"See ya on the other side."
After bidding Alex farewell and walking through the portal, the young master experienced a brief period of darkness before seeing light once more, in the form of red and yellow streaks of lightning across the faint purple sky, like the NIGHT that happened earlier.
Splash!!
He accidentaly dipped one foot in the green swampy water in front of him, an accident born out of careless gallivanting.
[DING!! CONGRATULATIONS ON ENTERING THE POCKET WORLD, BLOODSUCKERS' SWARM.]
[NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS : 5]
[ 1 Hollow, 2 Hollow- halflings and 2 Humans detected.]
[OBJECTIVES]
1. Kill the boss or reduce participant number to one (1).
2. Survive the endless waves of Evolved mutated mosquitoes for <04:56:22>
[PENALTY FOR FAILURE - Eternal entrapment in pocket world. ]
Reading the messages, the young master was confused about a lot of things.
Firstly, where had the swirling black portal vanished to.
Second, what did the messages mean when it said that only two humans were partaking in the trial.
Third, why were there such hard conditions and an even harsher penalty for a reward when they voluntarily decided to step through the portal.
And last but definitely not the least, why was he feeling a gaze that sent chills down his spine.
Working up the courage, he drew one of the two katanas he had packed out of its sheath and walked to the bush he felt the gaze from, his limited edition sneakers crying out in agony as they kissed the algae covered muddy terrain.
Swish!!
"Nngghhh".
The top half of the shrub fell easily under the might of the katana forged by Astra, revealing a sight that made his blood turn cold.
Behind the bush was a man on all fours, not an everyday occurrence buy not a blood chilling event either.
What chilled his blood was what he was wearing and doing.
In a pink latex bodysuit, the man on all fours had his ass in the young master's direction, a faint scratch, probably the result of his pruning of the bush, decorated his left cheek, a faint hint of blood outlining the scratch.
Mistaking the young master's stare as a lustful one, the other man continued with his 'unique' words.
"~Zaddy~, you can do whatever you want with me, just be gentle with me."
Being put on the spot, the young master did what anyone in his situation would do.
Run.
Not because he was disgusted by the situation.
No.
He wasn't against people wanting to express their selves, though you wouldn't see him in a protest.
He was fine with it, as long as he wasn't the one they were expressing their feelings to.
He ran because they were in a pocket world, and their time to complete the set objectives was running out.
Yeah, that's why.
Cling! Cling!! Cling!!!
"Zaddy, wait for me."
His acquaintance was running behind, letting out a jingle with every step taken.
Curiosity eating away at him, he turned to see what was causing the jingle.
A mistake he would never repeat in his life.
His pursuer turned out to be a 7 foot tall moving brick wall.
A handbag dangling from his left hand, lips coated in red lipstick, a collar with a bell on it was wrapped around his thick neck, and on his feet were a pair of hot pink heels.
His latex bodysuit tightly clung to him, acting like a second skin which didn't leave much room for imagination.
Aside all these eye-catching qualities, there was one more which stood out like a sore thumb.
The big brute's eye was pink.
Not the kind of pink gotten by wears contact lenses.
No, his whole eye was pink, the right one.
A uniform pink energy seeped out of his right eye, covering the whole thing such that no features were distinguishable.
No cornea, no iris, no pupil, nothing.
Sort of like what Carol described to him when they were talking about Alex's earlier rampage, only his eye was red.
They didn't know what it was so they didn't mention it to him, but now that a similar occurrence presented itself he would see what he could find out about it.
"Zaddy, catch me."
The hulking wall of muscle tensed his muscle a bit and leaped towards the young master, heels finally giving out under the pressure while their owner flew in the air with a smile.
Seeing a human projectile flying at him, the young master calmed his terrified heart and activated TIME DILATION, dodging the man and watching in slow motion as he fell face first into the swamp water.
"Hahahaha, he just …, and then you…, and then he …, hahahaha."
Uncontrollable fits of laughter came from up in the tree as a figure rolled around on a thick branch before eventually falling down on the tree roots.
Part confused and part worried, the young master watched as a girl emerged from the bushes around the tree, still laughing.
"Ku-hmm, khmm. Eh sorry about that, the name's Tess by the way."
"Wha- erm, name's Charles and uh simple question. HOW THE F*CK ARE YOU STANDING AND NOT SCREAMING IN PAIN."
"Oh that, hehe. It's my special skill and I'll only tell if you tell me yours first."
Eyeing the girl, the young master couldn't help but acknowledge her unique outfit.
She wore a black tee with cargo pants, an outfit which didn't exactly highlight her femininity, but didn't diminish it either.
She also had a toolbelt around her waist, but instead of the generic screwdriver or spanner, there was a row of knives as well as a blck pistol.
All in all she was radiating the aura of someone who had watched one too many survival videos.
"Hey mister, what's with your weird outfit. Are you supposed to be some secret service ninja or assassin of some kind. By the way cool katana, can I see it."
Mentally doing a 360 of himself he had to admit that he did kind of look like a ninja.
"Uh no. I'm not a ninja and don't deflect, how did you survive that fall."
"I'm not deflecting, mister. I said I'll tell you when you tell me."
"Tsk, fine. My special skill is TELEKINESIS, and stop calling me Mister. I'm not that old."
"Whoa,TELEKINESIS. That's like moving things with the mind right. Cool. Quick question, can you fly using your skill, or make me fly."
"Fly, well I've not tried that yet and you've still not told me yours yet."
"But that's because you only told me one dummy. Everyone had two, one sin and one virtue."
"Yes that's how it goes. I tell you one, you tell me one."
"Hmm, that sounds fair but you need to know my skill, I don't. Apocalypse 101, know thy enemy, know thy self."
'Survival nerd, called it. TIME DILATION'
One second Tess was feeling smug about having outwitted a senior, the next second she was staring at the air, the katana's cold metallic edge pressed against her neck.
"Do you feel like telling me or should I find out myself."
Scared shitless, Tess blurted out both of her special skills and their associated sin and virtue.
Patting her head and whispering, 'good girl' in her ear, the young master activated his skill and returned to his earlier spot.
"And that's reality 101, never try to outsmart the guy with two sharp katanas. Also I've confiscated your gun, little girls shouldn't be carrying guns."
"Tsk, bully. And I'm not a little girl, I'm 19 years old."
Ignoring her childish pout, the young master thought, 'SKIP and RESISTANCE, her skills sure are useful for not getting hurt. She could be the perfect rogue.'