Chapter 117: Futile Struggle
"This guy must have a rock for a brain..." Kael muttered to himself.
Haru's house was made of earth and stone, but the interior was full of wooden furniture. A Fire Style jutsu like that would ensure the house wouldn't survive.
But Kael couldn't really blame the stout man.
Seeing his good friend turned into a drooling idiot, the man assumed Kael had used some evil method on him and just wanted to free Haru immediately.
The fireball continued to expand. The stout man was solely focused on killing Kael, ignoring everything else.
Kael was a little exasperated.
He didn't know why, but every Hidden Frost ninja he met seemed to have this explosive temper.
Pushing off with his feet, Kael blurred into a shadow and leaped out the door.
WHOOSH!
The fire spread instantly, orange flames illuminating and consuming the entire house in the blink of an eye.
The next moment, Kael's summons couldn't care less about niceties. They smashed their way out, Goldie plowing straight through a wall, sending debris flying.
The stout man carried the dazed Haru out of the burning house, glaring warily at Kael but not attacking again.
Kael didn't mind. He had already gotten everything he needed from Haru. As a Chunin of the Hidden Frost, Haru only knew so much. Kael didn't care if Haru ended up in the stout man's hands.
Seeing that Kael had "numbers on his side," the stout man gritted his teeth and prepared to retreat with Haru.
"Goldie, bring him here," Kael ordered softly.
Goldie paused slightly.
"Woof, woof, woof! —Bring him here? Bring who?"
He was a bit confused about who Kael was referring to.
"The ninja with the beard!" Kael said, his tone tinged with disappointment at Goldie's slowness.
"Oh!"
Goldie lowered his head, looking a bit wronged.
Faint arcs of lightning began to spread across his body.
Just as the stout man turned to leave with Haru, he was slammed to the ground by a tremendous force. He struggled desperately, but his body wouldn't budge, pinned as if by a ten-thousand-pound boulder.
His feeling wasn't wrong. Goldie had placed one front paw gently on the man's back. Given Goldie's mass, even a light touch carried thousands of pounds of force. This was why Kael felt comfortable watching from the sidelines.
Using Goldie's taijutsu prowess against a Chunin from a minor village was like using a butcher's cleaver to kill a chicken; the opponent had absolutely no chance of resisting.
The stout man struggled to turn his head and looked at what was on top of him.
He saw the massive yellow dog sitting quietly beside him. Out of the corner of his eye, he could just make out a paw the size of a washbasin resting on his back.
Seeing the man look at him, Goldie pulled back his lips in a hideous grin and offered a greeting.
"Woof, woof, woof! —Surprise!"
Kael slowly walked over to the stout man.
His clean, short black hair swayed gently in the breeze. With his fair skin, he looked like a harmless, handsome boy next door.
A faint smile played on his lips, but his clear, intelligent eyes commanded respect.
The stout man felt an incredibly powerful chakra aura emanating from Kael, freezing him in place.
It felt like a choice between life and death, stripping him of any will to resist.
His body, pinned to the ground, slowly went rigid. He seemed to have given up all resistance, lying motionless.
The summons behind Kael clicked their tongues in wonder, looking at their master with admiration.
"Cluck, cluck, cluck! —Is this the legendary Conqueror's Haki? Truly terrifying!"
"Woof, woof, woof! —The old-timer is the old-timer. Just leaking a bit of his 'Turtle Aura' scared that ninja stiff. I'm so envious..."
But the moment Kael stopped beside him, the motionless man suddenly snapped his head around, opened his mouth wide, and aimed at Kael.
A silver light flashed in the air. The movement was so practiced it seemed he had rehearsed it thousands of times in his mind.
The silver light arrived at Kael's forehead instantly, threatening to pierce his skull in the next second.
In Kael's vision, the dull but incredibly sharp silver light expanded rapidly, yet his gaze remained extraordinarily calm.
Without raising a hand, Kael simply tilted his head slightly, dodging the senbon needle.
Immediately after, Kael leaned forward, placing his right index finger on the man's back. Wisps of sharp, cutting aura instantly permeated the air. Visible, tiny wind blades began to ravage the man's back mercilessly, a sight that would chill anyone to the bone.
"Don't make futile struggles," Kael said flatly. He beckoned to Goldie. The next moment, Goldie vanished from the spot, taking the man with him.
Only the slowly dying flames of the house remained, flickering in the empty clearing.
"Woof, woof, woof! —Boss, you're kind of heavy!"
In the depths of a rarely visited forest in the Hidden Frost Village, Goldie's complaint rang out clearly.
Kael sat astride Goldie's back, holding a person in one hand.
"That's the weight of three people; it has nothing to do with me being heavy. Can you use your brain? Run faster! No wonder Mantis can't stand you. All that muscle for nothing?"
Goldie: "..."
As the saying goes, criticize the action, not the person. But Kael was criticizing the person (dog) and ignoring the facts, deliberately rubbing salt in the wound.
Goldie's pace seemed to slow even further, perhaps out of spite. He was barely moving faster than a normal walk.
At least Kun Kun and Little Gray were ahead, looking back at them mischievously.
"Woof, woof, woof! —Run faster! Didn't you eat, Goldie?"
"Cluck, cluck, cluck! —Giaogiaogiao! Goldie, stop slacking!"
Kael's face darkened. He leaned down and slapped Goldie on the head.
"Is your skin itching again? It's only the weight of three people. I don't believe for a second that you're struggling! I know how strong you are. In terms of raw strength, even Mantis is only about your equal. Stop playing the victim..."