Chapter 57
Wait.
Is that man actually smiling at a great boar?
Doesn’t he know how dangerous that thing is?
The thought hit him like a slap. His mind stalled, too shocked and too weak to properly process just how insane this man had to be.
"Hey, Selene. Should we use our combo hit to finish this big dinner of ours?" Callack asked casually.
"That sounds like a really fun idea."
The sweet female voice ca from behind, light and calm despite the montum she had been running with monts ago. She gently set a small child, barely a year old, on top of a nearby rock. Then she pulled out her whip. It looked worn, a little crusty around the handle, but thick enough. More than enough.
"Well, let’s do it. And don’t go for the kill this ti, Callack. Let have it," Selene said.
Callack rubbed the back of his head, already looking like a man who could not promise that. Still, he shrugged and went with the flow for now.
Selene shook her head, as if she could already see how this would play out. She sighed, then moved anyway.
The two stepped forward in perfect unison and struck just as the great boar forced itself upright.
The young man who had been picking herbs froze.
What he saw next was sothing he should never have witnessed.
The great boar was being toyed with.
That monster, the one that sent fear crawling down the spines of grown n, was being played with by two absolute lunatics. Worse, they had left a baby alone, completely unattended.
The man turned toward the child and his brain simply shut down.
The kid was sitting on the rock, legs crossed, face calm, eyes fixed on the battle like soone watching a movie he was already bored of. Like he had seen this kind of thing far too many tis.
No fear. Not even a hint.
Wait.
Was it just him, or did that kid look far too smart for his age?
The knowledge reflected in those eyes was wrong. Way too heavy for a one year old.
What the man did not know was that his assumption was wrong in more ways than one.
First, Rayden was not a one year old. That would beco obvious very soon.
Second, he was not watching the fight like entertainnt. He was angry. Genuinely angry. Angry that he was not the one killing the boar.
He was tired of always being the spectator while those two got all the fun.
It was not fair. Not even close.
And the third thing the man got completely wrong was this.
Among the trio, Rayden was actually the craziest.
After all, he had already decided to go boar hunting tonight, after the parents finished their fun and fell asleep.
Rayden grinned to himself.
Boar hunting. Booked.
The man saw the baby smile, almost proudly, and felt sothing cold crawl up his spine.
Was he dreaming? Had he stepped into another part of the world where humans were all insane? Or was this just the worst luck imaginable, running into one crazy family all together?
Before his thoughts could go any further, a massive boom exploded behind him.
He turned just in ti to see it.
The great boar was down.
Dead.
Several deep gashes tore through its body. The ground around it was soaked. The hunt was over.
They did it.
They actually killed a great boar.
The man stood there, stunned and speechless at how fast it ended.
"You did it again, Callack."
Selene’s furious yet sweet voice rang out as she stord toward him. Callack looked unbelievably guilty, and the man could not understand why.
Then he noticed it.
The child facepald.
No. He was not imagining it.
Rayden facepald because he already knew what was coming.
"Dear, you do know that not letting get the kill is stunting my skill growth," Selene said softly, stretching her whip. There was a wicked glint in her calm eyes.
And Callack took a step back.
Slowly.
Her words were too calm.
Way too calm.
Calm enough to make Callack’s grin waver.
"Hey, dear. You do know getting the kill is purely by coincidence, right?" Callack said, trying to defuse the situation.
"Coincidence?" Selene repeated.
Her smile grew sweeter. Softer. Nicer.
Callack’s hair stood on end.
Of course you wouldn’t.
Before he could say another word, the whip lashed out and sent him flying into the distance.
Rayden facepald once more.
Here we go again.
One.
Two.
Three.
Thrash. Thrash. Thrash.
"Yelp."
"I will make it up to you, I promise... Shut up and let just let out my irritation," Selene replied calmly.
Several long minutes passed before she cald down.
"I said shut up and stay still. Don’t dodge."
"What do you an don’t dodge? Do you want to kill ?"
"Wait, let injure you a bit. I’ll patch you up. I promise."
The man stood frozen.
This couple seed hell bent on killing each other. No. Correction. The wife seed hell bent on killing her husband.
Rayden glanced at the man and saw it clearly. He was starting to understand their strange kind of childishness.
The duo had turned fighting into their way of having fun. Spending too long alone had warped them into sothing else entirely. From kind and gentle parents to playful, wild monsters.
Eventually, the sound of thrashing stopped.
They ca back into view.
Callack was shockingly still alive, covered in far fewer cuts than anyone would expect. Even worse, they were walking hand in hand like a lovely couple out for a stroll.
"Hey, fellow human," Selene said.
The blood on her face was not friendly.
The man looked at the duo, at these total psychopaths, and fainted.
It was too much.
Selene and Callack exchanged confused glances, shocked, then picked him up.
"Maybe he’s like us. Too shocked to see a fellow human," Selene said.
Callack nodded. That had to be it.
The man stayed with them for a while.
He learned more. Way too much.
He had several more heart attacks and fainted multiple tis. Like when he learned they had survived the destruction of an entire kingdom relatively unhard. Or that they crossed the Great Sea without suffering a single scratch.
And one of the worst things.
They casually chased away the ruler of the forest, the colossal bear, and used its ho for months before deciding to leave.
Of course, that was not how they said it. They tried to sound normal.
But he was not stupid.
He deduced the lies and the truth beneath them and reached one solid conclusion.
This family were experts.
Powerful experts.
Experts at having picnics.
The fact that they asked him about nearby human settlents only reinforced his thoughts. They knew a settlent was close. They were testing him. Seeing if he dared lie to powerhouses like them.
When he told them the truth and saw their smiles, he was certain.
They would have killed him if he lied.
Knowing he was living with experts made their daily activities less surprising. But it did not stop him from fainting when he saw the baby sneaking inside the house covered in blood.
He fainted.
Again.
After three days passed, the man and the trio set out for the nearest human settlent. The one he ca from.
They walked for a while, the family trailing behind.
Then the man’s expression changed.
Smoke rose in the distance.
His face twisted as the color drained from it.
"No. An attack is happening."
He dashed forward.
The family rushed after him, sensing trouble ahead.
Sothing that had not happened in a very long ti finally happened.
Rayden’s instincts scread.
Danger.
The warning from the hell bred cipher echoed in his mind.
Danger was ahead.
Yet Rayden felt no fear. No hesitation.
Instead, he felt joy.
Finally.
After so long, he would see sothing that gave him a sense of danger.
How exciting.
TO BE CONTINUED...
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