Chapter 30- Birds Of The Same Feather
As Akio rested his body quietly and let his exhausted mind get a breather, his ears caught a small sound coming from a far distance.
Immediately, his eyes opened wide as he got up and looked at the direction the sound came from. Because it was considerably far, he couldn't immediately discern what its origin was. But, for better or worse, it wasn't the same sound as the Lizard Knight.
"Hm, isn't this the sound of a human?" He murmured quietly as he heard a clear human shout in between the chaos that was happening there.
Even though Akio was sure that it was most likely just a prisoner who was fighting some monsters nearby, he still could only feel curious as to who they were and what kind of monster they were fighting. Brandishing the Blood Eye Odachi, he headed toward the place of the fight while keeping himself hidden as much as possible.
Quickly, he found the place he was looking for and there, a human was indeed fighting a bunch of normal Lizardmen. From the way the prisoner was fighting, he was clearly finding difficulty as the number of Lizardmen was weirdly 4 and not merely 2 as Akio had faced them.
Taking a good look at the person mentioned, he immediately recognized him. It was none other than Toru, the weird young man that tried to befriend him when they were on the carriage. Out of everyone in the group that he came with, Akio was the wariest of Toru for many reasons.
One of them is his general attitude and personality, Toru seemed like a happy-go-lucky individual that didn't put much thought into his actions and went on with his idealistic values as his compass. This was clear from how he didn't even think twice when he tried to talk with Akio and how he even tried to convince the scarred man that working as a team is their best bet.
The second thing is his demeanor during the trip on foot toward the spiral prison. The way he weirdly didn't show a speck of emotions even when he saw skulls hanging from the walls and when they were presented before the masses of other prisoners.
That was quite odd and fairly suspicious, two things that Akio didn't like at all. So, after watching for a few moments, he turned around to leave the area before the other party sees him.
However, the moment he faced the other way, two Lizardmen appeared and were rushing toward him.
'You gotta be kidding me!' He cursed in his head as he quickly and sneakily dashed toward them with Blood Eye Odachi in his hand, shining ominously in the darkness. Akio didn't even think twice before he attacked without even using Death Paths. With his speed, power, and stamina, two small fries like these aren't even worth wasting HS points on them.
Closing the distance in record time, Akio side-stepped their tongue attacks fairly easily, and then with his sword, he slashed horizontally using a fair amount of strength.
*Swish*
The sword slit through the air quickly, aiming for the first Lizardman's neck. The moment it made contact with the monster, the sword passed through the neck as if it was a hot knife cutting butter. Even Akio was shocked by how easy the kill was.
[You have killed a level 5 Lizardman.]
But, he didn't stop to marvel at his newfound weapon and quickly moved to the next target. Seeing how easily its companion has been killed, the monster felt fear crawl into its soul as it retreated and tried to run away.
But, since both of them had most likely ruined Akio's stealth, he wasn't going to let them get away. Running after the last creature, Akio stabbed with the sword, piercing its heart swiftly.
[You have killed a level 5 Lizardman.]
'Tsk, now I can't hide anymore.' He thought as he looked back at Toru who had already noticed his presence. However, because he was still in the middle of a very intense fight, he couldn't say or do anything other than to continue the brawl.
Sadly for Akio, Toru was already on his last Lizardman so even trying to escape would probably be a waste of time.
'He is strong…' The young man thought to himself.
Even though he was fighting 4 of them, somehow, Toru was able to kill them eventually even if he found some difficulty in it.
With a quick slash of his weapon, the last monster succumbed to its horrible fate and died.
"Fuuh…" Exhaling a long breath, Toru shifted his gaze toward Akio as he put down his weapon which was a shortsword.
"Oh? If it isn't my dear friend mm… Ugh, you didn't tell me your name so how can I address you?" He asked with the same friendly smile.
"..."
"So you are not going to tell me your name? Well, it's fi-"
"Akio."
"Huh?"
"My name is Akio." He repeated.
"Akio, I see… That's a good name, I like it. Nice to meet you, Akio. My name is Toru."
Staring at him silently, Akio neither acknowledged nor refused his introduction as he turned around, intending to leave. But, would it be that easy?
"Hey, hey! Are you going to leave?!" Toru asked, weirdly in shock as if he didn't expect Akio would do this.
"Yes…"
"But, but, didn't we become friends already? We should stick together."
"No. Good luck."
"Wait! How about we just help each other without working together." Toru suggested with an all-knowing smile.
"Is there a difference between the two?"
"Yes, of course, there is! Look, the first one means… Ugh, means that… It means that we will work together."
"What about the second one?" Akio asked with a sigh as he predicted what the other person will say.
"It's… It's, we would work together."
"Sigh, so we either work together or work together?"
"Pretty much!" Toru's friendly and innocent smile was somehow making him look brighter in this dim shithole.
"Genius, aren't I? Worry not, friend. With our power, we shall conquer the spiral prison! Hahahaha!" He laughed proudly as if he was some kind of king guiding his army to victory.
"You are surely a complete moron, huh."
"Hm? Did you say something?"
"..."
Finding this conversation pointless, Akio turned around to leave for real this time. He made sure to keep his sword in his hand as he walked away in case Toru decided to drop that heroic facade and show his true colors.
But, as he made a few steps forward, a huge explosion occurred barely a few meters away. Rubble and debris flew everywhere, making Akio cover his face. A cloud of smoke covered the two people.
"Cough, cough!"
When the smoke was pushed away, he saw the origin of this explosion. It was another person, precisely a giant man with many scars on his body. He had somehow fallen to the ground violently enough to create a small crater in it.
"Ptuh, ptuh! This fucking bastard! Is that all you are worth for, huh?!" Spitting dirt out of his mouth as he stood up and dashed toward the same place he came from.
"Come on, fight like a man you squiggly insect!"
Lizards aren't insects.
Both Akio and Toru could only stare speechlessly at the man as he seemingly clashed with a Lizard knight again… with his bare fists.
'Is everyone here a weird maniac?' Akio could only wonder.
Even though he admits he is also a very peculiar individual, he never thought he was as bad as these idiots that he ended up meeting in this place. The Serenity Abyss was a vast place and there were at least 10 prisoners so the chances of him meeting these particular two were quite low.
But, perhaps fate had thought these three were quite fit together so it made them meet. Birds of the same feather flock together, after all.
(A//N: Thank you everyone for supporting the book with power stones, golden tickets, and comments. I'm deeply grateful. Let's all keep it up :) )