Talent System: I Instantly Master My Opponents Skills
Chapter 129: Evading The Frost Maggots (2)

Chapter 129: Evading The Frost Maggots (2)

"Stay a little behind you..."

He repeated, as if failing to grasp the words he was hearing.

But in actuality, he understood them perfectly.

"Why?"

He asked.

"When you’re around us, we find it harder to use mana, and if you’re too close some of us can’t use it at all."

He explained, his words were as sincere as they could be.

He stared unblinking at the one who had suggested it.

"Fine."

The gravity of the situation didn’t allow his opinions.

A part of him wanted to reject what he had just been told, a rebellious part of him.

However, the reality of spending the rest of his days in this place was a grim future. One that he wanted to avoid at all cost.

"I..."

The words got stuck in his throat so he resorted to keeping them with him.

"Are we moving in a single file?"

Sean asked.

Kira shook his head to his brother’s words.

"Three of us."

He explained, pointing at himself, his brother and Lyra.

"We’re moving together."

He continued.

"Asahi will move with Jason tailing him from behind."

Jason absently scratched his head, contemplating on his next course of action.

Asahi would obviously have experience in tree jumping as he’s traveled in the wilderness before, but he on the other hand would have to be careful so he wouldn’t fall.

In the silence that followed, they scaled the tree, heading to the very top.

’Since I’m stuck like this, I might as well make some precautions.’

He thought.

Jason refrained from climbing the tree now, he decided to wait for sometime.

’Terrible Cloning.’

Two body doubles appeared beside him.

Without a word, they jumped down the tree from the side at which Jason had initially come from.

Both of them moved away.

He had already relayed the instructions to his clone, he wouldn’t have to worry about any screw-ups this early.

He had already decided that the screw-ups would happen much later.

Without a word, he scaled the tree, moving from branch to branch until he reached the very top.

With his eyes, he could see Asahi, though barely.

They were all using mana to the best of their abilities, leaving him behind.

Jason doubted that the maggots were situated in these parts, but until then, he wanted to practice his tree jumping skills before the real danger arrived.

’But even if I fell, couldn’t I just use Quick Evasive Steps and the Breathing Technique to escape?

It was a possibility, but it was one he didn’t want to find out.

As he reached the top of the tree, he surveyed the ground.

It was covered in snow.

Snow had also stopped falling from the sky.

Jason got in position, readying himself for the jump.

He copied Sean’s posture, his stance and everything he had seen back when the boy had demonstrated for him.

He launched his body forward.

There was a brief moment of weightlessness, one where he felt that he was floating like paper in the wind.

He landed on the other branch of the next tree.

’I made it.’

Jason quickly repeated the process; getting into the posture that he had copied before leaping from the tree he was currently on.

He landed on the next tree.

For him the process was almost mechanical.

He emulated Sean’s movements to the best of his ability, leaping from tree to tree while trying to make as little sound as possible. All the while still keeping an eye on Asahi so the boy wouldn’t get too far out.

Luckily enough, he did not fall once.

He continued his movements, his eyes on the next branch as he leaped.

This jump felt a bit easier, but he couldn’t get too reckless.

Relentlessly, he repeated the process.

His gaze settled on the person in front of him, the one who leaped from tree to tree effortlessly. Almost as if it was breathing to him.

That was one of the perks that came from being in the wilderness in this time.

A time that he wanted to leave as quickly as possible.

That was the reason he jumped from tree to tree.

As he landed on the next tree, his line of sight went over to the other group.

Not only were their movements fluid, but there was also something that made Jason ponder.

’Why do they trust me so much?’

They had met a week ago yet they seemed to have complete faith in him.

Enough faith that they believed that he would be able to survive this forest infested with the Frost Maggot monsters.

Even Asahi whom they had met not even 24 hours ago and could have killed Kira if luck was on his side, even he was trusted.

Sean whom was wary of him didn’t seem to even care about him.

And the girl, Lyra, seemed almost unresponsive even though it was clear that she was the one who had forced Asahi down.

