Chapter 54: Chapter 54- Savior
Talon's eyes widened at the sight as he panicked. "Hey… *Cough* *Cough* No!"
"Shut up. If I don't do this, you're 100% dead." Acrypha replied coldly.
"You're… going to die too…" He replied as he started trying to move again. He wasn't going to let Acrypha do something as reckless as this.
"Stay in your place or I will knock you out myself." She said as she retreated a little as the monster started moving again, more cautiously this time.
"No… I can fight it back… Trust me…" Talon said with great difficulty. He wasn't going to let Acrypha risk her life when he could easily kill this monster. He just needed to move his body.
'Come on, goddammit! Move!!'
But, as he was struggling, the monster was already barely a few meters away and Acrypha finally stepped forward.
"No… Acrypha… Don't…" Talon spoke.
The woman smiled as she gave him a fleeting glance. "I won't die, kid. It's far too early for that. But, if I do. I want you to reach the absolute peak of this world where nothing can rival you. I'm sure you're the only one that can pull that off.
When you do it, don't forget to finish what needs to be finished." She said as she finally extended her hand forward.
As she did that, suddenly, a chunk of the ground beneath her separated and elevated in the air till it reached her level. Moving her hand down, the rock hovered over her palm quietly.
The monster noticed that and grew even more alert as it rushed toward Acrypha. The latter stared at it for a moment before she took a deep breath.
'I hate gambles. I always lose in those and yet my entire life has been one huge, fucked-up gambling game.' She thought to herself as she snapped her finger.
Instantly, the rock flew toward the monster at top speed, aiming for its head. Seeing that, Talon's heart sunk in as his face paled greatly. In that split second, he really thought that everything was over.
Acrypha closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable. However, a moment passed and nothing happened. She was confused, so she opened her eyes only to be met with an unexpected sight.
Right before the rock could hit the Dimension Walker, the Dimension Walker was suddenly blown by a lightning bolt out of nowhere, blasting it into pieces as it was thrown away. The rock flew past it at the last moment, avoiding any contact with the monster.
'Huh…' For a second, Acrypha was surprised before she immediately noticed a new presence a little far away. Looking to the side, she saw a beautiful girl rushing toward them at top speed.
'That girl…' Acrypha immediately recognized who it was.
"Talon!!" Hyun-Jae yelled as she approached him quickly and crouched down. Her face was visibly worried as she quickly started inspecting his body.
"Are you ok?!"
"Hyun… Jae…?" Talon stared at her weakly.
"Yeah, it's me." She said as she put her hand on his forehead before she pulled away in shock. "Oh no, you're boiling." She murmured.
Talon's fever was so hot that Hyun-Jae genuinely felt a stinging pain from that mere touch. Never in her life did she see anyone with such a high fever. A normal person would've instantly died if their body reached this degree.
"Come on, we need to leave." She said as she quickly put Talon's hand around her neck and picked him up before she strapped the other bag filled with food around her shoulder and she started walking in a hurry.
However, when she moved a distance, she stopped and turned around. Her eyes squinted sharply. She glanced at the entire area before she turned around and started walking again.
'I thought I saw another person there. Was I hallucinating?' She thought to herself weirdly.
When she reached that place, for a split second, she caught a glimpse of a mysterious silhouette before it suddenly vanished. She didn't know what it was or whether it was even real or not.
However, because Talon was far more important, she put that matter away and focused on carrying him back as fast as she could.
"I'm sorry… Hyun-Jae…" Talon murmured weakly.
"Apologize later once you get better. We need to go back first." She replied calmly as she moved through the roads, avoiding monsters as much as she could and killing others with the only available hand she had.
Since Talon cleared a good path from the cafeteria back to the gymnasium, Hyun-Jae didn't find any major hardships bringing him back.
***
Back in the gymnasium, the students' mood was very gloomy. Most of them were feeling horrible pain from the sheer hunger they were feeling, now they also realized that their two leaders left the place and still hadn't come back yet.
The only ones that had it better than the others were the group of students that went out and killed monsters. Since all of them leveled once or twice with some even leveling three times, they felt really special even amongst their peers.
Granted, it was inevitable that this special feeling would turn into arrogance really quickly given the right circumstances.
Amongst the students, one particular male student stood out and garnered a lot of gazes from other people. The reason for that was that he was surrounded by a group of girls. They all had curious and excited looks on their faces.
