Realm Wars

Chapter 187: Conclusion

Ryu's face was severe. His eyes remained glued on Rosa's ring that he didn't notice the evil twitching of her lips.

"You go halfbreed."

".. . Huh?" Ryu didn't quite catch what she said. He was too focused on her ring to even notice her words. "What was that?"

"Do I have to spell it out for you halfbreed? Go. And. Arm. wrestle." Rosa enunciated each word. "And stop staring at my ring. You won't be able to take it from me."

Ryu groaned in silence and shifted his eyes between the statue and Rosa. Was she serious? He was confident with his strength, but after what happened with that bulky man. .. he wasn't sure anymore.

Rosa threw a glare his way when he didn't budge from where he stood. She then beamed her sweetest and grabbed Ryu by the collar.

Ryu was surprised at the sudden pull that he almost smacked his face against hers if not that he shifted his face away from hers, lightning speed.

"Listen here halfbreed, and listen well. What I'm about to tell you is a secret to get out of here alive."

Rosa was speaking with a voice fading into a whisper, but Ryu was distracted by the depth of her eyes. She was beautiful alright. .. if only her character could reflect her face.

What a waste.

"Got that?"

Ryu blinked. "What?"

".. ." 

If looks could kill, Ryu would already be twenty feet under. 

Rosa took a deep breath and repeated was she said with an edge to her tone, making sure that Ryu understood every word she spoke.

Rosa told Ryu her plans and what to do, but even after they finished discussing, Ryu was still hesitant. In the end, what Rosa had in mind was still an assumption, and he was made a test subject for it.

Ryu sighed. Such was his life. But thinking about Ferris made him want to do it nevertheless. His desire to reunite with her was greater than any danger he had to face.

Every attention was thrown into Ryu when he approached the statue. All they thought was, 'another cannon fodder,' but none felt pity for him. Instead, their eagerness to see what would happen was apparent on their faces.

"You can do it, Ryu!"

Fifi was the only one who was rooting for Ryu, but he didn't hear her nor did the voices and sneers when he took a seat in front of the statue. All noises were blocked, and his concentration was on his opponent.

Looking at the statue, it was grinning from ear to ear, and its face portrayed nothing but confidence. 

Ryu placed his elbow on the stone table and gripped the statue's hand. If what Rosa said was true, then all he needed to do was pretend that he was wrestling, but in truth, he wouldn't exert any force.

Sweat tickled on the side of Ryu's face when his opponent gripped his hand, and like Rosa kept repeating to him, he didn't insert any force on his arm, nor did he make any effort to defeat the statue.

Ryu expected that the statue to at least exerts some force to bring him down, but to his surprise and much to his chagrin, Rosa's deduction was indeed correct!

It wasn't moving at all, nor was it making any effort to defeat him and Ryu unknowingly looked at Rosa's way with a surprised look on his face.

Rosa glared at him and motioned to cut his throat if he didn't get back to acting.

Right. He was supposed to pretend that he was wrestling the statue as per her instructions. He didn't know why he had to, but he was going to follow along with her orders. Maybe she had some diabolical plan concocting in that brain of hers that the likes of him couldn't possibly understand.

He was amazed that she could solve the puzzle of the statue in that short amount of time, and his respect for her increased. But she still had a rotten personality, so her character remained in the negative.

Ryu didn't underestimate his opponent, though. He was on alert because it might throw him off guard with a surprise attack. He didn't forget what happened to the previous challenger.

A minute passed, and Ryu felt the statue's hand was moving. He became more alert and prepared himself for the sudden surge of power from the figure. He would counter it with all he got, even if he had to rip his veins and tear his skin. 

But to his amazement, the amount of force the statue exerted was ten percent to the amount of power he was exerting before. 

It was like the statue was copying the amount of force he exerted before and doubled it after a certain amount of time. Just like what Rosa said.

The bulky man who challenged it before didn't know that and didn't expect such a trick, so he used all his force early in the game before the statue doubled it after a certain amount of time when he grew exhausted.

Such trick was so. .. evil.

To the onlookers, it seemed like Ryu was having a hard time defeating the statue. But to Rosa, she was secretly laughing inside. Who said that she would be trapped in here and needed twenty years to develop her physique? She'd slap him left and right.

But most importantly, she couldn't wait for her next plan to come to fruition.

Ryu pressed his lips tight and took a peeked at Rosa's way. She nodded in his direction, and that was when he used a bit of force and toppled the statue's hand down onto the stone table.

The loud thud of the statue's arm on the table stunned the experts, and their mouths gaped wide open. 

W-what just happened?!

A mere halfbreed defeated the statue when that bulky man who was a Rank-A fighter didn't stand a chance!

Ryu stood to his feet and rolled his shoulders. He was a bit embarrassed because he didn't do much, yet everyone seemed to see him in a new light. It was all Rosa, though.

The door opened behind the statue, and for a time. .. everything went still. And before anyone could react, a swift whoosh went past Ryu, and a streak of shadow zoomed towards the exit.

But before the expert could take the opportunity to reach the tenth dungeon, a resounding crackle repelled him from the exit, and he crashed on the wall.

It didn't take a genius to guess that the only being allowed to pass through was the winner. 

Ryu looked at Rosa, waiting for her command, and when she nodded, Ryu walked towards the exit. He paused just in front of it, and all held their breaths when he pushed his hand forward into the portal.

.. .

.. .

Ryu breathed a sigh of relief and went to Rosa's side while the others looked at him with envy and disbelief. Wasn't he going to exit? 

"Good job, halfbreed" Rosa grinned.

Though she praised him, Ryu wasn't happy the least. He had survived another day, and his desire to retrieve Ferris was getting closer, and that's all he could think about.

"Listen up." Rosa took a step forward and swept everyone with her gaze. Her confidence was brimming, and Ryu had already given up thinking about where she got that confidence from.

Rosa grinned and placed her hand on her tilted waist. "If you want to pass safely to the next dungeon, then you'll have to pay a toll for the secret."

".. . Huh?!"

The others looked at each other before an uproar upset the place.

Ryu almost facepalmed himself. So that was why he was made to pretend that he was wrestling and exerting effort to defeat the statue. It was so to hide the secret of the trick and so that she could extort everyone present in here.

"What a shrewd woman. .. ," Ryu murmured.

"Ehehehe." Fifi's smile faltered. "At least she's smart."

Ryu sighed and looked at the faces of everyone. Some frowned while most looked at Rosa like they'd rather force her to tell them the secret rather than pay for it.

Ryu wondered if she thought of this outcome too. He didn't have the chance to ponder since some experts had already wielded their weapons in their hands.

Ryu shielded Rosa from the others while the latter just laughed without humor.

"You sure you want to use force on me?" 

A mercenary sneered. "It's better if you tell us the secret if you don't want to get hurt, missy."

While another gazed at Rosa with his lustful eyes. "First will rape you and beat you until you couldn't walk. If you don't want that to happen, I suggest you spill the beans."

"Hmp. Men." Rosa snorted, and with a flick of her finger, a weird item appeared in her hand.

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A/N

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