Chapter 299
Primal (V)
There was one unquestioned, universal truth within the Primal World--people did not enjoy fighting here. Rather, most of the time, they did everything in their power to avoid fighting. The reason was simple--they’d either burn time or wealth to restore themselves back to their peaks. And within the world where a single mistake would undoubtedly result in death, people needed to be at their peaks all the time.
As such, the moment the seven realized there’d be no escaping the fight, they knew their goal--try to drain the man of all his Mana as he likely wasn’t aware of the state of the world if he’s a newcomer, and wait out until the help arrives. They still had to be careful, however--many eyes were watching, and if they themselves ran out of Mana, they’d either have to burn through the beyond precious Mana Potions or become sitting ducks in the world that ate sitting ducks for breakfast.
This wasn’t their first group fight, a fact evident by how quickly they got into formation--two tanks at the front, a support and the range damage dealers at the back, with the remaining two scattering at the flanks, surrounding the man. The latter, however, seemed beyond unperturbed, curiously inspecting them. Though they were aware he was stronger than them, being looked at so indifferently still stung horribly.
Flashing forward, the two tanks tried to distract the man while the two flankers closed in, but, to their abhorrent shock, the man completely ignored the tanks and instead fused four balls of fire into two beams. Spreading out his arms and opening his palms, he precisely aimed it at the speedy flankers; before anyone could even see what happened, arrays of light as thing as a fingernail pierced forward for miles on end. In their path, two corpses stood afloat for a moment before the gravity took over and carried them to the ground.
The tanks’ attacks landed right about then, pushing the man some twenty feet back, seeming entirely unhurt. Casually dusting himself off, he looked at them and smiled, his fingers curling up into fists.
“RUN!” nobody was quite sure who was the first to say it and sprint out, but that was all others needed--without looking back, they bolted as quickly as their Mana would carry them. Using upwards of thousands in a single bout, they knew that unless they escaped, they would die. They’d absolutely die. That man... he wasn’t someone who belonged here.
Cain didn’t chase. In part it was because he really couldn’t be bothered, but also because there was no reason. It wasn’t as though he had any enmity with the group, and his previous display was more than enough to act as a deterrent. He purposefully went a bit over-the-top and flamboyant for the effect, and the effect was achieved. As soon as the five ran off, there was a major lull across the entire settlement.
Looking down, Cain realized that was his first time actually inspecting the place. From above it looked like a hexagon, wooden walls the solitary defense. There were no watchtowers or moats or anything of the kind. Reflecting the walls, most of the buildings were also wooden, built with seemingly no rhyme or reason, scattered about everywhere at random. The one that stood out was roughly centered and was built out of stone and, as such, Cain went to pick up Xalt and others before heading toward it.
The insides of the two-story stone building were quite simple, with only a few decorations lining the walls outside the bedrooms which were slightly more lavish. As Cain had no intention of staying, he just told the others to scatter about and ‘claim’ the rooms while he went to the roof, popping open a beer and depressingly sensing the low rate of Mana restoration. He didn’t spend much--barely 10% of his enormous reserves--but that only meant that he’d wait that much longer to get back to 100%.
He understood very well what the seven had intended to do during the fight, which was why he went all out at the start. There was no point in tangling with them since he had to keep his reserves high as there was one more battle he’d have to fight quite soon. Though he was fairly confident whoever was coming won’t be a threat, carelessness wasn’t something Cain was used to--not before, and certainly not now.
“Hoh?” after staying silent for days now, Te’gha suddenly peaked his tiny head from the inventory and sniffed something. “I smell treasure!”
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“... you do?” Cain shuddered. Every time the damned cat ‘smelled treasure’, it usually turned out to be something quite remarkable--such as the very item that got them into this world. “Where?”
“Keke, follow me, stupid human!” Te’gha leapt from his lap and scurried down, nimbly dashing down the wall and into the room below. Cain followed right at its heels, winding the few corridors of the building until they ended up underground, in front of what was clearly a prison cell with a skeleton in it. “There!” Te’gha exclaimed, pointing at the... skeleton.
“... h-huh?” Cain’s eyebrows twitched for a moment. “Are you fucking with me?”
“What?”
“Do you think I eat bones or something?! The fuck am I gonna do with a corpse?”
