Chereads / The Unusual Flicker / Chapter 6 - Clinging Partners

Chapter 6 - Clinging Partners

Gilbert and Ryan made it to Sertun by 10.00 am on May 26th. They would've come earlier if Ryan did not drink too much.

"Hey drunkard, you sobered up now?" asked Gilbert.

"You piece of shit, you didn't even drink alcohol and acted like drinking when it was cola all the time!" shouted Ryan.

"Well, I don't want to get caught by the knights for driving before the age of 18," said Gilbert.

"Like you ever cared about those knights who you can beat in seconds," said Ryan.

"Hey, is that a compliment? It is right? I am amazing!"

"Dipshit" muttered Ryan.

Ryan's phone rang up while they were walking to the location where the dungeon was. He saw the caller ID and found out it was Amelia.

He picked up the call put it on speaker and said "Hey Amelia, how are you?"

"Hey, Ryan! How are you? I'm fine by the way"

"So, is this a call to make an apology about the extended leave of your honeymoon," asked Ryan teasingly.

"He isn't even letting me in the bed! He is telling me to wait until we both turn 18 years old. For now, just kissing" said Amelia dejectedly.

"As expected of Kayden! He truly is a legend to ignore the moves of a beauty" said Gilbert hearing their conversation.

"Wait, where are you guys even?" asked Amelia.

"Uh..."

"Tell her we are in the Imperial Capital" whispered Gilbert.

"She is smart, she will bomb bard us with questions why are we even there!" whisper shouted Ryan.

"Hey guys, I can't hear you," said Amelia.

"Amelia, actually we are in the base only," said Ryan.

"Are you guys on the base? Well, I actually miss it too, so we will come in 2 months ok?"

"Hey! You guys took 6 months' worth of leave and you guys are even asking for more!" shouted Ryan.

"Please, Ryan, I will buy your favorite trench coats when we come from the island! Ok?"

"Raymonds?"

"The expensive one will be for you!" said Amelia.

"Take your time and come. I will take care of the paper works," said Ryan.

"Thank you, Ryan!" shouted Amelia excitedly and ended the call.

"She is still childish," said Gilbert while smiling.

"Yeah"

"You too asshole," said Gilbert sarcastically.

A call came to Gilbert's phone. He looked at his smartwatch and said " It's an unknown number"

"Pick up the call. What's the worse that could happen if you pick up an unknown call?" said Ryan.

Gilbert picked it up and heard a voice shouting " Sergent Gilbert, I am William Angrith. Is Captain Ryan near you?"

"Yes sir," said Gilbert as he now recognized that the caller's number ended with 07 which symbolizes the Imperial palace.

He put the phone on speaker and told " Captain Ryan is near me, Sir"

"Captain Ryan! Thank god you didn't enter the dungeon yet!" shouted William.

"Sir, what happened?" asked Ryan.

"I'm changing your mission from a scout to a rescue mission," said William.

"Fuck birds, get out of my way!" shouted William.

"Sir?"

"Please excuse me. I need you to rescue one individual who is in the dungeon. Although he is stronger than you guys, I still need you guys to go there and drag him out"

"Who is the person Sir," asked Gilbert.

"Your former comrade Matthew Layman," said William.

Ryan and Gilbert didn't speak for almost 20 sec until Gilbert asked " Sir, are you serious?"

"Does it look like I'm joking?" asked William.

"Sir, he is a traitor who actually abandoned us on the battlefield and the man who made Kayden's leg go uncurable. In fact, it was due to our achievements and fame that we requested the famous healer Celine Milton to cure Kayden's leg" said Ryan while frowning.

"Do you guys even realize you are the one's at fault?" asked William.

"What do you mean Sir?"

"Do you guys have evidence that it was Matthew Layman who entered the battlefield with you? Did he speak one word on the ambush mission? Answer me Dipshits!"

Ryan and Gilbert couldn't say anything. They simply thought that Matthew was not speaking at that time because they thought he was afraid that he would alert them about his betrayal.

" We don't know Sir," said both of them at the same time.

"That's because he was with me while you guys were going on the ambush mission. If Matthew did not request me to leave this matter alone, I would have come there personally and punished you guys for putting the blame on him "said William angrily.

"Sir, we don't know what to say," said Gilbert while his lips were shaking.

"Now, go in there and save your ex-captain's ass!" said William shouting.

"Yes sir!" said both of them with trembling voices.

When the call ended, they both fell on their knees on the field and cried. They wanted to shout as their lives depended on it but they couldn't.

"He never betrayed us," said Gilbert while crying and biting his lips.

"That son of a.... he never even told us that he wasn't in the wrong. Does he think that he's a broken hero or something?" said Ryan while tears started to flow out of his eyes.

"Let's go save this fucking idiot and ask him ourselves why he didn't want to tell us he wasn't in the wrong and never betrayed," said Ryan.

"Shit, this just turned into a cliche moment" muttered Gilbert while wiping his tears off.

They both got up and started walking towards the dungeon. While they were walking 2 minutes before, this was just a mission given by the king but now, they both are on a mission to save a long-lost friend.

--------

"Oh fuck, Oh fuck! God, please fucking save me!" shouted Matthew.

He has been running away from C-ranked Wolfs for about 1 hour. In fact, if it wasn't for the effect of Veus Valley, he would have been a slice of delicious meat for pregnant female wolfs.

"Shit, why the fuck are you guys even alive. Why the fuck did that creature didn't devour you!" said Matthew looking at the wolf's back while running.

He was running out of breath as his breathing got heavier every second. What's even worse is that vines are not on the maze walls where Matthew was running like a psychotic freak.

