"No," the blonde man said firmly, shaking his head.
"I'm just shaken up. That's all. That monster caught off guard, but it's not invincible. It can't be. I'm overthinking it."
He exhaled slowly, forcing himself to relax.
But as he tried to calm his nerves, the feeling of wrongness only intensified.
It clawed at the edges of his mind, whispering insidious doubts.
His pacing quickened, his movents erratic as he tugged at his hair in frustration.
"What is it?!" he shouted, his voice echoing through the empty forest. "What am I missing?"
And then it hit him. Explore hidden tales at empire
His eyes widened, the color draining from his face as realization struck. His breath caught in his throat, and his body went rigid.
"The slaves..." he whispered, his voice barely audible.
The mory ca rushing back, vivid and unrelenting.
The two won, trembling in fear as they cowered before the Orc.
Their ragged clothes, their desperate expressions.
He had dismissed them as irrelevant, re background noise in the chaos of his escape.
But now, the image of their faces burned in his mind, their wide eyes filled with terror.
"No," he muttered, shaking his head as if trying to banish the thought. "It can't be. They wouldn't... they couldn't..."
But the doubt was already there, gnawing at him like a relentless parasite.
"They were slaves," he reasoned aloud, his voice tinged with desperation.
"Barbarians, uneducated, terrified. There's no way they would have followed . They'd have run as far away from that Orc as possible. Wouldn't they?"
The silence of the forest offered no reassurance.
The blonde man's pacing resud, his steps more frantic than before.
His mind raced, replaying every detail of the encounter.
He rembered how the Orc had spared them, how it had allowed them to leave.
Why?
Why would a creature of such brute strength and savagery let two helpless slaves go free?
Unless...
His breath hitched as the pieces began to fall into place. The Orc wasn't just a mindless beast. It had let the slaves go for a reason.
"Damn it!" he hissed, slamming his fist against a tree. The bark splintered under the force of the blow, but he barely felt the pain. "Those wretched won! They must have followed ! That's the only explanation!"
He clenched his jaw, his hands balling into fists. "They're guiding it. Leading it straight to ."
Panic surged through him, his earlier confidence crumbling like ash.
If the Orc was tracking him, then ti was no longer on his side. He needed to act—and fast.
The blonde man's breath hitched, and a cold sweat ran down his back as he saw the shadow loom over him.
His body went rigid, his heart hamring like a drum in his chest.
No, no, no...
His instincts scread at him to flee, to get as far away as possible.
Without daring to turn around, he stepped forward, his trembling legs dragging his body one shaky step at a ti.
But as he prepared to break into a sprint, sothing clamped around him—a massive, unyielding force that made him feel like a child caught in the grasp of a giant.
"AHHH!" the blonde man scread, his body hoisted effortlessly off the ground.
His feet dangled helplessly, and his stomach dropped as he was spun around to face his captor.
His widened eyes t Volk's, and the sight made his blood run cold.
Volk's massive form lood over him, the dim light of the forest casting shadows across his hulking fra.
His piercing gaze locked onto the blonde man with a mixture of satisfaction and irritation.
"Finally," Volk rumbled, his voice deep and resonant, like the growl of an earthquake.
The blonde man could only gape, his mind scrambling for a way out of this nightmare.
And then it happened.
Ding!
A translucent notification appeared before Volk's eyes:
| Mission Complete: Capture the Blonde Man.
| Reward: Radioactive Magic Gauntlet unlocked.
| Failure Penalty: All-Seeing Eyes Deactivated.
| Status: SUCCESS. |
Volk's lips twitched into a smirk as he read the notification. The system had delivered its promise. He had his target.
The blonde man, however, saw none of this. His panic overwheld him, and he did what he did best: talk.
"Y-you ogre! Unhand this instant!" he screeched, his voice cracking as he flailed uselessly in Volk's iron grip.
"Do you have any idea who I am? Do you even know what you've done? You've just made the worst mistake of your miserable, brutish life!"
Volk arched a brow, his grip tightening slightly.
"I am Maxillian Geisler, the third son of Baron Geisler! My father is the lord of this region, a man of unparalleled power and influence!
"If you lay even a single finger on —wait, you already did! No, no, it's fine! Let's start over! Just put down and I'll forget this ever happened! Yes, that's it!"
Volk didn't move, his expression unreadable.
The blonde man—Maxillian—continued, his words tumbling out in a frantic stream.
"You don't understand! My father commands armies! Legions of knights! Mages who could incinerate you with a re thought! If you hurt , they will co for you!
"They will find you, wherever you hide, and they will make you regret the day you dared to cross the Geisler na!"
Still, Volk said nothing, his eyes narrowing ever so slightly.
"And let's not forget my brothers!"
Maxillian pressed on, his voice rising with desperation.
"My eldest brother, Victor, is a master swordsman! He's defeated dragons, for crying out loud! And my other brother, Julius, is a warlock who has summoned demons to fight at his side!
"You're done for, ogre! Done for, I tell you! But! But! There's still a chance! If you release now, I'll—"
Maxillian's words faltered as he felt sothing strange.
The massive hands holding him—no, the right hand—began to change.
The rough, calloused skin of Volk's palm shimred, an eerie tallic hue spreading across it like liquid tal.
"What... what is that?" Maxillian stamred, his eyes fixated on the transformation.
Volk glanced at his hand, his expression shifting to curiosity.
A green, radioactive glow began to emanate from his palm, spreading up his forearm as the system activated.
The tallic surface solidified into a sleek, armored gauntlet that fit Volk's hand perfectly, as if it had been crafted just for him.
The glow pulsed with a faint hum, casting an otherworldly light on the surroundings.
Ding!
| Radioactive Magic Gauntlet equipped. |
The gauntlet crackled with raw energy, faint wisps of green radiation spiraling from its surface.
Volk flexed his fingers experintally, the gauntlet responding seamlessly to his movents.
A faint smirk tugged at his lips.
"Looks like I've got sothing new," he rumbled.
Maxillian, however, was far from amused.
His face paled as he stared at the glowing gauntlet. "W-wait a minute... what are you doing? No, no, NO! Put down! I an it!"
Volk turned his attention back to his captive, his grip tightening ever so slightly. Maxillian yelped, his arms flailing as he tried to squirm free.
"Let's see if this thing works," Volk mused, more to himself than anyone else.
"No! Don't you dare!" Maxillian shrieked. "I'm warning you—"
CRACK!
The sound of bones shattering echoed through the forest as Volk's grip unintentionally tightened too much.
Maxillian's body went limp, his wide eyes frozen in a look of utter disbelief.
Blood trickled from the corners of his mouth as his head lolled to the side.
Volk blinked, releasing the blonde man's lifeless body, which crumpled to the ground like a ragdoll.
"Huh," Volk muttered, examining the gauntlet. "Guess I don't know my own strength."
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