"P-Please, l-let me go... I-I won't tell anyone about it!"
A guy with light brown hair and black eyes crawled back on the ground with blood marks everywhere and whimpered, his eyes tearing up with desperation.
His gaze roamed around, looking anywhere but into the eyes of the man who was staring right at him with eyes as cold as ice.
That man was one of the men that Sonam had gathered around to toss the coin and decide who would enter the area, and right now, he was desperately begging for his life.
He just wanted to live, no matter what.
He had seen all of his friends die one after another, making him freeze in his spot, only to break free as he found Alex's cold golden eyes on him.
Only then did he start begging for his life.
Even he didn't know how it all started, as everything turned into this the moment it started. It was his friend who asked Alex to move aside, and since then, the atmosphere had somehow shifted drastically.
"Why?"
This was all Alex asked that man, causing everyone to frown.
"Because that is where the egg—"
His friend, however, was one of the most arrogant men he had ever seen, so that guy went on, speaking about why he wanted Alex to move, but that was when things went down to drain.
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All he could see was a black blur, and the sound of metal cutting the air was heard.
The brown-haired man, Ritvik, was standing a step behind the others, but he could swear that something was wrong.
"Hey, did you see—"
He stepped forward, tapping his friend's shoulder with a frown, as he didn't understand what it was, but his words were cut short the moment his hand touched the man in front of him.
*Thud*
The instant he touched the man, the head of the man, which seemed perfectly fine, fell to the ground, causing Ritvik's eyes to go wide in terror, and then, as if in tendon...
*Thud* X2
The other two guys' heads also fell to the ground in the same manner, their bodies still on their feet, causing a horrifying scene to be displayed in front of him.
If not for the fact that he didn't have any water or food in his body, he might have already spoilt himself.
But now, as Alex stared at him, the shit that wasn't even possible to come out started to somehow come out, as his body trembled in terror.
"Please... please, just... let me go, please."
He begged again, his survival instincts telling him that this was the only thing he could do right now; he shouldn't be thinking about his friends if he wanted to live.
Ritvik really just wanted to be left alive, and he really might not tell anyone about what had happened here, as the chances of people believing him weren't really high—
It was then that his eyes widened.
'Sonam!'
An image of a black-haired and black-eyed girl flashed in front of his eyes.
Wasn't she the one who was responsible for all this? Wasn't she the one who told them where the egg was?? His friend was killed the moment he revealed the location of the egg, endangering Alex's life, but the one who made it possible in the first place was the girl.
'That's right!'
"I-It's her! S-She's the one who told us about it—!"
He turned to look at Alex, his hands waiving frantically as he pointed behind him, his head moving to look at the girl responsible for his friends' deaths, but his words were again left stuck in his throat as he found no one behind him.
'Wha...'
"B-But she was here a second ago..."
He muttered as he recalled the last moment when the same girl had spoken into his friend's ear, sending him to the death's door, but those thoughts were the last he had as the next second, his world darkened, and he was sent to the world of the dead.
Alex had already waved his dagger, killing Ritvik in one strike, ending the life of a man as if he were a bug.
Alex had changed into a manipulative assassin form that he had during his peak time as an assassin, but that didn't mean that he would become lax when it came to caution. He was still not someone who would let a person who might possibly cause harm to him in the future get off his case easily.
His eyes then moved toward a certain direction, squinting as he heard something.
"Akh!" Read further on m_vl em,pyr
It was the sound of someone getting hurt by a surprise attack; Alex was pretty familiar with that sound because almost all his victims would make a sound like that as they would never know what hit them.
'Temporal internal projection.'
'Mapping.'
He used both temporal internal projection and mapping, giving him a view of the surroundings without any trees obstructing his vision. But the moment he saw the auras of two humans, one lying on the ground while the other stood straight, he couldn't help but frown.
He was sure that one of them was Sonam, the girl who ran away the moment she saw the guys moving forward; it was as if she was already aware of what was going to happen.
Alex had finally realized why she intentionally lost the last toss. It was just so that she could see what would happen—would they get the chance to shatter the egg? Or will something else happen?
She had even decided to run away because of the off chance that Alex went back on his words, and that was exactly what had happened.
She was the one who had started all of this, but she was cautious enough to take precautions. Now, she was someone who had to be killed no matter what, or she could destroy everything.
A single message about the whereabouts of the egg could make everyone come running back here, wanting to try their luck again, only to get killed, destroying the image that Alex had set along with it.
But just when he decided to kill Sonam, a girl who might be typing the message that could destroy everything, right at this moment, someone else butted in, causing his mood to sour a bit.
*Grip*
His grip on his dagger tightened, and his frown deepened as he saw the aura of the new person moving toward him with Sonam being dragged along.
Who was it? What were they playing at?
Was it someone Sonam had called before she started all this—a member of her team maybe?
This was getting more complicated. How many were there anyway? Were all of them aware of what was happening here?
Would he have to go hunting another organization or something like that?
But just as he was thinking of how to move forward by using the ability he had gained from the Emberclaw, he had to stop in his tracks.
[The Dragon Warrior is imploring you to not do what you always do.]
[The Eternal Devotee of Rama is shaking his head]
[The Remover of Obstacles is asking you to not go down the same path.]
[The Divine Healer of Mankind is looking at you.]
[The Divine Arbiter of Justice and Order is awaiting your decision.]
[The Huntress of the Moon is curious about what you will do.]
[The Enchantress of Love does not want to see two friends fighting.]
[The Metal Detector is saying that you shouldn't always use violence.]
A series of notifications flashed in his eyes, causing him to frown once again.
'Is this the time they were talking about before?'
Alex could still remember that one time a while ago when the gods were all talking about there being a time when he would have to make a choice or something like that. There was something about him getting to meet someone he knew.
But after seeing both Karina and Saurav, he thought that it was done. He didn't kill them, and this was one of the reasons for that, but what was this now?
Were they never the ones that the gods were talking about?
Who was it then?
His attention focused on the entrant; that person seemed to be walking at a slow pace, as if cautious and alert.
It was not something uncalled for, though; anyone would be alert when they knew that they were walking toward a beast that could tear them apart in just a second.
"P-Please don't attack. I'm not an enemy!"
Just when Alex saw the aura of that person about 20 meters away from him, he already had his arrow and aimed it in that direction.
He wasn't going to directly kill them without even getting to know their objective, but there was no risk in being ready for the worst case.
He heard the voice clearly, and it was the voice of a woman—a girl to be precise. And the moment he heard it, he knew who it was.
He had heard that voice before, way back during the second tutorial. At that time, that voice was begging for help, desperate enough to do anything in exchange for that.
The next instant, as if wanting to prove his doubts to be the truth, a girl with coffee-colored hair tied in braids and her bright orange eyes shining with utter delight the moment they landed on Alex, came out of the bush.
It was Ridha Negi.
It was finally time for her to be able to meet up with Alex after this long period of searching.