Imagine you go to sleep and you feel heaviness on your chest. One would probably think they are tired. A ssed up person like would think it is the weight of my sins. That was until I opened my eyes.
A beautiful black-haired girl staring at with those deep black eyes of hers. Alicia was lying on top of facing down, her and my face inches apart and the first thing that ca to my mind was, 'How're things down there?'
[It's safe]
Phew. It would have been quite embarrassing.
[Isn't it more alarming that it isn't?]
'That I can deal with. The cliché situation in rom-com ani is sothing that gives a headache.'
"Ummm… Good morning?" I asked, not knowing how to exactly start the conversation. Alicia just stared at deep in my eyes for a while before she said, "It was cruel."
It was. Not just once but twice, I have shown her how cruel I can be. It's not that she is sympathetic to the monsters. It's just that she simply doesn't have such an image of .
"Look, I won't say that I am not what you expected to be. I may be different from who I was and I don't care if I am different than who I was. In the end, it is entirely up to you whether to love or not. I won't change even for love." It was better to make everything clear between us.
Alicia was a nice girl and I wouldn't mind reciprocating her love but if it ca at extre conditions, I was very much willing to let go of that love. I had done it before. Not a love like this but a more dangerous one. My first one.
Alicia calmly listened to every word I had to say and even after that, she remained quiet and just kept on staring at . Of course, I also stared back into her eyes, not breaking the contact even a little.
"Would you say the sa if it wasn't but Laura?" She asked after a while. She must have sensed it, how I treat Laura. But it seems she is mistaken about sothing. I treat all three of them equally, without any discrimination. I will admit that I am more expressive with Laura but that is only because she is also expressive with .
"Laura is just as special as you." I simply replied. This wasn't just talking out of my a*s. Allison has taken an interest in Alicia for so reason and that doesn't make it any less than the interest I have in Laura.
"Really?" For the first ti, there was a strange gleam in her eyes. She was happy with my answer.
"I don't lie," I answered while pushing her slightly so we were lying side by side, her head on my arm.
[You don't?]
'Don't ruin the mont.'
"Let us now talk about what really is bothering you," I said as she snuggled closer to despite her shyness as indicated by the furious blush on her face.
'How cute. She seems to be imitating Laura.'
"It's a mory. Not a good one. I just feel lost whenever I witness sothing like that." She quietly murmured in such a low voice that if one wasn't concentrating enough, they would miss it.
"Let guess, a bad mory?" I asked while combing her hair gently with my fingers.
"Yes." She simply replied, again in a mosquito-like voice.
That's understandable. She's young and doesn't have much experience. Hell, even I had the sa problem in the early years of my teen life. The first ti I took a life was when I was thirteen and it haunted for days but it wasn't the end. It continued for a lot longer until soone taught a way out of it.
I turned slightly so I was now facing her and said, "Look, it's inevitable. Asking you to face your fear is impossible when you don't even know what you really fear yet. What you have right now, is simply a bad mory. Whenever a bad mory cos to your mind, there is a simple redy for that."
I said as I moved in while I continued, "Soone taught this technique a long ti ago. Soone terrifyingly intelligent." Even more than .
"It will take you so ti, but you will get used to it once you feel it." The distance between us was now similar to nonexistent. I could feel her gentle breath on my lips, her beet-red face that showed that despite opening her heart out to , she couldn't handle this simulation quite well.
Without a warning, I placed my lips on hers. Her lips were soft. Different soft from Laura. In Laura's, you could feel destructiveness, in hers, I only felt gentleness. Maybe that was why, this simple kiss lasted quite a while. Her gentle black locks covered a small portion of her face while her eyes closed to savor the mont instinctively.
Her heart beating so fast that it might be considered a dical condition.
"Adrian it is ti----" Soone removed the hood of my tent to tell the ti but soon beca stunned to see the scene before themselves. I recognized the owner of the voice, Layla. I glanced at her from the corner of my eye, conveying the ssage, 'Leave.'
She was quick to pick up on it and hurriedly closed the hilt and then it was just the two of us again. Alicia didn't even seem to have noticed the intrusion of Layla, that's how imrsed she was.
I guess it isn't too bad rewarding her for all the training she has been through until now.
I pulled myself back when she showed no intention of stopping but her breath didn't care whether she was enjoying it or not. It was just a simple soft kiss yet it seed to have left her breathless.
I let her get back to herself and patiently waited. She was still a little dazed, her eyes cloudy and her face still beet red, creating a symphony that invoked sothing inside of . It was a good thing I practiced self-control from an early age.
