Danny walked toward Arthur and stopped right in front of him. However, he didn’t immediately do anything physical and instead opened his mouth again.
“You almost ruined that fight, you idiot!” He yelled angrily.
“…” Arthur didn’t reply and simply stared at him silently.
“We could easily handle that. But, your reckless move almost caused us problems!”
“Hey, Danny, stop-” Emmy tried to stop him, but the latter immediately turned to look at her.
“No, he needs to understand that he had messed up big time. Is this really the guy we’re supposed to get help from? If this is what he does in a simple fight like this one, then I don’t want to know what could happen when we come across something worse.”
When Danny saw Arthur’s reckless and direct assault, he was at first shocked, then impressed by what happened. After all, as simple as it looked, his approach was very hard. Not only because it required a lot of strength and agility, but also because he was able to easily deal a deadly blow to the bear in one single attack.
He was certain that if that bear was left alone, it would’ve died a few seconds later. That naturally made him feel even angrier. He felt bitter and salty and he couldn’t hide it.
“Danny, en-” At that moment, Isla tried to stop her friend, but Arthur surprisingly lifted his hand as a signal for her to stop and let him speak.
“Your name is Danny, right? Listen here, Danny. I have no reason to follow your orders or do what you want me to do. If you’re displeased with what I’m doing, then I simply do not care. I have already told your leader that I do things my way and she was fine with that. If you are dissatisfied with it, then I have nothing to say to you. Good luck dealing with it.” Arthur replied coldly.
In reality, Arthur understood where Danny was coming from. He was definitely a little reckless and could’ve caused some trouble for the others. But, if he didn’t approach him with insults and yelling, he would’ve taken it up.
However, the moment Danny started being aggressive, Arthur lost all desire to own up to his mistake.
“What?”
“I said, deal with it. I do not really care. I can easily kill that monster and ten like it if I want. I don’t need your ‘Teamwork’ to do stuff. Until we start understanding each other and start working as a team, refrain from starting these kinds of conversations with me or I will send you back to the village quicker than your eyes could see.” He said as he moved past Danny without looking back.
Stopping in front of Isla, he said. “Now that I saw how you guys work, I must say that you are very impressive. I can definitely work with you. We could find a middle ground where our styles can merge well. My apologies for doing that.” He said. He knew that saying this right after what he said to Danny was like adding salt to the injury, but that was his intention.
“It is fine. I expected that. Still, that was very impressive. The bear would’ve died from that hit.” She replied.
“Haha, it’s really nothing. I still have a lot to learn.” Arthur laughed awkwardly as he turned to Herculia and Emmy. “I hope I didn’t put you two in too much of a difficult situation, did I?”
“Hm, oh, it’s all good, my brother. That actually made it easier to tackle that monster and keep it pinned down.” Herculia replied.
“I was already anticipating the spikes so no problem on my side either.” Emmy shook her head.
“Ok, good. Well, you can take the remains of the monster, I will just…” Arthur looked at the blood eater notification and frowned. ‘Should I use Blood Eater here or would that be stupid? Hmm, this shouldn’t be a problem. It’s not like this is an offensive ability or anything.’
Although keeping his cards a secret was optimal, he knew that wouldn’t be worth it in the long run. If he came across strong monsters on their journey, not absorbing extra points from them would be a huge waste and an accumulation of that would hinder his growth.
‘Better they know than to lose on many points.’ He mused and tapped on the button. Immediately, all the blood inside the monster flew out toward him.
“Huh?!”
Naturally, he heard gasps of shock from the others as they watched him absorb all the blood. When the process finished, he exhaled a long breath.
“…”
Silence took over the entire place as they all stared at Arthur as if he were some kind of alien.
“What… was that?” Herculia pointed up with a stunned look.
“One of my abilities. I can absorb the blood of dead enemies to get extra stat points.”
“… An ability like that exists?” Emmy blurted out. “That sounds ridiculous.”
“Well, if I’m using it right in front of you, then I’m pretty sure it does exist.” Arthur shrugged.
“No, I mean… This sounds stupid…” Emmy felt even more shocked when she thought about it. ‘An ability like that would be a huge advantage. Each kill would be more beneficial to him than anyone else. I have never heard of anyone else owning such an ability. But… If that’s the case, then it makes sense why he is growing so fast.’
“Fuck…” Meanwhile, Danny grumbled under his breath.
Isla was the least surprised from what she saw as that was what she expected from the best player in the world. It was only a glimpse of his true power and what he had hidden was perhaps far more terrifying, but she could already see how monstrously strong he was.
‘I need to make him my ally… No matter what.’
She didn’t want to miss out on such a talent now that she had seen it with her own eyes. Arthur was very special and that was apparent.
‘I need to get him before the wrong eyes fall on him. That will happen sooner or later.’ Her eyes flashed with a cold glint for a split second.
Even when Arthur was still unknown to people, his identity was bound to be revealed and it was a matter of time. So, Isla was going to take advantage of it the most.
‘Even though he doesn’t seem to be interested now… That might change soon. No, I will make sure it changes.’
As she was having such thoughts, Arthur was completely oblivious to it as he turned away. “Well, I think we should continue guys, we don’t have the entire day to idle around.”
“You heard him, let’s go. I will take the bear’s corpse with me.” Herculia said as he clapped loudly.
His words snapped them out of it and made them mount their horses again. Then, they quickly resumed moving as if nothing happened.
However, this small fight, as easy as it was, had changed a lot in the group, and the center of that change was Arthur. Although they already saw him in a different light, they were only realizing how weird he was with each passing moment they spent together.
Some found that very positive, and one particular person didn’t like it at all.
Unbeknownst to all of them, the journey will soon change everything. From their own thoughts to their very own destiny.
A//N: Don’t forget to give the book some golden tickets for good luck! :3
