"I thought You were still recuperating downstairs....oughhh!"
Rani snuffled and looked away.
She had suffered a fair amount of wounds herself. She sat on her initial position after being bounced off to the mall's wall and couldn't get herself up, She was too heavily injured and exhausted to be standing on her two feet.
Mada scratched the back of his head. He felt guilty for being not able to protect Rani when She needed him the most. He felt stupid after injuring himself in his training, overestimating his body current capability.
"I.....should be your bodyguard. I'm really sorry, please forgive me just this once. It was foolish of me to let you go alone to fight a possibly stronger Mutant. no matter how strong You may become, it will still be meaningless if You fight Titan-class Mutants or Veteran Evolvers."
Rani directed a sharp gaze toward Mada.
While still sitting on the broken tiles and leaned on the cracked wall, She spouted her scornful line
"As per our agreement You one sidedly have said Yourself, You will deduct the final price of your service depending on the job's difficulty.
But, from what has transpired now, Me...., Your client, almost got killed just seconds ago. And it hasn't even been that long since I employed You, yet, You already showed a terrible performance.
If I may be a little more honest, it would be more fair if I also have the right to file a complain right about now, no ?...in which I can hold You accountable.
now, what will You do to reimburse the damages I suffered like My mental break down, injuries, and ripped clothes, hm ? I may even get a PTSD from this You know ? "
Rani just bombarded the confused Mada with something a lower class like him would hardly ever encounter, especially in the time when life-and-death fights were common occurences.
for mercenary of commoner origin, which essentially would never hire a bodyguard or in need to employ one, being responsible for your clients was just to make sure They stayed alive, it was what generally accepted in this field. fatal wounds and material loss were never included in the agreement as it would be too big of responsibilities.
"Rani, You know You are being unreasonable right now."
"Am i ? but i think We are still in an equal term even if I asked that much."
"Do you have any conscience ?"
"I was just saying a matter of fact."
"alright You got it. What do You want ?"
Rani took a glance after She tried to hide her excited expression.
"well....it's not that difficult. You only have to tell me everything about You, including Your feelings, thoughts and any other things whenever I asked about them. No lies ! otherwise....if I ever know You lied to me. You have to pay me double the value of your down payment.
I gave You two artifacts, so You need to pay me back at least with four artifacts. sounds good ?"
"deal..., but first, let us treat Your lesions, it would be bad if You get amputated because of rotting tissues.
And I don't wanna get more ripped off than this from my client's ! further ! complaints !..."
Rani giggled "fueheheh...."
"seems like You just made fun of me."
"I don't though, I just want to be treated fairly."
"sure, fair enough then princess..... tsk !"
Mada helped Rani to stand up, He grabbed her by the side of her left chest around the lower armpit.
Tips of his left-hand's fingers felt something was soft.
"look at this pervert. still trying to get personal benefit out of someone's misery."
thud !!!!
"Ouch..!!!!"
Rani screamed under her breath. Mada just abandoned her to fall on the hard tiles
He had reflexively released his left hand and left the stammering Rani without support. He felt his face was burning, He just realized what his fingers had touched. Mada had been in his early phase of puberty. He knew what He just did was unacceptable, He stumbled on his words.
"I-I-...i-it wasn't m-my intention !!!! I-I swear !"
Mada rose his two hands up, as if it could prove his innocent.
"hhhhhhmmmmm....I don't know, is that so ? I thought You have said before that You were not that desperate, seems like it wasn't the case anymore ? fufufufu.... ack !!!!!"
Rani chuckled before an intense pain struck her abdomen, the hypochondriac region where stomach was located had been kicked brutaly by the huge Skylos's right leg. it was painful enough to make her tear up a bit. Mada knew He had to heal his beautiful companion before something worse happen.
'Shit ! my Special trait : Adaptation has a medium level of fast recovery element, but Rani's Special trait doesn't have it.
I know with her mutated body She is unlikely to die with only this much, however, if I just leave her alone like this for hours, not even Special trait : Hyper Regeneration Evolvers can save her.
