Download App
10.77% Rebirth: Childhood friend of the heroine / Chapter 18: Chapter 17- Insult?

Chapter 18: Chapter 17- Insult?

"Aren't we ultimately doomed, now?" Those were the words that came out of the raven-haired woman, once she returned home from work.

Celeria was on the verge of pulling her hair in frustration and agony after she heard the declaration of punishment from the King regarding their decision to disown Alex.

Brendon heaved a sigh as he sat down, "Not only did we not get a reward, but we have to now compensate."

The lady yelled, "We are going to get killed here and all you are thinking about is money!" Her voice terrified the man as he stopped sulking and looked up at her.

Celeria had a crazed look as she went through the possible options they had.

"It's all his fault. If only that shit face didn't entice us, we wouldn't have ever gotten ourselves mixed in this mess!" She roared and threw away the flower vase nearby in frustration.

Brendon also gritted his teeth, and seethingly added, "Abeth promised us...that Alex won't make it alive. That's why we brainwashed him all for the whole last year. But now, the person himself is dead and Alex is roaming free!"

Celeria was huffing violently with her eyes bloodshot. She couldn't believe that the perfect plan of getting rid of that burden was stolen away from them because a stupid human failed. And on top of it, she got convinced by her dear husband, that to retain their jobs, they should disown Alex as soon as they could before trials.

In desperation and panic, she followed his words after getting the word that Alex survived, from Abeth. They spent two hundred gold coins on that piece of parchment that reached Vermillion instantly, and before trials, the Professor had the proof that Celeria and Brendon had to do nothing with that brat anymore.

However, now not only did Abeth fail to wipe Alex out of existence, but they also got punished by the King because they abandoned their son.

"We have to leave." Celeria finally spoke, her voice sounding dead serious.

Brendon panicked, "But Cel, where will we go? I don't-"

"Are you fucking nuts?! Don't you know what will happen when that white witch comes to see Alex near the end of this month?! What will you tell her? That we abandoned him? Or are you willing to let her find out about the little plot we conspired?"

Brendon's face became pale hearing that.

He hurried, got up, and said, "I will pack the bags."

Once Brendon walked out, Celeria looked at the picture frame, which contained the three of them. The picture was hand drawn by Alex and something they have kept for the past five years.

Taking the picture, she coldly stared at the boy who changed their lives, for the good and the worst.

However, all Celeria could feel right now was hatred for the pipsqueak who had tarnished their reputation in the King's eyes and also forced them to run away.

Tearing the picture from the middle, she uttered under her breath, "For this favour, I sure will repay you."

----------***----------

The role of Hunter's guild surrounds raiding and trading. They assign labyrinths to hunters in exchange for small fees and after signing a contract that whatever comes out of the labyrinth, the guild would take ten per cent of it. Along with it, the contract also states that for the loss of things or people inside the labyrinth, the hunter's guild wouldn't be responsible.

The rules of participating in raids also include being in a group of at least five members, and this rule has been brought down since the time the settlement was established.

Now, inside the hub, a party of three young people were already waiting when Edric arrived. They knew him and had already signed up for a labyrinth for the raid.

Alex looked at the trio and found himself completely unable to discern their power level. He still hasn't understood how one discovers others' power level just by a look. However, from their physique, scars and stance Alex could tell that they aren't newbies.

"Woah, you got an intense look there." Suddenly, the red, spiky-haired man exclaimed with his hands risen, "We aren't rogue hunters, y'know."

Rogue hunters are those who loot from other hunters and usually enter a labyrinth without any permission.

For a hunter to be called rogue is like one of the biggest cusses.

Edric chuckled, "He mostly remains silent, Vlad. Anyway, let me introduce you three to my classmate, Alex. He is a sword user and has quite sharp senses."

Gesturing toward his other classmate, Edric added, "You must know her already, she is Valarie Hornblade. A flame user and uses an axe as her weapon."

Being aware of your raiding partners is very necessary since inside a labyrinth you have no other support than your partners. And in many cases, there can be no worse enemies than them as well.

"Alex....Alex...wait! Are you the same Alex who got involved in the Soulless case recently?" The blond healer asked with her round and innocent eyes sparkling in curiosity.

