"Cover each other's backs!...."
Alfred cried, assuming a fighting stance
"..... Assume a circular formation so we don't get caught off guard, at the very least, we won't go down eas—"
"No, don't!"
Arc said, cutting him off
".....drop your guard, and relax..."
"Huh?! What are you saying? Do you want to die?"
"No, it's becau—"
"We don't have time for this ki—"
"Quiet, weasel!"
Rei cut in, knocking Alfred on the head. She then turned to Arc
"Explain"
"Well, we're up against a tier 13 elastic bat.."
"Tier 13? Haha, even if we raise our guard, we'll be dead after a single strike"
"That's not the point I'm trying to make. It has the ability to turn any hard surfaces it comes in contact with elastic, that's how it's bouncing around at such incredible speeds. However, this is an adaptive feature, mainly due to the fact it posseses something other bats do not...."
"Get to the point"
"Echolocation! Regular bats track their prey through echolocation, however, an elastic bat cannot do that, what it tracks are three emotional states— anger, fear and animosity"
Greg was angry at the way he was treated by his superior officer, garnering it's attention as they entered the cave. Once the prison guard noticed the bat, his emotional state switched to animosity— the intent to kill the beast. And that's why he fell
"Basically, if we just walk away, we'll be fine"
[Are you sure? Wouldn't it be better to enslave it? You have enough coins]
Arc ignored I's suggestion as he was aware I knew the implications of what it was suggesting.
He'll need the bat in one place to enslave, however, with the constant motion of the bat at incredible speeds, such a feat is impossible without a way to keep it in one place and in this situation, the only way to do that was to have one or both of his friends try to hold it down. What I was suggesting was this
Sacrifice the life of one of your comrades to enslave a beast
That was one thing Arc Stollen will never do.
They all "calmly" walked out of the bat's domain and to the crossroads, for some reason, instead of heading back the way they came, Rei and Arc turned to walk down the other path as though it was the natural thing to do
"Where are you going?"
Alfred asked curiously. The look confusion on Arc and Rei's faces as a result of his question shocked him, but not as much as their chorused reply
"Huh? What do you mean 'where'? I'm worried about Yuki and Junpei"
"What is wrong with you two?"
[No, Seriously..... What the actual fuck? With your vast knowledge of beasts, you should already have an idea of what's going on....]
Elastic bats usually nest in dark, enclosed spaces with a large enough escape route like caves or gorges not complex labyrinths like this.
Arc knew this wasn't their habitat so one will normally assume it was a tamed beast. However, no one has been down here in a long time, so the logical conclusion was that it was a tamed beast chased in here from the other end of the passageway, in which case, it wouldn't be alone.
There must be other monsters here— and not just two or three, maybe even up to ten
[.....You won't have enough coins to enslave all of them, you'll be overru—]
*RUMBLEEEE
The sudden earthquake put the three cellmates on alert as they looked in it's direction.
Coming into view was Yuki, carrying Junpei on his back, running as fast as he could and apparently yelling something at Rei and the rest—
It took a moment for them to make out what he was saying
"DUCK!"
A sudden flash of light flew right over him as he dove into the ground with Junpei in tow, and the others instantly reacted, ducking to dodge the blast.
They weren't out of the woods yet though, as that blast damaged supporting beams in the labyrinth, causing it to collapse in on itself.
Noticing this, Arc instinctively jumped in the way about a step before she could do the same—shielding Rei from the falling rubble.
*BRRRRRGHHHHHHHH
******************
"....rc, ARC!"
The first thing he noticed when he opened his eyes were those azure eyes— panicked, worried and frantic, It was an expression he hadn't seen on Rei's face before.
"You idiot, why did you shield me? That was dangerous, you can't regenerate like I can"
"Haha, I guess my body just moved on it's ow—"
She grabbed him in her arms before he could complete his sentence, hugging him tightly.
"Ow Ow Ow—"
"Don't do that again, you had me worried"
"R-Rei?"
"Brave as you are, you're still just a kid so don't try carrying the burden all by yourself. It's the job of adults to look after and protect the kids, so trust us a little more"
"Uhmmm"
Arc nodded, blushing nervously.
All his life, he'd never been told something like that before— be it the cradle who train children for battle, or Ragnarok, who wants to use him to sow chaos, so Rei's words caught him off guard
"We're back from surveying the area, things don't look so good"
Yuki said, stepping into the cave Arc and Rei were with Alfred. Arc whispered, a little flustered
"H-Hey, Rei.... Yuki's here, uhmm...."
