NOVEL NEXT Chapter 30: Wise Decision
Hearing Ainen's words, the other Adventurers felt like they were looking at an idiot.
But then, it happened.
A burst of cold unleashed from Ainen, and from that, nine beams shot at breakneck speed, silent, but way faster than any of Ainen's attacks.
'Wha-'
Diana and Naresh tried to react, but it was useless. It was too sudden and unexpected. The passive magic barrier they had was of no use at all.
The moment they were struck by the beams, all of them were frozen into icy popsicles in a flash.
'What kind of ice is this?!' Diana was horrified.
'Fuck.' Naresh cursed, feeling a clear threat to his life.
They were frozen, not just their body, but also their Mana, and their thoughts became sluggish, slowed.
Ainen didn't waste time.
He burst towards the fruit with his Jet Blaze Flight and touched the fruit, pocketing it directly into his Inventory.
"Bye!"
Ainen waved his hand at Diana and Naresh with a grin and left.
Diana and Naresh were frozen, but were conscious.
They saw Ainen waving his hand and leaving, feeling surreal.
They just got duped by a level 51!
CRACK!
Neither of them had a Fire elemental mastery of any rank, though even if they had, a low-ranking Fire manipulation had no chance of affecting this absurdly strong Ice.
They broke out of the freeze, but couldn't chase Ainen.
They had to help their party members first, or they would be frozen to death.
As such, Ainen successfully got the fruit and secured his escape.
"Did you see his speed? That skill he used was quite advanced." Diana shot a glance at Naresh.
"Yeah." Naresh nodded before he pricked his party members with his Mana, jolting them awake.
"W-What happened?"
"The fruit…"
Diana shrugged. "He took it."
"B-But why don't we chase him? Surely, we can track him," Sirika said, unwilling. She wanted that Fire-attributed resource to improve herself!
"Boss, he won't be that far, right?" Henil asked with a long face.
"It's useless. We knew that outfit of his was mystical and strong, but it's beyond our understanding. It's not a normal gear." Naresh's eyes glinted. "Usually, people of lower liferank cannot use skills of higher-tier gears because their Mana quality is not enough to trigger their skills, but he used one, and it was utterly powerful."
"It could have killed us, but it seems he held back," Diana said. "And his Mana cannot fuel the Ice of that level, so that gear must be an Artifact-type equipment. Those are handmade by people with Craft-type class with sufficient progress in them."
Naresh nodded. "Dungeons and Labyrinths doesn't give such equipment."
"But surely, he can't use it multiple times in a day."
"Yeah. There's no way."
"Tsk, let's hope we meet him again."
The mood of others was affected as the rare resources they found were taken away.
Diana clapped as she looked at her party. "Alright, let's continue hunting until midnight. We have roughly an hour, and then we'll leave."
"Good luck. We'll be returning to the town first." Naresh waved his hand and left with his party as they began sprinting.
"Boss, you like her, right? Why don't you propose to her?" Henil cheekily grinned.
Naresh rolled his eyes and didn't answer his question. Instead, he said, "That fellow, Ainen, was strong. He can defeat you."
"What?!" Henil shouted. "He doesn't even have a complete Magic Core!"
"Hahaha, surely he is joking, Henil. Right, boss?" the dark-green-haired girl at the party chuckled and asked.
"I am not joking, Remia." Naresh shook his head. "His mastery of fire was superior to Henil's. The speed he displayed…Henil wouldn't have been able to hit him even with his fastest attack."
"Damn."
"Henil's Fire Manipulation is the peak of B-rank, and that fruit could have pushed him to A-rank…I feel sorry for you, bro."
"We'll teach him a lesson if we meet him again."
As Naresh and his party were exiting the forest, Naresh suddenly stopped.
"Wait."
Frowning, Naresh looked in a certain direction and mumbled. "No way, right?
"What happened, boss? Where are you going?"
Naresh didn't answer and just continued moving while his party followed, confused.
But soon, that confusion was cleared as they heard the sound of battle and finally saw who was fighting.
Ainen slapped the hazy brown crystal arrow with fiery patterns of his bow after leisurely dodging a Wind Blast of a level 67 Zephyr Lion, and that was what everyone saw.
The arrow shot with a loud blast and instantly hit the Zephyr Lion, who was just fifteen meters away.
BOOM!
And so, the second Zephyr Lion also died.
"Hi, we meet again," Ainen said with a smile as he pocketed the corpse of the Zephyr Lion.
"…"
"…"
Suddenly, Naresh blasted off the ground, his superior physical power instantly closing the gap of forty meters as he arrived in front of Ainen, his sword aiming at his body, but not its edges.
Naresh didn't want to kill Ainen because Ainen also had a chance to kill them after he froze them, by releasing just one Ice Spear on each from that outfit, but he didn't. The ice also wasn't deadly purposefully, or his party members would have died.
It was just strong enough to keep them there and help their party members first instead of chasing him.
'Let's confirm something.' Naresh's sword was about to strike Ainen. However, a solid block of Ice formed right as the sword was half a meter away from Ainen, blocking the attack with ease and even freezing it.
Naresh's sword quickly hummed with vibrations as Mana surged and earth motes shattered the ice before it could fully freeze his sword, and retreated.
Ainen wasn't worried about anything. It was three exotic monsters of Adept rank with powerful inborn talents and skills versus one human of Adept rank.
He was completely safe with Saffa, Clovelle, and Fraisea.
"Come on. I got it fair and square. Don't hold on to the past grudges," Ainen said with a wry smile. "Although I took the fruit already, I can still cook food. In fact, I am going to cook it, which is why I am hunting Monsters. I need a few more Monsters, so if you got some wild game like the Zephyr Lion, I'll take them."
"…"
"…"
"…"
"Bastard, give us back the fruit! We found it," Henil said with a red face. "Boss, you-"
However, Henil's words got stuck in his throat as he saw Naresh put away his sword.
Naresh had confirmed one thing. Ainen wasn't controlling the equipment he wore at all. It acted on its own. And with how Ainen looked so carefree, Naresh knew there was nothing they could do to him.
'This guy is interesting…'
"Come on, let's be friends. Better than being enemies, right?" Ainen grinned.
"I am Naresh Wagneel. The leader of this party is Doomfang Brigade."
Ainen blinked, surprised to hear an introduction rather than getting attacked.
"Hi, Naresh. So…no beef between us, right?" Ainen smiled.
Naresh shook his head. "No, because I have concluded that it is not worth it."
"That's very wise of you. Now, how about we have a feast? Give me the monsters you collected, and I'll cook them. Wait, before you say anything, here's the deal," Ainen said with a cheeky face. "If you don't like the food I make, I will give you back the fruit."
Naresh raised his eyebrows.
The others were also surprised.
"Are you being serious?" Henil snorted. "I had a chance to break through my Fire Manipulation to A-rank if I had that fruit, but you took it."
"Well…" Ainen thought for a moment and shrugged. "That's life. It happens."
Henil's face twisted while the others couldn't help but laugh at Ainen's response.
"Fine. Since you made that offer, we'll take it. However..." Naresh narrowed his eyes. "It's your word, so you better keep it. Having friends is better than having enemies, right?"
"Sure thing. You'll be begging me for a second portion. Now, take out the stuff. I don't need the cores of those Awakened-rank Monsters. All I want is their meat and bones." Ainen grinned.
"Alright." Naresh nodded and waved his hand, taking a big pile of Monsters as the party had already taken out the Magic Cores of these Awakened-rank Monsters.
Ainen whistled as his eyes shone. "Great. You saved a lot of my time."
Time to cook and get strong!
'I gotta create multiple recipes this time, and get more Class experience!'