I have to think of some ways to accelerate her self-recovery, whatever it takes.'
With that, He concluded it was best to go back inside their camp downstairs. Rani could have a better rest if She slept there.
Mada carried pickaback her. She was already half conscious....
"Mada...please.. hahhh... my..... katana..... don't forget....."
She finally lost her consciousness.
Mada scanned over the top floor where They were now, He picked up everything that belonged to them, and headed back downward.
He realized They needed to take a breather after their long journey in which They didn't do since They arrived here, They had to cool their head off so that They would be back in tip-top shape in case something like this happened ever again.
Resting and recovering would be their priority for now.
----------------
Two days later.
Their bon fire fueled by some leftover of the Mutant crickets hind legs produced crackling sound.
It had a kind of magical soothing effect which slowly but surely, healed their strained, stressed, and flustered mental state and mood that had been under constant presssure and suspense even since They set-off from old man Wirya's residence.
alas, awareness came late to these two children.
This happened after everything had finally calmed down and when eventually, They had let their mind and body to be relaxed inside their cozy, warm and tranquil temporary base.
the intense battles and being continously vigilant had been chipping away their sensitivity towards the actual situation They were in right now.
Mada just realized that Rani and Himself, had almost lost their lifes not just once, but several times already, and that They were always standing, or even just barely clinging, on the edge of a cliff.
One mistep or a very unlucky mishaps. They would without a doubt, be goners.
'I'm certainly an idiot. not only I failed to keep up being alarmed at all times. I've also tied my own feet when We were in peril.... shit !!'
slap !
Mada hit his cheeks so hard until it turned red, crimson liquid spilled on one side of his lips.
He did it in hope that it would sober Him up, while blaming himself in the same time for getting wounded by his own stupidity of overestimating his capability.
'if I wasn't arrogant enough to recite the second stanza of the poem.... I would have never asked Rani to go by herself, in this place, We can't just fight with a show off intention.
sigh, Mada..... You said to those d*ck-brains that You weren't an idiot ? now You just learnt that You are an idiot who doesn't even know that He is an idiot.
an idiot of the first degree, perfect !'
Mada was in the middle of self-rebuke, He felt His stupidity knows no bound.
Now, because of Him, Rani had become the one paying the heavy price. She had fever and delirious sleep for two days straight because of the severe condition She was in since Mada brought her back from the top floor.
'now that I think about this, is My Special trait the best someone can possibly get ? I mean, sure it wasn't directly giving me an overpowered strike and skills, or ridicilously increasing My attack damage to the point of one shoting my enemies.
but so far..... everytime I suffered lethal injuries, the rate in which They were accumulated while fighting seemed to decrease in real time, like, My body gets more durable the more it gets butchered.
and what has happened last time... My body size, it was just randomly enlarged as I wished to be an adult when battling those huge bugs in the cave.
everytime I felt pains that hurt as f*ck, They were rapidly numbed fo some unknown reason....
huhhhhh
at this point, I don't even understand what my Special trait really does. moreover, these...'
Mada saw his legs. His eyes were wide open, He had a dumb expression showing on his face.
His calf.....
His legs were in the middle of transforming slowly into a cricket hind legs. albeit it was Mutant's cricket's, so his calfs had also gradually sharpened to resemble Rani's katana.
'Whatda f*ck ?..... I am surely gonna win the weirdest Mutant award if this process is irreversible....
damn it !!!!! I haven't even been in my glowing up phase, and now I would become uglier ? tsk. I was always this unlucky, wasn't I ?'
Mada sarcastically mocked his current appearance. He never expected that by just eating the Mutant's flesh, their code of life could be copied right away. previously, He had already experienced absorbing... or adapting His adversaries abilities or Special traits to become his own, but it wasn't this way, not by this method. This is the first time something like this happened. it was also the first time He ever ate Mutants as delicacy.
