Luring Out

"For fighting on the other side, I mean, Hidden Haven, you need strength or you will die. Today, I will be teaching you…" Rektus began his lesson.

He didn't teach them many things other than basic moves, such as swinging, thrusting, and such, so Theo felt a bit disappointed.

At the same time, there was another thing that amused him.

Two people were glaring at him during the class. Those two were none other than the couple, Eric and Shella.

Theo ignored them in contempt, completed the training, and slipped from the class as soon as it finished. He changed back to his uniform and quickly left the school.

"…" Theo furrowed his eyebrows when he kept sensing two people not far from him. "The couple? Are they tailing me? It must be Laust's instruction. Since Laust is not here, they will only be watching me… I have a thing to settle with them, so should I lure them out?"

After considering a few things, his lips curved as he got a nice plan for this.

He glanced at his side, finding a junction not far from him.

As if he didn't notice them, Theo turned left.

"!!!" The two suddenly felt something was wrong. Theo's apartment shouldn't be that way.

"Did he realize?" Eric muttered while running as fast as possible to check the junction.

Luckily, Theo was still there, walking nonchalantly.

Eric and Shella let out a sigh of relief and kept following him.

Little did they know, another person also tailed them. And he turned out to be the same Theo as the one walking in front.

With that single turn, Theo used his clone to replace him while he hid in another corner. In other words, what they followed was his clone.

After another junction, the clone turned right, disappearing from their sight again.

These two decided to take their time since Theo hadn't noticed them yet, but it became their mistake as the real Theo had undone his own clone as he walked in the opposite direction of those two while smiling. "Fools."

"Public holiday is in two days. I should lure them out and…Hehe." He couldn't contain his smile, believing that this problem would be solved within two days.

As soon as he reached his room, he changed his uniform to normal clothes and remembered the shield that Sihan had.

"To have a shield that can be retracted like that is really a convenient thing. It's the only thing that can bypass the rule of the school. I will buy one when I get richer." He let out a sigh. Although he was jealous of such a thing and wanted one for his spear, he turned that jealousy into determination.

"Anyway, I've learned a lot in that battle against Laust. No wonder he is a scion of a big family…" Theo grabbed his spear and thought something innovative. He was on edge this whole time, so he didn't think of it earlier.

It turned out that he missed an opportunity to train himself yesterday.

He summoned his clone and had him grab the sword he bought two days ago.

Theo controlled the clone to swing his sword a few times.

The swings completely followed what he instructed. In fact, it was like multitasking.

When he fought against the turtle or fooled the couple, it didn't require full control since all it took was a simple movement like walking or running straight.

However, Theo realized that he could use the clone in a fight and made his enemy feel like taking two Theos at the same time.

"Besides, I can also train myself with this. It may follow my will, but I can use him to get used to a technique or increase my sword mastery. Even if it weren't like a real fight, I would have grown accustomed to swinging and thrusting the sword." Theo smiled.

"Still, I can't really feel anything with my clone, so I should be the one using a sword." He exchanged the weapon with his clone and held the sword.

Unlike his spear, he felt that the center of gravity was somewhere else, considering that he wielded the sword with one hand while the spear with two hands.

He looked up a few free basic swordsmanship books to get used to the basic form like swinging, thrusting, or even standing still, AKA stances.

The clone raised the spear, pointing it at Theo. The latter retreated one step back before swinging the sword once.

He felt the strain when he tried to stop the sword.

The sword's weight was slightly heavier than the spear and he needed to wield it with one hand, so it was normal for Theo to have difficulty at first.

"This will take a while…" He muttered, but on his face blossomed a smile.

Theo's sword training began. The clicking sounds kept coming out of his room, and the other tenants started knocking on his door because they were getting bothered by it.

After two hours of constant complaints, Theo sighed. "It seems I really need to get another place where I can train without interruption. I can use a park or something, but I don't want to let someone see my skill. I should try to get some money for a better place either on the public holiday or on the weekend…"

He used his pillow as a punching bag instead. Only the body of the sword hit the pillow so that the blade wouldn't damage it.

After that, he rested his body and prepared to start his plan tomorrow.

When he came to the school, Eric and Shella came to him.

They furrowed their eyebrows with a bit of hesitation that even Theo could see in their gaze.

"Theo, do you have any plans for the public holiday?" Shella's tone was calm to ensure that Theo never noticed their intention. After all, it would become a disaster if she let Eric do all this.

"Yes. I am going to the other side again to hunt some monsters. As you know, I can't afford my rent this month if I don't go there." He sighed. 

"Really?" Shella put a smile on her face and grabbed Theo's hand. "Can I join you again? I want to repay you for what I have done. Please, let me prove it to you."

In her heart, all this was just her plan. She never had the intention to join Theo's party. Her aim was to ascertain whether yesterday, Theo realized the ones following him were them or not.

"As much as I want to… I think I will go by myself this time." Theo looked down with a pained look as if he hadn't recovered from what happened last week.

"Is that so? Such a shame. But I won't give up. I will surely obtain your forgiveness and trust again."

"I'm sorry…" Theo had a guilty expression, feeling bad that he couldn't do it with them.

"It's fine, it's fine. Time will allow your wounded heart to recover. At that time, I will surely make it up for you." Shella gently assured Theo.

Theo forced a smile and nodded. "Yes. I will surely be fine after a while."

"Then, we will be waiting for your invitation next time."

Shella and Eric then left him alone after getting their objective. Since Laust ordered them to observe Theo while he was away and get rid of him if possible, they were kind of desperate to kill Theo because of the implication they received just by him staying alive.

This was the best chance to make up for their mistake last time.

Even though Theo managed to fight Laust on equal ground, they thought he was lucky and fought him without skill.

Knowing that he only had one skill, Pierce, they should be able to trap him by using another monster before killing him from behind.

Unknowingly, Theo had been setting layers of traps to lure them out of this world. This way, he should be able to kill them on the other side without anyone knowing.

He just made a little smile, not wanting to be confident that everything would go according to his way.

'Anyway, I will need to get used to my sword first. It will increase my chance of success.' He smiled and rose from his seat to go home.

…

The next day, Theo woke up in the morning and prepared himself for the big day. He reached the sword and hung it on his waist before grabbing his spear.

His prediction was that the two would follow him silently on the other side. Even if he brought the sword, they would only think that it was a secondary weapon for backup.

After checking one more time, he smirked and opened his apartment door, heading straight toward the other side, which people called Hidden Haven.

"Yep. Everything is ready now. It's time to lure the rabbits out of their hole…"