Chapter 160 :

Episode 32 : Value What One Has (5)

Somewhere in the frozen museum, Louis, who was looking around, was struggling to concentrate when he had Behemoth staring at him from below.

‘This is awkward.’ He groaned as he could sense Behemoth's piercing gaze digging through his skull.

‘I tried picking him up, but..’ 

When he thought that, he was reminded of earlier where he was lifting Behemoth up only to be scratched to the hand by its constant rejection of being held by Louis.

‘Am I bad with cats?’ 

While thinking that, Louis looked at his hand that had a scratch wound on it. ‘It still stung a little.’ 

"Let's just pick a weapon quickly." Louis let out a sigh as he decided to ignore Behemoth's glance in the process.

Rustling… 

After a while of searching for a good trident, Louis had a thought as he sneaked a peek at Alaine.

"I wonder what kind of daggers Alaine is going to pick." 

"Mrrow!" If Louis could translate Behemoth's words, it would mean ‘Get on with your picking already, hooman!’.

But unfortunately for Behemoth, Louis couldn't understand a word and instead mistook it. 

"Right, I shouldn't be wondering what she's choosing, I should be curious about Mya's instead."

"..Meow." Translated to "..That's not what I meant!"

Suddenly and quietly, Louis murmured a word. "...Weakest." 

Even when he was reminded of how insulted he felt, JoonChul's words were actually or probably correct.

Be that as it may, Louis knew that he was stronger than weaker, or else he would have died easily in the early stages.

He understood his skills and used it wisely, but was that enough to even make him strong?

Louis mumbled while he was ruffling his hair. "Am I really weak just because I don't have much skills?" 

"Meoww!" Translated to "Of course, you are!"

"No.. I am weak since I wasn't able to protect Mya." 

"Mrow.." Translated to "That's right."

By then, Louis looked to be enjoying his time conversing alone by himself, and not once focused on finding his weapon which really bothered Behemoth.

‘He kept talking instead of searching. Does he like to waste his time?’ Growled, the cat, Behemoth, walked not far from Louis.

‘So be it! I'm not going to stand and watch a.. What was it? The word little itsy bitsy spider says to others.. Hm.’

‘Oh, right.’ 

Upon recalling the word, Behemoth finished his sentence from earlier. ‘I'm not going to stand and watch a Baka talking nonsense to himself!’

Seeing how Behemoth didn't like this situation, he thought it would be better to find a weapon for Louis by himself.

Behemoth proudly thought. ‘That baka should be glad that the great and mighty Behemoth is locating the weapon for him.’ 

Chatter chatter… 

Upon picking up noises from somewhere with his twitching ears, Behemoth shifted his head and spoke. "Huh? Did I overhear Alaine's and Raiden's voices?"

With that thought, Behemoth slowly went toward where Alaine and Raiden were, walking in when they were having a conversation.

Chatter… 

‘What are they talking about?’ Behemoth thought as his ears were twitching in curiosity.

———

Meanwhile..

Alaine and Raiden, who were looking over the items around them, suddenly came into a halt as Alaine just stood there, lost in her thoughts.

Quietly mumbling to herself, Alaine furrowed her brows. "Am I bad if I want to take every item in this place? ..Nah, that would make me a selfish person."

"So much stuff that could make me powerful, strong enough to fight back a little, even just a little."

She mumbled in conflict. "So am I the worst if I want to be strong by stealing all the items here?"

After leaving the mirror of reflections, Alaine's inferiority complex was getting severely grave enough to make her question her ability.

Even if she tried to hide it during the journey, her mind and her surroundings wouldn't allow her the chance to improve her health.

"..Bleh.." Alaine made a random sound before letting out a sigh. "I'm falling behind, aren't I?"

By witnessing how strong everyone was, how brave they were, Alaine was worried if she was being a burden to everyone.

No, she wasn't at all afraid of being a burden, she was only fearful of her inability to fight back just like her past.

In fact, she believed that if she was stronger, she would be able to rebel against anyone who tries to abuse her.

..That was her motive. 

"Gosh, this is making me feel evil." Alaine frowned.

Her purpose was to stay around these people, to be protected by ‘The Rebels’ Guild and to use them as a shield to defend herself from harm's way.

If for some reason, a situation where death is inescapable, Alaine would immediately toss aside ‘The Rebels' Guild and run, leaving them behind to fight.

..Her selfishness is truly daunting, isn't it?

Even Alaine knew about her unwavering egocentric self that she found it hard to believe and to deny it.

