Chapter 91 91: Foolish Pride

"Jas, I'll show you that you shouldn't keep looking down on me!" He lifted his sword and without hesitation, he charged ahead.

"Wha? I'm not looking down on you Mark, get back here, please!" She literally broke down in tears with her hand outstretched in his direction.

And as if a bulb went off in her head, her body whipped around to face the only person she knew that could save her prideful and idiotic.

"All of it!" She practically screamed towards Noah, gaining his attention, but it was only a glimpse before he ignored her. He thought that Mark rushing in was just what he needed to see how much he could affect a zombie on her level with his 'Subservient Hierarchy' skill.

But she didn't know what Noah was doing and assumed that he wanted Mark to die. She felt that it wasn't too far-fetched at all considering the history the two created with one another in just one day. Anxiously she looked back towards her brother, her eyes shot out in terror when she saw at least five blurred tentacles heading towards him. And just when the tentacles seemed to reach him, they seemed to slow down enough that even she could see them, but it still didn't lessen her anxiety to see when they were about to skewer Mark before he managed to maneuver past them and advanced forward.

Seeing how effective his skill worked, a smile full of expectation appeared on Noah's face. He felt that fighting the zombie should be possible if it was only this much, but he knew that five wasn't the limit of how many tentacles she can weild.

"I'll give you everything I have! Just please! Please save my brother!"

But even with that, it wasn't enough to grab Noah's attention. Besides the little bit of gold she could have, what else would he need from her that would make him want to save Mark? In his mind, he never even considered asking for her body when she mentioned everything. Would that make him stronger?

Besides, Mark attempted to take his life before. The least Mark could do for him was serve as a testing dummy.

Seeing that even that wasn't enough to sway him. She was becoming desperate, she really didn't want to, but her brother's life was at stake. Her eyes went towards Ailetta and the amount of guilt that was reflected in them made it easy for Ailetta to know what she was going to do.

"Please Ailetta….he's all I have…" Even while crying heavily, Jasmine's appeal didn't change. If anything, her elvish features made her resemble a depressing painting, even without sound you would still be affected by her sadness and her despairing face.

Ailetta couldn't help but be affected by her friend's plea, at this moment she wished that she never made eye contact with her. The guilt that Jasmine felt to ask her friend was even stronger for Ailetta who would need to do the same but with Noah.

Helpless, Ailetta pursed her lips hard, she didn't know what to do. Should she reject her friend who has always been there and never asked for anything in return? Or should she risk the connection she had finally established with the man she had fallen for.

If the choice was only between choosing if Mark lives or dies then the answer would be simple for her, let him die since not only did he try to kill Noah, but he also chose to attack the zombie when he had the chance to retreat to safety.

But deep down she feared the worst. If Mark was to die, Jasmine would not only blame her and Noah, but she would feel that Ailetta betrayed her friendship. She knew it wouldn't be long after where Jasmine would die from despair or she would live, leading a lonely and dull life, similar to an empty vessel with no real goals or dreams.

"No-"

"MAAARRRKKK!"

Ailetta had given in to her emotions and was about to plead in Jasmine's stead, but the hysterical scream had stomped Ailetta from what she was attempting to say.

Mark's ego was beyond the level of dangerous after the couple of times that he evaded the tentacles. He truly believed that he was strong enough to beat the zombie that he even made a few swings to the tentacles he evaded and was able to cut off a part of them!

What Noah and the others didn't know was that Mark really was growing stronger 'in this moment'. One of the biggest qualities and cliches of a hero was always to rise against the odds. Going against an enemy of the current zombies caliber was one of the hidden factors to temporarily unlock this strength. The other…Well Noah was the cause of this unknowingly, but for a hero, a hero has to have overwhelming confidence in themselves or they could never be charismatic enough to gain the favor of everyone else.

Being able to 'dodge' the incoming attacks of a creature that guards with guns had to flee from had greatly increased Mark's confidence in himself that he has long lost since meeting Noah.

The thin blue aura that was usually barely noticeable was now radiant enough to glow through the darkness, bringing its own source of light. The aura now consisted of two layers, the first layer was white and that layer appeared to be more solid and calm while the outside layer still retained the blue, but the aura was chaotic as it flared around him.

If it was before, then there would be no way that his sword even coated in his aura could cut through a tier one zombie as he's been able to just now. His skill, before allowed him to only increase one state by 50% and he could also coat his armor or weapon to increase the durability and sharpness. Now after his heroic spirit has been activated, all of his skills have been increased by 100%. Not only has the durability of his current armor and sword has increased significantly, but that also meant the sharpness of his sword was empowered as well.

With the addition of his strength perk that were able to reach 50 attributes, it was enough to inflict harm to the zombie.

