Chapter 97 - Mr. Classic Antagonist

"Uh, you do know where our destination is, right, Termi?"

A dizzied look fills Termi's eyes, as she refuses to face the party. "Totally. It's just been awhile, that's all. I need a minute."

As the short girl stares slowly at several of the many towering peaks of the mountains surrounding us, we sit awkwardly behind her on a few large rocks placed sporadically, waiting for her declaration.

"She looks lost," Eniyala notes, chewing on a piece of jerky.

"No shit," I reply dryly, gnawing on a piece of my own. We watch Termi point to one mountain shakily, then switch to another. "Just let me think," she murmurs quietly, switching where her finger points once more.

"I can help!" Ro adds, hopping slightly, but Lynsel places a hand gently on his shoulder, shaking his head.

"Yeah, Lynsel's right there, bud. We don't need you chucking our tank."

"I have wings, dummy! Look, you guys might wanna back up though." He darts towards Termi, but again, he's slow. I try to grab his arm, but it's like trying to stop a Raging Bull. and my arm flies back. He wraps his arms under Termi's shoulders, and before she can utter a single peep, wings unfurl from inside flaps on the back of his tank top, previously blending in.

Termi's screams rip through the air as he flaps, and they shoot straight up into the air. "Ohhh shit," Yorun notes with a short laugh, as the rest of us mentally freak the fuck out.

Remembering how Ro had crashed into the Hollow Armor, I gesture for everyone to back up. "We should get back, if what I think is going to happen happens."

Two small dots poke through the bright purple and blue, slightly cloudy sky. Termi is squirming, panicking heavily, while Ro seems as happy-go-lucky as ever. It feels almost like my eye is zooming in. "How am I seeing all this?"

<The user's eye has overflowed with Mana and Skill Power, causing it to be mangled. Due the flexible adaptive constitution of user, simply put… healed weird.>

"How helpful," I whisper gruffly. "Weird?"

<Just like the user's Mana veins, if something sustains enough damage, body will heal in a way that doesn't allow it to be harmed again. That's what 'adaptive' means, after all. Stupid.>

"You little piece of shi—"

<Oh, and the ability to see Mana through user's right eye increased vision is essentially just side effects of a more durable resistant :D The tutorial would not suggest this for other eye, as it oddly cannot channel nearly well.>

I sigh, ignoring the curious look hidden on Eniyala's face and focusing on Termi and Ro.

Just then, he lets Termi go, and even from here we can hear her screaming, "Fuck, whyyy?!?"

Ro shrugs about something, then folds his wings in and reverse bullet dives downwards, snagging the small woman as he passes her. "Oh, I hate being so right sometimes," I sigh, pushing everyone back several more steps. We watch the terminal speed falling until…

KABANG!!

We shield our eyes from the burst of dust attacking our eyeballs, peeking at the new crater that has been boy-made by an idiotic Lizard Boy. He is buried in the ground just above his ankles, with Termi dangling weakly from either side of his left shoulder.

"So, know where we are now?" he asks, right before taking a mace to the back of his head. Termi must have put all of her power into it, because the face Ro makes, tongue flying out and eyes crossing and all, is so beautiful, I wish my 'adaptive' eye could take screenshots. 'If even Ro gets hurt like that, I have to make sure I never get on her bad side.'

Unfortunately, though I burn the image into my brain, I have to jump into action, as Termi doesn't stop there, her frazzled hair and expression emanating pure fury as she beats on the back of his hands, which meekly protect his head and neck. "I'm sorry… Ow… Sorry!" he cries out repeatedly.

I pick up Termi by the waist, moving her away from him as she struggles against my grasp, swinging her mace wildly. It takes her roughly five minutes to calm down enough that I can put her down. "So? Did it help? I can do it again," Ro asks, giggling.

WHAP!

"Ow! Sorry."

"It's that one," Termi says quietly, pointing to a mountainous ridge on our left.

"Heh, so it did help," Ro smirks, before wincing and throwing his hands up as Termi simply raises her mace. "Ow, sorry."

The ridge was, in fact, not the location. But, from where we stood, we could see a lone mountain to the north that had a large tunnel leading down at its base. "That's it!" Termi sighs in relief. Ro begins laughing again. "You still got it—"

- - -

"Well, well, well. Seems you've grown your party," the large brute guffaws. He looks back to a woman half his size with curly blonde hair, twirling a strand in her fingers. "So this is the loser that got his ass beat by you, Azello?"

I scoff, nearly choking back a laugh. "More like I got him to back down without even touching him like a scared puppy."

{A/N: If the World's Best Readers would reference Chapter 27, we can all see Klum get nearly two-shot. Also, he goes flying. To be fair, it was a sucker punch. But, he also goes flying.}

Azello rolls his eyes. "Please. I just let you off easy, because you're such an easy fucking target."

"Oh really? How about you show everyone how easy you let me off?" I sneer, shoving my tongue out towards the man.

While egging him on, I observe his NPC party. From what I can tell, there is what looks like a mage, some kind of druid, the girl, who is probably a healer judging by her plain brown clothing, another buff man who loosely resembles the party's Brawler, and of course, the idiot himself. They all were leaving the tunnel leading inside and under Mt. Turra as we had approached.

He growls, before his eyes land on a specific member of our own party, in the back. "… The fuck is wrong with your face?"

Ro ignores the Brawler as he shines something shining in his hand, his eyes glazed with a pouting expression on his face — or what's left of it behind a mound of bruises from Termi's face. However, his lack of a response clearly angers the large man, who storms past all of us (without much resistance) to the boy sitting criss-crossed. "I'm talking to you, bitch!"

A loud slap hits our ears, and Big Bad Brawler's eyebrows twitch as the glazed eyes of Ro rise to look around in confusion. "Huh. Must have been the wind," he says, huffing a small black cloud on the object — which I now see is a gold goblet — before proceeding to polish it with a dark rag. Everyone stares in visible confusion, and I'm certain I'm the only one that understands that he probably has some curse making him oblivious to the world.

Feeling arrogant, I smirk. "Your hand okay, Azwellow?" I ask, noting the swelling of his slapping hand. "He's not gonna fight this go around, so guess you're stuck against me, bozo."

"Fuck you, my name is Azello. Hey! Heal my hand," he commands the blondie, who looks at him in confusion. "Is your hand really broken?"

He laughs nervously. "Of course not! I simply… can't stand the vileness of touching such an idiot."

She nods confidently, as if that had made sense. I rub the bridge of my nose with two fingers, glancing at Lizard Boy. He was still obliviously polishing away his random object.

Oh. It does kinda make sense.

Wiping my hands off on my thighs absentmindedly, I face the man, who is now healed, once more. "You ready, A-fellow?"

"My name… is Azello Paulderain, fucker," he says through gritted teeth, slipping his hands into the giant gauntlets hung from his waist. "And I'm going to kill you!"

"Yeah, yeah, Mr. Classic Antagonist. I'd like to see you try."

I yawn casually as I pull the handle from its sheath, and the usual blade forms. I can feel the hungry gazes of each member of the opposing party lock onto it, their minds projecting the thought of 'gold mine!' outwardly.

"If only they knew what my armor was made of," I say quietly. Eni scoffs behind me. "They'd have a heart attack. Especially if they knew you killed it."

"What??" Termi asks loudly. "What's it made of?"

Lynsel leans over and whispers in her ear, and her eyes widen. "Oh."

"Enough!" The Brawler roars, leaping through the air at me. Termi steps forward, extending her shield. A loud clang sounds from the other side of the thick metal, and I dash out the right side.

"Bring it, A-sellout," I say smugly, brandishing my sword in his direction.