And the inevitable mont ca, she snapped out but before she could freak out, I placed my palm on her mouth to stop her. Of course, I was quite gentle.
"Next ti when you have a bad mory, rember this mont. Who knows? Maybe it will help." I let go of her as she listened to , completely stunned. I stood up and left her there to contemplate her own thoughts. I couldn't help her with everything. So things, she would just have to figure them out on her own.
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"What?" I asked as Layla had been staring at for quite a while now.
She was a little startled and had a hard ti deciding on her words until she eventually said, "Well, how should I say this… Sorry. For interrupting."
She was unsure whether it was the correct thing to say or not. After all, she had interrupted us and who knows what we could have been doing in there.
"It's alright. We weren't doing anything anyway." I curtly replied while checking the fire status around the camp. It still hadn't gone out.
"Ayyy… How heartless of you." Layla made a face of distaste as she added, "What do you an nothing? Don't you know how delicate of a matter it is for us girls? Kissing, I an. Tch, tch. Poor Alicia." She was quite dramatic when she could be.
"I was careful with that." I simply replied. I really was. That's why it was nothing but a simple kiss. Nothing too deep. Alicia couldn't have handled anything further. Not for now at least.
"Gather everyone, we are going to hunt one of the overlords," I instructed Layla. She nodded and left without any questions. I took out the crystal of this test and was surprised to see a twenty instead of 18 or 17.
'I guess they didn't count the axes and shovels after all.'
[Pretty nice of them]
'I guess.' I wonder why my contribution points haven't co up yet.
[But you really don't plan to achieve a perfect for the entire class, do you?]
'This is a competition. In a competition, you can only win once everyone else is behind you.'
Sure I am helping everyone because I have a weird thing with command, but even that entertainnt cos to an end at a point. After all, there can only be one winner.
Of course, I will make an exception for Alicia. After all, she's special. From now on.
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Since I am helping them out anyway, it only makes sense if they help out as well. aning, I will use the entire class to deal with one overlord that is a bad match for . I an if I put my all into it, I can defeat it but why would I do that when I just have an entire class at my disposal?
Oh yeah. The one monster my magic canon doesn't work against. The Ice Kuma Lord. Usually dealing with such a thing wouldn't have been a problem. I would have simply shot it in the eye and then finished it off when it was blind. The problem arises when I can't change the shape of the magic canon.
When it cos to magic bullets, I can mold them into many shapes, out of which, my favorite is that of a bullet, a piercing one. However, for so reason, I can't do the sa to the magic canon. It is a ball, and it remains a ball. I can't change its shape to that of a piercing canon. Maybe because the skill level is low or the evolution stage hasn't co up yet.
Whatever the reason may be, I can't currently use my greatest weapon against that monster and it makes the hunting inefficient. So I am simply going to help my teammates help kill the overlord.
[But isn't it inefficient overall?]
Yep, it is. If I hunt the monster alone, I get twenty points but if I hunt it with the entire class, I only get two points. It is inefficient as hell. But that is how this test is designed.
The Bellator Academy is made up of competitiveness. From the beginning, everything related to this was a test. Even becoming a leader.
Look at it like this, three attacks worth sixty points if defended well, ten points from the overlords if the entire class hunts all five of them together. After that so minor contribution points. The maximum number of points one can attain this way is eighty. The leader would then get ninety points.
Which ans that becoming the leader was also a part of the test. Because if things go as I have just stated, everyone should have fought to beco a leader. Of course, I wasn't present at that ti.
Hence why I have been saying from the start that this test is nothing but a trap. One thinks it is easy for them to obtain points up to the full mark but it is also impossible at the sa ti.
Of course, unless you are crazy enough to go against C rank bosses on your own.
[Which I would assu you are]
'Who else is crazier than in this entire world?'
The thing was, I wasn't the only one who had realized that. Soon, rifts would appear among everyone and they would want higher points as well and to do that, they would hunt the overlords alone or at least try to.
"What is the plan to hunt it?" Alicia asked as we were all traveling through the Ice Kuma territory.
"The plan is simple. The heavy fighters would play tank and block the attacks of the boss. The mage's attacks would have almost no effect so they will be on the backlines and attack the monster to distract it when it attacks.
Archers will aim for its eye while the damage dealers which are the rest of the students, will aim for its legs or soft spots when an opportunity represents itself." I relayed a very detailed plan after thorough thinking. If I wasn't alone, I shouldn't hunt it like I would either. Using the advantage of the team would be a lot better.
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