Thud
With a toss to the ground, three tied-up figures glared hatefully at their new captor.
Iyvre couldn't believe they had lost to a human— and to a weaker one at that. She couldn't understand what had happened. The moment they stepped into this compound, not only had they lost their Aether senses, but every technique and spell consumed far more Aether than it should have. The air around the area just kept getting heavier the more they fought.
And as for the human, it felt like he could predict their moves—no, sense them with instincts a mere Tier 1 Iron Fighter shouldn't have.
Gazing at the human, covered mostly in his own blood, she hated that she had underestimated him the moment she felt the lightness of his Aether. And now she and her sisters were captured. As for how… clearly this human was an unworthy, dirty fighter.
The annoying part was that they had all run out of Aether at the exact same time he had. Then the bastard started fighting like a madman—spitting, biting, to the point of even throwing stones at them. An unworthy foe, but yet he had managed to put them down.
Rael gazed down at the three she-devils the heavens had granted him victory over.
These bitches had almost killed him, which could be seen not just from the multiple bleeding scars all over his body but also the deep wounds to his waist and left chest. Honestly, he should have collapsed a long time ago, especially after he ran out of Aether. But he noticed they had too, when the blade of the white-sword wielder dimmed and the spellcaster started throwing potion bottles, not to mention the nuisance in the shadows attacking head-on.
Bewildered as to why Tier 3 Rank 1 Aether users had run out so easily, he simply took advantage of the opportunity while also capitalizing on their weaknesses. After hours, he'd managed to tie them up and seize their magic pouches.
Resting his back against the almost destroyed armory, he rummaged through their pouches only to be surprised at how broke these she-devils were.
"For the all-majestic elven race, you girls are broke as fuck," Rael jested, causing the spellcaster to spit at his feet with a hateful glare.
Can't they speak? Rael thought. Throughout their duel and defeat, they hadn't said a word.
"What curse have you plagued us with, human?"
Rael widened his eyes before quickly narrowing them. The blade-wielder—the one he deemed the most dangerous—had finally spoken. But what she said seemed to be the reason he'd won, though he cast no such spell. Still, he couldn't help but wonder if it had something to do with the system, so he chose to probe.
"I had to. You girls didn't give me a choice."
"It's foul and has no honour," the spellcaster spat again.
"Honour? Really? Says the trio who ganged up on me, on my property, with intent to kill me."
"You attacked us first," the blade-wielder—likely their leader—retorted.
"And what the hell would you have done if you were in my shoes? Welcome me with open hands? Besides, if beauties such as yours chose to knock, I might have considered opening, hehe." Rael smirked, winking at the spellcaster, who clearly wanted to kill him for reasons deeper than the others.
"Pathetic scum," she hissed.
"What kind of array can a Tier 1 Iron Fighter like you use? I'm curious," the shadow-walker asked. She seemed to be the youngest now that he looked at them without the adrenaline of battle.
Hmm… so they think it's an array. So it has to do with my territory. That's new. Well, considering hellworgs don't speak nor use Aether like humans, that could explain the difference.
Coming to that conclusion, Rael felt at ease. Clearly their Aether was being drained. How? He had no idea. Probably because they were intruders. Was he complaining? Not at all—he would've been dead otherwise.
Picking up his broken axe from the ground—he'd switched to it after losing the short sword—he moved toward the tied-up trio.
"Don't you dare try anything foul, human," the spellcaster—whom he was now calling cranky—snapped with a glare.
He smirked. "Sadly, I'm not into such petty cravings, nor am I a pig or a dog. So you three are lucky… or not. I should probably kill you for almost sending me to my grandma in the heavens."
Expecting panic or pleading, Rael was amazed to see they just stared—well, glared—in silence.
Hmm… I did hear elves can be stubborn and prideful, so clearly they won't beg.
He had no intention of killing them anyway. Aside from being on the verge of collapsing, he had just discovered he didn't need to kill them to be rewarded. Clearly defeating them granted him a reward, and honestly that was the only reason he wasn't planning to kill them—not to mention the new quest that had appeared in his logs.
Rael rummaged through all the pouches he had, bringing out more ropes and even chains, then tied the she-devils at the center of his compound—well, what remained of it.
"Tsk," Rael cursed.
The she-devils had undone a lot of his hard work. Ignoring that, he dragged the three women across the ground, leaving them in front of his longhouse before heading inside. He left the door open so he could keep watch, then slumped onto his makeshift bed, bearing the pain as fatigue and burning wounds washed over him like a tidal wave.
Groaning as he focused on refilling his reserves, he couldn't help but smile.
He could feel it—he was about to break through to the next tier.