Jason knew that there was a lot more than they were letting him know about their group.

He stopped his trail of thought, deciding to focus on the path ahead of him.

The territory of the Frost Maggots.

He returned to the systematic movements of jumping from tree to tree, making sure never to fall down or land below the highest branch.

There was barely any sound as they briefly soared through the air.

Everyone of them made sure of that.

For some reason, he didn’t feel cold outside, as soon as he had stepped into the territory.

It could be that the extra care he made to emulate the movements he had seen from Sean with his near-perfect memory, or it could be that this place wasn’t as cold as the open grounds.

Suddenly, Kira, Sean, and Lyra stopped on the same branch.

Asahi who was lagging a bit behind them stopped as well on the branch.

’Are the maggots close?’

Jason thought as he jumped to yet another tree.

He stopped moving. He chose to watch them instead.

The boy didn’t speak but they seemed to communicate through signs.

After a while, both of them leaped simultaneously towards the next one.

But they’re movements were now different.

With that, Jason began moving again.

’It should be the maggots.’

He thought as he finally reached Asahi’s former position.

’The maggots.’

He thought as he watched them.

From the height he was he could only see the top of their heads.

They were purple, they’re color was a perfect contrast to the snowy backdrop.

It seemed like many large purple dots were moving around aimlessly.

They moved randomly, they were not able to see him and thus couldn’t register his presence.

’I should move on before I alert them of my presence.’

He thought.

From what he saw just now, the emphasis Kira had put when talking about their threat against them seemed like exaggeration.

After all, the monsters couldn’t even see him.

As he was about to leap again, he missed his steps, he was too engrossed in the watching the monsters to pay attention.

He almost fell down, but he managed to use the branch to toss himself up.

’That was close.’

He thought as he landed back on the branch.

The monsters were attracted to the noise.

Suddenly, they began sprouting wings from their top.

Light, transparent purple wings sprouted from the Frost Maggots.

Attracted by the noise, they flew up to its source.

Buzzing filled the air as they flew to the tree Jason was on in a group.

The monsters met nothing there, it seemed as if it was a fierce wind that shifted it.

Such monsters lacked much intelligence, even the basic ability to discern the simplest of things.

They thus depended on their instincts, and said instincts told them nothing about prey being around.

The monsters descended.

Jason let out a breath of relief as the buzzing sounds from the monsters gradually declined, indicating that they were landing.

He turned.

His eyes met one of the monsters that was still airborne.

The rest didn’t note his presence, and they gradually landed back on the ground.

But this one didn’t move from its position, and as all the others landed it finally moved.

Sideways.

It small eyes met Jason’s.

The Frost Maggots slowly began to fly towards it.

’I need to kill it.’

He thought.

Its buzzing could attract the other monsters so he needed to kill it quickly. However, there was a slight problem.

He had no weapons, he had lost his dagger.

And he didn’t have any long-range attacks.

He looked around for any branch to jump to, but he saw none. There was no one he could jump to while taking out the monster.

He leaped as something cut through the air.

It made direct contact with the monster, killing it silently but instantly.

But he couldn’t stop himself after he had jumped and crashed into it.

It hit his chest and he grabbed it so its corpse wouldn’t fall.

Jason extended his left hand as he made impact with a tree. He kicked off it, performing a wall kick to jump even higher.

He went even higher, but instead he chose to slide down the very tree he leaped from.

’What’s this?’

He pulled out the weapon from the monster.

Jason recognized it instantly, it was his dagger, the very one he had lost.

’So it was with Kira.’

Kira was always helping him find his weapons whenever he lost them.

He thought as he threw the corpse to the left.

As soon as it landed on the ground and made a noise, the Frost Maggots in the vicinity sprouted wings and quickly moved towards the source of the noise.

Jason used the chance to move to the next branch quickly.

’But it was obviously Asahi that threw it.’

It didn’t take him long to realize that Kira must have seen his predicament and quickly tossed his dagger to Asahi so the boy could throw it.

’At least they didn’t leave me completely helpless.’