Chapter 46: It's a dungeon
Thorin raises his sword to cut Lucian down. He has waited so long for this very moment when the great and mighty Lucian he had always admired and hated from afar would be nothing like an ordinary man at last. How many years has he spent as Lucian's best friend in his world, looking at Lucian's back, knowing fully well that he could never be what Lucian was destined to be. An important heir, chosen, with everything always in his favor, but in this world, Hlasked, Thorin could be more. Finally he was going to get rid of the black burden that has always weighed his gaze and filled his heart with hot hatred. The more Lucian smiled happily and treated him as his friend as though they were equal, the more anger claimed Thorin's heart; moments like that made him feel insulted because he knows that an ordinary kid like him could never stand on equal ground with someone like Lucian.
Just when Thorin was about to stab Lucian in the middle of his chest, he caught sight of Luna about to cut Reed down. Regrettably, he left Lucian; there was no time to spare. Thorin had taken note of the effects of Luna's blade, and although her combat ability wasn't strong, her blade brought down so many of his men, and that was a problem. He didn't know if those who had fallen by her blade were dead or still alive; all Thorin knew was that they weren't moving. He didn't want that same misfortune to fall on Reed, not when Reed was one of the reasons for his rebirth; if Reed lost his life, Thorin felt like he would lose his will to fight. He didn't want to lose another one of his teammates again.
Thorin's blade strikes against Luna's poisonous blade, stopping her attack as he defends Reed, who he had pushed out of the way for his safety.
Reed fell on his butt, angry and embarrassed as he used his fist to hit the ground in frustration. Luna's combat skills may be lacking, but he was not much of a different from Luna; in fact, from his battle with Lucian's teams, Reed had come to realize how terrible he was at fighting. His twin brother wasn't around to protect him anymore. He is supposed to have changed by now. Not changing felt like he spat disgracefully on his brother's grave. His brother was strong and confident; how can he bear his brother's name when he still remains his old pathetic, weak self?
Thorin pushes Luna's blade with the sword in his hand; in a quick motion, his sword in the air moves to strike Luna, and it makes a harsh, bloody slash that moves all the way from the end corners of Luna's eyes, forming a long, straight slash all the way from her face down to her thighs.
Luna drops her blade and screams in pain as she drops down to the ground. She desperately started to heal her eye without caring about how open and easy it was for Thorin to strike her dead now that she left herself open. Luckily for Luna, Thorin shifted his attention to Reed, knowing that Luna was not getting back up anytime soon.
Reed angrily pushed Thorin's hand away. "I didn't ask for your help; I could have won without your assistance!" He lied. When the battle against Lucian's team started, Reed had hope that they would win because they were more in number, but Lucian's teams were too strong. The men Thorin had welcomed with open hands were in-between too weak and too scared, like cowards, which eventually led to their death. Only a few could stand their ground, but even at that, Lucian's team was stronger.
Reed clenched his teeth tightly, his eyes moving over to Luna, whose bangs were covered in blood; she breathed heavily as she healed herself for survival. He thought of taking his sword to kill Luna now; if he did it, the win would still be his. It was a cowardly move against a girl; his brother would be embarrassed at his thought. And yet Reed felt he had the right to use Thorin to claim victory for himself; after all, Thorin would have long been dead if not for the sacrifice he made with his brother. Nothing Thorin gave or did for him could ever be enough to compensate for his twin brother's life.
"Nothing is enough." Reed blade hovers over Luna's weak state. Feeling like his actions to hurt a weak girl who couldn't defend herself were more laughable than being saved by Thorin, Reed threw his sword away and angrily faced Thorin again, "F*ck!" Reed shouted, "You should have minded your damned business and fulfilled your duty as the damned hero by killing that f*cking villain so that we can all leave this f*cking world!"
"Calmed down, the captain was only looking at for you." One of Reed's wounded teammates said.
Sneakily, on Lucian's orders, Soren and Marta move Luna's wounded body.
Everyone in Lucian's team had been beaten up badly, but the only one who was closer to death other than Lucian, who was trying hard to slow down his regenerative ability, was Luna.
"Can you still move?" Lucian asks, his voice coming out more tender than he intended as he examines how badly Luna was wounded.
"If you are hoping that this will get rid of me, then sorry for you, I'm still alive." Luna tried smirking but twisted her expression in pain. She was still healing herself; usually her healing was faster, but her hidden skill had taken too much mana, and there was something about Thorin's sword that slowed down her healing.
Lucian frowns and shakes his head over Luna's words. She always had a way of making him regret every ounce of concern he chose to waste on her. Somehow it snapped him out of a daze state that made him look at Luna in another light he didn't understand, because she was intolerable.
"Too bad his blade didn't take away your ability to speak for a few hours." Marta muttered hatefully. Despising Luna's smug attitude, she turned to Lucian, glancing at Thorin and Reed, who were still in a silly argument. "Defeating the hero is a lot harder than I… we thought. We can handle his teammates, but the problem is the hero himself; you can't beat him unless," Marta lowers her voice, "you plan on using that ability. I spotted an old tower not far from here during the fight; maybe we can lead the hero and his teammates there and separate them. That way you have an opportunity to use your ability fully."
Lucian had spotted the same tower, but the moment he saw it while being pushed around by Thorin over their fight, his broken system identified the tower immediately as a dungeon, although the rank of the dungeon was hidden.
"It's a dungeon; if we stepped into that tower, we don't know if we would be able to escape." Now, Lucian was once again remembering the dungeon king's last words to him.