21. Check point

"Shit! This is dangerous" He mumbled.

Scott was confused as well as surprised. From his earlier calculations, Amalia's mana had run out, and the potion supply had entirely been used. As far as he knew she only had four mana potions with her, not a single more than the number.

He especially made sure that his companions would not get time to prepare for the battle and lured them into the dungeon earlier than what they had prepared. It went all according to his plan but he did not anticipate that Amalia could go beyond his predictions.

He knew she had only four mana potions and she had used them in an earlier fight then why does she have mana?

'It's not like she recovered in this short amount of period' he wondered as he kept his hand still but it was shaking by the sheer pressure.

Noah joined her side, struck dumb by her move. He was not able to understand how a small amount of mana herbs could be able to generate this much mana.

His eyes broadened at the scene.

Amalia was crying but what shocked him was the tears...her tears which were blood red, and the vein on her fair hand looked red as well as if she was consuming her blood to feed the fire.

"A-Amalia stop! What are you doing?" Noah stuttered.

He had no idea what was going on but he was damn sure Amalia was hurting herself.

He saw the blood at the corner of her lips. He freaked out as she fainted in his arms.

Scott had flown away and seemed to get a lot of damage by her spell but Noah did not bother to look at him at all.

"Amalia" he called out but there was no response.

He looked over to Rex. He was cornered and had injuries around his huge body.

Dan was also bleeding but he refused to back down as if there was no way for him besides keep fighting.

Just as when he was looking at them a hand grabbed his neck from behind, the skin was all burned and the air around it came off rotten. Noah's eyes widened.

He was another bandit who got slammed away with him. He was hurt, his back was burned as well as his side hair, ears, and skin yet he stood behind them as if nothing happened.

"When the fuck did this guy sneaked upon me" Noah wondered but before he could do more his chest got pierced by the bandit's blade.

He dropped to the ground making an effort to stop his bleeding but all his efforts went in vain. He lost consciousness on the spot.

***

[ Ding! The host has been respawned...]

[ Ding! Random quest triggered.]

[ Quest - Survive the slaughter of the Tomb of Acropash.

Reward - 600 exp! ]

[ Character. Skills. Inventory.

- Character

Name - Noah Stone

Level - 3 ( 130 / 2000)

Age -14

Race - Human

Perk point - 0 ]

I grabbed my chest with shaking hands.

The feeling was fresh, a cold blade struck inside my ribs as it burned something inside me. I felt the sharp edges as well as the feeling of my organs getting cut by it. It was all there, I felt it all.

The transparent blue screen in front of me shifted just like my eyelids, following them wherever they were going.

I took sharp breaths, trying to find something to hold on to.

I pressed my hand against the wall as the pain began fading away, slowly but it was impossible to forget the memories and Impossible to ignore them.

I restarted from the checkpoint.

Goddamn, it!

I was taking a breath and trying my best to focus so my mind would get much calmer than it was now, but the more I tried the more things jumped into it.

I have to alert them. I have to make sure that fucker would not succeed in his plans.

I rushed behind them, turning and ducking to follow the path.

They were already near the jaws of the graveyard, a narrow underpass leading to the main location.

"Amalia!" I shouted from my lungs. "Don't go there, it's a trap"

Everyone turned their heads back.

Rex and Amalia looked confused. Scott and the bandit trio went instantly on alert mode, eyes wide and curious to pay attention to my words and behavior.

"That fucker is planning to murder you!" I spoke up glaring at Scott.

His face turned ugly just like before when we were fighting against them.

He planned to take them near the grave of Acropash and then kill them to fulfill the conditions to be the master, right? Then I won't let them get near that location.

Amalia hesitated. "Noah, What a-are you saying? Who's planning to murder us?"

"Yes, Noah, can you tell me who is planning to murder us?" Scott stepped towards me, passing the rest along his way.

I took a step back. "Stay where you are. You psycho, you will not get away with all the killing"

He stopped, his face darkened.

I am going to expose your ass right here and right now.

"You killed your friends and now you are planning to kill us all with the help of those Bandits" I yelled.

"How dare you, you filthy weakling" Rena replied, her voice raised as she glared at me. "On what basis you're accusing Scott?"

I bit my tongue, shoot! That time Scott had already revealed his plans but now he was a nice and great guy. Beast Slayer Scott!

I have no proof to prove my point.

"Maybe there is a misunderstanding," Amalia said, then tugged at me. "Right. Noah tells them-"

"Stop defending him, Amalia. Because of you, he had the guts to accuse a noble person like him. Don't you understand, this guy is planning to ruin everything" Rena interrupted. "You better leave or don't blame me for being rude."

I gritted my teeth. This bitch was not even trying to hide her hatred towards me.

I need to find something to prove it, anything.

"Rena, please stop" Scott gave a silent smile. "Maybe our little friend had misunderstood something, right Noah?"

To his response, I grimaced at him.

He changed his expression yet again, making an effort to be a rational guy.

"I can overlook anything but how can you even say those people are Bandits? What if they did not like what you said and..."

The trio stood right behind him, their faces were heavy as if trying to murder me with their stares.

Scott put his hand on my shoulder.

"One should know the weight of his words."

I slapped his hand away. "one should know the consequence of his actions"

"This brat-" Rena stopped speaking when Scott lifted his hand to signal her.

"What are you trying to pull Noah?"

I laughed sarcastically. "Let me tell you, I want to expose you and I am gonna do it either way"

"And how are you intending to do that?"

"by telling them how you got the title of Beast Slayer." his smug face changed to something of horror. I took steps closer to him matching his gaze.

Everyone stood silent, watching the two of us.

"What's his name...ah Reachy or something? How you killed him right here and stole his belongings and about bribing people to make you Beast Slayer"

The adventurers were startled. Probably thinking how did I know these names and the person Reachy?

"how do you know him?" Rex asked in a serious tone.

Oh boy, I saw that coming but how should I explain them? What should I say?

This was fucking mess.

I remained silent, trying to find a reasonable answer. I should have taken more time to consider my options.

"Didn't you get it? This guy had done a background check on us. He has purposely joined our team and now trying to fuck with us" Scott replied grimly. "am I right? Mr. Noah."

"What?" others exclaimed in shock. So do I, what was he trying to say?

"The meeting at the Smiths shop and the inn. You befriended us and then joined us on the trip, you tried to create misunderstanding between us and these three fellows, and now accusing me of something horrible like that..." he said in a slower tone so everyone could absorb what he was trying to say.

I blinked a few times unsure what he was trying to say but when I realized I froze. He was framing me.

"I knew it, i-It was all your plan? So you could steal everything." Rena stuttered. "But somebody like you will not dare to trick us unless..."

"Unless he has people following us" Scott added.

Everyone summoned their weapons but Rex and Amalia. They were silent and stunned.

Rena pointed her dagger at me. "You will not get away with this"