"Sorry, please... Just let me stay like this a little longer"
He could feel her trembling hands as she hugged him, she must have been really panicked
[For good reason too.... You were out for over ten minutes and you've got injuries all over. The tomboy probably thought you were dying]
He smiled softly at that remark, glad that she was worried about him to that extent. However, he suddenly felt a chill down his spine— it was Yuki, glaring daggers at him.
"M-Mr Yuki, what's the situation? Ha....ha"
His death glare got like five times worse.
Rei got off him at that moment and turned to Yuki
"So, what's the situation outside?"
"Hmph"
She looked at him, expressing curiosity
"Huh? What's up with you? Did a caterpillar crawl up your butt or something?"
"What?! A caterpillar didn't crawl up my— sigh... The layout of this place has changed, so making it back will be difficult, not to mention there are over fifteen out of control beasts roaming the floors, we're in quite the predicament"
[Not to mention it's almost been twenty minutes since the prison guards died, if you don't make it back to the mines within the next thirty minutes, your head will go pop]
The news came as a shock to Arc— To think the prison guard Klaus died as well, that means there must be one powerful beast down here, or even several.
"Uhmm, Mr Yuki"
"Yes" He retorted, his glare back on
"The beast that killed Mr Klaus, do you know what it was"
"Huh? I'm pretty sure you were out like a light when I mentioned that, do you have ears in your sleep or something?"
"Haha.... Well....."
"Oh, I just remembered that I don't really care. It was a tier 10 Gear Golem"
"I see...."
Gear Golems, 20-foot behemoths made up of gear and machine parts with a wide range of abilities.
".....I might be able to get us back to entrance"
"Huh? How?"
"I.... have a good sense of direction, they used to call me a human compass where I'm from"
[That's a lie if I've ever seen one. You're actually planning to use me for that, aren't you?]
Yuki was also unconvinced
"I don't buy it"
"C'mon, don't be like that. Give him a chance"
Rei said, resting her hands on Arc's shoulder
"Hell no"
"Quit being so uptight" She pouted
"Due to this thing on our neck, we don't exactly have that much time to begin with, we don't have time for uncertain shit"
"And that's why you'll never get a—"
"—girlfriend, I know. However, right now, your life is my priority so I'm standing my ground"
"Oh? Why is that?"
"D-Don't make me say, fool"
He stuttered, turning his head away.
She called out for him to look at her. Opposed to her usual hotheaded or easy going demeanor, her expression was cool and composed
"I'm willing to bet my life on Arc's judgement. You shouldn't have any problems now, right?"
A staredown of about thirty seconds ensued, eventually resulting in Yuki's defeat.
If there was one thing he had absolute faith in despite all odds, it was Rei Izanagi.
"Sigh, that trust will be the death of you someday"
"Hehehe I'll be fine, if I'm gone, who'll be there to get on your case.....You're stuck with me for life"
She replied with a bright smile and he turned his attention to hide his embarrassment
"Mr Junpei, can you walk?"
"Yes. I'm all healed up and raring to go"
"Good"
He turned to Arc
"We're placing our trust in you, kid"
Arc nodded enthusiastically. They proceeded out of the cave heading for the exit and trying their best to avoid the beasts and monsters crawling around.
However, in a situation where a battle was unavoidable, Arc was prepared to enslave some beasts— during his almost three weeks in jail, he had amassed over 7000 coins and he wouldn't hesitate to burn it all for the people who put their faith in him.
[Be rational! Do you really intend to reveal the fact that you can use your powers even with the collars? That's a big risk]
"I believe in my friends to keep my secret. They put their lives in my hands so it's only fair I do the same"
[Sigh, The extent of your foolishness and naivete really needs to be studied for research purposes]
"Haha, well—"
*CRASH
The time for his resolve to be put to the test had arrived. The loud crash behind them was the wall structure breaking, the cause— A tier 10 Gear golem who just noticed their presence
[Even worse, more beasts seem to be gathering to it's location]
"RUN!"
Rei said as the golem charged full speed towards them. However, Arc knew it was impossible to outrun a tier 10 without ygg, he had only one option
"I'm sorry for keeping this secret, my friends" he thought to himself before facing the large golem, pointing
[Name: George Race: Gear Golem. Costs 4800 coins to enslave]
"ENSLA—"
"LIQUID SLAAAASH"
A flash of light came from above, striking the golem and ending it's life in a single strike.
The golem's large body crashing into the ground raised debris, and a figure landed on the golem. It was a person, a voice Arc vaguely recognized and the last person he expected to see
"Are you okay, citize— Hey, what the.....fuck?"
Craig and Arc locked eyes, the expression of shock on each of their faces reflecting the other's like a mirror