“Bah, not the corpse, stupid, stupid human! In the corpse! Crystal!!” the cat ran inside and woven inside the skeleton, in-between its bones, coming right after with a tiny, finger-sized crystal in its paws. Te’gha climbed up the Cain’s legs and landed on his shoulder, presenting the crystal.
“What is it?” Cain asked, taking it. Though he sensed a strange kind of energy from within, it didn’t seem particularly... treasure-worthy.
“It’s... it’s a treasure!” Cain rolled his eyes as he glanced at the feline who was looking away.
“You sure? Looks more like crystallized shit to me,” Cain said.
“You are crystallized shit, stupid human! Great Te’gha says it’s a treasure, it’s a treasure! Treasure! Treasure!”
“Fine, fine, fine, it’s a treasure, just stop shouting, Jesus,” Cain sighed, taking the ‘crystal’ and putting it into his inventory. Even if it really was crystallized crap, he’d still take it just to placate the cat. “Anything else?”
“No, everything else is trash,” Te’gha said confidently. “Why? Are you interested in trash?” ignoring the cat, Cain climbed back up and saw that everyone else had gathered near the central stairs, as though waiting for him.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Ah, nothing. We were just wondering where we should put the treasures,” Xalt asked awkwardly.
“Uh, in your pockets? I guess?” Cain tilted his head slightly.
“... you... you aren’t taking them?”
“Na, don’t need them,” if Te’gha really meant that everything else was trash, it likely was--at least to him. “Besides, I highly doubt you guys will be able to actually control this place once I leave. So, just pocket all the wealth and belt out elsewhere.”
“T-that’s true,” Xalt smiled awkwardly again, sighing. “When will you leave?”
“As soon as whoever was invited for dinner comes,” Cain replied. “Since he’ll have visited deeper into the world, he’ll have more information than you guys. I’ll have to... khm, ask him nicely to share some with him.” Xalt and others shuddered, but remained silent. It was strange, they realized. On the surface, Cain seemed... normal. Agreeable. Even kind of nice. However, he had no hesitation when it came to being as cruel as all the rest of them, even maniacal and borderline diabolical at times.
“Ah, speak of the devil,” Cain said with a smile, stepping out onto the roof and toward the sky. Just a moment later, the space some hundred yards in front of him shuddered and wriggled, a figure managing to bore through. It was a man who looked to be in his late forties donning Mage’s robes. His black hair was tied into a ponytail, one which waved violently in the surging wind, while the expression on his face reminded Cain of someone who’d just eaten a sour candy. Clearly, he didn’t enjoy being summoned.
“Huh? Where is that little cunt?” the man mumbled, looking around until his eyes landed on Cain. “Hm? Who are you? I don’t remember you. Whatever. Did they send you out to welcome me? Tsk, weak. Pathetic. I’ll have to teach them bastards a lesson,” Cain faltered, realizing that for every tall mountain... there was likely a taller one elsewhere.
“Uh, no, no,” Cain said. “I’m the guy they invited you to defeat. As for where they are, uh, they ran off. Somewhere. Honestly, I’ve no clue where they actually went.”
“... are you mocking me? A newbie like you?” the man’s countenance worsened further. “Tsk, I’ll just kill them when I find them. They’re completely useless. Not that you’re any better. You had the prime opportunity to run and instead you stuck around. Fucking moron. I’ll have to teach you some manners as well. Look at you. How dare you look directly at me? Let me teach you some rules, newbie. In this place, when you see me, you bow, you kiss--”
Cain, utterly tired and beyond bored, blinked right in front of the man and extended his arm, using a massive sea of Mana to form a temporary magnetic field that froze the man in place. During that time, Cain grasped the man’s throat and looked him in the eyes coldly.
“I really, really want to squeeze your fucking neck and watch your eyes blow out like rotten eggs,” he said. “But... unfortunately, that will have to wait. Now, unless you want your soul to burn in agony for all eternity while a thousand needles stab at your limp fucking cock for just as long, you will answer some of my questions with a smile. Got it?”
“...”
“GOT IT?!!”
“G-g-g-g-g-ot, got it, got it, yes,” Aldar was shaking, terrified beyond terror. He’d never felt such cold wrap his soul, never felt such gaze pierce into his mind. Within the singular moment, he knew, he’d angered a monster. A monster the likes of which lived in the depths of this world, conquering ethereal abominations. And he’d managed to piss one off. Goddammit, my dog-shit luck!!