Ch 36: Hope is faint [pt1]

The group slowly walked down the empty halfway before Ashura slammed the door open. Mahiru was sleeping inside the room and breathed a sigh of relief as soon as he saw her unharmed.

He picked her up and walked out of the room. But the footsteps of the soldiers were coming close to them by the second and the undead would discover them soon.

“This is not good. At this rate, we might not be able to get out of here. We need someone to distract these soldiers while the rest of us run away.”

Baron Luke made this suggestion based on their current situation. He could be smart at times when he wanted to be.

But even then, the big question remained - how would be the distraction? It had to be one of their groups and someone fast and agile enough not to be caught outright. It left only one option in his mind.

“Kurina, go out and distract these guards. You are the only one useless enough to throw away.”

Baron Luke could have thrown Ashura out but he was a male slave and far more capable of things than Kurina was. Besides, Ashura also had Mahiru so that were two slaves Baron Luke could use in the future.

And when it came to speed and flexibility, Kurina was better than Ashura. So, she was the perfect bait for him to use.

“I… you cannot be serious. You are willingly throwing me into trouble so that you all can escape? How is that fair or even a good idea? These people will just follow you as well. There are too many of them.”

Kurina pointed out the logical situation but Baron Luke had made up his mind already.

“That does not matter. You only need to distract 50, not even 20% of these people and we will escape somehow. This is what you can do for me, Kurina.”

Baron Luke commanded and Kurina tried to resist his order. But the deal on her body had a will of its own and it did not allow Kurina to exercise her free will. She was bound to do what the Baron wanted her to do.

Kurina had no choice but to go out and risk her life. But before she went out, she had another person she wanted to ask something from.

“Ashura, are you not going to say anything to me? This might be the last time we ever meet each other.”

Kurina looked at her crush with hope in her eyes. She did not want him to tell Kurina that he liked her back, but something positive would make her feel a lot better.

But her hopes were dashed and her hope died out the more Ashura remained silent. Ultimately, he even turned his head away from her and looked away.

“Kurina, thank you for doing this. Because of your sacrifice, all of us will be able to get out of here safely. I will never forget what you have done for me and Mahiru now.”

Ashura dared to give a gratitude-filled bow to Kurina. It did not solve anything for her and she even let out a laugh filled with disbelief at his audacity.

‘T-This guy! Why did I ever like him in the first place? He never even cared about me for a second and he only wanted to play with me and make use of me. Man, I am such a pathetic person for falling for his trick.’

Kurina felt the affection and love in her heart die out. It was not fully gone, but Kurina doubted things would ever be the same for her.

“Kurina, hurry up and distract them. We do not have the whole day for you to be messing around.”

Baron Luke commanded and Kurina forced herself to her feet. There was no longer a point in dragging things around.

She was going to die but she would not die uselessly. She would survive and get her revenge. She would make everyone who forced her into her current situation pay in the future.

Kurina walked out of the hiding spot and the people of the town turned their attention toward her. But Kurina was beyond caring. She had abandoned any hope of living a simple life.

[You have met the conditions to trigger the event - shadow amidst one. You have gained the attention of the god of destruction. Kindly die once to receive his blessing.]

That was the announcement of the system but Kurina ignored it. She had no intention of dying. She was going to survive and she was going to flourish. She will have a good life and…

‘Huh? Did I get stabbed? This is not fair…’

Kurina looked down at her chest where a spear was poking out of her chest. It hurt a lot and Kurina felt her life slipping out of her body.

‘Not like this. I refuse to go down like this.’

[Congratulations. You have met the trigger conditions for the blessing of destruction. Your life will be restored by 45% and the damage dealt by you and your enemies will be increased by X5 when you are under 50% health of half an hour for you and five minutes for your allies. Can be activated every 30 minutes if you meet the requirement]

This meant nothing to Kurina. She only knew that she felt powerful right now and she was tearing apart her enemies. She felt invincible at that moment but her energy was being depleted faster and faster by the minute.

……………………….

Despite Alex’s wishes, no one came to help him out. But life was far from ideal and you could not expect someone to come and bail you out of tough times all the time.

So, Alex had to adapt and improvise during the fight.

Despite his magic helping him out, Alex found it hard to keep up with King Saar. There were years of difference between their skill-set and Alex was being cornered by the other pretty much the whole time.

“You are no match for me and then you went ahead and made me angry as well. Do you think it was a wise decision?”

King Saar asked as his spear nicked Alex’s side. His aura sword shattered at the impact of King Saar’s spear.

“Wise decision? Of course not. But life cannot be lived if you only make wise decisions. You sometimes need to take risks as well.”

Alex replied as he signed the speak strike. It had been a close call but he was still alive. King Saar did not stop his rhythm and he continued to attack. The blunt end of his spear hit Alex in the stomach and Alex coughed.

‘Ara, you need so much help from me still. Well, if you can meet the trigger conditions for my quest, you can gain a solid boost. Would you like to try?’

The goddess asked inside Alex’s head and he felt hope bud in his heart.

‘Hey, if you have something like that, then you should tell me outright. Hurry up and help me out.’

Alex yelled inside his head as he felt the attack speed of Kind Saar increase. The undead king was not even getting tired even after all the energy he had spent.

‘Fine, I understand. Now, here is a gift from me to you. I had to pull some strings to get this so don’t you dare die on me now.’

The goddess replied before Alex felt her presence disappear from his mind. Instead, his vision showed a screen with very bold text on it.

[You have qualified for the quest - the undying will. Would you like to proceed?]

Alex had no idea what that text on the screen meant. But he was willing to gamble anything at that moment. That was how desperate he had become to live.

‘I accept. Now hurry up and tell me what I must do.’

[Unapparelled skills can only come from unparallel opponents. To gain the skills, last against your opponent for five minutes. The more difference in skill you and your opponent have, the longer this time. Once you complete this quest, the skill will become a permanent addition to your skill set.]

Alex was thankful for this skill but he could not help but feel annoyed by the timing. It felt as if he had been fighting against King Saar for ages now. This skill would have been so useful a few minutes back.

But Alex did not get to think much since he was being attacked once more by King Saar’s spear. The timer on his skill had activated and Alex only had to survive for five minutes.

How hard could it be to survive for five more minutes?

“You are foolish if you think I will allow you to pull some kind of trick against me. I might not be able to use Plutus’s magic but that does not mean I do not have any of my own. After all, I chose my class as a magician at the start.”

Kind Saar’s whole being glowed before his skin began to break. Light shined all over his body and he seemed to be changing forms.

Suddenly, all hope Alex had started to disappear from his eyes as he watched King Saar’s power increase twofold.