Chapter 57: Help(3)

Bell looked at Luke for a while, totally disregarding the bloody battlefield around him. He then slowly reached his hand out to Luke and grabbed it. Luke slowly lifts him.

"Hey."

Bell looked at Luke, who was calling him. Luke then added.

"Come with us. No, you have to come with us."

Bell just looked at Luke with a dumbfounded expression. But he then flinched when he saw the extreme seriousness in Luke's eyes.

Luke just stared at Bell. He had no time to give an inspirational speech to Bell. He was in the midst of a fucking disaster. He also has some tasks to complete. His complicated thoughts blocked his reasons for convincing Bell. Luke just turned around and spoke.

"Go behind the children with green hair over there. They will bandage your wounds."

Bell then noticed some green-haired children battling some of the monsters on the side. Bell didn't know why, but he unknowingly nodded and ran towards the children. Luke saw this and positioned himself. He then looked at the failed experiments charging towards him with bloodshot eyes. He needed to lose steam with these guys or else he might hit a random innocent person and beat him up.

Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!

Luke kept slashing and slashing. He just continued to kill monsters without even caring about his surroundings. He knew he needed to let off some steam because he had a lot of work to do after this. And those thoughts pissed him off.

Luke slashed and killed so many monsters in such a short time that the Gron people forgot they were in the midst of a battle. The sight in front of them was like the definition of a one-sided massacre.

They looked at Luke with terrified eyes. They can only imagine what he'll do if they disturb him because his aura is so dark and violent. Even the tamed beats and animals sensed it and tried to stay as far away from him as possible.

Meanwhile, the group looked at Luke with both confused and uneasy eyes. This was the first time they'd ever seen Luke so enraged. There must have been something that happened in the forest.

"Just what kind of monster....?"

"Does he have unlimited stamina?"

"Twenty... thirty... Forty... The number of monster corpses just kept piling up."

"Just who is he?"

The Gron people totally forgot to fight and just looked at Luke slaughtering monsters with blank eyes. He is strong... Maybe stronger than their king and his beasts altogether. But they all then flinched when they heard a beast roar from behind them.

Roaaaaarr!

When they heard a familiar roar, the Gron people turned around. It's the roar of the infamous tamed hybrid beast of their King. He's here, the so-called cold and emotionless ruler of Gron...

"What are you all doing?"

The Gron people and Luke's group looked at the source of the cold but powerful voice. They then saw a man with a perfectly toned body with lots of scars. He has messy and long dark brown hair. Someone then shouted.

"It's the king! King Ruth!"

"It's the king! He's here!"

Ruth ignored his people's cries and looked around the area with his blank and cold eyes as if he didn't care what was going on in his kingdom, as he just stared at them blankly.

But Ruth's eyes then stopped when he saw someone continuing to move and kill monsters even with his presence in sight. It's a thin-looking man with silver hair and a pair of sharp, cold, purple eyes. He kept looking at him, sensing that the man, despite his twig-like body, was strong.

"Raphael."

Growls

A humongous lion with a pair of hawk wings suddenly came forth at Ruth's call. Ruth's unique half hawk-half lion-tamed beast that piques the interest of the neighboring kingdoms, Raphael.

Raphael then stopped at Ruth's side and Ruth calmly caressed his mane. Ruth then looked at his people with cold and sharp eyes, which made his people gulp in nervousness. Ruth then slowly spoke emotionlessly.

"What are you all standing for? Why aren't you fighting? Are you waiting for the monsters to eat you? Is that it? I might as well feed you to Raphael if that's the case."

At those words, the people and the tamed beasts immediately panicked and shook their heads at Ruth nervously.

"O-of course not! We shall fight!"

"R-right! Fight off those evil and hideous monsters!"

"Destroy them!"

"Ahhhhhhhhh!"

The Gron people immediately charged towards the monsters but still left a bit of space for Luke. It looked like he did not care if they joined in or not at all. He just kept killing monsters emotionlessly, exactly like their king, and the fact that they all acted the same terrified them.

At this terrifying thought, the Gron people regained their senses and began to scream while ripping the monsters apart. The children saw this with an expression of disbelief.

"Wow, they are so strong."

"I couldn't sense mana in their movements. They were just fighting with their own bodies."

"Did you hear the king's voice earlier? It's so cold and loud that it brings shivers down my spine. And also, what kind of beast is the one that's beside the king?"

"Won't their bodies be sore after this? And I think that is a hybrid? It's the first time I've seen one in person."

The kids kept glancing at the Gron people with their tamed beasts while stabbing the monsters with their mana arrows. They then slightly stopped when they saw a red-haired man running towards them. Lily immediately supported the man because he was injured and looked like he was in pain while running.

"Sir? Are you okay?"

Lily then slowly guided the man behind his siblings for protection. Lily then took out a potion that Luke gave to her before they came here. She then offered it to the panting red-haired man.

"Sir, please drink this."

The man looked at Lily in disbelief. He couldn't believe it. He was a complete stranger, but this kid was eager to assist him, just as the silver-haired man was. But since he had no time to think of others' wellbeing, he slowly grabbed the potion in Lily's hands and drank it all in one gulp. His injuries then all disappeared shortly after he drank the whole bottle. He sighed in relief because he wouldn't endure the pain anymore. He then looked at the small dome surrounding and protecting him.

"Please rest for a bit. You seemed tired."

