[You have slain a Mixed Second-Rank Mindless: Blue Emperor]
Four days had already passed and he was ready to give up.
Zenon looked at the dead Blue Emperor in front of him as he tightly clutched the Sharp Fang. He remained still like this for a long time, not letting a single thought drift into his mind.
And he only managed to kill four Layer Beasts. If he was alone, perhaps he could've raised those numbers to ten, which were already a lot for an Unseen under five hundred Sacrifices.
His attempts to make Aurea aware of what was going on turned out futile each time, feeding the internal rage he was trying to bottle up. He even made the meaningless effort of getting answers from those two but...
'... well. Who the fuck cares.'
Dismissing his Sharp Fang, Zenon clutched the Emperor by the wings and started dragging it towards Aurea so that she could begin collecting meat.
The body of the Layer Beast left a trail of blood on the ground that could attract other Layer Beasts but he couldn't care less. He couldn't even clean the blood from his face because it would spread even more.
Out of nowhere, a hand appeared on his shoulder, making him subconsciously summon his Sharp Fang.
"Why did you steal my kill?"
Sighing internally, Zenon turned around and saw Vera clutching his shoulder. She wasn't even strong enough for him to feel anything yet she thought this would make Zenon kneel or whatever.
The boy just looked at her, dead in the eyes, and continued dragging the body without a care in the world.
Vera, however, didn't take this well and said, "You should stop doing that, Aurea already warned you."
Zenon stopped in his tracks as his mind wandered toward some hours ago. Aurea actually talked to him and just when he got his hopes up... she just went and told him to cooperate with his companions.
She ordered him like a teacher ordered a baby in kindergarten. Leviathan, who was scouting the place but also heard everything Zenon heard, unconsciously used his Innate Ability,
"Who the hell cares about what Aurea says." He said
Grasping even stronger the wings of the Emperor, Zenon pulled it with more force toward Aurea. His fingers were on the verge of ripping the wings apart and his jaw was aching from how hard he was gritting his teeth.
Arriving beside Aurea, he dropped the body of the Emperor and said, "Need help?"
The girl quickly shook her head and Zenon sat on the edge of the ravine. He took a look at his entire body and realized how bloody the Solis Vines were.
If someone were to take a look at them, the last thing they'd believe is that they were white. Not even the most hidden branches were forgiven from the red liquid.
Sighing, Zenon closed his right eye and saw the vast rocky plain of the canyon. They walked for two days straight and there was no sight of a tree, let alone a single root as they said.
Every time they reached the zone where they supposedly saw those three rock Layer Beasts, they were met with nothing but a big wall. Happened three times already. And with each time, Zenon grew more and more suspicious.
Annoyed, he spat,
"How can you be so sure this tree exists? It's been four days, Aurea. Four days and still nothing... not even Phoenix managed to find it anyways."
"Are you doubting his capabilities?"
"No." Zenon got up and walked towards Aurea's side, "I'm actually doubting yours."
She finished cutting the meat from the Emperor and threw the corpse into the river. Getting up, she tilted her head and gave Zenon an indifferent look while saying,
"Mind explaining?"
"Bloody hell, Aurea… are you even listening to yourself?! Ever since we met with these two clowns you've done nothing but put the blame on me every single time! You've never taken the time to hear me out…"
Rolling his eyes, Zenon muttered, "Why are you so naive..."
They stood opposite to each other in some sort of stand-off yet again. Aurea gave him the usual silent treatment while Zenon squinted his eyes, trying not to scream his lungs out.
After some moments though,
"Guys! Tarantula here!" Sammie called.
Not wasting a second, Vera began running toward the ravine where Sammie was scouting but Aurea stopped her by putting an arm in front of her.
Before the girl could say anything, Aurea said with a mocking tone, "What are you doing, Zenon? Go and help him."
*Snap*
Something burst inside Zenon the second Aurea gave him that order. Not inside of him but even Leviathan could sense it as well. And for a moment, Leviathan's instincts sensed danger.
Four long days he spent trying to become deaf and blind to their actions.
Four long days he spent in fear of being used and treated like an object, just like in his old days.
