Crystalline ice stuck on the ground and was being attacked by struck small chains. Shortly before the chain touched the ice crystal, ice shards with the same amount appeared out of nowhere in the air. The ice shard mercilessly bombed the chain to the perishment, leaving a young man in glasses sigh helplessly.
"... Not strong enough."
Arthur scratched his eyebrows before voicing out his opinion, "Why don't you train one chain first, make it stronger, before adding the second and set the first chain as the target?"
"It sounds good. I'll do that later to see its effectiveness." Adam touched his chin thoughtfully.
As they continue to train, Sun, who came back after handing his report to the teacher's office, joined them.
"Hey-hey-hey! Do you know what Trainer Nehan just told me??" Asked Nehan while hooking his arm on the confused Arthur.
Adam glanced at him lightly, "What?"
Sun let go of Arthur and clapped his hand, "He said last night the guard found the cave is actually connected to all wall! The guards will start to close the wall today!"
Arthur nodded in understanding before halted, "... If I remember correctly, princess seems to go to the wall today??"
Waving his hand to resume his training, Adam answered lightly, "Yes. But she said she merely exercise behind the training center. Everything is just fine."
"Tsk-tsk. That's not it," Sun shook his head in disagreement, "We should be worried whether she keeps her words or not, of not entering the forest!"
Arthur sighed, "Let's hope she is."
Unbeknownst to them, the moment they wished, their hope was already crushed first as the girl they were talking about was currently...
"Ah!"
Arawinda fell to the ground on her butt, for she was not aware of a tree root popping out from the ground, and stumbled by it while she move backward a moment ago.
"Hiss! My butt!" She struggled to stand up as she patted her butt. With the pain in her butt, all of her fear and the tense atmosphere were gone instantly turned filled with annoyance instead.
As she patted her butt, she raised her head to observe the zombie right in front of her. Every time it reached its hand to her, a shield will appear around her, and it would bounce back the zombie.
"3..." She kept on counting the number of shield activations.
TRuthfully, the zombie's movement was rather fast yet as it bounced back almost five meters away, it need to stagger or struggled to jump toward her to launched the next attack. Thus, she won't need to feel uneasy about the durability of her shield would soon exhaust as with its limp legs, it took more than five seconds for the zombie to reach her again.
"4..."
She felt so unlucky meeting a mid-level zombie as her first time seeing the real one. Was it actually her punishment for being too greedy with her still small and weak body?
"5..."
Arawinda pondered a moment before clutching her knife hesitantly, planning to strike back the zombie. However, all of a sudden unexpected things happen...
"Ggggrrhhh!"
"Rreaaghh..."
Because another zombie had appeared in her sight! No-no-no! Two-three-four?
"What?!"
Arawinda's confidence end pitifully even before she could send her attack. Observing the other zombies, she understood that all she was able to do now was... teleport back!
Unlike the limp legs, the new zombies had perfect legs! They were capable of exhausting her shield rapidly!
"16!" As she mumbled panickily, bathed in a cold sweat, she watched them reach her at fast speed. At this moment, she came to a realization, the real mid-level zombies should be like this! Not the limp one!
"25!!"
In just a second, they had already sent their attack to her a dozen times! Arawinda forced her trembling and freezing hand to move, planning to click on her ring. Yet before she clicked on it, all of sudden, out of nowhere, one of the zombies lost its head right in front of her...
From its neck, a black and smelly strange liquid spurted out without stopping like a fountain...
The head rolling on the ground with its mouth still drooling and eyes still opened widely...
The body twitched and trembled weirdly before stopping and falling on the ground as if it was never moving...
With a pale, Arawinda cover her mouth in disgust as she struggled to hold back the nausea feeling. If the zombie was like one from the game, the liquid must be red, she certain right now she had fainted...
As she was staring widely at the last headless body that fell onto the ground, a pair of shoes came into her sight.
Arawinda looked up to the person who was able to kill these zombies with one strike. Rather than being thankful, she was alarmed instead shortly after seeing the young man's face which she had long been memorized.
"R-raden?!"
The young man was two heads taller than her with a perfect body proportion. Paired with his handsome face and the steady aura around him, he definitely attracted many bees and butterflies. Yet for her, his calm and quiet expression were rather eerie, especially with his hand holding a rusty big knife. She imagined he kept his face straight as he slashed the zombie as if it was a vegetable...
Abruptly, the miserable process of her death inside the story emerged in her mind which made her feel lightheaded.
"...Huh?" Arawinda touched her head in confusion. Why did she suddenly feel dizzy?
She was not aware that her physiological had been stormed off entirely the moment many zombies surrounded her, added with watching in live the death of the zombies, and the appearance of the villain who could take her life any moment, both gave more pressure and tension to her.
The young man frowned at her sudden movement, assuming this thief should be really scared to the point her face turned white. If she was this frightened, why the hell did she come here??