Bell looked blankly at the kid in front of him. She was right. He was indeed tired. He never slept inside the iron cage because he wouldn't know what the Gron people would do to him if he were sleeping defenselessly. He then slowly nodded and closed his eyes. For some weird reason, he felt relieved and safe.

Lily looked at Bell's sleeping face with a sweet smile. She then turned her head when she heard her siblings shouting someone's name.

"Brother Liam!"

She then saw Liam carrying the invisible Nash while slashing monsters that were on their way. When he arrived, Liam immediately passed Nash to Michael. Michael asked, perplexed while clutching the curled-up Nash.

"What's wrong with Brother Nash? Is he sick?"

Liam looked at Michael and at Luke, who was still busy with the monsters. He then looked at Michael and smiled at him.

"No, just.... Look after him."

Liam then turned around and ran towards Luke, who was still slaughtering the monsters non-stop.

Slash!

Luke flinched and then looked at Liam with surprise.

"Liam? What are you doing here? What about Nash?"

"I entrusted him with the kids."

"Did he finally calm down?"

"Yes, but his body is still stiff and he still doesn't say anything."

Luke was silent for a while. That made Liam worried. Luke then frowned and gritted his teeth.

"Tch, Let's hurry."

"Yes."

Liam smiled. Even though Luke's tone was quite rude, he felt Luke's sincere concern behind that rude tone.

Both of them then started to slice the monsters with their auras. And, with the help of the King, Raphael, and the Gron people, they were able to defeat all of the monsters in a matter of hours.

"We did it!"

"Wooooooooo!"

As the crowd continued to cheer, Luke simply looked down at the pile of monsters beneath him, where he noticed the monster with human legs. He continued to look at it for a while before turning his head when he heard someone walking towards him. He then saw Ruth looking at him with blank eyes, which made Luke frown.

Ruth then stopped walking when he was a foot away from Luke. After a moment of silence, Ruth slowly spoke.

"You... Fight me."

Ruth then pointed at Luke. Luke frowned, even more, he is not in the right mood to play with him today. He then saw Liam standing in front of him like he was guarding him against Ruth with his sword in his hand. He then spoke to Ruth coldly.

"We just helped you to fight the monsters and now you want to fight us?"

Ruth flinched when he noticed Liam's cold stare. He subconsciously gulped. He had never felt this much aura coming from a single person before. Are swordmasters usually like this? He has met many strong individuals before, but this is the first time he saw someone like this, unique.

But nothing is more unique than the twig-looking guy that this man is protecting from him.

"And? Is that all you have to say to me? I am talking to the man behind you, not you so back off."

Liam flinched and frowned even more deeply at the statue-looking king in front of him. Liam suddenly felt this urge to beat Ruth up. He didn't care if he was a king or not; all he wanted was to bury that cold-looking face.

While Liam was engaged in a staring contest with Ruth, the Grons simply stared at this scenario with trepidation. They'd all seen what that black-haired man could do; he was very powerful, just like their king. They could see the disaster that would happen from miles away if the two fought.

They then all flinched and stopped when they saw Spencer, Selena, Lina, Julius, the children, and the witch with them, all lying peacefully on a bed of mana while moving past them. They then all frowned and glanced at them with sharp stares. They also saw how these individuals fought earlier and they definitely used magic. In addition, they got the witch that they caught.

The group could feel people's stares directed at them, but they ignored them and continued to walk towards Luke. When Luke saw them, he looked at Michael, and his hands seemed to form, as if he was carrying something that could not be seen; it was, of course, Nash. Luke sighed and turned to face Ruth, who was now staring at Bell.

"Hey, we just saved your kingdom from monsters. You better be grateful and just give us the witch."

Ruth's gaze then turned back to Luke, who was looking at him fearlessly. Ruth then slowly spoke.

"I already knew that those monsters would come. There is nothing I owe you."

"What? You already knew?"

"Yes, an organization with no name has already warned us about this."

Luke looked at Ruth in disbelief.

'If Ruth already knew that the monsters would come, how the hell did he still manage to pull a straight and emotionless face? And what did he just say? An organization with no name? Don't tell me those people were the same people that warned the Fairy and the Flor kingdom? Just who the hell are they?!'

Luke frowned and massaged his temples. So many things keep happening. Why does this continue to happen to him? He just wanted to lay down in bed and rest, for Pete's sake!

Luke sighed and looked Ruth square in the eyes.

"I will take the witch. What do you want in return?"

"As I said, fight me."

Luke's eye twitched. He knew that this would eventually happen. In the novel, in order for Ruth to side with Noah and Reece, Noah had to beat him in a fight. Luke doesn't know what is going on in Ruth's head, but this is how Ruth determines whether a person is trustworthy or not.

"Brother, you don't need to fight him. I will gladly take him on for you."

"No, I'll do it."

"Brother...!"

"Just go and look after Nash."

Luke then slowly pushed Liam aside and stepped forward towards Ruth.

"Alright, let's do this. What kind of fight are we having?"

"Tag."

Luke was silent for a second and so were the rest of the people around him. They couldn't believe what they were hearing. Luke blinked and frowned.

"...Pardon? Tag?"

Ruth blankly nodded.

"If we fought fist to fist, I might just immediately break your twig-like body. I can't do that; I need you to make it through this fight unscathed."

Luke frowned deeply. He was perplexed.

"Why do you need me in one piece?"

Ruth didn't say anything for a second before speaking again.

"If you win, you can take the witch and free access to the kingdom whenever you like. If I win... you will stay here and be in charge of the kingdom's knights and administration. "