Shard of Eltar

Of course as soon as Leo began to enjoy the (easier) dungeon experience something had to come up. Well… he would be lying if said he was expecting nothing to happen, but being followed by an assassin was definitely near the bottom.

“Is there anyway we could lose them?”

Zentella shook her head.

“Great…” There had to be a way to get out of this situation. Get out? “Ah!” Leo remembered that Sophia told him that all cleared dungeons have an exit portal that shows up after the boss is defeated. It linked to another portal near the entrance which is how the guild judges if the dungeon needed to be cleared again. If they could make it there then they could have a chance to at least be with the guards back near the entrance.

Telling Zen his plan they agreed to head straight for the boss room. It sucks that he couldn’t find the shard, but their lives mattered more. Luckily they made it deep into the dungeon so they didn’t need to rush and tip off their pursuer.

“Can they track us if we use stealth?”

“No, while the clan can sense mana, hiding is our that we can beat our own methods. But they already followed us for a while, they already have a good idea of our trail.”

‘Guess that explains why she didn’t sense them coming earlier.’ Leo thought, “So they can still sense our mana, they can’t see the mana trail like you right?”

Zen nodded, “Only I can see mana trails in the clan.” That would be good to know. As for when he could use it? Leo didn’t have an answer right now.

The entrance to the boss room was open. Leo couldn’t appreciate the design as they headed in and sure enough, the portal was at the end of the room. The boss room itself looked as though it was one wizard laboratory, but very spacious to accommodate a.. well, boss fight like in the jrpgs that Leo used to play.

He should be celebrating, the exit was right there, but the both of them new it was too late. Killing Intent. That wave of bloodlust overcame them both. While it didn’t do anything to Zentella as she was used to such an attack, Leo was overcome by fear and frozen in his spot.

The assassin, in the same hooded cloak as the one called Dirk that they fought in the forest, then dropped down dashed towards Leo. They went for a stab at him, but was quickly intercepted by Zen.

Seeing the flash of crimson hair flow in front of him snapped Leo back to reality. He quickly pulled out his sword and tried to swing at the hooded figure.

ALEISTER’S WEAPON MASTERY

Already pushed back from Zen’s parry, they opted to jump backwards to dodge the slash, creating distance. Then they sighed shaking his head, “I knew this was going to be a pain…” The hooded man then pointed at Leo, “Look man, just let me take Zenttella home and I promise I won’t kill you.”

“How can I even be sure of that?” Leo said as he stood in front of Zen.

The man sighed, “Cause man…” He pulled off his hood and showing a young man with long hair and bags under his eyes. “I’m tired. I was just on standby here in Bellen, names Barns by the way, but then you two just had to come to my town. If it wasn’t for that on sight order I couldn’t care less whether you were here or not.”

Leo clocked this man’s personality. It is a classic and almost a staple in media; the slacker character. Any other circumstance he could of used it to his advantage, convince him that this would be worthless to continue. However, talking would only work if Barnes was only a slacker. Characters like him were prodigies in their own right, meaning that he was way stronger than what the just showed.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t let your clan have Zen.”

“Dude, really?” Barns then reached into his pocket, “Is it money, cause I got some gold coins here… Oh shit, I got a platinum one in here.” Generally surprised at the contents of his wallet Barns showed it off. “This should be more than enough to pay you to give up Zentella man.”

“Sorry, but I can’t be bought on this.” Leo said.

“Dude…” Barnes sighed, “Why are you going this far? She’s not your kid.”

Leo couldn’t understand why, but the more Barns talked the more pissed he got. He wasn’t taking this seriously, but Leo knew that he could kill him at any moment if he let his guard down. “Because I promised her; that I’ll always be on her side.”

“I get that. Still, she is the next head of the Crimson Eye clan. I know it’s going to be a tough process for her, but we can’t really do anything about it.”

In the next instant Leo was sent flying. A swift kick to his side was all took to now have crashed into the desk away from the two assassins. “Gah!”

“We can’t run from our responsibilities no matter how hard we try.” Barns said defeated. It seems that Leo didn’t meet his expectations. Zen then tried to slash him only to miss. She didn’t stop, but Barns simply kept dodging out of the way. “It sucks and I’m sorry Zentella, but orders are orders.” He still effortless dodge all her attacks, “Hey, when you are the next head, do you think you can give me more vacation days?”

‘Get up, Get up. Get up!’ Leo repeated in his side forcing his body to move. As expected of a genius slacker character, he was strong. Way stronger than Dirk. He was even forcing Zen to exhaust herself so he didn’t have to fight her. In a weird way, he truly didn’t want to hurt Zen. So what should Leo do? He could use a magic skill, but without a proper understanding of his opponent Leo could burn himself out.

[Shard Located!]

What? Leo looked around and saw that amongst the now broken dest was indeed a glowing red shard. The same shard that he was looking for. “Of course it was in the boss room.”

“Uncle!”

“Ugh!” Before Leo could even reach for it he was kicked away again by Barns.

“Woah, sweet. I can complete two missions today.” Barns said as he picked up the shard.

“Wait… ugh… do you know what that even is?” Leo asked still in pain.

“Huh? Oh yeah… eh not really.” Barns shrugged, “Just that the higher ups wanted to me to be on the look out for the miners bringing this red shard out of the dungeon and take it.”

“What… then do they… ah!” Leo wanted to ask what they could know, but what happen next made his heart sink. A red spark jolted from the shard in Barns’ hand and his eyes grew dark.

“Look. I just do what they tell me, I do not know anything.” Barns began to pace, “That’s all I ever do. Do they ask how I feel about it? No! All those damn clansmen go on and on about tradition or whatever.”

“Uncle,” Zen then knelt beside Leo not removing her eyes from Barns, “What’s happening?”

“Nothing good…” He then turned to Zen, “Wait, what to you see?”

“I worked my butt off as a kid, only to find they don’t even start paying you until you’re 16…” Barns countinued to get louder as he ranted ignoring them both.

Zen then pointed, “The red shard’s mana went into Barns… and is now returning back with his mana.”

“Shit. Barns! Let go of the shard!” Leo called out barely standing up

“OH! Now you want to tell me what to do?” Barns snapped in anger, “What gives you the right? I can be in charge of my own life! Screw everyone’s expectations! I just need to show them that I don’t need them, I just need to show them that I’m strong enough on my own!” He then looked at the shard in his hand, “This… I could use this!”

He raised his hand in an attempt to call upon the shard’s power. Zen then got into a ready stance. Leo was about to, but then his system pooped up giving an unsettling warning:

[Warning! Candidate is INCOMPATIBLE with the Demon King’s Power! Rejection Imminent!]