Helkep woke up or more appropriately was woken up by his roommates.
Opening the door a punch came for him. "We have been waiting forever for you to wake up. Quickly go make some food for us." A boy with dark brown hair and dark brown eyes with average looks and a slim but fit body, greeted Helkep. His name was Braco.
"Hurry up! There are only two hours left. And if the food isn't good you will pay for our lunches." The boy with light-brown hair and light brown eyes said.
He was a bit fat, with below average looks. His white skin was similar to braco, since the face that the two were brothers. He was known as bobco.
Helkep went to kitchen to cook something but even after trying thousands of time, his cooking still...sucked. He couldn't even prepare good tea.
He already knew, they just wanted his money. The two weren't from very well-off families. To live lavishly, they needed a walking wallet.
Helkep never gave up trying to improve his cooking though. But it was as if he was cursed or something, he never cooked anything good.
He didn't want to improve his cooking so that he didn't have to give his money away but because he hated the fact he couldn't even cook.
After awhile of messing in the kitchen, Helkep came out with a dish in hand.
Bobco opened it with a face full of disgust, already expecting to see a mess in the name of food.
Lifting the lid, a fine dish came into view. Bobco looked at Helkep with surprise, he looked at Helkep, as a new man.
Helkep felt something rising within him. But he couldn't distinguish what it was.
Braco sat on the table and placed a portion of the food on his plate. His surprise was as big as Bobco's.
The brothers made eye contact and after a moment of hesitation both ate the food.
They chewed and after a moment, they...vomited their guts out. The taste... need not an explanation.
After rushing to the bathroom at the same time. They came out after half an hour.
Helkep was sitting on the sofa. His eyes blank as usual. He looked like a saint, prepared to face the army of devils.
The two brothers came out, their eyes thirsty for blood.
Helkep gulped. It was a unique thing, Helkep didn't feel anything when he was beaten up for nothing, nothing at all but when he was about to be punished for something he did wrong he would feel...weird.
The two walked towards Helkep. After a moment Helkep laid on the ground in his pool of blood, he was beaten black and blue.
His legs were...broken. His arms...broken. His eyes... bleeding. His ear... half teared off. Pieces of his skin...missing. His body...swollen like a cow. Lots...LOTS of his blood... missing. Yet he was still...alive.
The artifact inside him was of a very high quality. It made him practically...un-kill-able.
It wasn't some luck that he survived the punch by the hidden boss in the Wild Cage.
After two hours, Helkep woke up. He was completely healed, only some minor injuries remaining.
Helkep looked at the time. And saw that his first class was still on-going.
He decided to attend it, having nothing else to do.
He reached the class pretty quickly. Somewhat similar to yesterday's scene occurred.
Nothing special occurred until the third class, some students decided to accompany Helkep.
Leading Helkep into an alley in the resting area.
One of the boys approached Helkep and grabbed him by his neck.
Bang! "Yo Helkep! Long time no see, Huh!?" The boy said, his eyes filled with pleasure, seeing Helkep's pitiful state.
"..."
"You have...grown a pair haven't you. You never ever, ignored us. You always did as we said. Did something happen, Helkep?" The boy asked his eyes a bit teary, it seemed as if he was really sad.
'Have I? Gotta more ignorant? I guess that might explain something.' The reason why the students looked at Helkep strangely was because un-be-knowingly, he had...started to discard the value of life even more deeply.
He had started to feel nothing for life. Nor his neither anyone's else. He had started...no he had completely decided to ignore the value of life, the value of pain, the value of hate, the value of love, he had given up on the world, on himself and on everybody else.
Bang! "Answer me, Helkep! What? What was it that made you change?" Anger seemed to burst out from his eyes.
"HEL– –" Helkep's quiet voice interrupted the boy. His words made the boy's and the other students ears prick up.
"...What made me change was...MY HEAVEN LIKE LIFE." Helkep choked up on his last words. At this time a very rare smile appeared on his face. Yet that smile could...only destroy a person.
"...You...you are not...you aren't Helkep." The boy said, his eyes opened wide, anger apparent in them. He lifted Helkep, and shouted, "WHERE IS HELKEP? RETURN HIM TO ME!!!!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
A rhythmic sound came, as he pounded Helkep back and forth into the ground.
Helkep's back was being destroyed and healed at the same time.
Huff Pant! Out of breath, the boy rested his back against the ground.
"Sigh! Helkep since you have grown a pair, I would have to destroy your ignorance then. You must scream...like before. You must feel pain...like before. I will humiliate you...until something insides of you...remember's what pain is...HA-HA!!!!" His hysterical laughter rang throughout the area.
He got up and walked towards Helkep, who was already healed quiet a bit.
He sat down on his knees, grabbed Helkep's shirt and...tore it apart.
A wicked grin surfaced on his face. Helkep's lips raised a bit as well.
"What's so funny?" He asked noticing Helkep's raised lips.
"...You think you are the only one...to try this with me?"
"..." He was left speechless.
"DAMNIT ALL!!!" The only thing he could do was...shout.
In his frustration, he raised his hand high, formed into a punch and struck powerful at Helkep's chest.
The blow was very powerful. This time he wasn't holding back like before. The punch caved-in inside of Helkep.
Bones shattered and Helkep was knocked unconscious.
The boy didn't care at all if the punch might kill Helkep. He raised his hand again but this time, it didn't land. It was frozen in the air.
The boy's eyes locked in front of him. His mouth was open in horror. He gulped and without any hesitation, turned around and ran away.
While running, he saw that the others who had followed him, had already left.
Helkep woke up some time later. Once again he was surprised to find himself perfectly alright. A thought appeared inside his mind, 'Something...very wrong is going on.'
He looked at the time and saw that it was 11:26, 'I can make it.'
Looking at his torn shirt, he could only shake his head.
He left the alley bought a shirt from a store and headed to his meeting place with Noil.
The academy had quite a few dungeons in its own jurisdiction. Which they used to give students assignment or for the students to strengthen themselves.
The monster they were supposed to hunt was also found inside a dungeon present in the academy.
Noil kept Helkep waiting for quite some time. It was a blessing that Helkep himself was late, coming at 12:18.
When he came he was already prepared to hear Noil's lecture. But after seeing him not their either, he simply shrugged his shoulders and waited for him to arrive.
When it was about 12:38 Helkep finally saw him running in his direction. "Ahaha! Sorry for the late, some people had surrounded me on my way. So I had to first ditch them to come here." He said with a nervous laugh.
"...It's okay." Helkep said while thinking it must be girls who surrounded him, if he was saying the truth.
"Ha-Ha! Thanks for understanding. And sorry for the late, once again."
"...No problem." Helkep added inside his head, 'Definitely girl's.'
"Okay then, if you are ready, shall we make our way inside the dungeon?" He asked, very impatiently .
"...You sure you don't need to catch your breath?" Helkep thought the guy might kill himself if he headed inside while he was exhausted.
"I am ready to rumble. If you don't have any complaints, shall we head inside the Volcanic Land?" He asked brimming with energy.
"...Okay." Helkep nodded.
Noil took the lead to walk towards the volcanic land.
The dungeon was named volcanic land because the dungeon contained fire type monsters.
Which were hard to kill in the fiery atmosphere.
At this time, Noil still didn't know that this decision of his would one day make him look back and remind him of the day, when he lent a hand to his saviour.