"I'm such a two-faced freak." Alaine giggled bitterly.

At that moment, Raiden, who was anxious of Alaine's saddened expression, asked her. "Alaine-chan, are you alright?"

Frowned, Alaine uttered with a hint of disappointment to herself. "Sensei, what if I had the thought of snatching these artifacts?"

"If you did, we would all be in trouble and you wouldn't want that, do you?" Raiden responded, trying to cheer Alaine up after seeing her frown.

Since Alaine didn't want Raiden to worry, she tried to act like her usual self. "That's right! It would make me greedy for those items, wouldn't it?!"

"Alaine-chan, you already have awesome items with you, so why do you need more?"

"Well.. That's because..! Uhm.."

"Value what you have, because terrible things occur when greed takes over, and I can't let that happen to my one and only pupil!"

Finding the atmosphere to be great, Alaine chuckled while watching Raiden being overprotective of her. 

‘Maybe..’ Alaine thought with a sad look.

Eventually, she began to talk. "Erm.. Sensei, you might already know this, but I want to be stronger just like everyone else."

"Of course, you will! Since you'll be learning my techniques!" Raiden said.

"I think I may grow dependent on you and everyone else, Sensei."

"It's good, isn't it?"

"No, it's not. I don't want to depend on all of you whenever I'm in trouble.. Sure, I was overjoyed when I got your gift. They were even an Epic rarity."

"Then what's the problem?" Raiden asked while growing concerns over his pupil.

"I saw how powerful Mya was, even though she's a kid and all, she's strong. And I'm just weaker than her."

Judging by how solemn and gloomy Alaine was, Raiden couldn't believe that the cheerful and talkative pupil of his had this side of her.

‘Oh Alaine…’ He frowned.

And as her teacher, Raiden must do something to enlighten Alaine back to her original self, but he questioned himself if he could do that well.

‘If it's for Alaine, then I must cheer her up.’

Long after that, while looking worried, Raiden told her. "...Alaine-chan, I may not be a good teacher, but I do know that comparing yourself to others won't do you any good."

"What? You're a good teacher though!"

"I said that because I compared myself to my sensei. And that's no good, isn't it?"

"You mean JoonChul?"

In an instance, Raiden's eyes sparkled when he only started praising about JoonChul. "You cannot fathom how marvelous he is. He's the greatest teacher ever and I admired him for that!"

"Hahah, you're so enthusiastic." Alaine giggled with a soft grin.

In the end, Raiden smiled before asking a serious question. "So Alaine-chan, why do you want to be strong?"

"Eh? Didn't I say that me and Mya are different in terms of strength, and that I want to be stronger than her?"

"That doesn't seem like the only reason, does it?"

"Jeez.. It's not.." Alaine averted her gaze elsewhere to avoid Raiden's, finding it hard to say a word to him.

As Raiden became aware of Alaine's unwillingness to answer his question, he swiftly gave up since it wouldn't be a good move if he kept prying into Alaine's life.

"Erm.."

Considering how awkward and quiet the atmosphere was, Raiden coughed as he changed the subject. "Anyways, Alaine-chan. What type of daggers do you want?"

She answered instantly as if to stop the awkwardness. "Oh, yeah! I would like it if the dagger looks like the wind and the second dagger resembles thunder!"

"Wind and lightning? I see! Fast and furious, that's my disciple!"

"What..? Huh?" 

Alaine, confused, murmured inwardly. "I just thought that since I'm kinda like a carefree wind while Raiden is as fast as lightning, it would be nice if I could get daggers that resemble us."

"What was that?" Raiden asked since he was curious why Alaine was talking quietly to herself.

"Ah, nothing at all~" Smiled, Alaine.

Thump!

Out of the blue, Behemoth came in and scolded them. "Oi, why aren't you guys moving?" 

"Aww! Blackie! Did you come to see me?" 

Whoosh~

..It looked like it was a mistake on Behemoth's part to even walk up to Alaine, since he was now embraced by her firmly and too tightly.

"Let me gooo!!!" Behemoth exclaimed as if to think Alaine could understand this..

"Do you like it? Should I give you more hugs?"

"Rai!! Help me!! I'm being crushed by her… uh." Behemoth spoke until he stopped halfway, trying to search for a word to describe Alaine's chest.

"Flatness!" Behemoth shrieked upon only realizing that.

In a flash, Raiden glared at Behemoth with an ominous smile. "That's rude, Behemoth."

"How else am I going to describe this?!" 

