The Guardian System: The strongest Summoner's quest to save his family-Chapter 351: The Outpost (2)

"You don't need to waste your time checking the corners," a voice said from above.

Reidar stopped. He didn't need to look at the system interface to know who the person talking was. He looked up toward the flat roof of the main barracks building.

It was just that Reidar didn't expect this person to be here. Like, at all.

Jorik stood near a building's door, standing with his arms crossed, watching them with a calmness that felt out-of-place given the empty settlement around them.

Lena spun around. The moment she saw the man standing on the roof, logic left her.

"Hey, Reidar!" He said. "Fancy seeing you here!"

But Reidar had other thoughts in mind.

<Why didn't I see anything regarding Jorik through the Vorathid Sky-Hunters?>

"JORIK!" The scream tore out of Lena's throat. Lena took a step forward, her hand instantly going to the hilt of her dagger. The muscle memory of her last fight in Ashwick, where Lena had humiliated her, kicked in. She didn't want the same to happen with Jorik.

"Lena! Happy to see you too!"

Jorik looked at Lena. A mocking smile curled at the corner of his lips. "Lena," Jorik said. "It is really a pleasure to meet you again after all this time. I didn't think you would wake up so soon, though."

Jorik was the last one Lena wanted to lose to. He must also have talked to Mara, as he seemed to know what happened in Ashwick.

He took a casual step closer to them, looking at them as if he were inspecting livestock.

Jorik kept the same warm and welcoming expression on his face that he had always worn back when they were all still together in Havenwood, as if nothing had changed between them.

The only difference was in his level.

—[Jorik Malden—Level 368]—

Jorik had become stronger during all this time they had been apart. The increase in his level was substantial and impossible to ignore.

But the change in his power level was not the only transformation he had undergone. He had also freed himself from the system, a fact that was clear by the physical changes in his body: his ears had become pointed and elongated, taking on the characteristic shape of those who had broken free from the system's grip, and his skin had turned pale, unnaturally so, as if the color had been drained from him.

But the real question that now filled Reidar's thoughts, the one that truly mattered in terms of assessing the threat Jorik posed, was what had happened to his trait.

Since Jorik had a trait before breaking free from the system, what had become of it during the process of his liberation?

Had he lost it entirely? Was he stripped of that unique ability when he severed his connection to the system? Or had it been saved and perhaps even enhanced, powered up in some way by the transformation he had gone through? How truly dangerous had Jorik become as a result of all these changes?

However, while it was true that Jorik was stronger than he had been, Reidar was still at level 395. He could still mop the ground with him whenever and however he wanted.

"I was actually worried," Jorik said. "Mara said she hit you quite hard back in Ashwick. How is the head? Does it still throb when you try to think? That was a serious concussion she gave you."

Lena's grip on her dagger tightened until her knuckles turned white.

"My head is fine," Lena said. She pulled the dagger from its sheath. "You should worry about yourself. Because the wound I am going to put on you will be a lot worse than a headache. It won't be something you can wake up from."

Jorik laughed.

"Oh, I know you'll try," he said. "But trying and succeeding are two very different things, Lena. You couldn't land a single hit on Mara in Ashwick. What makes you think it will be any different with me?"

Reidar stepped in and interrupted the heated exchange unfolding between the two of them. There were simply too many strange and unexplained things happening all at once in this situation, and none of them made any logical sense when he tried to put them together and understand what was really going on.

The first strange thing that struck them was the fact that they had come to this place expecting it would be filled with people—church members, guards, residents of sorts—yet when they arrived, they found the place empty.

The second peculiar thing that demanded an explanation was the fact that Mara, the person they had been tracking and expecting to find here, was nowhere to be seen or found anywhere in the outpost, and instead, standing in her place and apparently waiting for them, was Jorik.

<What is he doing here to begin with?>

The outpost was deserted; the church members had left, and yet here stood Jorik, calm and composed as if nothing was wrong.

If the church had truly fled from some threat or danger, or simply because of orders, then why was Jorik here, standing on the roof as if he owned the place?

<He must be a high-ranking member based on what he did in Havenwood, so why would a big shot like him be here?>

And then, there was the weird sound he started hearing since setting foot in this place. It wasn't just that, but mana was strangely thin here.

At that point, it became clear that if the man was actually here; the Church had something in mind, as he feared.

"It's a trap."

"You finally noticed!" Jorik asked while his smile widened, stretching across his face in a way that made it clear he was enjoying the moment far too much. It was the most mocking and contemptuous smile that Reidar had ever seen on another person in his entire life.

"You hadn't really expected Mara not to have noticed your little friend, had you?" he said.

Then Reidar understood who Jorik was referring to. His Vorathid Sky-Hunter.

Reidar felt his stomach drop as a wave of dread washed over him. He pulled up the visual feedback from the Vorathid Sky-Hunter he had placed on Jorik's back in Ashwick. The connection was still active and functioning. The creature was still alive and transmitting.

But what it showed him was wrong.

The image in his mind was still the same one he had been seeing for the past week: Mara, sitting in her room, reviewing maps and reports. The feed hadn't changed. It was steady, clear, and exactly as it had been.

Then it flickered.