"That brat is one devoted Fan of yours, Ms. Amy."
"I know, Mr. Trov. I could at least tell that without misunderstanding anything."
After the misunderstanding between Amy and Luel, in which Amy annoyingly expresses her displease with what she thought was Luel's devious plan to make her stay at his house, and Luel bluntly refuses Amy's offer of him joining her team in exchange for her living together with Luel, the two went to the person who could give Amy a ride towards the Central City.
Luel and Amy went to the only convenience store in the neighborhood and asked the owner, old man Trov, for a favor.
The old man Trov doesn't have any problem giving Amy a ride towards the Central City, which is more than an hour's drive from Luel's neighborhood. In fact, the old man is delighted to be Amy's driver after knowing who she is.
However, there's one problem that they need to deal with for the old man to give Amy a ride towards the Central City.
Someone needs to replace the old man Trov in managing the convenience store for the rest of the day.
"I didn't mean it like that, Ms. Amy."
"Then what do you mean, Mr. Trov?"
Amy replied to the old man with an irritated tone in her voice. It's not because she feels annoyed with the old man or by the topic of their conversation, but rather because Amy feels irritated with herself. After all, Amy just realized the misunderstanding about what she assumed was Luel's devious plan.
For the old man Trov to drive for Amy, Luel has to stay and work at the convenience store.
That's when Amy realized her misunderstanding after seeing Luel's trembling hands and the hesitation in his eyes. Amy understood that for whatever reason, Luel didn't want or was rather afraid to work. Yet Luel still took the task for Amy's sake.
"The brat wasn't always like that, Ms. Amy."
"You mean Mr. Luel's anxiety and panic attacks?"
"Well, I didn't know about his anxiety and panic attacks. But what I'm talking about is his self-confidence. That brat is smart enough to skip grades, graduate much earlier than his peers, and work at a young age. He used to have the confidence that he could accomplish everything that he put his mind and effort into. But after he came back from the Capital City, all of that confidence has been gone."
The conversation between Amy and the old man Trov ended there with Amy feeling guilty not being able to say her gratitude to Luel for his efforts to please her and say sorry about their misunderstanding.
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[RAIDS ONLINE @ Location - Area CC+1 Barren State.]
Two days have passed since Amy left Luel's house.
To recover from the stress of suddenly going back to a working environment where interaction with other people won't be avoided, Luel decided to contact SilverPup and continue his Raid to increase his Link Force and to confirm something important that Luel needs to deal with.
[Rank C Ragnarok Beast, Codename - Lycan.]
Right now, in the desolate land of Area CC+1, Luel is fighting a Rank C Ragnarok Beast Lycan. And like his previous Raid against the Rank D Ragnarok Beast Werewolf, SilverPup has set another handicap for Luel.
To defeat and devour the Rank C Ragnarok Beast Lycan with his current Link Force which is at 25 percent.
Compared to a Rank D Werewolf, which is a 3-meter class Ragnarok Beast, a Rank C Lycan is a 5-meter class Ragnarok Beast. It is much faster and stronger and has the vitality that gives the Lycan the ability to heal its injuries.
...ROOAAARRRRR!!!...
"Charge x Orion's Claws - New Moon!"
To defend against the incoming charge of the Lycan, Luel activates his New Moon Skill, an improved version of his previous Moon Shadow Skill.
The New Moon Skill engulfs Luel's body with a silver shadow aura that greatly boosts Luel's speed and allows him to instantly activate his Aura Blades Skill while he's in the New Moon phase.
"Aura Blades!"
Luel cast his Aura Blades Skill to intercept the incoming Lycan.
The Lycan continues its charge without bothering to dodge the incoming Aura Blades.
Right before the Aura Blades hit the Lycan on its face, the Rank C Ragnarok Beast opened its large mouth and bit off Luel's Aura Blades like a breaking bunch of twigs.
"I guess a 25 percent Link Force is too much of a handicap against a Rank C Ragnarok Beast Lycan. Should I help you with that, Lucent?"
SilverPup said that remark while sitting on top of a dozen Rank D Werewolves she had defeated and devoured so that they wouldn't interfere with Luel's fight against the Rank C Lycan.
"No, I can defeat and devour this Ragnarok Beast on my own."
Luel refuses SilverPup's help and then charges to challenge the Rank C Lycan in close-quarter combat.
"Ehhh... Someone is really motivated tonight..."
SilverPup continued with her teasing, but Luel didn't pay attention to any of it.
It's not that Luel feels motivated as SliverPup said. He just wanted to get his mind off a lot of things, about Amy getting mad at him, about the depressing feeling that he remembers from working a day at the convenience store, and about what Amy or, rather, BlueHeroine said about SilverPup.
The moment that the Lycan and Luel reached within their range of attack, the Lycan brought down its claws to tear apart its prey, while Luel stood firm on the ground and deflected the Lycan's claws by guarding with both of his arms, which were clad by his silver shadow aura.
Luel deflected the Lycan's claws and threw it off balance. As the Lycan supports itself with both of its hands on the ground, Luel attacks with his silver shadow aura claws to tear apart the Lycan's torso.
Luel was able to connect his attack but his strength with only 25 percent Link Force isn't enough to completely cut the Rank C Ragnarok Beast in half.
While Luel's claws are stuck halfway into the torso of the Lycan, the Rank C Ragnarok Beast swings its left hand, hitting Luel directly and knocking him to the ground.
Luel stumbled on the ground and landed tens of meters away from the Lycan.
The Lycan slowly heals itself with its vitality while Luel remains down on the ground, unable to get back on his feet because of the pain of his injuries.
Seeing Luel, who's about to be killed by the Rank C Ragnarok Beast Lycan, SilverPup finally decides to interfere even without Luel's approval.
But even before SilverPup can jump down from the mountain of Werewolf corpses, or even before the Lycan can start charging towards Luel, a vermilion light Aura Blades comes down from the night sky and tears off both of the Lycan's hands.
...ROOAAARRRRR!...
The Rank C Ragnarok Beast screams in pain. It looks towards the night sky, searching for where the attack that cut its arms has come from, only to find a trail of vermilion light hovering in the night sky.
At the next moment, that trail of vermilion light increases its speed and dives towards the ground.
The trail of vermilion light flies like a gust of wind that hits the Rank C Ragnarok Beast on its back and pierces the Lycan's body with vermilion light talons.
The vermilion light continues to drag the Lycan into the ground until it stops in front of the mountain of Werewolf corpses where SilverPup is standing on top.
"Well, well, well... Aren't we meeting a lot these past few days?"
SilverPup gave her remark to the grand entrance of the person who defeated and devoured the Rank C Ragnarok Beast Lycan and is now standing on top of its lifeless corpse.
"And don't you dare think that I'm delighted about meeting you, PoodlePup."
"I can say the same to you, BlueB*."