BXBX NOVEL Chapter 74: Worthless
Chapter 74: Worthless
"Ah..." A black-eyed man opened his eyes to reveal a sinister look.
"How did it go?" Other voices echoed in the room.
The black-eyed man looked at the several people sitting in the same circle, cross-legged on a carpet with a flickering candle in the center.
"The shadow is dead..." The black-eyed man said coldly. "It took the mana of all six of us to create that one shadow, and now it's gone..."
"Please tell us that you at least received some information we can sell."
"The new S-ranker is in Dawnwatch and has joined Crimson Hound Mercenaries."
"Give him paper." A person on the circle said.
Another person pulled out a piece of paper from his bag and slid it over to the black-eyed man.
He also gave the black-eyed man a pen with ink on it.
The black-eyed man concentrated and then started drawing a portrait. His skilled hands moved across the paper with ease, and soon a drawing that resembled a face bore a familiar resemblance emerged.
After a short while, the black-eyed man did a final stroke-the drawing was finished.
At the paper, a pale-skinned face with shoulder-length black hair and a subtle smile gazed back at them. He didn't look bad, and he had a certain amount of charm radiating from him. "This is the person." The black-eyed man said. "Adam Palestar, newly crowned S-ranker." "This is good." The people echoed. "Let's spread the news that we have information about him. I am sure other powers will soon know where he is and how he looks, but we have the lead for now."
...
Dawnwatch, Crescent Serpent's Guild Building.
Smack, smack, smack!
The sound of a wooden sword striking a pole loudly echoed throughout the yard.
In the small yard of Crescent Serpent's building, which was located in Guild Grounds, mercenaries of varying ages trained tirelessly under the watchful eye of their experienced instructor.
It didn't matter that the rain was pouring down in sheets.
This was one of the practices of the Crescent Serpent guild.
In the dungeon, there were floors with much harsher weather. If they couldn't handle a single rainstorm, how would they ever survive the challenges that lay ahead in the dungeon?
At one of the training poles, Ron hacked, slashed, and stabbed his wooden sword at the pole until his arms ached and his hands were covered in blisters.
His clothes were drenched and clinging to his skin, with sweat mixing with rain.
"Hey, Ron!"
Ron stopped striking the pole and turned to see his friend calling out to him. His friend was sitting under the shelter of the porch, calling out to him.
After putting his training sword away, Ron entered the shelter and received a towel from his friend, then started drying himself off.
"The guild master called out for you." His friend said with a smirk. "I am sure he wants to know about your experiences in the tutorial. It was quite a special one, wasn't it?"
"Mmh..." Ron nodded and put the towel away. "Thanks for the towel. Is the guild master at his office?"
"Before you leave, I have a question." His friend turned to him and grinned. "Is this, Adam, really as monstrous as everyone says? After all, he defeated you, and I know how strong you are..."
"I think everyone is still underestimating him." Ron said with a frown.
"Huh, what do you mean?" His friend asked with a tilt of his head. "Everyone has spoken highly of him."
"Hmph." Ron shook his head. "They don't know anything about him. Of course, since he is a S-ranker, everyone is thinking highly of him. However, I think his potential lies even beyond S-rank."
"Eh?" His friend raised an eyebrow in confusion and watched as Ron walked away to go meet the guild master.
'Beyond S-rank?'
...
New Karma, Criminal's Street.
Smack, pow, boom!
"Ah!" A young man fell to the ground with a bruised and swollen face.
The sound of snickering and laughter echoed throughout the room like a song of mockery.
At that moment, another young man slid backwards with his arms bruised. In front of him, a grinning mercenary threw blows with a malicious gleam in his eyes.
The young man desperately tried to block them, but the mercenary's fist broke through his block and landed a solid punch on his gut, forcing him down on his knees.
"A-argh!" Ramon vomited his breakfast onto the ground. He was covered in blood and bruises, and his clothes were dirtied and tattered.
Beside him, his friend, Hannibal, barely managed to stay conscious. He lay flat on the ground; his eyes looked unfocused, his hair disheveled, and his face badly swollen, as if he were having an allergic reaction.