Squish~

"Blackie~ Cute little cat~!" Alaine cuddled Behemoth with her love for cats.

"Gaahhh!! Somebody, anybody! Save this almighty Behemoth!"

Alaine, playing with Behemoth, suddenly became aware of something. "Ah! Hold on a minute!"

She asked, looking everywhere for someone. "Why is Blackie here? What about Louis?!" 

"Now that you mentioned it.. Behemoth, did you leave Louis-kun's side?!" Raiden voiced his concerns.

When Behemoth was sweating as if he realized he was staying too long with these two that he had forgotten about Louis, the one he was supposed to look after.

Behemoth gulped. "..M-Meow?" 

Without a doubt, Raiden sighed in anguish. "This is not good. Sensei is going to be infuriated if he sees Louis with a weak weapon." 

"I'm sure Louis wouldn't do that! Maybe.. he would.. Oh no." Alaine was anxious as well.

Thud. 

"Why are you guys talking about me?"

All of the sudden, the person who they were talking about, immediately appeared out of nowhere in front of them.

Alaine gasped when she laid eyes on the weapon Louis was holding. "Louis..? Oh god..! Did you pick that trident?!" 

"I chose it because it seems powerful."

"Didn't JoonChul say not to pick without asking his comrades first?!"

"Yeah, but Blackie wasn't around."

"Jeez…" Alaine sighed before feeling a hand being rested on her shoulder.

Raiden, who was the one holding Alaine's shoulder, spoke in a baffled and amazed tone. "Louis-kun, did you actually pick that?"

"Yes? Do you want to take a look?" Louis uttered as he was already swiping his trident's information panel to them.

+

⟨ Tide Breaker ⟩

Item Rank : Mythical

Offense : 1090

Defense : 730

Effect : 

1. Have a chance to summon Water Nymphs to fight.

2. Water Based Skills will deal more damages.

3. Add 35 Points in all Stats.

4. Three levels will be added to all Water Based Skills.

5. When near water, waves can be summoned thrice a day.

6. 40% in Attack Speed and Movement Speed.

7. 25% Resistance to Water Based Attacks.

+

"Oh my gosh!!! Isn't this too op?! A Mythical item?!!? W-What?!!!" Alaine gasped until she was out of breath.

Still unbelievable to trust, Alaine was staring at the panel with her eyes wide opened. "How could this be?!" 

"Amazing! You were lucky this time, Louis-kun. But next time, please don't do this again." Raiden smiled at Louis after scolding him a bit.

In any case, Louis let out an exhausted sigh. "I surely won't. Nobody knows how hard it was for me to get this trident. I had to climb up the statue and reach for it."

"Statue?" Behemoth spoke.

"But it was worth it either way. This trident was incredible when I checked it, I'm still shocked even holding it."

Alaine, who was still gazing at the trident's information, exclaimed. "I'm sure I can find a better weapon than this!"

Swoosh~

Called out, Raiden found Alaine running off to somewhere without him. "Wait, Alaine-chan! Where are you going?!"

"Guess you should go quickly before she disappears." Louis said.

"Right, then Louis-kun, you can help the others out since you're done now."

"Alright, I was planning to help Mya out anyways. Good luck on finding a dagger, Raiden." 

Zap!

"Okay!" Raiden waved his goodbye to Louis before he had run off to chase after Alaine, disappearing from Louis's viewpoint instantly.

Louis, who couldn't understand Raiden's intense speed, whistled. "Damn.. I don't think I can see that well with that speed."

Behemoth exclaimed as he scratched Louis's leg. "Hey, hooman! Don't just stand there!"

Didn't understand Behemoth's meow, Louis said while storing his trident in his inventory. "Oh, so you were here all this time."

"You didn't even notice this great Behemoth?!" 

"Let's get going. I really want to see what Mya's going to choose."

"This hooman!!! Don't touch me!" Hissed, Behemoth when Louis's hands were trying to grab him.

Slash!

Had he got scratched by Behemoth's claws, Louis hissed in slight pain. "Ouch..! Why are you doing this? I'm only picking you up." 

"Hoomans like you can't touch me!"

"If you don't like being carried, then don't get lost next time and follow me."

"I wasn't lost! I was just checking on Raiden, that's all!"

In the end, Louis sighed in the process as he just went ahead to locate where Mya and Mirai were.

And needless to say, Behemoth growled with his dislike of Louis, but he still effortlessly followed behind Louis.

"If you were a mouse, I would have eaten you all up." Behemoth grumbled from his mouth while grumbling from his stomach.