'previously, I had to have clear objective and strong desire of what kind of shape or form I want my body to be in.
even if I was unaware of these wishes, as long as I have a firm goal in mind, my body is gonna eventually try to satisfy and comply to my will on its own.
and the second way I could acquire a new code of life, was to withstand my enemies assaults long enough until my body automatically generated some sort of resistance mechanisms to reduce or just outright denying the damages I received, while easily, slowly, dealing with them, or even in some cases, copying their Special trait in the process wasn't something uncommon.
for these past three years since I went through Mutation, those were the methods which have enabled me to grow to this stage.
this Special trait was negligable in attack power indeed, but was overly potent in support and defence roles. I know that the leaf parchment's poem's power was overpowered and all, but it would all still be meaningless if I was already dying while I was still in the middle of reciting them.
Now....., I can also extract codes of life of the Mutants that I ate ? isn't this basicaly cheating ? what kind of special trait is this ? when my brain first described my Mutation abilities, I never expected that adaptation would also include adapting based on my diet.....damn....
if I knew this was possible.... back in the slum, after mother passed away ,I would rather hunt in the frozen desert than being a petty street thief.'
Mada was in the midst of mulling over the recent phenomenon happening to his ever changing body. He felt anxious about what would actually happen if He continuously eating strong Mutants along the way. He was terrified by the worst possibilities that might occur in the end of their journey.
'would I ultimately end up becoming real Mutant in the end...? ...,
No shit, I get to do something. There must be a way somewhere, where I can reverse this transformation process.
and even if it was irreversible, There has to be a way, the mean in which I can stay sane.
a method to keep my sanity and preventing me from becoming overly aggresive...., right ?'
Mada sequentially moved his sight from the bon fire to the sleeping Rani. He just confused, everything was too uncertain by this point.
"cough ! cough ! ugghhhhhh.... M-ma... Mada..... Wa-water...."
Rani finally half awoke, yes, only half, both of her eyes were still closed. She only regained her consciousness, not her prime condition.
Mada immedietly fetched the hot water He had boiled on top of the camp fire. He poured the water down into a metal cup, in which a quarter of it had already been filled with pieces of Icy stalagmite to ensure it was warm and drinkable.
"Here Rani... I will lift up your head a little, try to gulp it down slowly...
yes.... like that..., good..."
Rani's lips were pale and dry. She had fever in this chilling, cold and dark underground, seemingly making her condition becoming more severe. Mada felt their journey's future had gotten bleak.
Rani and him had ran so far out just to avoid the eyes of the Aruan and Terrarian aristocrats. but look at this. it wasn't even half a year, their situation had become worse.
If Mada wasn't quick enough to find a way out of their current predicaments, soon, someday, all of a sudden, their upcoming situation could spiralled out of control .
"Rani can you hear me ? how do feel ?....."
Mada asked the weak Rani with a worried face.
She still lied on the bed made of clothes and some layers of spread out blankets. Her eyes still closed, like the weight was too heavy to lift her eyelids even for just one second.
but, Rani finally replied Mada's inquiry with a loving smile.
"I'm fine pervert. do You wanna assult me now ? You aren't gonna receive obscene responses while I was asleep right ?... since I have sobbered up... I bet Your sword down there had been rocking all these times, waiting for me to wake up .
if that's the case... You have to do it right now. You won't get another chance when I have regained my health. I will let You do whatever You wish just this once-... ack !!!! "
Mada slapped Rani's head so hard in order to make her fell asleep again. He got goosebumps all over ever since Rani's voice had become too sexually tempting to refuse. Mada had been undoubtedly aroused. He thought how ridiculous it was that He alomost became a real pervert.
'blabbering nonsense first time after staying unconscious for two days ? She is indeed a frantic, weird-lunatic. this is dangerous for my virginity. This girl must have some screw loose on her brain.
Mada stared to the once-again unconscious Rani.
"still... why does She have to this beautiful ? hahhhhhh.....
even in her pathetic condition, She was still attractive enough to have a miserable virgin like me aroused. tsk."
Mada lamented His poor heart.
Rani had once again soundly fallen asleep. Mada unknowingly smiled to the girl's resting, pretty face.
----------------
to be continued