Chapter 172: Cruelty

Damian knew his limits and wasn't stupid enough to believe that he could take down 5 skilled opponents that were all slightly stronger than him, with one of them being an entire rank above him, especially in the weakened and wounded state that he was in.

However, he also wasn't one to back down and decided to confidently negotiate with the 5 people that were all about to reveal themselves and enter the open area that Damian was sat in the centre of beside the body of the Moose Beast.

Damian was covered in wounds, bruises and bloodstains.

Some of the blood was his own from all the wounds he had suffered, but most of it was from the Moose Beast and other beasts that he had killed so far in the Beast Woods.

Damian looked even worse due to his torn clothes that were used as bandages and seemed to be very easy to take down, but despite that, his slim yet muscular physique that had clearly been trained was being shown off.

His eyes and facial expression were also calm and confident, making it so that even if he looked to be on the verge of collapse, he wouldn't back down without a fight.

Struggling to stand up, Damian used his bow to support him and get up before facing in the direction of the person that was the strongest out of the 5, assuming that they were the leader.

The figure before Damian wore white robes that had a similar design to the academy robes that he wore, but was much more luxurious and had golden stitching instead of the plain white stitching that Damian was used to.

The robe also had a different sigil on it and it was sone that he recognised from somewhere but couldn't remember where.

After thinking about it for a moment, he recognised it from the Maxwell Fire Family that had young family members who would wear that same sigil, including some of Damian's cousins.

[They must be students from the royal academy. They are the enemies and rivals of my Akegria Academy and the two academies, that are the representatives of the next generation of the upper-class Gobe citizens and lower-class Gobe citizens. It seems that my luck is worse than I thought, but thankfully I ripped up my robes and used them to tie up my wounds, so it is unlikely that they know I am from Akegria Academy] thought Damian to himself.

Standing up confidently, Damian looked closely at the handsome young male who came out from the trees and was shocked to find that he seemed to be the same age as him or only slightly older.

"Hand over the beast core and the body of the beast and don't make this difficult," said the boy as he continued approaching Damian.

Damian didn't know how to react.

He was so direct, confident and overbearing, just like how he remembered the people in the Maxwell Family were.

[Royals and nobles, always so arrogant, but are actually merely scumbags that rely on their predecessors and their surname] thought Damian to himself.

"You can take the body of the beast, but the beast core is mine. I hunted and killed it and the only reason you get to keep the body is because I am not looking to fight" stated Damian.

Damian looked straight into the boy before him's eyes and was expecting to see them consider what he said, but instead, he saw him burst out into laughter along with his companions.

"You think you are in any position to negotiate. You seem talented and have a fire Soul Spirit that is even superior to that of the Maxwell Family, but you don't have a future in the world of cultivation" said the boy after laughing his heart out.

He had mistaken Damian's Maxwell Fire Soul Spirit for another Soul Spirit because of its superior capabilities due to it being enhanced by the Golden Flame Method and because it was the original and purest version of the Soul Spirit.

However, it was still impressive that he observed all of that and Damian couldn't help but be surprised and slightly wary of the boy before him who seemed to be even more capable than him.

It made Damian wonder if even if he was at full power, would he be able to take down the boy before him in single combat.

Despite that, he still remained calm and confident and tried to think and look for a way out of the predicament that he was in.

"We have been watching you for a while now ever since we spotted your disgusting academy robes and were shocked to see how talented and capable you were. You are even better than most students our age in the Royal Academy, but you will, unfortunately, be dying so early" continued the royal academy student.

Hearing that, Damian's heart slumped and he was hoping that he could get away or negotiate if they didn't know that he was an Akegria Academy student, but now that they knew, that was very unlikely.

"Hand it over and I will give you a quick death, or don't and I will kill you slowly and painfully before taking it myself" he threatened.

Seeing that they had no intentions of letting him live, either way, Damian was shocked and didn't understand how somebody could want to steal from him and kill him just because he was from another academy.

For Damian to want to kill somebody he would need to hold great hatred for them and he wouldn't steal from others unless they had stolen it in the first place or weren't good people, but he had underestimated how cruel the world really was.

[Since they truly want to kill me, I will have no choice but to fight, but it would be stupid to try to face one of them head-on, let alone all 5 of them. I need to take down one that seems to be the weakest, then try to quickly escape through the opening that was made] planned Damian to himself, still not willing to give in.