Chapter 75 - An Issue of Pride

Rynold swallowed a mouthful of dry air.

He stared blankly at the ominous threat that was in front of him. While Leo didn't seem to have any sort of problems clashing with the enemy head-on, Rynold was smart enough to pick his own battles. And, for the lack of a better explanation, this was a battle he would much rather not pick.

"Well," the man suddenly spoke, "I've had enough fun for today."

The man's tone was nonchalant. What terrified Rynold, though, was that the man had a friendly face. Admittedly, the friendly smile of the man was backed by good intentions because, otherwise, they would already be dead.

Rynold, however, misunderstood the man's friendly intentions and thought that there was a sadistic side to his statements. Why else would he be smiling?

Contrary to his thoughts, though, the man just got up and left. He casually walked out of the building as if nothing had happened.

Rynold wasn't sure of it but he guessed that the guy must've gotten what he was after. No person would just casually walk out like that, especially if he knew that he could kill everyone around him.

The group just stood still and was frozen at the moment. Jack's eyes were unblinking as he failed to process what had happened while Rynold just stared blankly into space.

It was understandable, considering that the development was odd to the core.

A man who could kill all of them with a flick of his fingers just... left? Just like that? No confrontation needed at all?

What the hell?

Leo caused a rumble to the side as he managed to get down from the indent on the wall. The sudden groans of pain managed to snap Jack and Rynold out of their daze as they watched the Thunder God Candidate recover.

"Where — where is he?" Leo struggled to ask.

Rynold blinked twice before regaining his focus. "He left. Whoever that guy was... he left."

"Damn it!" Leo suddenly burst into a fit. "Why the hell did you idiots let the guy go, huh? Can't you see that he was the one who caused all of this shit? And you idiots just let him go?!"

Before Rynold could even refute him, Jack got to it first.

"Can it, would you? You're even a bigger idiot than I thought," Jack snapped back, "You honestly think we could fight a guy like that? It took just the three of us to kill one of them and now you want us to kill another one for you?!"

Leo's eyes burned with rage once more. Jack's statement managed to hit a spot in Leo's foolish pride.

"I swear to g-" Leo started raging but he was interrupted.

Rynold cut him off before saying anything else. With a mocking tone, he spoke.

"Let me guess, you're gonna call us names because we didn't stop the guy from getting away. Then, you're gonna start throwing punches and kicks at us because you have to show off how strong you are," Rynold raised an eyebrow and spoke in a pitiful tone, "And then, after you beat us, you're gonna shit on us with insults for the rest of our lives?"

Seeing Leo's reaction of pure fury, Rynold was sure that he had hit a bullseye on the guy's pride.

He sighed to show that he pitied the man who thought he was special in every sort of way before continuing.

"In case you haven't noticed, we aren't in a world where people like you get away with everything you want. Shit like that doesn't work anymore. All of us can beat the living daylight out of you without even going all out. So, you better stop acting all high and mighty."

Rynold shook his head as he stood up on his two legs, finally recovering his balance. He then cradled Margareth and carried her in his arms. Without sparing another glance, he took slow steps towards the exit.

Under his breath, Rynold said a few words while facing the empty hallway.

"It's just pathetic."

Like a cannon exploding, Leo rushed at Rynold. The Thunder God Candidate had a shallow mind and a very prideful personality which meant insults would only lead to one thing. No matter who or what he was fighting against, Leo had to show off how powerful he is.

Yelling as Leo ran towards him, Rynold was indifferent. Truth was, he didn't care for a personality like Leo's. It's not that he hated the guy. No, it was more of Rynold just thought the whole act of having to prove themselves was boring. There was no fun when dealing with people who were more stubborn and prideful than anything else.

Before Leo could even get to Rynold, X immediately moved and slammed his elbow. The resulting attack managed to hit Leo's back and slammed him towards the ground. The slam was audible that Leo was sure to break bones in his body.

In which case, Rynold simply shook his head and said nothing.

Leaving Leo behind, Rynold and the rest walked out of the building.

The elves of the Rogue Elves Division were starting to wake up. Since Rynold didn't want to deal with any more drama for today, he walked out of the building without looking back.

This day had turned into a long one. Rynold and Jack were both tired while Margareth and Oliver needed immediate medical attention. Unfortunately for them, though, the Mana lines that powered the Tree were still broken which meant they had to walk.

Luckily, the medical ward was situated much nearer than they had thought and they soon arrived.

Once inside, Rynold placed the unconscious elf down on the nearest medical bed. As it turns out, the medical staff assigned were well-versed in healing magic. Since Margareth's condition wasn't life-threatening, the treatment ended much sooner than Rynold expected.

Oliver, on the other hand, was much worse than Rynold had initially thought.

According to the medical staff, Oliver's physical state was, in layman's terms, okay. He suffered some physical injures here and there but it was nothing a little rest and recovery magic couldn't fix.

What caused his condition to worsen was the vile Mana that seemed to have corrupted his Mana Core and Channels. The cost for accepting the devil's deal proved to be too high for Oliver and was now suffering the backlash.

There was nothing that the healers could do to make Oliver's condition better. The rest was, essentially, up to Oliver himself.

Rynold sighed in defeat. The battle that had occurred costed a lot more than they had gained. Going out and fighting Shado was a big mistake, especially since none of them actually had a good enough understanding of Mana.

He sat down in the room that Margareth was in and stared in silence. Jack, noticing that Rynold was in deep emotional turmoil thought to comfort him, only to shy away at the last second.

Jack decided that maybe talking about it would only lead to worse circumstances. Nothing he could say would change anything. With that, Jack decided to pat Rynold on the shoulder and headed out of the medical ward.

With a steeled expression and newfound determination, Jack got to work.

Meanwhile, Rynold was still staring off into the distance, his thoughts running wild. He felt helpless and reluctant to do anything as he sat in his chair, unmoving.

Soon enough, he passed out.

"You know what bothers me the most?"

A voice suddenly called out from within Rynold's dream once again — a voice that he had heard of in the past.

"Sentient beings, no matter what race, no matter what gender, shape, size, appearance, what have you, always, ALWAYS find a way to mess things up."

Rynold, who was running low on patience, responded, "Your point being?"

"Alright, don't get snarky with me, kid," the god replied unamused.

"My point is you idiots don't seem to know what you're doing. You keep on asking these big questions only to find yourselves getting half-assed answers. Some of you dumbasses don't even know what the hell you're doing, completely oblivious to the people around you.

Sure, they don't know how to ask the questions that matter and maybe that's a good thing. But, more often than not, those unaware ones piss people off.

Take that Candidate the Thunder God chose, for example. All I'm thinking is what the hell was he thinking choosing a guy like that? Choosing a guy that knows nothing but to punch things and show off as a candidate? Is he nuts?"

The Mech God was obviously running on edge for whatever reason, not that it was any of Rynold's concern. Well, on the one hand, Rynold was sort of glad that he had the same thoughts before so he knew what the Mech God was talking about.

"Can't believe a god is unloading all of his worldly problems onto a lowly mortal. I thought you guys had more pride than that," Rynold spoke in a mocking tone.

"Besides," Rynold continued, "most people are like that. It's what's normal in this world. What else can you do about it?"