Noah's lips twitched. He tried to ignore the idiots behind him but it was very hard to do so when he was dead tired and out of his wits.
"Wait till I get stronger. I swear I am going to burn these bitches." He gritted his teeth. He was already pushing it and now these extras had also wandered over for some reason.
"Faster! Faster! If you run this slow, you will get caught by the monster!" Another round of heckling followed and a burst of loud laughter rang out.
This really did not look like it was going to stop any time soon. There was a chance that it could even escalate.
Noah was far too tired to think straight but he was currently at the 17/20 mile and there was no way he was going to let something interfere now. He had sunk too much into this to let this get spoiled by a bunch of bullying brats.
He looked around and without directly circling the ground to finish the lap like he did the previous times, Noah decided to continue running on the walking path that sort of went around the school throughout the entire campus.
He had seen some students jogging here earlier today though, at this time of the hour, there weren't that many students walking around, except for one or two couples.
"Whatever. As long as I can get away from these idiots."
Noah abruptly ran out of the training grounds in the middle of the lap, crossing the neatly mown lawn and reaching the walking path that was all the way on the other side of the training ground.
Thankfully, with this, he was able to catch the group off guard and quickly put a good distance between them. He also felt a bit more energetic as if a new wave of adrenaline coursed through him.
And just like that, the 17th lap was over and now it was the 18th lap!
Noah continued pushing himself and strived his best to maintain the headstart he got.
He had a feeling that he did not quite shake off his fans but as long as he finished this quest… then everything would be fine. "Just a little bit more. Come on. Come on." He gritted his teeth and dragged his body forward.
Behind him, the group of students realized what had happened.
"Damn! This loser just gave us the slip! I think he ran away."
"What? Are you for real? This sucks. I was hoping to relieve some stress today before hitting the sack."
"Hmmm. I don't like this at all. If we let him get away now, that trash is going to think that he is better than us."
"Ya, you are right. Let's get him. Finish this quickly and head back. Otherwise, the beer will get ruined."
Unlike Noah, these guys were not particularly tired so it didn't take them too long for them to catch up to him.
"Fuck. Don't these bastards have any other job?" Noah panted.
Though he did not turn around and look, he could hear their voices loudly and their footsteps were also getting closer. It sounded like a herd of buffaloes were coming at him.
Huff. Huff. Huff. He breathlessly gasped. He was almost done with the 18th mile now.
He only had 2 more miles to finish this darned quest but sensing the stampeding buffaloes behind him, that looked impossible.
"No. If I stick to this walking path, these idiots will easily find me and ruin all of this." Noah immediately strayed out of the walking path and ducked into the huge garden of the campus.
This garden was densely packed with several trees, various plants, shrubs, and bushes and it wasn't too difficult to remain invisible, hidden behind some of the giant plants.
"This should buy me the required time." Noah threw caution to the wind and dove in between a bunch of trees, running through them to another part of the campus.
A couple of minutes later, his followers arrived at the same spot but seemed to be completely lost.
"You have got to be kidding me! We actually lost him?"
"Why is this guy so good at running away?"
"This little bitch is going to pay for making me sweat like this!"
The bunch of students grumbled. However, they were also reluctant to leave because at this point they felt like they had as well sunk in too many hours.
"Let's split and search. We are getting this bastard tonight!" The taller one in the group commented and everyone split up just like he suggested.
If they were against someone strong, a tougher opponent, they probably would not have dared to split up like this but against this weakling… they did not even have to think twice!
Meanwhile… half a mile away, Noah was now in even worse condition as it was more difficult to run on the rough terrain compared to the smoothened-out training grounds.
On the plus side, he was able to use the various plants and trees for support as he pushed himself forward, jogging almost at a snail's pace.
This was it. He absolutely did not have any strength left to take even another step, no matter who was behind him.
"Come on. I am at 19/20. Can't this quest already be over? I will run another mile extra tomorrow. I swear." Noah gasped and trembled, his entire body soaked in sweat.
He now had a whole new level of respect for the marathon runners back in his world. He panted heavily and slowed down to barely a crawl but there was no way he was going to fail now.
He somehow kept pushing himself forward. "I will finish all the 20 miles, damn it. Move. Move." He muttered under his breath and dragged himself forward when suddenly a loud snap sounded behind him.
"Found you!" An annoying voice followed it.
Noah didn't have to turn around to see who it was. The person helped him out by jumping in front of him and blocking his path.
"Where do you think you are going?" A short lean guy smugly grinned. He, in no way, looked like a bully, and probably wouldn't be one if he was alone. This was mob mentality!
Seeing the person taking out his phone to message others, Noah did not wait for him and turned around to run in a different direction. All he needed was a few more minutes.
"Heh. Do you really think that you can outrun me in this condition? What an idiot!" The other guy loudly jeered. That too, Noah looked like he was only barely holding on. One flick and he would crumble.
The other guy also wanted to test this out and picked up a nearby sturdy stick. He then casually swung it at Noah to mess with him just for the heck of it.
Noah as well was too tired to notice it and only kept running forward. All of his focus was on that.
But despite that somehow he managed to miss it as he clumsily scurried forward. The stick instead hit a nearby plant.
The student chuckled and he did not care. He casually swung the stick again for a second hit. At the same time, unexpectedly, something rustled in the plant nearby, the one that he had hit.
RUSTLE! RUSTLE!
The sound grew louder and as the two turned to look, a huge wasp popped out of the bush!
"What the hell is this?" Noah was speechless. He had seen wasps, honey bees, and all sorts of nasty stingers before but the one in front of him was on a completely different level.
It was the size of a cat! Or wait, even bigger! Just one hit from this guy could probably end him!
Or wait, maybe he was overthinking? Perhaps all the animals and insects in this world were like this?
But judging from the look of the guy, things were not so simple. Maybe this wasn't even a normal insect? He definitely needed to run away!
And from the looks of it, the other guy was also thinking of the same thing.
FUCK!
Both of them cursed loudly at the same time and then realized the obvious! There were two of them here and if they ran in different directions one could be saved!
Noah was the first to think of this and quickly inched away while the wasp was still buzzing, probably trying to discern who attacked it and whom it should attack.
Sure, he was dead tired and couldn't move even a single muscle but this was life or death. He had to do it!
And seeing Noah, the other one also snapped out of his thoughts. "Hey!" He shouted foolishly, alerting the wasp, and the insect that was silently buzzing until now… sprung into action.