Do You Trust Me

~I can claim this even though I didn't kill it?~ Gray thought to himself, studying both the golden gem and the monster's remains.

Joshua moved in front of him, muttering something under his breath as he stretched his hand out towards gem.

"Stop," Gray said, grabbing Joshua's hand. "Look," he added, pointing at the corpse below. One of the tendrils was moving, wiggling in the air towards Joshua.

"Eeesh. What is that?" Joshua blurted, pulling his hand away and taking a step back. In response, the tendril went limp.

"No idea. Might be a deterrent to keep people from stealing each other's loot," Gray replied, now staring at the notification that had popped up. It was glowing gold, and blinking.

『Claim Lvl.1 loot box?』

"Did you just call it loot? And you blamed me for acting like this is a game," Joshua replied, still staring at the corpse as if it had something contagious. Well, Gray wasn't ruling out that fact.

"I'm not just calling it loot, that's what it—"

Another shriek pierced the air, and an instant later a monster crashed into a building on the other side of the street. It was a pet store… ironic.

"Never mind," Gray said, before taking a step back. Joshua followed suit.

"What are you going to do?" Joshua asked, right as Gray selected 'accept'.

The gem began rotating, sending even more sparkling dust into the air, before zipping towards Gray.

Gray ducked, and the gem passed over him.

"I think I fucked up. Let's go!" he shouted, already trying to get on the motorcycle.

The gem flew back, and he tried dodging once again, but he wasn't fast enough. It hit his chest. It felt hot, like a burning knife was being driven into him. However the sensation subsided quickly, and he was left feeling a little heavier than he had been before.

『Lvl.1 loot claimed!』

『Navigate to storage to redeem items.』

"What was that?" Joshua asked, his voice drowned out by even more shrieking. Whatever was fighting those monsters was making sure they didn't die without suffering.

"Fuck all that, just drive!" Gray shouted.

They rode into the street, maneuvering around the monster they had just claimed the lootbox from.

Dozens of monster corpses were sprawled all across the street, buried within impact craters. All the floating gems looked like stars fallen to earth, sparkling and sending so much golden dust that it had begun to look like mist.

On the other end of the street was the person… the thing, responsible for all this. It was humanoid; about the height of a bus. Its skin was grey and black, with tribal tattoos that glowed red hot, sweltering the air around it. Its body was bare and had a physique sculpted by the gods themselves.

The creature was currently fighting off three birds at once.

Gray's attention was glued on it; and not in the normal sense. He could feel his eyes being drawn to it; like it held a magnetic effect.

"That's a champion?" he whispered to himself, unable to believe what he was saying.

Joshua stopped the bike to stare as well.

"Why'd we stop?" Gray shouted.

"I'm guessing you managed to collect the loot back there," Joshua replied, turning the bike towards the 'grey' champion.

"And what the fuck does that matter?" Gray asked, still mulling over the fact a champion could be so powerful.

"Well, all this loot's just begging to be picked up. And you did say you liked helping," Joshua added, before revving the bike and driving to the nearest loot box.

"You're crazy!" Gray shouted, right as a monster crashed into the ground beside them.

However, he did nothing to stop him. Joshua was right, someone had to collect the loot boxes. And the 'grey' champion seemed to have his hands full. In fact, he doubted it even wanted them, since it was running away instead of towards the loot.

『Claim Lvl.1 loot box?』

Gray quickly accepted, and the gem sped towards him.

"You get it?!" Joshua asked; laughing wildly. He seemed to be enjoying himself.

"There's only 5 minutes left! Let's get a few more and fuck out of here!" Gray replied, the wind blowing against his face.

Right then, the grey champion looked over at them, right in the middle of german-supplexing a monster. It smashed into the asphalt with a loud thud; Gray could've sworn the ground shook.

The champion rose from the crater, covered in the monster's black gooey innards. It looked at them, unmoving for a moment.

~I said it didn't look interested, but we're still basically stealing its loot right now,~ Gray realized.

A monster swooped down, slamming the champion into the ground. The champion screamed the monster pecked at it, and blood and flesh were sent spraying everywhere. 

Gray felt like vomiting. Joshua vomited.

"Let's get out of here," Gray whispered, patting Joshua to drive.

~Wait, It's regenerating?~ Some of the blood and flesh were worming back to the champion. However more monsters were arriving, and as powerful as the champion seemed, Gray doubted it would last much longer. 

"Let's collect a few more," Gray said, watching on as the champion tore the monster's beak off.

The two of them collected four more lootboxes before heading towards the stadium. The last they saw of the grey champion it was surrounded by the swarm.

###

『1 minute remaining…』

"We spent too much time back there," Gray said, more to himself than to Joshua.

They'd been lucky enough to have the 'grey' champion draw the attention of all the nearby monsters. But they were still three minutes away from the Stadium, and even if this thing could go faster than it already was, he doubted that its old frame would handle the strain.

Gray was already looking for alternatives to spend the night. It was a minute to seven, and it was getting dark.

"I have a plan," Joshua shouted from the front, a smile on his face.

"What plan?" Gray asked, though he could already guess what Joshua was thinking.

The stadium was on the other side of a range of hills, and in order to get there, they had to take a road that snaked its way to the top, before going down on the other side. There were trees and shrubs along either side, so not taking the road was asking for a world of pain… and possible death.

"Do you trust me?" Joshua asked, already driving the bike towards the shrubs.

"No! You're going to get us killed!" Gray shouted, however, it was already too late.

His face hit against a branch, and a stinging pain traveled up his nose. Thorns and branches slashed his skin on either side, and his body jerked up and down as the bike tried its best to ride over the rocky terrain.

"This isn't the part where we die yet!" Joshua shouted, and right then the path stopped being bumpy, and the thorns and branches no longer scratched them.

The world felt… peaceful for a moment. It was as if they were floating.

"Fuck," Gray whispered to himself, realizing that they had driven off the surface of the hill. The bike began tilting downward, and a moment later, they were speeding... well plummeting down the other side of the range.

The stadium was at the bottom; meaning they would get there, dead or alive. A green aura surrounded it, like a pillar of light that rose into the air. It was fascinating, but Gray had other things to worry about right now.

The bike skid across the hill's steep, bumpy surface for a moment, before bouncing off once again. It was a miracle they hadn't crashed into a tree yet.