Jasper took a few steps before his face changed; he felt some danger approaching him. Suddenly he stopped and turned around. To his surprise, like invisible magic revealing itself, something suddenly appeared a few feet away from him. Before he could realize what it was, it targeted Jasper.
Its skin was coated with silver armor, and its two sharp horns made of silver glittered in the morning sunlight. It would weigh about two tons; a gigantic Rhino was approaching him. Jasper was dumbfounded by this. Didn't he see this at the shop where he bought clothes? Then how come it was a few feet away from him?
'Did they fight all the way here?' Jasper thought about the possibility. Because those two people moved too fast, there was a chance they had fought each other all the way to where Jasper and his family were walking.
The scenario that these people were targeting him never crossed his mind because he had never seen them before. Obviously, he was new to the town. He didn't think the Bernardi family had traveled this far for him. Furthermore, they were fighting each other, not targeting him. But what were the chances that these people fought all the way to where Jasper had run away from them?
While thinking all this, Jasper quickly darted his eyes to search for the other person who rode the horned wolf. But he couldn't see him anywhere. 'What should I do now? Should I run away again?' Jasper's mind calculated the best option. Soon he moved, grabbed his family, and ran away quickly before the person on the wolf showed up and they got caught between them again.
However, before he could put his sister down from his back, Jasper felt a sensation of danger around him.
"Did that guy follow him?" he muttered. Soon, like teleportation, the strong Rhino appeared out of thin air and darted towards Jasper. Seeing this, Jasper confirmed that this person was targeting him—but why? He had done nothing to him. He didn't even know who he was, so why?
In the next second, the Rhino was only a step away from Jasper and his family. Jasper quickly moved and ran again, thinking that moving far away might make it lose track—maybe this was just a coincidence. However, before he could think where they were going, since he was running randomly, the Rhino was already feet away from him.
Suddenly, he extended his hand and grabbed the horn of the Rhino, intending to stop it. The Rhino, which had fast momentum, suddenly stopped as its hind legs flew upward. Due to that sudden stop, the person who was riding on top flew forward directly toward Jasper.
Jasper was surprised by this sudden situation. The force with which the Rhino had been running was not overwhelming when he grabbed the horn. His grip instantly stopped the Rhino in its tracks, yet he didn't move even an inch backward. He knew he was strong because of the blue stone, but he didn't expect to be this strong—that he could stop a silver-coated Rhino with one hand without even sliding back.
While he was thinking about this new strength, the man was about to crash into him. Jasper could see a surprised look in the man's eyes; he was not ready for this situation at all. Everything had happened suddenly; he didn't even prepare his sword to attack Jasper. Jasper swung his fist, aiming at the man's face.
Boom!
The fist landed on the face of the mysterious man and sent him flying away. Meanwhile, Jasper swung another punch, aiming at the Rhino's head to knock it out.
Boom!
The Rhino was sent flying sideways, crashing into a building, and it stopped moving.
"Mother, wait here."
Jasper started walking toward the person lying on the ground. Before he could reach him, the man moved his body and tried to sit up. As he struggled, Jasper reached him and looked down at his face, which was now mangled, with blood flowing from his nose.
"Do we know each other?" Jasper asked the person, who was violently choking and writhing in pain.
Jasper lifted his left leg and brought down his heel onto the person's ankle, applying pressure slowly with a grinding crunch. Soon the man cried out in pain as his ankle was crushed and his foot started to sink into the ground.
"Do we know each other?" Jasper repeated the question since he hadn't received an answer earlier. The person, who looked to be in his early twenties, had never experienced this level of pain and began to scream and struggle, trying to free his leg.
"No."
However, after much struggle, he couldn't free himself. With his ankle being crushed, he screamed again. Jasper quickly reduced the force he was applying and looked at the person's face, where tears were rolling down.
"Then why are you targeting me?" Jasper asked.
"The dress… I wanted that dress," the person said, his eyes darting toward where Jasper's mother and little sister were standing. Looking closely, Jasper saw Irene was holding the fancy dress the shop owner had wanted to sell. However, they had rejected the offer and walked away—so when did she take that dress?
'Did she grab it during the commotion?' Jasper thought, shaking his head as he walked toward his family.
"Irene, when did you get that dress?" Jasper asked with a small smile on his face.
Irene, who was hugging Jocelyn with her face buried, turned to look at her brother. Then she looked at the dress in her hand. Her expression suddenly changed in confusion.
"I don't know… how did it come into my hand? Sorry, brother!" she said innocently, stretching her hand toward Jasper.
"Haha, don't worry." Jasper took the dress and dropped it on the ground, then started walking away from the scene. If he had known they were fighting over the dress and that his sister had accidentally taken it during the chaos, he would have given it to them without hesitation. There would have been no need for this attack.
Soon the three of them reached the inn and prepared themselves for the journey, which would take another three days to reach Rican City.