"Did you really kill most of the monsters single-handedly, Ji-Seok?" One of them asked.
The male student smiled as he ran his hand through his hair. "Of course. They couldn't match my power. Just a single hit and they're gone." He said.
"Woah, so cool." The girls murmured as they grew even closer to him.
The reason for their attitude wasn't Ji-Seok's looks or personality, it was simply because he seemed like he could protect them under these dire circumstances. If things were back to normal, they wouldn't even give him a side glance let alone this much attention.
Ji-Seok knew that fact and took advantage of it the most. He wanted everyone's attention to be focused on him.
'Bastard, you just killed a few more monsters than us and now you somehow soloed the entire group?' The other students who knew the truth could only click their tongues in frustration.
It was indeed true that Ji-Seok was stronger than them, but that didn't mean that he was that far ahead. So, all they could do was to swallow their anger and frustration.
"Ah, I'm worried about Mr Talon and Miss Hyun-Jae." Young-Soon murmured as he looked at the entrance door.
"Don't worry, Young-Soon. Both of them are extremely strong. They will be fine." Hei-Ran replied.
She could clearly remember how ridiculously strong those two were. If they wouldn't be fine, then they're all also screwed.
At that moment, the door was barged open, pulling everyone's attention. From it entered Hyun-Jae carrying Talon.
When everyone saw them, silence filled the room for a good few seconds.
"What…" A student murmured in disbelief.
"You got to be kidding me…"
Talon's body was riddled with small cuts and bruises and he looked like he was barely remaining conscious. Seeing that, everyone naturally was terrified. They all thought that Talon was extremely strong and even invincible. Yet, here he was, completely beaten after leaving for a while.
'What could've done that to him?!'
The monsters outside were still a mystery to most, they looked terrifying and had weird powers, but that was the end of it. They didn't know anything else about them so assuming that Talon had faced an abomination and lost was logical.
Naturally, that would be their first thought. Then, there was Hyun-Jae who was carrying him closely. Their bodies were intimately stuck to each other. No one really cared about the circumstances that led to such a situation as they knew Hyun-Jae's character.
She wasn't the type to touch someone, man or woman, normally. In fact, they had never seen her touch someone willingly before. It reached a point where a rumor spread that Hyun-Jae was secretly an angel and her body was so pure that she couldn't touch others or she would be tarnished and would never be able to ascend back to heaven.
It was naturally a ridiculous idea but since Hyun-Jae was already akin to an angel in the eyes of most people, some came to believe that rumor.
"What happened to Mr Talon?!" Go Young-Soon and the other two rushed toward them.
"I don't know yet. I need to carry him to a quiet place where he can rest." Hyun-Jae replied.
"O-Of course, from here!"
Then, Hyun-Jae was led to one of the rooms in the gymnasium that had some mattresses used for gymnastics. Talon was put on one of them. The latter was breathing heavily and his face was still as pale as a sheet of paper.
Hyun-Jae sat next to him as she looked at the three students.
"Bring me some water and a towel. Hurry."
"Y-Yes!"
The three students immediately rushed outside to bring what she asked. When she made sure that they were alone, Hyun-Jae turned to Talon and looked at him.
"Did you get attacked by a monster?" She asked.
Although she knew that Talon wasn't in a condition to make a long conversation, Hyun-Jae needed to at least know the gist of what happened so that she could act accordingly.
Talon shook his head at her faintly. "No… I killed… Some monsters… And I leveled up… So my body was overexerted from that… I will be fine after… a few hours of rest." He replied.
Talon avoided telling her anything about the fact that he killed monsters levels above him and the skills he acquired. Even though Hyun-Jae was his partner, Talon still didn't trust her fully to tell her his secrets.
He did like her as a person, but liking someone and trusting them are two completely different things. Talon was never intending to trust her or anyone else around him enough to tell them everything, not before he was certain that they were worth trusting first.
"I see…" Hyun-Jae murmured. "Sigh, couldn't you avoid those monsters?"
Talon shook his head again.
"You were really close to death, Talon. If I didn't suspect the fact that you were late and went out after you, you would've ended up dead."
Hyun-Jae tightened her fists. She couldn't blame the young man since he went out to get food for everyone. But, at the same time, she wanted to vent her anger to someone or something.
"Thanks…" He replied quietly.
(A//N: Thanks for everyone who supports the book with power stones and golden tickets, you guys are the best:) )
This chapter upload first at NovelBin.Com