Chapter 49: Compensation (10)

"Care to explain what happened here, Rina?" Luke asked.

"... Luthi probably guided them by using my presence as a guidance," Rina said.

"If he can do that, you can do it as well," Luke said. "And you didn't warn me of that. Or did you tell him to involve me in the fight anyway? Even if he thinks that I could help, he doesn't know if my presence would solve everything."

"I didn't tell him anything about your growth, and I didn't tell him to come, I swear it," Rina said without avoiding Luke's eyes.

"I will trust you on that," Luke said. "But that doesn't explain why you didn't warn me of their approach."

"I have no excuses for that," Rina said.

"What happens once, happens twice," Shalia said. "You can't trust her, Luke, she will do the same thing again if she is given the opportunity."

"Well… Let's solve this later," Luke said and then sighed. "These guys here want something from me. How can I help you?"

"Sorry, mate," Andrew said. "We really need that healer, so we will be using you to lure them."

Andrew and Lucy looked like they were ready to break Luke's bones, but the other two looked hesitating. Their weapons were three crossbows, so they were afraid of killing Luke… it was understandable. Normal people would fear the possibility of taking other people's lives.

"Why did they decide to leave your group?" Luke asked. "You can be honest, I won't judge you. Besides, they are pretty naive, so I can understand your point of view."

"Andrew… look at the weapons on his back," Lucy whispered.

Lucy tried to whisper, but Luke heard everything clearly. It seemed that his senses also had improved with his status. That was pretty useful… maybe the exhaustion didn't let him notice them increasing in the last few days. Nevertheless, the conversation was taking a different destination thanks to the redhead.

"... The battles are getting harder since the mutant zombies are appearing more often," Andrew explained. "So, we told that woman that she should keep increasing her focus, but her daughter said that it would be dangerous for her. We decided not to force her to do what he wanted, but then she complained again when I decided to share the items only among the frontliners because they were the ones that were in danger most of the time."

"As expected, Amanda is so unreasonable…" Luke said and then sighed. "I can understand where you are coming from… your actions were justified."

"Do you agree with me?" Andrew asked.

"Yes, up to the point where you decided to chase them when they decided to leave," Luke said. "You can't force others to do your bidding just because things will be more convenient for you. Anyway, using me to lure them out is a bad idea. Did you forget that they abandoned me to join you?"

"From my perspective, you just dumped them on us," Andrew said.

"That is just a small detail, besides…" Luke said. "You can't capture me, the difference in levels is too high since you worked with a large group. If the three behind you weren't so hesitant, you might have a chance… but even so, it won't end well."

"You two… you should convince them to back down now," Shalia said. "They don't stand a chance."

"You aren't the type to say that kind of thing, Shalia. Are you afraid that your partner might die here?" One of the dark elves asked.

"Well… I tried out of consideration," Shalia said and then shrugged. "If you two die, that is none of my business now."

"So confident…" The dark elf said.

"I will say it just once… leave me now," Luke said. "I don't want to kill you, but I will if I have to."

Luke's air of confidence was bothering Andrew, not to mention, his weapons also looked powerful, so it was evident that he fought some tough enemies or he killed a lot of zombies and bought them with the gold coins he obtained. Either way, it seemed that his confidence wasn't unfounded.

"Attack him," Andrew said, and then he stepped to the side, giving room for the archers to freely use their weapons.

Those three aimed their weapons toward Luke's legs and fired. He didn't want to see what those projectiles were made of, he just moved to the side after using Stinger, and before they could adjust their weapons to try the second volley, Luke pointed his left hand toward them and used the Spark Ball three times. Although they didn't expect that Luke would be able to use magic, the two of them still managed to dodge the attack. However, when the third one was hit, the other two were paralyzed as well due to the area of effect spell. Before Luke could try again, Andrew and Lucy dashed toward him. Luke used Stinger and tried to pierce Andrew's heart, but he suddenly changed his direction with a speed that surprised even Luke. Did he have a higher speed, or was it the effect of the boots?

Nevertheless, Luke missed the attack, and before he could adjust his stance, Lucy punched him on his left side. Causing a small explosion that cracked his ribs.

When Luke swung his sword toward her, Andrew attacked him from behind, and his spear pierced his flesh a little bit after damaging his chainmail. Luke clicked his tongue, and when he saw the dark elves preparing some fire spears while Andrew stepped backward. However, Shalia used her mana and created an ice wall to block the attacks.

When Luke noticed that the archers had already recovered, he made up his mind. At that very moment, the archers aimed their weapons toward Luke. He used Stinger level 04 and then destroyed the head of one of the archers.

You obtained 110 points of experience.

You obtained 225 gold coins.

You killed a fellow human and have the right to learn one of their skills. You can choose between Earth Bullet and Wind Resistance.