An absurd man with principles of pathetic heroism. That was Lucky's impression of Nero: an idiotic man who would rather take care of a child he didn't even know and raise her in this dystopian world, instead of honing the potential he was gifted with. For Lucky, leaving Rita to die in whichever gutter Nero found her was the best option.
Kindness, selflessness, and weakness might have been twisted into different categories, but time has proven that most of the time, they all lead to the same result: failure.
Lucky casually marched toward the motionless body on the ground. His eyes bore no trace of sympathy, nor did they carry any emotion other than mockery.
"I guess we missed the magical moment when our sleeping beauty opened those countless eyes," he muttered, scanning the surroundings. "The little girl is missing."
What a shame.
She was probably being digested by the experimental human. A deep sigh escaped Lucky as he turned on his heel to leave the area.
"Let's go, Imp," he called, knowing the Imp had jumped off his shoulder to check on Nero. "It's a shame they didn't make it through the night, but then again, they're bound to die, anyway."
"Ke…" The Imp, standing beside the body, tilted its head from one side to the other. "Ke!"
The Imp looked up, only to see Lucky still leaving. "Ke! KE!! Ke!"
"What?" After the constant calling, Lucky stopped and looked back, annoyed. "I don't have time to bury him."
"Ke!" the Imp pointed at Nero in panic. "Keke!"
Deep lines appeared between Lucky's brows as he walked back to where the body was. Upon reaching Nero, he squatted down and checked his pulse. Much to his surprise, there was a pulse, albeit faint.
"By the looks of it, it seems they were attacked hours ago. He should've bled out…" Lucky trailed off as he moved closer, seeing the severed leg up close. The corner of his mouth hooked up into a smirk as he glanced at Nero's back.
"He burned it to stop the bleeding, huh?" His eyes gleamed with interest and intrigue. "He's not as boring as I thought he was."
"Kek!" the Imp let out another shriek and, in a blink of an eye, disappeared.
"Ugh… Rit…" Nero let out a grunt, prompting Lucky to help him roll over. As soon as his back hit the floor, he gazed weakly at the face hovering over him. It took him a moment to recognize the owner of those strange black and red eyes mirroring him.
"Luck —" Nero grabbed Lucky's shoulder, panting. "Rita… where is she?"
"The hell if I know?" Lucky responded sarcastically. "What happened here?"
Nero swallowed the little fluid in his mouth to moisten his drying throat. "Hound," he breathed out with great difficulty. "Found us."
"Where's the woman?" Lucky followed up, only to see the other man shake his head.
"Everything happened so fast," Nero coughed while catching up on his breathing. "I… don't know."
Nero's eyes shook as his body temperature steadily rose. Droplets of sweat formed on his forehead and his lips slowly grew drier. Seeing how the man's life was slowly slipping away from him, Lucky only had one question in mind.
Was Nero worth saving?
'Scan,' Lucky commanded inwardly, and a smaller screen appeared in front of him.
[VISITOR
Type: MAGIC TYPE - A
ATK: 1900
DEF: 1100
MATK: 9600
MDEF: 10000
SKILL: Fire attack
Special Attribute: Not attained.]
"There's also a health bar," Lucky whispered, staring at the slowly decreasing numbers above Nero's head. He glanced at the stats once again, a little satisfied with what he saw.
"Not bad." Lucky opened a small space beside him. The second the space slit the air, a bottled water flew out. He caught it timely, biting the cap to open it.
Carefully, Lucky poured water into Nero's mouth. The water he carried wasn't a healing potion, but he assumed it had healing properties. This water had helped him twice with his pain and exhaustion. It might work on Nero.
"If I'm wrong, then you're dead," he remarked and stopped pouring the man a drink. "Let's see if you're lucky."
He placed the man down on the floor, observing Nero's complexion returning to normal. He was still unconscious, but his temperature had stabilized, and so was his breathing.
"Hah." Lucky gazed at the water, trying to see if his built-in scanner could tell him anything about it. But alas, nothing came up. "What did I expect?"
He closed the lid and tossed the bottle back into the still-open space. He then stared at Nero, checking his pulse once more. This time, it was beating normally.
"You'll be fine," he said before pushing himself up. "Imp, find the little girl… I mean, find our lab rat. The girl is probably with her — in her stomach."
"Ke!" the Imp appeared on his shoulder, only to disappear once more.
As the Imp went to search for the woman, Lucky approached the evidence of the attack. Dents and holes that weren't there initially covered the walls. Swiping his hand on the dent on the wall, he squinted his eyes slightly.
"This is weird," he muttered, looking around more to prove a point. After checking the dents and evidence of the attack, Lucky looked back at the unconscious Nero.
"It's not a hound," he deduced. "If it were, she would've left more marks."
Fighting the hounds for the second time was enough for Lucky to understand the level of destruction one hellhound could cause. Nero's fire attacks left dents and burns, but there weren't any other marks left by what a hound would leave during an attack. Although, there was one pattern that he was sure had only been left recently.
"It's either he's lying, or…" Lucky slowly faced the wall, setting his eyes on the accurately shaped peephole on the wall as if a laser had gone through it. "… they were attacked, but not by a hound. But by someone who could shoot laser beams."
"Mis — Mister Lucky?"
Suddenly, Lucky heard a meek voice behind him. When he looked back, he caught sight of Rita emerging from the dark.
'So, she's alive...' Lucky studied the young girl from the distance. 'That's strange.'