Zhujiao felt like fleeing. He couldn"t even see the Dragon"s jaws from where he was. He was sure that to the beast, he must have looked like a tiny ant that it could stomp on any time it wanted.When he remembered how Cole was easily able to command the beast, he surely held great power even when it wasn"t obvious at first.
"Ah..."
He could feel a warm liquid running down his legs. He didn"t even have the strength to feel embarra.s.sed because of it.
He only felt shame and pity at his weak self.
"But hey, at least I didn"t run away."
Zhujiao attempted to comfort himself by that thought. But in reality, his legs were frozen by fear. So it wasn"t that he didn"t, he just couldn"t.
Cole gestured his hand towards the Dragon and had it lower his head down to the ground. Its purple eyes gazed at him. Its sharp teeth were taunting him. Its eyes were filled with mockery towards him.
Up close, Zhujiao felt his fear intensify by tenfold.
He wanted to run away.
He wanted to go cry in a corner.
He wanted to go back to his father"s side.
He wanted to go home.
But...
"If you really want to show me your resolve..."
"Jump into that Dragon"s mouth."
Cole"s words rang in his head once again. He wasn"t sure exactly what he was supposed to do when he first met him. The Fairy Oracle hadn"t told him what to do.
He just went with his gut instinct and blurted that he wanted to become his disciple. Maybe there was something else that he should have done, maybe he should have asked the Fairy Oracle. But when Zhujiao thought of this, he cussed at himself.
"You piece of s.h.i.t! Are you so pitiful that you need to be given instructions for every single thing in your life?!"
He felt frustrated.
He didn"t want to be that kind of person. He wanted to be strong. He wanted to soar the skies. He wanted to beat all who wronged him. He wanted to be fawned over by women and be worshipped after by men.
He wanted them to look at him with the same kind of awe and hope they looked at him with before he was turned into a cripple.
Did he truly think that as long as he gained a few cheaty abilities and trained under some kind of secret master he would truly be able to stand proud?
Even though it wasn"t by his own ability?
No. No, he wouldn"t.
He wanted to laugh at his self for having such childish dreams of grandeur. If things had gone differently and he was accepted immediately, would he have so many doubts about himself? Would he have questioned himself so many times in one day?
No.
Zhujiao stared right into the Dragon"s eyes and although they still held fear, they had a new kind of determination.
The surrounding gazes didn"t change one bit with the mild change. That wouldn"t be enough to impress anybody.
Zhujiao grit his teeth and ran towards his death. He put as much force as his arms could muster and pried open the Dragon"s jaws, and without hesitation...
He jumped.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!"
A scream filled with fear, anger and all different kinds of emotions was left in his trail as the Dragon closed his jaws.
A few seconds after, the sky lightened up and the lightning dissipated. The winds stopped blowing and peace returned to the forest.
"Well, he had some kind of resolve."
"Did you think he would actually jump?"
Felicia asked with a skeptical gaze. She hadn"t expected such a development and felt slightly surprised at Cole. She didn"t expect that he was such a person.
She thought that he would have immediately turned him down. That was the kind of person she thought Cole was. A person who didn"t care about strangers. A casualty number for the enemy was just a number to him.
Cole pulled down his mask and there was a playful smile on his mouth.
"50-50. You can never be truly certain about something after all."
〈「May I spit him out now? I think he peed or shat his pants. I don"t like eating humans」〉
"Okay then."
Val"s throat moved a bit and coughed up the Zhujiao that was covered from head to toe in saliva. He had blacked out however, there was a satisfied smile on his face.
Val then quickly turned into his human form and started washing his tongue with a disgusted face. It was easier to clean his mouth in his human form.
After doing that, he went to go behind a bush and started to vomit. The twins walked up to Zhujiao and crouched down.
They then pulled out branches from nowhere and started poking Zhujiao"s fainted body.
Cole just let them be and was planning to go and give his thanks to Val but saw that he was busy.
"But don"t you think that was a bit mean?"
"Not at all."
Felicia appeared a bit disatisfied at Cole. She didn"t think that he was being mean to Zhujiao, she thought he was being mean to Val. The poor Dragon. Being forced to eat a person.
Cole didn"t seem to care. The fact that he went with it meant he was fine with the plan. With his ears, there was no way he didn"t hear what he said.
"Maybe I should let him eat at some 5-star restaurant in the〈Times Zone〉?"
He would find it as a valuable learning experience and he would be able to express his thanks.
"But wouldn"t your show attract a lot of attention when we enter the city?"
Because if so, it would then make the disguise of a n.o.ble entorage pointless. She was pretty sure that a black Dragon was pretty noticeable. Even if its size was decreased.
Cole met her skeptical gaze with another smile an patted her head to rea.s.sure her.
"Don"t worry. I have a plan."
"?"
"Do you two remember his name?"
Cole called out to the twins who were still poking Zhujiao"s body with their sticks. With his question, the twins faced him with an eyebrow raised and said.
"You actually think we could forget it?"
"The meaning behind the name has been burned into our memory."
"He was mentioned in the name list I received."
"Name list?"
"When did you get that?"
They c.o.c.ked their heads in confusion. They had chosen Cole as the leader of the squad so most of the information was sent to him. It wasn"t because they didn"t have the needed qualities, they were jsut lazy and didn"t want to be in that kind of position.
The name list Cole was talking about was sent to him digitally when the squad accepted the mission. Since it was possible to send things digitally, he wondered if the headphone jacks located in their headphones were really neccessary.
"Maybe they have another purpose?"
Was the question Cole had asked himself but he went and explained the name list to the two of them.
The name list contained the names of the clan heads partic.i.p.ating in the tournament and a few notable people from their clan. It was supposed to be a list comprised of the people that would instigate the war but it was too long for such a specific list.
It was because they weren"t able to narrow down the suspect list yet due to limited information. So they just put all of them.
They at least had a few speculations and those were written at the top of the list.
Zhujiao"s was included as the Nan Clan"s heir but wasn"t listed as a threat due to his crushed meridians.
He was marked as a potential hostage that they could use.
"Eh, really?"
"Should we stop poking his body out of pity?"
"I don"t think that"s what he wanted in that shout of him."
The two were now stuck on whether or not to stop poking Zhujiao"s body or to continue on with it.
When Felicia heard that he was potential hostage material, she said to herself.
"Ah, so that"s why..."
"That"s why what?"
"Nothing~"
"Eh?"
Cole didn"t know why Felicia suddenly started acting playful all of a sudden.
With a potential hostage secured, the group finally left for Blue Meadow County.
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-----------------------------------
A new message had appeared!
〔Hostage/Disciple Get!〕
Cole: ...
"G.o.d dammit, Steward."