did not even respect the Chief Master of the Association; would entering the floating island of the Association even make him hesitate?

He hadn’t expected Nykos to go this far. When Nykos expressed his thought on taking Aisha with him, Zeke thought he was just saying it to provoke another fight between them.

But it seemed Nykos was serious this time.

He could fight and stop him from getting Aisha, but...

Zeke pressed a hand over his chest, feeling the beating sensation of another entity inside him.

If he forced himself to fight an SS-sentinel like Nykos, the Suppression Stone might just crack and get him into an instant Rampage.