From what Matthew calculated, this maze is at least 100 km wide in length. What even scared Matthew as he was yet to explore the other parts of the maze which remained unknown to him.

Matthew took a left and a right and saw a pathway that was filled with vines. He used all of his remaining energy to climb the vines like a mad man.

A wolf managed to get hold of Matthew's leg but it did not manage to bite it as it hung on to the cloth part only.

"Get the fuck off me! Go eat that terrifying monster or whatever that fucking shit is!" shouted Matthew as he struggled to kick the wolf as it could make him lose his grip on the vines.

Matthew was afraid the wolf could take down his shotgun from his back and most importantly, he held his knife and gun on the sides of the pant.

The wolf fell down and Matthew climbed halfway and hung onto the vines as his life right now, as Matthew's life is really depending on a bunch of vines that are present here.

While Matthew was hanging like a cliche hero, he saw a person who was in the same situation. To be exact, it was a woman and she was hanging just like Matthew but she was wearing an outfit that looked like she was an assassin working for a shady organization.

The woman was staring at Matthew all the time. Matthew couldn't shake off the feeling that this woman was more of a threat than the pack of wolves down there.

"Just who is she? A survivor of the guild or archeology team? No, definitely not the archeology team as she is wearing an exotic assassin dress! Damn her curves are no joke!" muttered Matthew.

Out of nowhere, a terrifying howl startled Matthew and it seemed to be the same for the woman as Matthew saw her lose her grip for a sec.

The wolves started to run in the direction where Matthew and the pack were playing tag. He stayed there for 30 min before climbing down. But he forgot one important thing.

Swooshh!

Out of nowhere, a knife came in Matthew's direction which he easily dodged. Matthew turned around to see the woman who was clinging partners with him a minute ago was actually trying to kill him.

" Hey, who the fuck are you!" shouted Matthew.

The woman came running towards Matthew and so did him. This was the fight he has to win. Suddenly the woman held her right hand out and started to fire ice bullets.

Matthew pulled out his handgun and started shooting at the ice bullets. His shot was precise like a tiger which made the girl flinch.

Matthew used this chance and started to run towards her. He could see clearly as he was using all of his powers now but he knows his opponent has a terrifying vision like him.

The girl fired ice bullets without even leaving a break which was dodged by Matthew every single time. The girl took out something from her bag, it was a gun. To be exact, it was a mechanized gun that was glowing brightly blue even in the darkness.

"Where the fuck did you even get that? It came suddenly out of thin air!" shouted Matthew.

He got close to her easily which made Matthew uneasy.

' Is she powering up her gun?' thought Matthew. 'Whatever it is I have to stop it!'

Matthew covered 130 meters in 8 seconds and stood in front of her. The woman threw the gun back and started fighting him hand to hand.

Weren't you going to use it?" asked Matthew.

"None of your business," said the woman coldly.

"Well, I'm more curious about what's behind that mask your wearing than the gun's functions," said Matthew.

The fight was going on for 3 minutes where Matthew had the upper hand mostly. However, he has underestimated the woman. She was skilled enough to make Matthew go into defense mode for 30 seconds.

Matthew punched the girl while she dodged her face in one of the fist exchanges. This made the girl stumble backward and she fell down.

Before the girl could do anything. Matthew took the shotgun from his back and pointed it at her.

"Game's over girl," said Matthew while panting for breath.

However, the girl did not respond and seemingly was keeping her hands at the stomach. Matthew thought this was an act for a second but he looked closely and found blood was flowing out of her stomach.

" Shit, did she get shot by my bullets?" muttered Matthew.

He crouched down and removed her hands from her stomach. But when he was about to remove the shirt of the girl, his hands were grabbed by the girl.

"Don't do it" said the girl in a low and trembling voice.

He shook the grip from the girl's hand and removed the shirt. She was wearing undergarments which relieved Matthew. He saw a stab wound which seems to have been done from the back.

"Why the fuck didn't you treat it?" asked Matthew.

"I don't know how to" mumbled the girl. Matthew heard this and removed his shirt. He placed it on the girl's upper top to make her warm.

"You are trembling, you must have worn something comfortable before coming into the maze. It is always nighttime here and it's so cold from the moment I entered this fucking maze" said Matthew.

"Do you have any medicine? Do you have at least a dimensional storage that contains medicine?"

"I lost the dimensional storage at least 1 mile from here. It pretty much contained everything. I was roaming around this area for at least 2 days now. But when suddenly the ground started flying, it fell down from my pockets. But fortunately, the ground only moved 1 mile from there and changed its location here."

"Do you have any landmarks which can identify the last area you were when you lost this dimensional storage?" asked Matthew.

"I left my backpack behind the vines of the passage when the wolf pack attacked me. Fortunately, in this case, the ground changed and I escaped but the wolves managed to track me here." said the girl.

Matthew took off his vest and surrounded the stab wound using it. He tightened it pretty more so that she won't suffer blood losses.

He lifted her up ad placed her behind the vines. He hid her pretty well so that no wolves and monsters would find her.

" You gotta believe me alright. Hold on for at least 30 minutes. Ok?" asked Matthew while grabbing her hands.

"Do you trust me? At least for now?" asked Matthew.

" Yes, I have no choice," said the girl sarcastically even in this state.

"Well, before I go..."

Matthew removed the mask that the girl has been wearing all along. She was beautiful even in this state. Her face looked like it was made by the goddess of beauty. He was mesmerized for a second before he got up and said...

" You can breathe comfortably when this thing is off," said Matthew and ran off in the distance which the girl told him about.

' Fuck, why am I even helping this girl out?' thought Matthew while increasing his speed.

{ I changed from woman to girl because Matthew saw her close and figured she would be young.}