Alex nodded, "Yeah."

The girl, who goes by the name Maria, gasped, "Then you defeated an S-rank Soulless on your own?"

The other two members of the party also seemed excited at the thought of having someone so strong by their side, however, "No, I nearly died. A professor saved me."

Alex casually stated and found the blond girl's shoulders slumping in disappointment.

Alex raised his brows; he had a feeling that the girl was already aware of the fact that he was rescued....yet she asked.

'She wanted to insult me? Well, whatever.' These childish tricks are something he has long gotten over. Getting triggered by such small things was never a part of his habits.

"O-Okay then, shall we go?" The second girl with short blue hair awkwardly asked. She was wielding a pair of daggers, and her lean build suggested that she was, most probably, an assassin.

....but well, those massive juggs must be a hindrance for her job.

"Yes, let's go." Edric nodded; however, his voice suggested that he wasn't in the same mood as before.

He was very well aware of Maria's personality, and as Alex assumed, she indeed wanted to insult Alex for no reason.

The team of six left the guild side by side and advanced towards the labyrinth they were supposed to raid tonight.

Alex was feeling the excitement which he hadn't felt in a long time.

'I hope it doesn't turns out to be disappointing...'

But at that time, little did he think that his first labyrinth experience would be so disastrous.

----------**----------

A/N:- Thanks for reading.


Chapter 19: Chapter 18- Labyrinth(1)

Labyrinths are the house of beasts. A labyrinth provides a natural habitat for the Soul beasts who seek a specific kind of familiarity from their surroundings.

Like having the beast core of a Tank Bear in a cave would attract the beasts of a similar kind, and the place they call their homes becomes a labyrinth.

Soul beasts can solely survive on Soul energy which explains why they seldom leave their home. And the labyrinth which the Hunter's guild arranges, has a security field arranged at the entrances of each labyrinth so they could not escape from their dens.

In that way, the hunter's guild assigns the labyrinths to the hunters in exchange for gold coins and also takes a decent percentage of beast products as revenue. In the most probable case, hunters sell the rest of the beast products to the hunter's guilds, which allows them to maximize their profit.

'A decent idea for a business...' Alex deemed this profession to be quite tempting; however, he neither has the time nor resources to think about having his own guild.

Within a year, those trials would begin and Alex has to participate in the contest. After that, regardless of the results, he would be leaving this planet and ascending to goddamn knows where.

The last volume, which he wasn't able to read, included the later half of the battle and the introduction of the ascended realm. However, Ceaser never found the opportunity to finish that novel.

'...but still, is the upper realm the true ending?' There was no sequel announced to the story, and given the last volume was about the same size as the last one, it couldn't be said that some arcs in the upper realm were added.

...then, ultimately, Edric finds his happy ending after his ascension. Or is this world about to be doomed?

'Well whatever, not like I can rely on my previous world's knowledge forever...' With such thoughts, he continued to walk forward.

"Hey, kid," Hearing her voice, Alex glanced at the blue-haired who slowed down her pace to walk beside him.

They were still a little away from their destination, which allowed the assassin, who goes by the name Eve, to have a conversation with the addition to the team.

"I apologize for what Maria said. She, y'know, can be a little zesty at times..." She genuinely looked apologetic while saying that.

Alex shrugged, "I don't care, truth be told. I don't know her, nor care about her opinion." He bluntly stated but the most astonishing part, he looked genuinely uncaring.

"Wow...I mean, you are different from the kids I seldom meet during raids."

Alex raised his brows, "Aren't you yourself just around twenty-three or something?"

The lady chuckled, her sharp canines peeking as she said, "Thanks for the compliment kid, but I am two years apart from thirty."

Alex was genuinely surprised. Given how perky her breasts seemed and that flawless skin aside from those scars, made him believe that she was in her early twenties.

Well, the older the better.

"Checking my boobs?" The lady asked, completely nonchalant.

"Wondering how you move around....aren't you an assassin?" Since there were a few more minutes to get there, he decided to get involved in a little conversation.

The lady sighed, "It's a pain in the ass, and often I use tight clothing to bind them as tightly as I can so my. movements don't get hindered."

