The Royal Mercenaries were a highly-trained group of people, dedicated to dangerous tasks inside the tower and outside the capital. They take years’ worth of harsh training to hone their skills and mind for the horrors they were bound to face.
So, by the time they become full-fledged mercenaries, they are all ready to face death and even laugh in its face. On top of that, with years of work, they gather even more experience and face extremely dangerous and extremely terrifying situations basically on a daily basis.
So, if there was one group of people capable of assessing a situation, they were that group. Yet, these seasoned warriors simply watched in horror the scene of Arthur brutally killing every Yeti in his path.
If they had to describe it in one word it was… Nightmarish. They weren’t watching a human, that was a monster in human skin, taking pleasure in dismantling these creatures in the most brutal way possible.
“… I-Is that even human?” One mercenary muttered as he gasped audibly.
“No… It can’t be… That’s not human…”
“What happened to that kid…?”
They didn’t even know if they should fear from that kid or not. They could only watch in stunned silence. Especially Deka who was struggling to grasp the scale of this transformation.
Several minutes passed in that state as all the Yetis finally escaped, climbing high into the trees and hiding behind the large leaves. That was when Arthur finally stopped his relentless chase. His body froze in place as his eyes looked left and right, sensing any poor prey unlucky enough to remain behind.
But, he couldn’t find anyone. The monsters had fled the scene without looking back, leaving behind piles of corpses from their dead kin. The boy was still completely out of it as the skill was controlling his body. But, when the fight was clearly over, it automatically deactivated on its own.
Slowly, all the effects of the skill started wearing off. His red veins lost all their color and his burning body returned gradually to its normal temperature. His beautiful yet ominous red eyes lost all their light and all the power he felt at that moment vanished.
What was left for Arthur was immense pain, so strong even his brain threatened to shut off purely from how devastating it was. The accumulation of injuries and the skill’s side effects hit Arthur like a train as he fell to the ground, completely unconscious.
“Oh! He fell!”
“What should we do?”
“Did he die?”
The mercenaries whispered between themselves, unable to make the correct decision. So, the first to move was Deka.
“Arthur…” She muttered. However, before she could take a second step, she felt a hand grab her. Looking back, she saw Sergi eyeing her angrily.
“What are you trying to do?” He asked.
“I’m going to check on him. He’s heavily injured.” She replied.
“Are you losing your goddamn mind, Deka?! Did you not see what he just did?! That’s not a human! That’s a goddamn monster!” Sergi yelled. “He could be waiting for one of us to approach before he kills us!”
The two looked into each other’s eyes as if they were in some sort of contest.
‘Are they about to fight?’ The others watched the scene with tense expressions.
“He saved our lives. I’m not letting him die.” She said as she yanked her arm off and turned around to walk away.
“You’re doing the wrong thing, Deka! That creature isn’t a human! It might look like one, and act like one, but it’s not one of us. It savagely murdered those monsters. It didn’t even look human while doing that. Doesn’t that ring a bell in your head?” He asked.
Nobody could truly argue against what he said. After all, they didn’t even understand what they just witnessed. The way Arthur transformed into that demonic entity wasn’t something they could just ignore as if it didn’t happen. Many questions popped into their heads, and one of them was ‘Is he even human or just a monster in disguise? Are all Gifted Ones just like him?’
Sergi’s worry was completely reasonable and even Deka knew that. But, even then…
“… Monster or not. He saved our lives. If you’re ungrateful enough to admit that, then I’m not like you.”
Her words struck Sergi in an unexpected place as his face grew even darker. “You…” He clenched his fists tightly as he tried to hold his anger.
Deka walked toward the sleeping body of the young man. She was very wary and even afraid of him. ‘Was that transformation an ability he has? Or have we truly been dealing with a… monster?’
The uncertainty made her doubt her decision. But, her morals still stood strong. Arthur had basically single-handedly saved their lives and fought an army of Yetis on his own. How can she just leave him there to die?
Step by step, she closed the distance between them till she found herself standing in front of Arthur. Laying there, Arthur looked completely normal as before, if she ignored that his entire body was covered in blood that is.
All that demonic aura vanished and he was now back to normal. So, she exhaled a small breath and crouched down to check his pulse and condition.
‘He has been heavily injured… These lacerations would kill a normal human instantly…’ She thought to herself as she touched his neck. The fact the boy was still alive was impressive in and out of itself.
So, she picked him up over her shoulder and walked back to the group. The others naturally felt wary and stepped back.
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“He’s completely unconscious. He won’t harm you.” Putting him down near the camp, she pulled out a healing potion to give it to him.
“That’s our last healing potion.” One mercenary said.
“And?”
“Shouldn’t we… use it?” He asked.
Deka stared up for a second before she looked down and popped the bottle open as she made Arthur drink all the liquid. Then, she watched as the potion took effect and started closing down his injuries one by one.
However, it stopped midway, leaving behind many deep injuries. However, surprisingly, all the bleeding stopped on its own as if Arthur’s body had already started the healing process on its own.
So, Deka stood up and looked at her group. They all shared a varying degree of worry and she could see it clear in their eyes.
“Sigh…” She exhaled a small breath. “Let’s bury Gan’s corpse. We can’t stay here for long, the Yetis might come back.”
Her words snapped everyone out of their daze. Then, they silently turned around and started working. Nobody had the energy to speak as they were truly exhausted, mentally and physically.
The only one who didn’t move was Sergi. Instead, he kept staring at Deka strongly.
“You can judge me all you want, Sergi. When Fangs died, I took leadership and now I’m bearing the responsibility of all of you. You can blame me all you want when we come back home safe. But for now, just please, don’t make it any harder.”
“…” The man pursed his lips visibly before he nodded faintly. “Just know that I will never forgive you for this. Even if we come back alive.”
A//N: Thank you all for the gifts, golden tickets, and PS. Let’s keep it up!