Tasting Own Poison

"Huft…Huft…" Theo panted hard.

In front of him stood a black bear, preparing to charge at him.

Eric and Shella were hiding behind the tree, watching Theo's fight that was about to come to an end.

However, unknown to the two of them, there was another person watching their movements. It was the real Theo.

His full concentration was occupied by his clone when it began fighting the bear. He thought to himself, 'It's tough to control the clone in a full fight like this, but this battle taught me a lot. The couple is also ready to attack. I should end this battle as soon as possible.'

The bear had four finger-size holes in its body that came from his spear—Two on its right arm and two on the stomach. Red blood flowed out continuously from the four holes, weakening the bear and slowing it down.

The bear now on all four charged at him recklessly. Not scared of the challenge, Clone Theo jumped forward, closing his distance with the bear.

When they were a few feet away, the bear stood up and swiped with its right paw.

The strength of that paw would surely break a few ribs, so he had been avoiding it this whole time. And this time was no different. He hit the ground with his spear's butt, stopping his momentum.

With that sudden stop, the bear's swipe, which was supposed to hit him, missed the target and threw its balance.

The moment he saw that chance, Theo pierced the bear's head like how he did it against the lion.

Unlike the lion though, the bear couldn't even look at Theo on its dying breath before it collapsed to the ground.

[Killed a Black Bear (Normal)]

[EXP+43]

The spear's butt hit the ground and became his support to stand. He panted a few times before trying to take the water bottle from his bag.

Suddenly, two figures ran toward him.

Theo widened his eyes and saw Eric unsheathing his sword. Shella also came closer with her wooden wand.

"You are dead! No, you should have died last time and we wouldn't need to suffer!" Eric shouted in anger. He still remembered how Laust beat them up after suffering in Theo's hand.

All of it wouldn't happen if Theo died, so he hated Theo to the bone.

"A trash like you has no right to live!" Eric pulled his sword. The moment he reached Theo, he would sever that head. "You—"

Before he said more useless things, Theo had thrown his spear toward Eric, forcing him to stumble. Shella also stopped since Theo had a sword and raised her hand.

"Fireball."

A round blue shaped fire appeared above her head, spreading the heat to its surroundings.

However, she suddenly sensed another presence beside them. Someone was coming from behind their back.

"What?" Glancing behind her, Shella found another Theo running toward them with his spear. "Theo?!"

Eric was shocked by that shout, took a glance behind him, and received the same shock of his life as Shella.

This was a perfect chance that Theo could use at this moment.

Clone Theo pulled out the sword from its scabbard and jumped toward Eric. Meanwhile, the real him thrust his spear toward Shella.

"Dodge!" Eric shouted while dodging the cleave of clone Theo's sword.

Shella's magic disappeared so that she could dodge to the side, albeit this was Theo's true goal.

He positioned himself perfectly so when Shella avoided him, he would be able to reach Eric in one go.

With Eric losing his balance, Theo struck with his spear.

To his surprise, Eric managed to move his body even a bit as soon as he reached the ground, forcing Theo to miss his original's aim, the heart.

"Argh!" A scream echoed loudly inside of the forest. Although the spear didn't pierce Eric's heart directly, it still hit the left side of his heart, which was too painful to bear for an ordinary high school boy.

His clone quickly waved the sword down to kill Eric, but he felt the heat from his side.

"Fireball!"

The clone glanced at Shella and jumped backward as the fireball passed them, hitting the tree not far from them and causing a small explosion.

Had it hit him, It might not have killed him, but he would have been severely injured.

Theo sent his clown to distract Shella while he dealt with Eric. Obviously, Shella decided to send her magic to Theo's clown instead of Eric, even though she could possibly save Eric and then fight together against these two Theos. Back then, sacrificing Theo wasn't planned, but it could describe Shella's true nature. Yes, she was that selfish.

Meanwhile, Eric grabbed his sword and swung it. Theo kicked his hand and pinned it on the ground with his foot.

"I am sorry, but your strength is not higher than mine anymore. I leveled up a few times thanks to the turtle after all." He smiled. Without wasting his breath, he stabbed Eric's heart and killed him in one single blow. 