But even with all of these bonuses, it wasn't enough when the zombie sent out close to 15 of her tentacles towards Mark. This was what Noah was waiting for, he focused completely and used his skill to interrupt the zombie as much as possible. The tentacles slowed to a pace where Noah felt that he could easily maneuver past them if he was aided with his elusive ability, but Mark didn't have that.

The tentacles left Mark with no room to dodge or to press forward. His prideful confidence that he was able to obtain in this brief moment had quickly diminished when he realized how out of his league he really was. The only thing he could think of doing was trying to avoid the tentacles while jumping backwards and hacking at the ones that seemed to be the most life threatening.

All of this could still be done if he had more experience since the zombie was under the effect of Noah's skill, but experience was what Mark lacked the most.

He was only able to swing at two of the 15 tentacles and when he jumped back, that allowed 5 of the 15 to move off course since they would entangle with the others. Each tentacle had a radius of 1.5 inches, just one was dangerous enough to be life threatening.

During the time Ailetta heard Jasmine scream, she was shocked to find Jasmine running in the direction of Mark. At this rate Jasmine would die alongside him!

With her adrenaline pumping at an all time high, her first instinct was to support her friend. She believed that since she was able to stop Fenrir during that one point in time then she should be able to stop the zombie in its tracks now that she has grown stronger.

Noah didn't think of anything when he saw Jasmine running to danger, but his attention caught when he noticed Ailetta performing a spell. Since she was using it from a distance he didn't attempt to stop her from using it. A black slime, the size of his head appeared from thin air before it quickly spiraled towards the zombie. He had yet to see her skill in action before, and was more curious of what she intended to do that he didn't think of anything else.

The slime impacted the zombie's head almost the same time as the tentacle had breached Mark's skin. The tentacles punctured almost half an inch into his skin in eight different locations leaving Mark crying in agony before falling to the ground. The tentacles were strong enough to pierce completely through him with little resistance so it was surprising that Mark was alive and that he could still cry about his injuries.

The tentacles were still hovering in place from where they had impaled Mark, not only did the zombie not retrieve them back, but it didn't send out any new ones to continue its attack. The zombie was stuck in place, Noah remembered that something similar happened before he had tamed Fenrir. At first he was staring at the scene in admiration while he slightly nodded his head to the fact that Ailetta was truly growing stronger. However his expression became ugly when he also remembered what happened to Ailetta when she attempted the spell on Fenrir.

His head snapped to his side and to his surprise, he had to witness a scene that instilled him with so much pain that was literally gut-wrenching to bear.

He saw Ailetta struggling with all of her being to maintain her hold on her skill. Her will and experience of implementing and adapting her skills had allowed her to maintain the skill longer than what the limits of her skill and her body would allow. Blood was leaking through all of her orifices at an insane rate, to the point that her face was beginning to turn pale and her eyelids could barely remain open.

Slowly, her body was beginning to tremble and lean unsteadily.

"Ailetta? Ailetta stop this now!" Noah didn't know what to do as he shouted her name, should he knock her out? But he only read about it or saw it in movies. He didn't know if it would really work or if he would bring more harm to her. So he did the next best thing to it.

Slap!*

The sound of his hand against her face almost rivaled the sound of Mark's cries. Noah, in his erratic state had forgotten how much of a difference his physical stats were compared to Ailetta. The slap was enough to make her head turn and due to her dizziness from losing too much blood and from her mental strain, she still managed to fall over. The pain on her face hurt like never before, but the cause of her pain hurted her more than the act itself.

"Wh-why…..?" She looked towards Noah while holding her face still, with a face that screamed why would you hurt me? It was a face that pained Noah to see, but there was still something more important to do so he wouldn't have to witness her doing something so stupid again.

"You win Le…"

His words caused Ailetta to feel confused before she saw a sword appear in his hands. Suddenly he took off towards the zombie that was now able to move again.

Ailetta should be happy at the current events, but instead of rejoicing, she began to cry uncontrollably.

The look on Noah's face while he was turning away wasn't a look that Ailetta wanted to see. That look that showed the care he had for her that she had to wait so long for was gone.

His eyes looked at her with so much confliction in his gaze, it was almost like he was questioning everything about her, about them.

'Argggh! Nothing changed! Why do I have to be so weak!" She cried with a heavy emotion while she stared at Noah's back. Slowly her eyes turned hazy that she could barely see. The effect of the skill was catching up to her. She began to drift off to sleep, but even while doing so she couldn't stop the tears from falling. Looking up towards Noah one more time while he ran past Jasmine dragging the screaming bloody Mark, she placed her hand over her heart with a tear felt gaze.

'Please don't leave me again….'