When Ran woke up, he immediately felt… different. Actually, not really, but it didn't shake his newfound determination to get the f**k out of here!
And so… the sound of dripping echoed as blood flowed endlessly from his nose and onto his leg.
Hey, at least he didn't faint this time right!? So I guess he was right, something is different this time.
While Ran didn't know a lot of math(s), addition still stayed the same.
After all, two was more than one.
Focus. Focus. Focus.
The words reverberated in his mind as a sort of mantra took form, allowing him to greater take hold of his destiny one step, word, at a time.
That's right, his pain was slowly, very slowly, subsiding. Well, at the current rate, the pain would decrease about half a percent within a day.
So, he did the only thing he could do. Grind!
...
Time quickly passed as Ran had now stayed in this sandy Crypt for over a week.
And today was a special day however; it's the day he would put his (new) plan into motion!
But before that, I should explain what happened these few days.
First of all, the torture. Yes yes, I know, this is your favorite part weirdos.
Besides what had already happened, they had broken all his bones into multiple parts, then they drowned him in water though the results were strange for that one.
They dipped all his fingers and toes into a small vat of acid, and had wasps sting his body repeatedly. Of course, the boss had also gotten stung accidentally.
The boss and the rest then took turns…
What? What were you thinking you pervs!? How dare you think such nasty things!?
They took turns saying bad jokes! That's right, they pulled out all the stops for this one; all the dad and yo mama jokes were pulled out of their arses for two straight days!
This was actually pretty effective, you can tell because I, as the author, wouldn't even dare to write some of the stuff they said. Ran was shaking in his chair from having bad humor rammed into his head consecutively and foam occasionally frothed out of his mouth.
But moving on to the more important stuff:
Firstly, his pain had greatly decreased over the past week; a whopping fifty percent! While he recently hit fifty percent, he was quickly able to notice that the difficulty seemed to reach new heights.
He didn't know if it was the law of diminishing returns coming to get him, or if it was the fact that he had no f**king heart!
No matter how much he focuses, he ain't getting his heart back and it's already a miracle that he can move his blood through his thoughts alone, so no wonder he can't get rid of all the pain!
But it being half-gone was enough to let Ran think normally and he could even use his juice if he so chooses, though the cage on his head would stop that if it came.
But something even more important had seemingly entered Rans ears when he spoke to Brother Pride.
For example, the fact that he could leave whenever he wanted! Actually, Ran already guessed this when he saw Pridicus easily rip the birdcage into pieces.
But the reason why he didn't was what caught his attention.
He said that this place, the crypt, was actually the resting place for all his ancestors and that the cells they were both in were actually the resting places of his long deceased parents!
Worse yet, he said that he was a Desert Lion. Well, that was a little expected, but surprising nonetheless. And he was not just any lion, but the current tribe leader of the now extinct Desert Lion.
He also explained something to Ran, which was that they are actually not Desert Lions, Desert Lions don't exist on this world. In other words, they had moved to the Only Desert and changed their names to Desert Lions some nine-thousand years ago.
As for why; something about some irreversible shame… was what he said.
More than that, the tomb they were in was actually under the battlefield that Ran had just caught in!
So Pridicus decided that he would stay here in order to atone for his sins, not protecting his tribe, and he's been here for a couple weeks after being captured.
Yes, he was indeed captured at the beginning, this also explains the current situation within the Crypt. Basically, he had killed all the powerful fighters here before being captured and the least powerful ones were spare… i.e the boss and company.
The people who had captured him had instead moved onto pursuing Rans father with the rest of them, leaving this base practically deserted. It appeared that they couldn't find what they were looking for after destroying not only Rans home, but the lions' home as well.
As for what they're looking for… who knows.
But one things for sure… the Kesh aren't alone. They never were. It was pretty simple to come to this actually; the fact that they completely destroyed Rans and Pridicus' home was more than enough to suggest helpers. No one in this zone has enough power to do something like this.
"B-but, don't you blame us (me) for the near extinction of your species?" Ran asked carefully. He was truly saddened that not only his home was destroyed by his enemies, but his friend's home was destroyed by them as well. He couldn't help but put some weight on his shoulders or he would feel like a stranger.
To his question, Brother Pride just lightly chuckled. His middle-aged face wrinkled slightly. It wasn't out of contempt that he laughed, it was more self-deprecating than that.
"Heh, child, you shouldn't concern yourself with this. However, I should be the one apologizing to you."
"Then, why don't you leave somewhere safe? I'm sure there are other Lions that weren't home at the time. Surely, you'll be able to find them, right?"
"Sigh, it's more complicated than that. When I was captured, I was placed under a spell and now I can only rely on my physical prowess. If I use any amount of soul juice, the spell on me will immediately blow up and I won't be able to complete my promise to get pay back."
He removed his tattered shirt and showed Ran what appeared to be a tattoo on his chest.
When Ran looked closer, he instantly recognized it as a formation of runes, a spell. A really bad one.
A really really bad one.
Inside his mind, an image of extremely complicated runes appeared before simplifying themselves to appear like the runes in front of his eyes. The information about the runes was then relayed to him.
"A self-destruction spell," he muttered.
He just noticed this. He seemed to be a rune genius? At least, he knows everything about runes? When he sees them?
Well, he doesn't really know how, but he does know that when he sees runes, he will instantly know everything about them if he focuses.
"M-maybe I can… use this?" He would scratch his head in confusion if he could.
He never once thought to ask for Brother Prides help and considering his condition, if he was shot by some weirdos sigil, who knows what would happen.
So he could rely on himself. Maybe he could rely on himself to rely on someone else.
But then again, I did say that today is a special day.
"Brother, do you trust me?" Ran spoke softly to him, but the surging confidence that Ran secreted was felt by even Pridicus.
He gulped, this Guardian was… different than what he expected. His family's records of all the Guardians that were enshrined there weren't like this.
Him and his father… maybe it was inherited somehow. Was what Pridicus thought.
"Y-yes." He stuttered.
"Great, then we just need to wait." He smiled before he closed his eyes peacefully.
This past day, he had been getting a strange feeling.
Familiarity.
And it kept getting stronger as time passed.
He closed his eyes before using his other sense. His nose holes. Ever since his bloodline awakened further, his olfactory sense had become even more impressive. If he focused a little, he definitely could smell something from about a mile away, give or take.
And when he did focus, sure enough, a familiar scent flowed into his nose.
At that moment, he opened his eyes.
Rumble.
Rumble.
About ten or so lackeys suddenly Ran through the corridor as they passed by his cell in a flurry.
They were both cautious and furious! Who the f**k would dare to invade this place!?
As they passed by, Ran smiled.
It's time!