"Hahaha, so weak!" The mercenary flexed his muscles while over a dozen other mercenaries laughed along with him while drinking and enjoying the show.
At the end of the room, there was a high-end throne with a man sitting on it, observing the scene with a look of amusement.
Behind the throne, on the wall, was a sign that said "Necroman Guild."
"Ptui!" Ramon spat out blood from his mouth and stood up with his whole body shaking. His whole body was at a breaking point.
[HP: 7/500]
"Argh..." He groaned and looked at the man at the throne with hatred in his eyes.
"Haha, I like the look in your eyes." Necroman grinned viciously, his face mostly covered by a
dark hood. "A look of hatred and deviance. Dangerous combo."
"Why are you... doing this?" Ramon asked through gritted teeth. "We are of no threat..."
"Exactly, that's the problem." Necroman laughed. "You weaklings are eyesores. How unlucky of you fools to come to New Karma, the home city for Pro-Strong folks, haha!"
'Pro-Strong!' Ramon's eyes widened in fear and shock.
"New Karma is the place with the highest number of crimes and slavery!" Necroman laughed. "Haha, no one mentioned that to you guys, didn't they? Too bad, they've sent you guys here
to be slaves!"
"Ngh..." Hannibal groaned in pain and sat back up, blood dripping off his face. "Ramon... what if we just die? We'll get zeroed, but it doesn't matter as we are already at the bottom. We don't have to do the tutorial again either; we wouldn't lose anything except our weapons and
Shinecoin..."
Ramon frowned, but was thinking about that possibility. They would respawn somewhere else and only have to avoid New Karma.
"Haha, do you fools think that works?" Necroman leaned forward with a sinister gleam in his eyes. "We'll only have to share the news that you two are Necroman's enemies."
Necroman revealed two mercenary cards and grinned.
"We also have your two's names and faces already-
"There won't be a place that will accept you either. Good luck finding another Tier 2 guild like us, especially after finding out that you two have already made enemies.
"And no Tier 3 guild will accept you, as they're no match for us. There will be nowhere for you
two to escape to, hahaha!
"We'll find you wherever you go!"
"Why go to such lengths for us?" Ramon asked with despair dripping from his voice. "We are
just two nobodies..."
Hannibal despaired with a defeated look. He didn't expect this to happen to them. He realized they both underestimated the New World.
"Hihihihi..." Necroman giggled in a childish manner. "I just love doing so. You two have three choices: become our slaves, kill yourself and try to hide from us, or just quit.
"This place isn't where weak-willed fools last long!"
"Ramon..." Hannibal whispered with a heavy look.
Ramon gritted his teeth and looked at his friend. "I am not going back to Asylym... I would
rather die."
"We'll escape and try our luck?" Hannibal asked.
"That would be worthless..." Ramon looked towards the throne, then bowed low till his forehead touched the ground and said, "P-please, let us join..."
'R-Ramon is actually pleading?!' Hannibal's eyes widened in shock, never expecting his
friend to do that.
Ramon had closed his eyes and was pressing his face against the floor so no one would be able to see his face. He was crying, tears streaming down his face.
Necroman's grin widened to his ears, and he clearly enjoyed this pathetic display of weakness.
Zip-a mercenary pulled down his zipper and started urinating on Ramon's head.
"That..." Hannibal's eyes widened in fear.
"What about you, weakling?" Nercoman's dead-looking eyes landed on Hannibal. "What's
your choice?"
"A-ah..." Hannibal's head slowly lowered towards the ground, and soon his forehead touched the floor. He never expected the two of them to plead to become slaves.
At that moment, he felt warm liquid flow down his head as another mercenary started
urinating on him.
Hannibal gritted his teeth and side-eyed Ramon, wondering what his friend was thinking. At
that moment, his breath almost stopped as he saw Ramon crying, but he also bit into his lip so
hard that it was bleeding.
'I'll become strong... strong... strong... strong... strong...' Ramon kept repeating the word
"strong" to himself over and over again.
This was the biggest humiliation of his entire life. Even when he was living in the streets among rats and garbage, he never felt this low.
It was as if he wasn't even worthy of being called a human being anymore.