Alex raised his brows, "Why not today?"

The woman scoffed, "We are hunting ice golems. They are slow as heck. I won't have participated in the first place, given my necessity arrives only when the labyrinth is a forest type for navigation or the opponent possesses high agility."

Alex nodded in understanding. He really was curious to know about her past missions so he could get himself some knowledge about labyrinths. In the future, he might be coming here alone and doing solo raids.

However, before he could have asked another question, "We are here, "

Vlad announced in a quiet tone as they reached a den which didn't seem huge from the front. And upon closer inspection, it wasn't even long to even adjust a single golem.

That's where spatial sorcery comes in handy. Just like the skill which Alex possesses, the labyrinths are also made as a pocket dimension where a huge amount of monsters could be brought in.

'Is this soul energy....' A faint chilly sensation Alex could feel arriving from the den, which made the hair on his body stand up in attention.

"Alex, here have this." Edric stepped toward the silver head and handed him a flashbang in the shape of a torch, "Light it up if you get cornered or separated from us. There is nothing lethal in it, but it might damage your vision for a long time, so be cautious."

Alex nodded and took the torch from the guy before placing it inside his pouch.

"I will be the on-field leader. Any problem?" Vlad asked his party, to which no one went against. Although Valarie doesn't like to be told around, given she hasn't participated in raids much and Vlad seemed to be a veteran, she readily nodded.

"Okay then, let's go." Vlad turned around and, in pairs, with Edric on the rear, began to march in.

The entrance of the labyrinth had a very strange pattern, almost like a translucent glass sheet.

Vlad took out a parchment, and called out the password,

"Ohlem nei kehlob." It was an ancient language of dwarves who initially brought the idea of labyrinths and the one situated here was also a handicraft of theirs.

In this world, different species exist, but humans reign dominance because of their high birth rate. However, if compared based on strength, then wolfkins would be on top of the food chain.

A password only remains valid for once. Once this labyrinth gets cleared, new beasts would be lured, and new runes would be engraved so the same hunters wouldn't raid the dungeons without permission.

"It's cold in here, "Valarie muttered in annoyance as she rubbed her palms together.

"Well, ice golems we are facing today, so yeah. You will be quite useful today."

Hearing Edric's words, her mood was lifted as, with a huff, she said, "You can rely on me."

"Something is strange," Vlad suddenly spoke up and Alex wordlessly agreed with him. This was not what he was expecting from a labyrinth.

The inside of the cave was quite dark; however, thanks to the crystal blue soul stone attached to the walls, there was some illumination available for them not to stumble upon something, while walking.

"There is too much silence in here. Golems pretty much senses anything that enters their territory like a bear." Eve added, with a frown on her face.

"Maybe they are having lunch?" Maria nonchalantly asked with an innocent smile on her face.

"No....not that ...the ice golems are attracted here because of glowing red soul stones which radiate heat. However, all I can see is blue soul stones around...."

Suddenly a realisation dawned upon Edric and Alex at the same time as they paused.

Others also halted and looked at the duo before Edric began, "It's almost like...."

Alex finished, "All soul stones from the golems' have been extracted...."

Those were the last words the duo were able to utter before a bone-crushing aura descended upon the group.

They all fell to the ground at the same time with their face flat. And the last thing Alex saw was a huge beast with red eyes advancing towards them before he lost consciousness.

-----------***-----------

A/N:- The end.


Load failed, please RETRY

Gifts

Gift -- Gift received

    Weekly Power Status

    Batch unlock chapters

    Table of Contents

    Display Options

    Background

    Font

    Size

    Chapter comments

    Write a review Reading Status: C18
    Fail to post. Please try again
    • Writing Quality
    • Stability of Updates
    • Story Development
    • Character Design
    • World Background

    The total score 0.0

    Review posted successfully! Read more reviews
    Vote with Power Stone
    Rank 200+ Power Ranking
    Stone 108 Power Stone
    Report inappropriate content
    error Tip

    Report abuse

    Paragraph comments

    Login

    tip Paragraph comment

    Paragraph comment feature is now on the Web! Move mouse over any paragraph and click the icon to add your comment.

    Also, you can always turn it off/on in Settings.

    GOT IT