Free Web NovelChapter 7: Investment 7 — Grudges(Part One)
The story left a nice impression on Elliot. At least now he knew a bit more about Seria than before. Information he would need to progress his plans.
It was already getting dark. Thankfully, they had carried out all the activities they had in mind, from eating crepes to almost buying out the entire shopping mall of clothes and shoes.
They decided to head back to the academy.
"Hey guys. Why don’t we take a detour through the back alley?" Deria said very loudly.
"Sure thing," Edith replied.
"Eh-Eh. Okay," Elliot followed behind them.
Seria didn’t say a word. After the storytelling, her mood had completely turned over, but that didn’t stop her from going all out while shopping.
The back alley was very dark. They could barely see anything. Thankfully, the moonlight illuminated it sparsely.
"You really have some nerve coming back here," a voice echoed from within the darkness.
Three figures stepped out of the shadows. Parts of their bodies were dyed pitch black and looked sinister; the mana around them was also quite unruly and hostile.
"Told yar they would take the bait," the woman beside the man in the middle, who seemed to be the leader, grinned.
"Don’t tell me you little twits don’t remember us?" the other man cracked his knuckles.
"We have waited ten years for this." The leader stretched forth his hand, and his shadow extended and solidified behind Elliot and the others.
"And there’s nowhere for you to run to this time," he added.
"Q-san, I would like the girl that binded us," the other man’s grin widened. From the way he licked his lips, it was obvious he had some unsavoury intentions.
"So they must have been the reason why you took the detour, Deria?" Elliot whispered.
"That’s damn right. I felt their bloodlust from about a mile away," Deria exclaimed.
"They had been watching us since we left the carriage. I had thought that they would get tired eventually, but they didn’t. So Deria and I thought it would be better for them to reveal themselves," Edith explained.
"If you intended to get revenge, couldn’t you have been more stealthy and ambushed us?" Seria stated.
"We paid a little thief to steal any of your belongings so he would lead you here," the bandit lady muttered, eyes burning with rage.
"Oh!" Elliot jammed his hands together. "That little kid. I caught him and gave him a good spanking when he tried to steal my wallet," he mentioned.
"Huh?!" Q could barely believe his ears. "That little bastard tricked us. He said he was the best thief around these parts," he grimaced.
"Do not worry, Q-chan. We’ll deal with him once we are done with these bastards," the lady tapped him on the shoulder.
"Ok V and R, let’s teach these brats a lesson. Listen mister, you can run if you want, but the girls are staying with us," Q’s voice carried.
"I humbly decline," Elliot stated boldly.
"Then it’s your loss," R grinned.
’Shit. I didn’t carry my sword with me.
Then again, I didn’t think we would get attacked.’
Seria placed a hand in front of Elliot. "This is not your fight. You should stay out of it." She looked at him with a cold stare.
"Don’t worry about it. You will just owe me one later." He removed her hand.
"Awww!" Deria and Edith exclaimed.
"Well, in that case, here you go." An ice sword fell onto his hands.
"Thank you!" He swung the sword diagonally.
"I did it because you are a magic swordsman. You guys are useless without a blade," she flushed.
"Okay, okay," he chuckled.
Elliot flipped upwards and landed in front of the bandits.
"I give you eight points for the backflip," Edith stepped forward.
"Cool entrance," Deria smacked him on the shoulder.
"You lot don’t seem to understand the situation you are in. We aren’t the same as we were ten years ago. Especially after that creep boosted our capabilities even further," Q’s mana flared, cracking the ground and walls.
"8th tier spell: Shadow Match."
Dark ooze spread outwards from R’s legs, and clones of him started to spring out of it until there were about thirty of him.
"Attack them, Mes." His clones charged towards them in numbers enough to shake the earth.
"We’ll take care of the clones," Deria and Edith stepped forward.
"I guess that leaves us w—"
"Hey, wait up." Seria didn’t wait for him to finish and ran off on her own.
"Hey Edith. Do you think you still got some spunk left in you?" Deria clutched her fist.
"Really?" Edith rolled her eyes.
"You brats should learn to pay attention." A clone jumped at them.
"Worry about yourself first, you hideous freak."
Vines erupted from the ground and grabbed the clone mid-air. ƒreewebηoveℓ.com
"Hahhh." She yawned as the vines tore the clone to shreds.
"HCKKKK." Deria shivered. "This is why you don’t mess with cheery girls."
"Prepare to be stomped." The army of clones charged at them with different types of weapons in hand.
"Blah, blah." Deria stuck her tongue out.
She vanished from her location and appeared behind one of the clones and bashed its head into the ground. In that same instant, she spun her legs around and broke the necks of three clones at a go.
"7th tier spell: Battle Armour."
Her chest, head, and legs were covered in pieces of stone shaped like parts of an actual armour.
V touched the ground and turned it into lava.
"8th tier spell: Molisse."
Seria froze the lava over, and Elliot ran atop the walls. He jumped off and used his legs to hit Q on the neck.
’It’s hard.’
He felt as if he had hit a metal wall. Q’s body was heavily reinforced and sturdy.
"You little brat." Q grabbed Elliot’s leg and slammed him into the ground. When the dust dispersed, he vanished from Q’s line of sight. He hit Q with a heavy sword strike from behind that thrusted him into a wall.
Q stood from within the rubble, blood dripping down his face. He was incredibly angry.
"10th tier spell—"
A heavy pressure weighed on everyone in the back alley.
"Looks like the boss has finally decided to use it. Your friends are done for now," R chuckled.
"Requis Disequilibrium." ƒreewebηoveℓ.com
An intense pressure blew off his body that sent Elliot and Seria flying into the walls.
"Seria!"
"Elliot!"
Deria and Edith called out.
