Beside the giant corpse of the mantis and big boulders was a small fire on which meat was being cooked
Damien was sitting right next to the fire and was intently looking at the flames, 'This is the second time I had to do this'
He used to be a vegetarian before but now he had to eat the meat of wolves he had killed on the way, and this was already the second time he was eating it
"The world has changed, you need to adapt if you want to survive" the voice of asper from around the fire came, disturbing his thoughts
sigh "I know" He then looked towards the girl with the tattered clothes lying near the fire, She had long black hair and green eyes with bold looking black eyelashes and black ear piercings, she looked like a badass k-pop star "What do we do about her?"
Asper heard him and then looked towards the giant mantis corpse "She seems to be quite powerful, if possible you should try to befriend her when she wakes up"
"You say that but what if she tries to harm us?"
"You mean what if she tries to harm you? well then you will have to try and kill her but that would be hard for you seeing your current strength. I don't think that will happen though her eyes looked quite grateful when she saw you. Ofcourse the final decision is up to you"
Darien remembered the moment when she dropped down with the corpse, she had her sword stabbed in the mantis' head and her dress was soaked in blood but her hands were trembling heavily and she seemed to have reached her limit,
When Darien went closer to inspect the situation, First he made sure that the mantis is dead after that when he proceeded towards her, she collapsed on the corpse itself and since then she hasn't woken up
"Why did you said 'you' and not 'us'. You refuse to take part in fights against monsters but won't you have to counter attack and block her if she attacks you?"
"About that..." Asper gave a mischievous smile and took out a crimson red locket out of nowhere again and gave it to him
"What is this?" Darien took the locket which was shining when held by him
"With this we can be together forever~" As soon as she said that her body converted into a crimson fog which was shining, which then went inside the locket
Darien looked at the locket which now had a small silhollete of asper inside it
"I see, to avoid conflict you will stay inside this thing" Darien calmly assessed the locket, he had seen too many shocking things already to get surprised at such things by now
"Correct~ Isn't this amazing my lover~ now you can hear me inside your head anytime you want~"
"Yeah yeah now I can't even stop listening to your annoying talks, closing my ears will just not work"
"hehehe~ Sorry but I can't have anyone beside you see me" the sweet sound of her giggling came in his head
Trying to think about something else, Darien looked towards the girl's sword which he took out from mantis' head, It was a long sword in green and black colour, which was quite heavy and when he took it out
Item Equipped - Warlord Kucrim's sword
Attack Power - 12
Passive skill - [Warlord's Rage] - Boosts strength and speed by 60% when your health decreases below 15%, will inflict a period of temporary weakness after use
The message showed up in front of him, "This sword is insane, just where did she got it from?"
"All warriors get a store when they get to a certain level, the store contains much better items than this one, this sword is just meh"
'This sword might be 'meh' for someone like you but it is definitely a treasure for me at my current level'
"Hey you know I can hear your thoughts don't you?"
"Oh you can?" he replied with a smirk
"Ugh" The girl they have been conversing about suddenly made a noise
sssss
Darien unsheathed the sword, ready for any situation
She slowly got up with difficulty in a sitting position and took hold of her forehead with her hands
She didn't said anything for quite sometime and only sneaked toward darien from time to time from her hands that were blocking his view
"Who are you?" She asked after an eternity
"My name is Darien. Darien Klutz"
"And Darien may I ask what you intend to do with that?" She pointed towards her sword that darien was holding
"Depends. If you hold any malice against me or want to harm me I will use it"
"I can't even stand up though" she weakly smiled "You have my sword so you should know why right?"
"Because of the passive skill huh?..." he thought for sometime and then raised his index finger
"Okay I will believe you but on one condition and not only that we can help each other to get out from this place"
"What condition?"
"Tell me about your skill" He asked with a straight face
"Hey! That is asking a bit too m-"
"Or I will leave with your sword" He didn't let her finish
She had looked towards the dark cave and clearly heard the growls of wolves quite a few times when she woke up.
'Tch if only I wasn't weakened'
"Okay I will tell you about it" Darien put her sword back into its sheathe
She finally gave in