16 Bottom Line

"DO YOU WANT TO DIE?'' An enraged voice roared through the woods.

"It actually worked," said the stunned half-elf.

On the other hand, Shin was in no mood for stopping, even though they found what they were looking for. He yelled in the magic circle again.

"At last you have shown yourself, Renal, you moron. But is that the way you talk to your daddy? Come quickly, I'll make sure you learn manners well."

"Fu*k you, bastard," the voice roared again. "Just you wait."

"Come to daddy and get some spanking. Hehe," Shin finally stopped when the magic circle dissolved in the air.

Elior revolved the mana inside him and prepared himself. The spell took away almost half of his 130 mana points. 'Well, it should not be hard,' he thought.

Looking at him, everyone else also prepared themselves except the wilful princess, Scarlett.

It did not take long for Renal, the top runner of the trial, to arrive, and as they had expected, he brought a mob of a dozen people with him as well. Boys and girls of their ages stood behind him like obedient soldiers.

"Who among you is cursing at my name?" the one standing in the lead asked. It was probably the leader, Renal.

He was a boy of respectable height and handsome face. His hair was long and blonde, fair-skinned, but Elior's attention was not on him.

His gaze moved behind Renal, to a girl with chestnut hair. It was none other than Ileana, but now she was standing behind in silence. It appeared she did not even recognise him. And she was not the only one. A few more girls stood with similar lost expressions on. However, the boys were not like that. They had an enthusiastic face discovering so many preys together.

"Ileana, can you hear me?" Elior asked, looking at the chestnut-haired girl.

Ileana in response, looked at him, but her expression was still lost. It seemed she recognised her name, but now him.

"Elior, is that the friend you are looking for?" Lyra asked.

Elior nodded, but his entire attention was on Ileana. It seemed she was under some charm spell. The similer lost expression on the other girl made him think that.

"Ileana, what happened to you?" he asked again. "Can you recognise me?"

"El . . ." the girl under the spell mumbled, confusingly. A faint remembrance was arousing in her mind, but the blonde boy, Renal, stepped in front of her, masking Elior.

"So you know her, do you?" Renal said, raising an eyebrow. "No matter, she was not the one you know from before. Now she was nothing but an attendant under me. I have to tell you, though she is from a lower world, she is quite talented," he added, putting his arm on Ileana's shoulder. "And quite beautiful too."

Veins on Elior's pulse popped. The anger he was containing inside him after the regression was breaking loose. His teeth clashed. "You fu*king bastard," he said in a tone as cold as ice. "I will give you a chance. Break that spell on her and everyone else before I smash that bloody head of yours."

There was no stopping it. On the list of the things, he hated the most, capturing someone else's mind against their will was top of it. And more, this bastard was holding females against their will, not to mention in them was his dearest friend, Ileana.

That was his bottom line. He would not go against his belief, and would let no one go against it in front of him. Doesn't matter who it is.

"Say what?" Renal eyed him mockingly. "Do you know what you are up against?"

"Doesn't matter." His jaw throbbed and his eyes narrowed.

Renal did not reply to him, but gazed at the half-elf, then to Scarlett. "Two more here to add to my collection. Wait a minute I saw the redhead chick before, she was the only one I failed to capture. No matter, this time I won't fail."

"Bastard," Mopher was about to jump at the guy, disrespecting the princess, but Scarlett stopped him. "Your highness, why?"

Scarlett did not answer, just looked at the scene with great interest.

"Brother Elior, what should we do?" Shin asked Elior, even Lyra was waiting for the command.

"Just delay all the girls if they try to approach me for a while," Elior answered, brandishing the spear with mana. Either way, it was not that he did not fight girls, he just loathes to do it. Moreover, here the girls were not at fault.

"But can you stop them? There were a lot of them, you know?" Lyra asked hesitantly.

"Trust me," Elior said, stepping forward. He said with arrogance and confidence, "They don't stand a chance."

"Look at the arrogance of this ignorant fool," one of the boys behind Renal said. "Let me deal with him, Master Renal.

Getting approval from Renal, the boy rushed towards Elior, brandishing his sword. While Shin and Lyra invested in the battle, too. Even the twin siblings helping him deal with all the female contestants.

Elior did not standstill. He met the sword of his opponent. Swiftly within a couple of moves, he put the fellow down.

Renal seemed to take an interest in the matter. He was still resting his arm on Ileana's shoulder and gestured to a few others to make a move on Elior.

"Your highness, why don't we help them?" Mopher could not help but ask Scarlett, who was concentrating on the battle with an amused expression.

"Not now,' she said. "If they lose you can help them, let's see how this goes on,"

Lyra strangled a couple of girls with her strings, disabling them from any frantic movement. She stayed away from causing any severe injury to them. If she was unlucky, her state might have been like them.

While Shin was hugging one and fighting with another one. Even though it appeared he was struggling to keep up with the moves, he was not complaining. It was the closest contact he made with a person of the opposite gender.

The twin siblings were not as forgiving as Shin or Lyra, but they still decided to not use any fatal move on those girls.

Even with all their effort, a girl wearing a breastplate and an arming sword rushed towards Elior. With her were a few other males encircled Elior.

Elior let out a breath, shaking his head. He dodged the swing of the sword from the female and arrived in front of the male. He was not so forgiving to the boy, with only a couple of slashes of his spear blood sprayed in the air. The boy cried in agony.

This is what happens when you follow the wrong lord.

The female swordsman came again; with her were two other males. Elior tried his best to not harm the female, he dodged her blow while dealing with the other two. Elior had to say, she was far better than some guys he fought here, and he seemed to recognise her as well. If he was not wrong, her name should be Lara, a fellow earthling.

She came from the earth just like him to take part in trial zero. He did not have many contacts with Lara in the first time, barely knew her. But as far as his memory goes, he knew she was an outstanding guardian that succeeded in the fifth advancement—quite an achievement for any earthling. No; it was an achievement for anyone.

Elior did not linger on the memory of the past. This was quite taxing to his current body. He felt quite exhausted, but it was far from his limit.

"Stupid," Scarlett said from behind. "Why are you so hell-bent on protecting girls, just do something to stop her."

Her words entered Elior's ears, but he put no ears to it. He had not taken a single hit from anyone here, and he would keep it that way.

Within a dozen more seconds, he was able to bring down the two guys. Now only the female swordsman, Lara, left.

Elior looked straight at her in the eyes with cold eyes. She came at him with the lost expression on and made a move on him. Surprising to her, Elior did not dodge this time. He caught the blade with a swift left arm. He did not forget to coat mana or it would splash blood now.

"Fight it," he said, eyeing straight at hers. "You are better than this."

A faint recollection hit Lara when she heard his voice, though she was still far away from freeing herself from the spell. She bit her lips until blood came out of them. She was fighting against the foreign will that was anaesthetized her mind.

"That one is a fighter," Renal said. Now he was not so relaxed. He brought out his silver sword from the sheath. "It was quite a hassle to charm her, and now she fought her way out of it.

"No matter, I just need to finish some insects then I will charm her again."

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