There was a roar before the mission details even popped up, giving Malic an idea on just what it was they'd be dealing with.
In the horizon sprung the heads of multiple monsters, all of them with the face of a tiger, the body of a snake, and a roar so loud it made the streets vibrate. He had expected this turn of events given how close they were to the ocean, but he had hoped that they could afford a bit more time after the last sub-mission.
This wasn't anything they couldn't handle, regardless.
The mission window, as it appeared, read:
[ Mission: Panthera serpentes-hunter
Category: Sub
Difficulty: C
Clear conditions: Hunt the Panthera serpentes, and take the heart of the monster.
Reward: Panthera serpentes heart, 400 coins
Penalty for Failure: ??? ]
They were already running before they could even finish reading the mission window, Nikolai quickly catching up to them. While the others ran at either side of him, spread out in their usual formation, the man ran right at his back, just a few steps away.
He was impressed, just slightly; he knew how fast his group was, and he knew that you had to be beyond average to catch up.
Only being a little above average wasn't enough, however. Not if he wanted to survive.
As if reading his mind, Nikolai said,
"Want me to offer you a tip?"
Malic gave him an incredulous look at the sudden offer. Then he turned his gaze back to the streets, the wind whipping through his hair and jacket as he ran. "In exchange for?"
"A weapon from your inventory. Anything works. Maybe something close-range since I'm very bad at aiming."
Malic burst into a disbelieving laugh. "Your strength stats are abysmal, and you expect me to give you a close-range weapon? Are you insane?"
"Yes? Aren't we all?"
"No." He didn't say anything else, expectant that Nikolai would either give up or get pissed (as was the usual case for Renato and Rhiannon, respectively).
"Aha," Nikolai laughed. "I suppose you're a bit more mentally stable than the rest, or you wouldn't be the hero."
Malic faltered just enough that he stopped in his tracks, forcing Nikolai to collide into his back with an "oof!"
"Hey, what—"
"Go ahead of us and check the perimeter for other groups. Don't engage with any monsters just yet," he told the others, not minding Nikolai's mumbling at his back. "We'll catch up."
"Roger!"
"Got it!"
The distant roars shook the Earth as Malic and Nikolai were left behind, the latter looking more and more nervous by the second as Malic refused to speak.
Once Malic was sure they were alone, he gave Nikolai no warning when he walked toward him, forcing him back, back, back—up until he was pressed right up against the wall of what looked like an abandoned building.
With a hand blocking Nikolai's head from either direction, staring right into wide eyes, he said,
"Who are you?"
Those wide eyes gradually narrowed down on him, though he could still tell they were looking at his nose instead of directly into his eyes. "I told you, I'm Nikolai."
"Nikolai Canlas," Malic said, watching the man's face as he spoke. Nikolai didn't once flinch at the sound of his full name, though he did seem confused as to why he'd even said it.
He cocked a brow.
Nikolai had never said his full name to them. They'd only just met, and if Ji-yeong gave him a heads up via text on the man's appearance, Rhiannon wouldn't have bothered asking for his name in the first place.
No one knew that he could open Character Profiles. Not Rhiannon, not Ji-yeong, not Renato, and certainly not Kira. Not even his parents knew the full extent of his capabilities—not because he didn't trust them, but because he knew better than to give them information that could endanger them.
Not that it'd be easy getting to them in the first place. He was as skilled as he was with martial arts and weapons prior to the apocalypse for a reason, and it wasn't because of magic.
It took a moment or two before Nikolai's mouth fell open—just for a split second, before quickly shutting closed again. It seemed his realization was a belated one, that he'd made an error in his own response to his full name.
A fool, then. High-level skills, but a fool.
"You either tell me the truth, or I torture it out of you."
Nikolai laughed nervously. Yet despite the anxiety on his face, the slight shake in his hands, he'd yet to run away. He seemed to need Malic, or his group—but why? For what purpose? Was he a spy, or someone meant to sabotage them?
It certainly didn't feel that way, going by the anxious look on the man's face. It felt more like he was desperate to stay, to make excuses for himself—regardless of how much his odd behavior was outing him on his own secrets.
When he activated Mona Lisa smile Lv. 28, like a lie, that nervous expression of his was replaced by a mysterious, near unreadable look. A smile that couldn't be interpreted too clearly, vague as it was in its meaning.
This man was either the kind of spy to pretend he was clumsy to gain someone's trust, or he was just so pathetic a man that he genuinely realized a little too late that he had such a skill in his repertoire.
Malic would not pass judgment in this moment, but he wouldn't deny that his gut told him that it was more of the latter than anything else.
"Must we resort to such drastic measures?" Nikolai asked. "For all I know, you knew me before this. Maybe you've seen some of my works."
"You can keep your secrets."
Nikolai blinked at him, gradually falling out of his activated skill in his surprise. "Eh?"
"I don't care what you're hiding," he explained. Monsters were on the rampage with only the System-Host program giving them the time and power that they needed to fight back, and the world was quite literally ending. Someone having their secrets wasn't of great importance to him— not when there were other bigger things at stake. "What matters to me is who you are, and what you want. Are you going to pose a danger to my group, Nikolai?"
He received a long, drawn-out stare in return for his words.
That would've been enough to piss him off, but he saw the look that immediately followed after his words. He ended up clenching his jaw to keep from speaking, because...
Nikolai, for some reason, looked like he was going to cry.
His lips trembled, and his eyebrows wriggled in a strange way as if he were barely holding his emotions in. It didn't help either, that the wetness of his eyes were clear from their current proximity.
He looked ugly, face crumpled like a crushed orange, but Malic wasn't going to say that out loud. Not when there was something far more important that was glaringly obvious; a truth that was practically shoved right in his face.
"Why do you look at me like that?"
Nikolai none too subtly rubbed at his wet eyes. That gaze of his that couldn't look straight into his eyes still found a way to keep itself on him, staying on his nose, his mouth, his neck, or everywhere else that was still a part of him. "Like what?"
"Like I'm important to you."
The tension that came upon Nikolai's body was so obvious that even a blind man would be able to feel it. Taut jaw, shoulders hunched, hands hidden tightly in his pockets—the perfect image of someone who knew they were guilty of something.
"...let's just say that you're my hero, in more ways than one."
"Is that so."
Nikolai smiled wryly, gaze once more lowered to his neck instead of meeting his eyes. "Yes. Even when your observational skills terrify me."
"What do you want?"
"The same thing as you, probably."
"And how would you know that?"
"What would a hero ever want? Isn't it to save the world?"
No.
Malic wasn't that selfless, even if he made it seem like he was. Saving the world was a happy coincidence to what he truly wanted, but it wasn't his goal.
This Nikolai, whoever he truly was...
He seemed to have a certain image of him, as though he's put him on a pedestal. It wasn't new, anyway. He'd already had his fair share of people he'd come across who thought they knew him better, best, more than anyone else.
They were always wrong.
"Fine."
He backed up, watching as Nikolai let out an audible breath. Though the System-Host program made it seem like people were on a more equal standing given the newfound powers, somehow, this man still seemed like he was only a breath away from collapsing.
Maybe the system wanted to warn him of something else about this man. That the cautiousness wasn't as straightforward a message as was initially implied, but a sign pointing toward something else.
He'd figure it out eventually.
"That tip you wanted to give me."
Nikolai looked up at him—or, rather, between his brows.
"What was it?"