Without Eric, Shella shouldn't be able to do anything. Theo and his clone came from two opposite directions to confuse her.

"Fireball." She sent another fireball to the real Theo, but he managed to avoid it.

His clone swiped his sword.

"!!!" She instinctively leaped back when she ascertained that the sword was aiming at her neck, albeit they were in the forest. Surrounded by trees, she found her back touching one.

Theo maintained his aim and swung his sword, but Shella managed to escape to the side, resulting in his sword hitting the tree behind her instead. The splinters flew towards her and pricked her skin, but it was better than having her head fly.

Unfortunately, the real Theo was coming from that direction and punched her on the cheek, sending her back to his clone.

Shella had no escape route anymore as she moved back, only to find her back hitting the tree.

The real Theo pointed his spear at her neck while his clone placed his hand on the tree and was ready to slash her at any moment.

"Wait, wait, wait! Please don't kill me. I was forced by Laust and Eric here. If not, they would rape me." Shella panicked and began begging for her life.

"And?" Theo's eyes remained cold.

"It's true. I didn't lie to you this time. They would have raped me had I not joined hands with them. I can do anything you want as long as you spare my life. I can be your girlfriend…"

With this explanation, Theo's eyes gradually became warmer as everything went according to his plan.

"You…Were really going through all those?" Theo asked as if he became hesitant at her sob story.

Shella's eyes brightened when she heard those words as if a ray of hope just fell upon her. She repeatedly nodded and explained. "I never wanted to hurt you. In fact, I have liked you for a long time, but Laust and Eric found out and forced me with Eric."

"You…" Theo's face was filled with doubts.

Shella thought she would be able to escape this situation with one more push. She placed her hands on Theo's hands and smiled seductively. "Yes. How about I prove it to you right now?"

Theo closed his eyes for a second and retracted his clone. "Whatever…"

He looked away with a tinge red on his face. He took a few steps back and walked away while saying, "I don't care anymore."

Shella made a sinister smile. As soon as Theo showed her back to her, she created another fireball. With this distance and timing, Theo shouldn't be able to dodge this attack. And since Eric died in this mission, the money would obviously become hers alone.

"Fireball." Shella summoned her fireball again while shouting. "Haha. All men are foolish. And you? You are a freaking simp. You disgust me! Die!"

On the contrary, Theo glanced back with a smile, paying no attention to the fireball above her head. "Die? I am not the one who is going to die. It's you. After all, I am not a simp."

"What did you say? I will kill—" When she was about to finish her words, she heard something from her right.

Creak.

The sound became more and more apparent. Bothered with that sound, she glanced over to her right and found out that the sound turned out to be the sound of the wood cracking.

"Wha—"

Bam.

The tree fell on top of her and pinned her down on the ground. Her fireball disappeared and her head started bleeding. A few ribs were broken with the tree's crushing weight alone.

It turned out that Theo's swing from earlier had chopped away a huge portion of the trunk, enough to cause the tree to collapse. The reason it hadn't collapsed until now was due to his clone supporting it with his weight.

However, Theo already predicted that Shella would once again betray his trust, so he decided to dismiss his clone and hurriedly went outside the falling tree's direction. And as he said, she would be the one dying.

"Argh…" Her shrill echoed in the forest, but no one came to her aid. Although Theo aimlessly wandered around, he knew that this place had little to no visitors, so there was less possibility that someone would come to their aid. This was the accumulation of experience he had every time he went to this Haven.

"Ah, I indeed won't kill you because the tree will be the one to kill you." Theo made a sinister smile. "You are even more dangerous than Eric since no one knows whether you are spouting a lie or not. If I were forced to spare one life, I would choose Eric since he was easier to manipulate."

Knowing that she would die in one or two minutes because of the bleeding if she weren't treated, Shella looked at Theo and raised her hand, trying to reach him.

"Help me… I was wrong."

However, Theo turned blind eyes and checked his surroundings to make sure that no one was watching while saying, "I wasn't wrong either, but you tried to kill me. If you didn't even want to help me, why should I help you? Having been deceived by who knows how many people with that poisonous tongue of yours, what does it feel like when you are the one dying by the same poison?"