They had a deep image of Klautz burned in their minds. Those deep black eyes that only meant business and nothing else. Those small and motionless lips which never seemed to form a curve and those black hair which were tied to a bun, all complimented each other giving his killing intent all the more substance. That impression of his... they will never be able to forget it. He looked like he was about to pounce at them if need be.
All of them had froze as if time itself had stopped!
Dant was the first to get back his composure as he was the most accustomed to Klautz nature by now. Also, he had predicted such an event to transpire so he was more prepared. It was just one of the many possibilities that he had thought of. He was prepared and knew exactly what to say.
"Guys you heard him. Our lives are at stake here, this is no joke! Because of the comfort of some people, we cannot put all of our lives in danger, now can we?"
"So guys follow my advice let's move to the next stage, there is nothing left for us here."
The others came back to reality with Dant's rambling. While Verona was still staring at Klauzt that now stood afar. Her pupils rippled as his presence was etched into her brain.
"You bastard, can't you see the situation we are in?" The axe wielder dropped his axe and lifted Dant by his collar but all Dant did was a smirk.
"It's not me who doesn't understand. It's your foolishness that will get us killed! He is going to move into the next stage any minute without us. What will you do then, huh? Can you guarantee our safety?" Dant scoffed. He spat nearby to further state his point. No matter what form the performance of their first stage it was clear they were not going to survive if things kept going on how they were. They needed Klautz' help.
Perhaps understanding this very fact the sword wielder stopped him as he tried to free Dant.
"Wait Kristle! what are you doing? We are already in tatters fighting monsters and now you are fighting amongst yourselves?"
"What I am not fighting! But this bastard here doesn't know what he is doing. Look at Blair! Do you think he is in a position to continue?"
Kristle pointed at Blair who was teary. He was in a bad situation. Even his dominant hand was dangling from being crushed.
"So what? We have to leave after half an hour anyway! If leaving now will give us some extra needed help then why not? It's not like we have any bandages or doctors to help Blair anyway!" He shouted on top of his voice.
Klautz who heard the conversation from afar smiled.
Chaos.
When a group loses trust amongst itself there is only chaos left amongst its members. No matter how strong a group might have been with chaos dominating it they are bound to get in each other's ways and are bound to fail. And in hell failure means death!
If one were to analyze the scene from another perspective what Klautz desired was their death. Death of 4 leading to the safety of one.
But that would be a crooked way to judge the situation cause Klautz was at least saving one of them when all of them were destined to die.
Kristle let go of Dant as he couldn't believe what he had heard. Bell was standing against him. He chose to not care for his friends rather chose to hold onto his sorry life. Was this all? All the sacrifices they had made for each other. All the time they had spent together? He had no words. He couldn't explain the reason behind his decision.
Why would he choose a stranger over his friends? The question though a rhetoric one Kristle chose not to answer. He picked up his axe that he had let go of a moment ago.
Dant finally back on his two feet dusted his shirt as he straightened it. The disheveled state that it was in gave him an unmannerly vibe which as a salesman he didn't like.