Chapter 45
Slave Contract (4)
Worden Yord had wanted a thrilling life. He had always felt an emptiness in his chest, and he enjoyed the exhilaration that ca in dangerous situations.
The incurable disease he had been born with constantly tornted him. A bizarre illness that gradually made his body grow colder.
Because of that, he had learned alchemy, but there had been no significant progress. Not wanting to die, he tried to overco it by moving his body actively and by relying on the exhilaration he felt in dangerous situations.
And now, he was facing the current situation.
“Kyahaha!”
When had he first t that person?
The one who had appeared draped in black flas like a skirt. A bizarre presence that reduced fear to nothing. Strange tattoos covered his entire body, electricity flowing through them, and over it all he wore an animal skull pulled down as if to hide his face.
What Worden felt was death. Like gravity, it pulled everything around it inward and forced it to stand on the sa plane as itself.
In that mont, Worden had felt a danger unlike any other in his life. The overwhelming sensation that had surged up then was impossible to describe in words.
“Wow. Incredibly? Fast.”
A being that seed like the embodint of death. And yet, it had neatly saved the first-year students.
His heart tingled. He was curious. What kind of danger would that person show? He had thought about picking a fight once, but it had felt like he would truly die, so he gave up.
Worden enjoyed the thrill within danger, but he did not wish for death. While he had been hesitating like that, an opportunity had co today.
“It was a? Thrilling gaze.”
Thinking it might help sohow, he had taken a combat departnt class. Honestly, it had felt like a waste of ti. The knowledge they taught was nothing more than what he had already learned from his hunter father.
He had been shuffling along, wondering if he should grab so water, and was heading toward the lounge when a sudden rush of exhilaration welled up.
A bizarre vibration ringing in his chest. A danger that sounded an alarm rely by looking at it. Worden felt his chest fill with overwhelming excitent.
When he turned his head, the death he had briefly captured in his sight back then was looking at him. Worden felt the greatest thrill of his life.
“Stop right there!”
“Hahaha!”
And he ran. In his twenty years of life, he had never felt sothing so dangerous.
As he usually did, Worden entrusted himself to the joy. His unusually danger-sensitive instincts warned him to be cautious of that guy.
So he ran away. Thanks to the agility he had inherited from his hunter father, despite the headlong montum chasing him down, the gap did not easily close.
“Behind you! There’s sothing big!”
He thought stamina would not be a problem either. The solid training he had received as a hunter in the harsh environnt of the mountains. He was confident in both speed and endurance.
At every mont, a tingling thrill surged over him. From the one chasing him, the speed did not decrease.
“Feels? The besttt!”
“Stop! You bastard! Let’s talk for a second!”
“Ahahak!”
He ran like a predator chasing fleeing prey. I could feel the intent to harm. If he got caught, he would die. That fact excited Worden.
The one chasing him simply said he wanted to talk. But with a slight glance over his shoulder, it was clear that was not the truth.
The bizarre yearning shimring in his eyes and the mouth stretched as if it would tear apart. If that thing was called a smile, then warmth no longer existed in this world.
It was surely the face of sadism. It was obvious that if he were caught, it would not end well for him.
“Uh?”
As he sprinted across the field like that, his instincts reacted. What they reacted to was a point 10 ters ahead. Startled, Worden hurriedly twisted his body.
“You dodged this?”
Without fail, sothing flew toward the spot his instincts had reacted to. What appeared with a picture-perfect landing was the woman who had been with that man.
A beautiful woman whose purple ponytail trailed behind her like a streak. Soloven, who bore the famous title of top student in the second year, wore a surprised expression.
“What a specin.”
Exhausted from the pointless running, Soloven had asked Davide to launch her. More precisely, she had told him that she would jump, so he should push her with all his strength.
Davide faithfully carried it out. He pressed his palm against Soloven’s lightly lifted foot. The strength he had drawn up to the fullest through his Adaptive Body propelled Soloven forward at high speed.
It was a truly unexpected surprise attack. The speed was so fast that she thought he would surely be caught, but the brown-haired first-year Davide had been chasing changed his direction of advance.
Even without any sign, he sensed it like a ghost and altered his course. And so, a scuffle using the field as its domain began.
“You dodge well?”
“If I stop? Will you go easy on !”
“No!”
Worden was fast. At the sa ti, he was cunning. No matter how he knew, he saw through everything. Whenever they moved as if setting a trap, he imdiately caught on and slipped out of the encirclent.
At those movents, Soloven was genuinely astonished. His survival instinct alone was remarkable.
It would be more beneficial for him to simply surrender and be caught. Instead, with evasive maneuvers close to divine skill, he was provoking Davide.
Thanks to that, Davide’s face gradually began to burn. What had risen like anger soon transford into a competitive spirit, like ‘Fine, let’s see how far this goes!’
“Don’t kill him!”
“Uwaaaak!”
Bereninche shouted, worried that he might use electricity. Davide’s current inflicted chilling damage.
An unpleasant sensation that scraped against the nerves. A violent nature that burned the inside in an instant. It was a terrifying attack that resembled its master.
If a first-year, especially an alchemist whose durability was not particularly high, were to take that head-on, it would not end nicely.
The one startled by Soloven’s words was, of course, Worden. Lightning. What a beautiful resonance. It would be incredibly dangerous, wouldn’t it?
