Chapter 77 Forest Skirmish (3)

Whoosh!

A frown appeared on Adrian's face as he stared at the dark hand firmly holding his wrist and preventing him from beheading the man at his feet.

"Step back, Adrian. Don't do something you will regret." Malaki shook his head and stepped between Adrian and the kneeling man, whose eyes had gone wide with fear. He had not actually thought that Adrian would try to kill him so quickly!

Adrian took a step back and closed his eyes, taking in deep breaths slowly. When he opened them again, the glow of his red eyes had subsided, and his aggressive aura had settled to a more tired one.

At that time, the man who had fought with them stepped forward. "Thank you for your help, friends. My name is William. I am grateful; if it were not for you, myself, my brother, and his wife would be dead by now." He placed a hand on his chest and gave a small bow.

,m "I'm Malaki, and this is Adrian. Our companion over there is Bella." Malaki stepped forward. "What happened here?" He asked William.

A look of anger flashed across William's face as he turned to the kneeling man. "We met the three of them back in our home town. We had been friends for a couple of weeks, as we both planned to take part in Divinity's Bout. Since we were already familiar with each other, we chose to team up..." He shook his head sadly. "Unfortunately, greed got to them." He murmured the last part.

"Greed? What do you mean?" Malaki inquired.

"... We had some precious materials on us. When they found out about it, they turned against us. First, they poisoned my brother, before springing a surprise attack on us." William seemed hesitant as he spoke, and Malaki immediately knew there was more to the story, but he did not push for more details.

William then turned around and rushed over to his companions' side. He placed a comforting hand on his sister-in-law's shoulder, while he looked at his brother in her arms. A bit of color had returned to his cheeks, and the rise and fall of his chest was a bit more obvious this time.

Malaki sighed and turned to Adrian, gesturing his head in Bella's direction. "Let Bella take a look at you, I'll watch him." He told his green haired friend.

"Okay." Adrian wearily nodded before heading to meet Bella, and Malaki turned to face the injured man, his gaze cold and steely.

Malaki squatted in front of the man, and narrowed his eyes. "I hate traitors and backstabbers the most." He said simply, his tone deep and cold. The way he spoke made a cold shiver run down the man's spine. Sweat soaked his body and he began to tremble. Truly, it was a mistake to try and rob their companions. It was all the fault of his friend who ran. It was him who brought up the idea!

Regret overwhelmed the kneeling man and his head hung low. Malaki just sat in front of him with crossed legs without speaking a word.

.

.

A low whistling sound was let out by Leon as he rode atop Nedra's back. He was not fond of riding on her back, but they were currently in a hurry.

"Hmm?" Suddenly, Leon received an alert from one of his millipedes. The millipede had come across a lone human speeding through the forest, and they had coincidentally ran head first into each other.

The moment the man saw the Undead Royal Millipede, he brandished two short, black daggers and sped up.

Clang!

The dagger grated against the dark, sharp leg of the millipede, making sparks fly between them. This Royal Millipede had already killed quite a few monsters on its own, so its level had grown higher than what it had been. It was able to withstand the short man's strength, mostly because the focus of his class leaned towards maximizing his agility for precise and deadly strikes.

"Damn monster!" He cursed and his body suddenly seemed to vibrate before he appeared a couple of feet to the side, his daggers stabbing down between the space that marked two sections of the millipede.

Screee!

The millipede screeched loudly, and the other end of its body turned into a blurring whip that struck out to smack the man away. He blurred again, dodging the strike, but the reflexes of the millipede caught up to him.

In truth, at this point, the millipede was no longer fighting on its own. Nedra actively controlled some minute parts of its body, so it was like the man was fighting against a weaker version of her. The exchange continued until the first draw of blood. Warm, red blood dripped down to the ground from the man's arm that hung limply by his side. His breath was ragged, and his vision began to blue.

"Poison...?" He wondered as he actively felt his reflexes begin to slow and dull. He pulled out a health recovery potion and poured it down his throat in one smooth gulp. He felt the spread of the poison slow, but not stop.

"Dammit!" He swore angrily. He had gone cheap out when he bought his potions, and now it was coming to bite him back in his back side.

He barely had time to recompose himself before the Royal Millipede pounced again. This time, his resistance was much worse, and he rapidly incurred more wounds. At last, after holding off the millipede for another five minutes, he faltered, the poison seeping too deep, and the mandibles of the millipede snapped around his neck, ending his sorry life.

His last thoughts were those of regret at bringing up the plan to betray his allies. If he had not done so, then he would most likely not have encountered this stroke of misfortune.

The millipede circled the body for a few more moments before pausing and turning to face the direction it recalled the man coming from. It tilted its head and bolted in that direction.