Chapter 118 - Screwed Over

Rotating and leaning on his back, Rynold breathed a heavy sigh.

'Well, that was pretty fun.'

Rynold looked at the corpse of the Mutated Bison that was slowly dissipating into nothingness.

It was a hard battle that even Rynold had to admit. To think that he even had to invest some points into his Attributes was a task in itself. He wouldn't do something like that unless he had no other choice.

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

He leveled up twice from the battle, recovering nearly half of what he spent in terms of free Attribute points. But, somehow, Rynold felt that it wasn't worth it.

The pain that he was currently feeling right now wasn't something he can easily tolerate. His consciousness started fading as soon as he knew that the danger was over. It meant that Rynold's adrenaline rush was quickly subsiding.

Rynold didn't want to pass out, obviously.

Even if he had disclosed a bunch of cards that he had initially kept hidden, Rynold knew he couldn't relax just yet.

It was clear that his display of magic left an impression on those who were closely watching. Rynold's threat level increased substantially in just a short amount of time, after all.

Right about now, this was all that Rynold could actually think about. However, because of his slowly yielding consciousness, Rynold struggled to stay awake.

'Oh shit. The drops.'

He quickly realized that there was something in the corner of his eye. A few pelts of fur and other random things were scattered just inches away from him. Rynold tried to move, but his body wouldn't let him. The loot would easily offset the sacrifices that he had to make.

'Fuck this.'

Rynold threw whatever reasoning he had left and decided to put in a lot more points into his Stamina and Endurance in the hopes of recovering the items. It was practically the last-ditch move he could ever think of right now.

Throwing yet another 10 extra points to each Attribute, Rynold was able to stabilize his condition. Or, in other words, prevented from passing out. He also recovered some mobility as a side-effect.

His mind cleared up a little bit. The only thing that was missing now was a good night's rest and a proper meal. Two luxuries that he obviously doesn't have access to right now.

Reaching out his hand slowly but surely, Rynold didn't have time to waste before the guards come charging in. He grabbed the nearest item and immediately put it inside his inventory. Thankfully, none of his actions were seen by anybody because of the massive corpse that covered him.

Using every aching and injured muscle in his body to scooch over and grab the loot, Rynold was able to take everything that the Mutated Bison dropped. It just took some time to grab it all.

By the end, Rynold had managed to take everything as soon as the Mutated Bison's corpse finished dissipating.

Meanwhile, the crowd enthusiastically looked over and watched to see who the victor of the battle was. Since the gigantic corpse of the Mutated Bison covered Rynold, the audience was surely curious if Rynold had won against the gigantic beast.

The slowly disappearing corpse had built up anticipation beforehand and successfully made the crowd expect to see a clear victor. What they hadn't expected, though, was the fact that Rynold kind of looked dead too.

Laying on his back as soon as he finished gathering the drops made Rynold appear to be dead. It was a classic trick that pets usually did. But, the amount of blood and meat chunks that covered Rynold had certainly increased the effectiveness of the scam.

The only thing was... Rynold didn't plan on doing anything of the sort.

Rynold was too tired to come up with a plan. His current cognitive state didn't give him much room to work with. The only thing that he could actually do right now was act like a potato. It was just a massive coincidence that people mistook him as dead.

It was, for lack of a better term, sheer dumb luck.

The guards charged into the arena to retrieve Rynold's unmoving body. Since most people had perceived Rynold to be as dead as roadkill, the guards were no exception.

However, before they could actually retrieve Rynold's body, somebody jumped down from the stands.

The young man or child, to be more accurate, was arrogantly moving towards Rynold whilst clapping slowly.

"Certainly a clever trick, trash," the kid said as he ominously approached Rynold.

On the other hand, Rynold was too tired to care. Even if he weren't, Rynold would be completely indifferent when it comes to bland insults like the one the kid had just said.

Knowing full well that Rynold was still alive, the young child kicked Rynold with a strong force. It managed to displace Rynold by a few feet with the kid's kick. Clearly, it wasn't as simple as it looked.

'Shit,' Rynold was jolted awake by the sudden force. 'That kid's the source of the magic that I sensed earlier? What the hell?'

Rynold didn't expect such a young child to bear such ominous might. For one thing, it was normal to be arrogant for children, but the strength to back it up was a different conversation altogether.

He was basically screwed.

Even though he was a lot tankier now, Rynold was still defenseless. He can't move his body a single inch to defend himself from the kid's attack. All he could do was take the kick head-on and hoped that he would survive.

Until somebody intervened.

With crackles of thunder suddenly coming into earshot, the crowd looked to the metal gate and wondered who was coming. Rynold, on the other hand, clearly knew who it was.

Dust stormed up the arena in the person's wake as he made his way towards Rynold. Instead of helping Rynold up, the man stood between Rynold and his assailant.

"Wilfred!" he shouted with thunderous might, "You're overstepping your boundaries here! Stand down!"

"Prince Leo...," Wilfred answered with a smirk, "Why would you defend such trash? Trash must know its place, even if I must dirty the soles of my shoes to show it."

"He is my champion!" Leo quickly rebutted," Therefore, he is under my jurisdiction! The rules state that other parties must not interfere with the tournament! Do you dare to start a war with the King's court?!"

Wilfred smirked. It was an odd look for a child of his age but, somehow, it felt fitting.

"Apologies, cousin," Wilfred said, clearly hiding something. "I didn't know that such garbage was your champion. You must have a hard time training this piece of shit to follow you without question."

Leo clicked his tongue. He didn't know what sort of game Wilfred was playing, but he knew that it's not anything good.

"Oi," Leo signalled the guards to come closer, "Take him back to his cell."

Leo left Wilfred behind without saying a word as he accompanied the guards to take Rynold back to his cage. Their interaction left a bad taste in Leo's mouth as whatever Wilfred was playing at can't be anything he could be happy about.

The walk to Rynold's cage was quiet and tense.

As soon as the door to the cell opened, the guards threw Rynold in without a care. Leo immediately ordered the guards to leave the two of them alone. After all, there was much to discuss.

Leo waited for the guards to leave earshot before speaking, "You alright, man?" He asked Rynold as he stepped into the cage.

"Yeah...," Rynold groaned in acknowledgement, "Get in and close the door. I'm getting sick and tired of this shit."

As soon as Rynold said those words, something triggered in Leo's head. 'Has it finally come to this?! Is it finally time for us to do something instead of waiting around?' was what Leo immediately thought of as he came into the cell.

Rynold, on the other hand, could barely move. Maintaining the same position as when the guards had thrown him in, Rynold groaned.

"Calm down," Rynold warned as he struggled to sit back up, "We have time to think things through. The priority right now is for me to recover. We can't really fight when one of us is injured."

"Good point," Leo nodded as he closed the door behind him, "How do we go about that, exactly?"

"Help me up," Rynold's voice audibly weakened after sitting up.

"What for?" Leo questioned, "We don't really have anywhere to go."

"There's a trap door right there," Rynold pointed to the center of the room, "I managed to get another room together just below this one. It's a lot more comfortable than sleeping in this shit."

"Damn," Leo said as he opened the trap door and revealed a tunnel to the cave, "I'm impressed that you had some time to dig something like that out. It's got a nice light and everything too."