Worden ran with excitent, and Davide followed as if he were enjoying it as well. It looked like a cat chasing a fleeing mouse.
Of course, the mouse was a madman who was laughing cheerfully even though he might die.
“Hey. Is it about over?”
Thanks to his absurdly sharp instincts, long-range attacks were useless. Unless it was the covert strike of a top-tier assassin, everything was neutralized by his exceptional danger-detection sensor.
It would be resolved if they closed the distance. The difference in their physical specs was simply too great. His agility had increased from Adrenaline, but his stamina remained the sa. In the end, he would be caught.
They could use a wide-area attack that could not be avoided by instinct, but that would truly kill him. That was why they were competing with stamina instead.
Watching Worden’s speed gradually decrease, Davide jeered.
“Ah, that rascal. He’s quite nimble.”
In the end, Davide, who showed no sign of tiring, snatched Worden. Compared to how desperately he had run, Worden was caught rather easily once his strength gave out.
Davide grabbed the back of Worden’s neck roughly and steadied his breathing. Soloven, who at so point had stopped in the center and rely followed with her eyes, finally approached.
“Was there really a need to find him like this?”
“There wasn’t originally, but since he ran, I got stubborn about it?”
“…Live with a normal way of thinking.”
Soloven continued to scold him. Davide looked wronged. Wouldn’t it have been fine if he hadn’t run? Did we co here to kill him?
At his casual retort, Soloven shook her head. A severe case that was not even self-aware. This was close to an incurable disease.
Turning her attention away from Davide, Soloven examined the first-year dangling from his hand.
“Hmm.”
He clearly looked exhausted, but that was all. Her first impression was that he was a strangely sharp one. And an ambiguous one.
It bothered her that he was smiling as if he were ecstatic. She could not understand how he could wear such a happy expression in this situation.
Her sharp eyes quickly scanned Worden. His level of training was not bad, but it was the kind commonly seen in this academy.
He did manage to slip away impressively, but she could not understand why Davide would go through this much trouble to recruit him.
“Ah. I’m tired. I originally planned to explain step by step and persuade you, but since it’s co to this, I’ll drag you along out of spite if I have to.”
“Really? I had fun.”
Despite the chilling words, Worden spoke in his slow manner and offered his thanks readily. Like a squirrel caught in a wolf’s jaws, he smiled brightly.
The companion system in the ga basically started with building favorability. However, the character Davide held negative favorability with 99% of the academy.
Rather than trying to make up for that, it was far more economical to recruit soone who could join regardless of favorability. Davide wanted soone he could use as imdiate combat power.
“I’ll ask just in case. Do you have a slingshot?”
“Huh? Yes. It’s a family heirloom. I always? Carry it with .”
Worden took the slingshot out from his chest. It was a slingshot with a black Y-shaped fra and ivory-colored rubber bands.
That was an item of Relic grade. Unlike its unimpressive appearance, it was a terrifying thing.
“You have to join our Order. Got it? Making go through all that trouble. I should at least be compensated for it.”
Soloven could not understand Davide. He had just recruited an alchemist who had only recently entered the academy. No matter how little she knew about religion, she did not think he was truly a talent the Order desperately needed.
Considering Davide’s cool-headedness and calculating nature, he surely had sothing in mind, but Soloven was skeptical about this situation.
“Then? Will you play with again?”
“No. I’m tired. I have no intention of indulging your twisted pleasure.”
Worden looked crestfallen. He regretted that he would not be able to feel that trendous thrill he had never experienced before in his life again.
“You want thrills?”
“Yes!”
“Then I can provide them.”
At Davide’s question, Worden perked up instantly. It was the words of ‘the greatest danger of his life.’ He began to expect that he would be able to enjoy a thrill on that level again.
That was why he reacted so eagerly. Seeing Worden’s lively face, Davide smirked.
“By any chance, do you know about the ‘Giant of the Ola Desert’?”
“Huh?”
“Wait. Davide.”
Sensing instinctively that things were turning strange, Soloven stopped Davide.
In the desert, there was a minor legend passed down. The legend of a guardian who protected the bloodline of the Alchemy Kingdom. That was the ‘Giant of the Ola Desert’ Davide had just ntioned.
“Don’t say strange things. This guy is a first-year at the academy.”
“The ‘Giant of the Ola Desert’ is a legend from that region. A legendary monster. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
Soloven realized that Davide was trying to take Worden sowhere dangerous. And she also knew that Worden would definitely accept it.
Despite Soloven’s dissuasion, Davide continued speaking. Sighing as if she had a headache, Soloven let go of Davide’s shoulder.
“I’m going to hunt it. It’ll definitely be extrely dangerous. So? Want to co along?”
“Yes!”
Worden nodded without hesitation. A legendary monster. Just hearing the words made his heart race. Growing inexplicably irritated, Soloven clicked her tongue roughly.
“What do you think?”
“About what.”
“That guy.”
Davide nudged Soloven and asked. Soloven looked at Worden. Then she shook her head.
“Honestly. I don’t think he’s soone worth going this far for.”
“Well, that’s how he looks to your eyes. Besides, he’s an alchemist.”
Davide nodded at Soloven’s opinion. Judging purely by appearance and stats, he was just an average nobody.
“But do you know what his nickna is?”
“Who knows.”
“Crusher.”
Davide snickered. In the very next episode, Episode 3, Worden would display remarkable performance.
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