Seems like someone like him would never escape that fate.
Smiling, Zenon mumbled, "Yeah... I better help him."
Not wasting a second, Zenon ran toward where Sammie was. It was fairly easy to locate him as he was just a turn away, and when he did he was met with a rather amusing sight.
Sammie was slowly getting pushed more and more by the Tarantula, which was completely unharmed. And this was the person that managed to kill all the other Layer Beasts?
Not batting an eye, Zenon began running toward the Layer Beast and leaped on top of his body when it was distracted.
Not having time to summon his Sharp Fang, Zenon used his bare hands to open its exoskeleton so that his dagger could reach the interior more easily.
In less than a second, he managed to rip apart and open a small part, the cost being some deep cuts on his fingers and aching muscles. The spider - noticing the sharp pain - moved violently to get that annoying human off its back.
Leaping once again forward while summoning his Sharp Fang, Zenon turned around and slashed one of the Layer Beast's eyes.
The Tarantula's fangs moved aggressively and the arthropod jumped toward him with the usual two legs attack. Zenon made a small jump backward and used the Sharp Fang to hack wildly at those legs.
"Don't get too carried away! Is my kill understood?!"
Ignorant to Sammie's warning, Zenon augmented his fist to finish off both legs, making the Tarantula stumble back in pain before attacking once again.
His knuckles were bleeding and his bones were on the verge of snapping.
Since it used the same attack but had no front legs, Zenon used its velocity against itself by jumping on top of it and stabbing the Sharp Fang deep inside the Tarantula's head. The Layer Beast trembled for a moment before dropping to the ground.
*Step, step…*
Just as it did, Zenon heard a sound that he recognized at the instant.
Every time... every single time that he stole a kill he made the same sound. The same two steps, movement of the air, steel sound. He had it all engraved deep inside his mind.
Not thinking twice, Zenon took the dagger out and threw it with all of his force while rotating backward. It went flying past Sammie's leg, startling the boy and making him fall to his butt while dropping his sword.
Both Unseens looked at each other for a moment. Zenon looked at the boy with dead eyes and dropped his shoulders. Sammie, however, had his eyes wide open.
After some moments, he said, "Y-You threw a dagger at me... you-! You are fucked this time! That's right… that's- You are fucked!"
Without an ounce of shame, he ran away toward where the girls were.
Zenon on the other hand dropped to his knees as he took several raspy breaths. His entire body was trembling not because of fear, but rather rage.
His mind became clouded by the thoughts he tried to avoid these past four days.
For once in his life, he truly learned how long four days could be when you were constantly attacked. Did he deserve it?
Well, he did put a good show back in the Academy that tainted most of the Unseens' view of him.
That was something that he was aware of and something he took responsibility for. What he didn't understand is how genuinely arrogant one person can be to deny that someone is better than you.
Actions spoke more than a thousand words.
These two people… they couldn't stand that he was better than them. They couldn't stand that the last-ranked could surpass them in strength and had the privilege of spending time with Aurea.
They knew Zenon had the upper hand. They knew he had more experience in life in general. Being the carrier of a Lineage and Void Element has filled him with life lessons that molded his personality and skills.
But they couldn't… or rather won't accept it.
'These clowns…'
Subconsciously augmenting his fist with Void, Zenon began punching the Tarantula's head. Over, and over, and over again he bashed the Layer Beast's head.
First slower, then faster. His fist progressively went through the thick exoskeleton making his wrist cry in pain, but he didn't care. His bones were already shattered anyways.
Thoughts took hold of him and even Leviathan was alerted by this, quickly returning to his side. He tried screeching at him but to no avail.
Zenon couldn't care less. He continued bashing the Layer Beast's head despite his warnings, rage slowly building up.
'I'm so tired of you... I'm tired of you all... I'm tired. I'm tired. I'm tired! I'M TIRED!'
Zenon smashed both of his fists inside the Tarantula's skull and shouted as hard as his voice let him,
"I'M FUCKING DONE WITH YOU ALL!"
…
[You have slain a Second-Rank Mindless: Venomous Tarantula.]