He twitched his mouth feeling irritated by her
This question gave the last blow to Arawinda. With her pale face, she glared at him boldly, hiding her anxiety, and pointed her finger rudely at him, "Dare you to kill me!"
The young man raised his eyebrow, making sure he was indeed saying he would end her if he had any chance. But...
"I'm not that crazy enough to kill you."
As soon as he said this, he saw her body become wobbly. Seeing her about to fall, he subconsciously stretched his still clean arm to catch her, let her lean against him.
...?
What was he doing? Why was he helping this thief??
Raden looked down at the small body in his embrace. This was certainly a good moment to take back his core. Yet every time he harbor such a thought, there would always be something blocking his mind. As if he should not do any harm to her, along with that dreams...
Observing her pale face covered with sweat, this picture overlapped with a scene...
Raden closed his eyes unhurriedly and took a very deep breath, calming down his weird emotions. He squinted his eyes at the girl in his arm.
"... Arawinda, who are you to me exactly?"
The young man stayed motionlessly before putting away his knife onto his waist bag. Moving to carry her like a baby, he steadily walked deeper, into the dim and silent forest.
.....
"Hn??"
Arawinda listened to the sound of water and seems to be a fire? There was also the sound of rustling leaves and the breezy wind carrying the smell of nature...
... Since when did she go camping??
"Awake?"
This numb voice entered her ears completely woke her up. Arawinda abruptly opened her eyes and sat up straight, scanning the unfamiliar environment.
A glade? So she was still inside the forest?
She shifted her eyes toward the dazzling and sparkling small lake shown by the sunlight in the middle, apparently fresh and cool arising her desire to plunge into it. The surrounding glade was densely wooded with nice leafy made her illusion the trees were guarding tightly the naive little small lake.
Arawinda finally set her eyes on the young man sitting in front of the fire camp not far from the lake, with his back facing her. She recalled his answer and was certain that the villain in the story ended her because he had gone mad...
So he won't do anything to her while he was still sane, right?
Lastly, she looked down at her condition and was taken back. She was sitting on the top of a thick jacket and was covered with a shirt as a quilt. She turned her head to see a backpack she used as a pillow and then suspiciously glanced at the young man again.
Wasn't this villain hate her to the bone? Why did he seem kind? No... he was too gentle to her! What was his intention?!
Raden had been waiting for her response yet he had not heard it. In the end, he turned back his head to check her, only to find her weird gaze fell on him as if he was a pervert... What was this thief girl thinking?
"Do you want to drink or not? If you want, come here."
Being reminded of him, Arawinda soon realized that she was thirsty. She peeked at him again before tidying the clothes she had borrowed, folding them, and putting them in his backpack.
As she walked toward him, thought of her silly act a moment ago and felt she was too ruse toward her lifesaver. Shortly after she sat on the stone across him, she quietly said, "I'm sorry for before. And thank you for saving me..."
Raden never even felt offended by it. He just hummed as a response and gave her a cup of warm water he cook on the fire camp.
"Thank you."
Slowly taking a sip of the warm water, Arawinda felt her throat finally moisten. Yet with her currently being uncomfortable, she ended up sipping the whole water until it was gone.
Raden had been observing his every movement. She didn't even dare to look him in the eye, only peek at him most of the time. She also didn't even realize the water was gone, and she subconsciously bit the edge of the cup... Was she nervous? Was she felt guilty by the fact she had stolen his core but in the final, was saved by him?
He stretched out his arm toward her and said a word.
"Cup."
"Oh-oh."
Arawinda stupidly gave him her cup, and stared at the cup widely, not blinking her eyes at all. He also drank the water from the pot, so the pot didn't contain any poison, right?
As Raden gave her back the filled cup, he asked, "How do you plan to go back?"
"I can just use the teleport ring," Arawinda answered silently.
"... I'll take you back."
She choked on the water by his word, coughing hardly. Just as she finished, she asked with a hoarse voice, "Why?"
Raden looked back at the fire and explained, "Recently, mid-level zombies have been wandering around here. Yesterday, I also saw a group of guards in a complete defense around here. I guessed the leak of these zombies has been found. But they haven't yet taken any action. Maybe the plan to close the wall first before solving it."
"I see. I'll trouble you." Arawimda nodded behaving.
As expected of the male protagonist's rival. Not only he was smart, he, too, had already strong without a core. Then how strong he was if got back his core?
Come to think of it, if he was this strong, how could he did not survive in
"Let's go back now."
Her thought snapped at his statement. She looked up at him who already stood straight, with his hands inside his pocket.
"Now?"
Raden glanced at her pale face before turning his head away, "... Yes. The zombies should be wandering around here since they can detect a large living being about a hundred meters."
"Okay..."
Arawinda took the last sip of the warm water before standing up to catch up with him, "What about your items?"
"I'll come back here again."
"Oh..."