Chapter 7: Association
Chapter 7: Association
Whee!...Whee!...Wheeeeee!!
A shrill whistling noise interrupted Frida mid-sentence, coming from a few meters ahead.
"The scout team," max said in a panicked tone
"Everyone ready their weapons" Frida commanded and started running in the direction of the noise, her hand on the hilt of her sword. The other members of the team followed suit, their weapons at the ready.
"Report," Frida commanded.
"One of the hyenas is still alive, and it's bigger than the rest!" one of the team members reported through his radio.
"Stay put and keep a lookout. We're coming," Frida ordered as she and the rest of the team ran toward the source of the whistle.
As they approached, they could see two hyenas; one on the ground and the other standing, its massive size making it an easy target. But what caught their attention was the figure standing in front of it, covered in blood and with a fierce expression on his face.
"Who are you? What have you done?" Frida demanded, pointing her sword at the stranger.
The man didn't answer. Instead, he charged at the hyena, his body moving with inhuman speed and agility. The team watched in awe as he took down the massive beast with ease, his bare hands ripping its jaws apart.
"He's an awakener!" one of the team members exclaimed.
Frida looked at the man again, studying him carefully. She could see the traces of mana around him.
"What's your name?" Frida asked, lowering her sword.
The man looked at her, his eyes silver like the moon.
All of the team behind Frida pointed their guns in Raven's direction, except for Frida all the rest of the team had assault rifles in their hands.
"Answer my question" Frida again asked in a calm but cautious tone.
"Wyy… ahem…ahem… why shuld i" Raven tried to speak, his voice still sounding a little off. The Perfect Pitch skill had given him the ability to speak in any language and produce any sound, but he had to first listen to the language before he could adjust to it. That was also the reason why he hadn't answered any of the questions the team had asked him.
"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Frida asked again while the rest of the party pointed their weapons at Raven.
"Its non of yor bisness…ahem" Raven answered, still adjusting his voice.
"I regret to inform you that we are from the Association, and it is our business. So please cooperate and answer our questions honestly, don't make it difficult for yourself," Max said, standing beside Frida.
Raven gazed at him with his gleaming silver eyes, stained with blood, causing Max to feel a chill run down his back. He retreated and positioned himself behind Frida.
"Leader," Max said in a meek voice.
"Listen, answer our questions, or I will be forced to apprehend you in the name of the Association for not cooperating," Frida said in a commanding tone.
Raven looked at her, but this time he started walking towards her, looking directly into her azure eyes.
"Halt, or else we'll fire!" one of the men screamed.
"I won't answer anything until you people drop those things in your hands," Raven said to Frida while walking towards her.
"Did you kill these hyenas?" Frida asked, staring directly into Raven's metallic eyes.
"Like I said, I won't answer anything until you drop them," Raven said, stopping near a tree in the middle of the circle that the group had formed around him. He lifted his hand and punched the tree with all his might, breaking it in half.
"Or we can do it the hard way," Raven continued. He didn't have much strength left after fighting and running from the hyenas, but he mustered all his leftover strength to make a demonstration for these unknown people with unknown weapons in their hands.
[Harrowed Active]
[Name: Raven Whitelock]
[Age: 24]
[Level: 1(500/1000 exp)]
[Health: 50/100]
[Mana: 200/1000]
[Strength: 46]
[Agility: 24]
[Stamina: 44]
[Intelligence: 45+2]
[Defense: 34]
[Ability(s)]
[Perfect pitch(C)]
[Intuition(A+)]
[Harrowed(B)]
He had checked the status of everyone in this cohort before showing himself, and the only one that proved problematic was this woman with silver hair and azure eyes. He was sure that if push came to shove, he could always run from these people, but the weapons they were holding were a hurdle in his plan. He knew nothing about these weird-looking things.
The sound of the punch echoed in the surrounding area, shocking all the members of the Alpha Team to their core. They had never seen a demonstration of the strength of this level. Even their leader could not do this kind of damage.
"So what will you do?" Raven asked, looking at the silver-haired beauty in front of him.
"Drop the weapons," Frida said, looking at the people behind her.
"But, leader," someone tried to retaliate.
"I said drop the weapons," Frida said, looking behind her. Her eyes were drenched in fear. Seeing this reaction from their leader, everyone started to put their weapons on the ground. After the last person dropped their gun, Raven smiled.
He deactivated Harrowed and internally let out a sigh of relief, Harrowed was an artillery barrage that could turn the tide of battle in an instant, but it comes with a huge cost.
[Name: Raven Whitelock]
[Age: 24]
[Level: 1(500/1000 exp)]
[Health: 60/100]
[Mana: 120/1000]
[Strength: 23]
[Agility: 12]
[Stamina: 22]
[Intelligence: 47]
[Defense: 17]
[Harrowed: Cost 40 mana per second]
"I'm glad that I have this huge mana reserve, otherwise this skill would be the reason for my death," Raven thought to himself.
"Now, why don't we have a conversation like civilized people?" He sat on the back of the corpse and gestured for the party to sit on the ground in front of him.
Slowly, everyone sat on the ground near the corpse and looked at the bloodied figure sitting on the corpse like it was his throne or something.
Now you can ask whatever you want. I will answer truthfully," Raven charmingly smiled and looked at Frida.
Everyone before him was confused, unsure whether to fear the man or be mesmerized by the charisma of his smile.
"Were you the one who killed these monsters?" Frida asked, her eyes fixed on Raven.
"Yes," Raven answered confidently and with a comforting tone.
The group's eyes shot wide open in surprise. They couldn't believe that a single person had killed five of those beasts and was still standing with just a few scratches and a wound on his hand. Meanwhile, it had taken twenty of their men to fight and kill seven of these creatures, resulting in two casualties and several severe injuries.
"You alone killed all these monsters?" Frida asked, doubting his claim.
"Do you see anyone else other than me?" Raven retorted instead of answering her question.
"What were you doing here in the first place?" Frida asked, shifting to a different question.
Raven looked down at her for a moment and said, "I was lost."
"What do you mean by--"
"Now, my turn," Raven interjected.
"Let me ask you the same question: who are you people, and what are you doing here?"
"We are from the association, the alpha team of the organization. Our work is to hunt monsters and deal with anything related to mana," Frida answered.
"Oh, so you guys are hunters," Raven said matter-of-factly.
"Hunters?" Frida pondered for a moment, but going based on their job description, the term seemed fitting.
"Yes, you could say that too," Frida nodded.
Raven thought for a while and then climbed down from the corpse, starting to walk away from the group.
"Hey, where are you going?" Frida asked, seeing Raven leaving.
"Huh, I don't know, somewhere away from here. The corpse is starting to smell pretty bad, don't you think?" Raven said nonchalantly.
"Hey, wait, wait, wait," Frida ran in his direction.
"What?" Raven lifted one eyebrow.
"Would you like to join the association? You would be a great help to us, and we can offer you a decent amount of money," Frida proposed.
"Not interested," Raven started to walk again.
"Wait."
Raven stopped and turned, looking at Frida with a lazy and uninterested expression.
"Look, I work solo. I don't work well in teams," Raven said.
"You don't have to immediately join the association. You can just come to our headquarters and can see how we work and what things other than the money we can offer," Frida said with a hopeful look.
"Hmmm," Raven looked up in the sky as if heavily thinking about something.
"Okay," Raven nodded.
"Let's go then," Frida said with a broad smile.