A cold stream of water hit the back of Lucian's calf, lessening the pain he felt from the injury he sustained with the last monster he fought. His injury made him think of Luna, but he shoved away the thought; it was her decision to walk away from him.
Lucian eyed the lake he had found, wondering if it was safe enough to drink from. Besides that, he also needed a bath, but the thought of letting go of his sword and leaving himself defenseless when he had no one but himself to watch his back wasn't appealing.
'Fuck it.' Lucian thought and bent down to drink some water by scooping it with his hands. He was thirsty and always drank water with caution by watching other beasts in the forest to see if they were able to drink it first before he did. After all, if Hlasked was their habitat, they should know the dos and don'ts, but not all beasts were smart enough for that. Some still ended up dying, not by other players but by nature itself, the dangerous nature that was in Hlasked.
Lucian hesitated to drink the water that was already in his hand. He had gotten so used to depending on Luna's powers for basic needs that now that she was gone, he felt the pain of her absence even though he would rather not. It's been two weeks now since their separation; he hasn't bothered to search for her and has most times wondered if she was still alive despite himself.
A loud, relaxing sigh came from the back of the stream, over the raging waterfalls, from the rocks. Lucian snapped his mouth open and spat out the water he was about to swallow, unable to erase his doubt about it, and then followed the sound he heard. He passed through the surprisingly thin waterfalls and came into a huge cave that had a separate pool of water by the side; in it, there was a naked man bathing. Lucian gags in disgust at the water he almost drank; both waters were connected.
Lucian pulled out his sword when the man turned around and saw him. The man screams in surprise at Lucian's presence.
"Captain!" Two voices spoke at the same time from the side of the cave.
"The villain." Captain Flint moved out of the stream and quickly used his system magic to put on pants. "I'm not your enemy."
'liar.' Lucian thought without considering Flint's words. He knew that as long as he had the villain title over his head, everyone was his enemy.
Lucian raised his sword and jumped in the air in an attempt to take down Flint before he activated his magic.
Soren moves fast with his sword and counters Lucian's attack while his other teammate checks if their captain has been harmed.
"Lucian, right?" Soren asked in excitement as he struck swords with Lucian again. Ever since the video Lucian made, he had grown a strange obsessive admiration for Lucian and how he was able to survive for so long even though everyone thought at first that he was going to die. It encouraged Soren to polish his skill all for this day when he could finally say to Lucian, "Let me join your team."
"What?" Lucian placed his sword down in confusion.
"Let's be teammates." Soren repeated again. He also wanted to be friends with Lucian, but in order not to freak Lucian out, he was only going to ask to be teammates.
Lucian was about to raise his sword again in anger, but Captain Flint activated his earth magic and built four strong rocky walls to enclose Lucian in.
"I can easily break out of this." Lucian started out with confidence.
"I don't doubt it." Flint was exasperated. "What I want to know is why you tried to kill me when I was taking a bath. Don't tell me that taking a bath is the same thing as antagonizing you."
Lucian thought over his words; memories of Luna's last words flashed in his mind, and he frowned at it. 'I have no choice; killing others is my only chance of survival.'
"If I don't kill you, then you are going to kill me." Lucian used the strength from his knight skill to punch through the wall Flint encaged him in.
'He is strong.' Flint thought. His arms folded around his chest as he gave Lucian a blank look. Lucian raises his sword again, strengthening his blade with his lightning magic. 'Why does he want to fight so much?'
"Relax, villain. Not everyone here is interested in killing you; one of my men is willing to abandon me to follow you." Flint threw a glare at Soren. He planned on having a private talk with him later on his decision. He had long noticed Soren's admiration for Lucian, but the pain of his men's betrayal still hurt.
Lucian examined his opponent. Soren was smiling at him, which left Lucian creeped out and confused. Flint and other men glared at him, but other than that, no one was interested in attacking him. It made Lucian question, 'Why?'
"Seems like life must have been hard for you since the game started."
"Drop the sentiment." Lucian deactivated his magic and dropped his sword. "Life has been hard for everyone who was placed in this hell."
"True." Flint nods his head in agreement.
"Why aren't you attacking me?" Lucian asks, "Don't you want the powers and title of the villain?" It didn't make sense to him; everyone else he had encountered wanted him dead.
"And live in fear thinking that everyone but my own shadow is out to get me?" Flint asks mockingly. "I want to survive this game, but that's not the kind of survival I want."
'Listening to this guy make it seem as though what she said to me was true.' Lucian thought back to Luna's words once again. Somehow his life was starting to seem shitty, but then again, he felt like all their lives were.
"You are even more powerful than I thought." Soren stated as Lucian kept his sword.
"Do you mean what you said about wanting to be on the same team with me?" Lucian asked; he didn't trust Soren, but he was going to take a chance to see if he was lying or not. If Soren was being honest, then Lucian could fulfill Luna's demands for a third teammate.
"Wait… Hold up, you can't take away Soren without my permission." Flint said, feeling lost and completely ignored.
"Yes. I'm willing to do anything to join your team." Soren was excited and felt like his dream was about to come true.
'Anything, huh?' Lucian thought. A cruel smile pulled at the edge of his lips.
"Kill your captain and your teammate. If you are able to do that, then I will trust you and let you join me."
"You insane bastard." Flint wanted peace, but Lucian was starting to push him into a fight he wasn't interested in.
Flint's other teammate chuckled in assurance, "There's no way Soren would betray our capt—" He was quickly silenced as he blocked Soren's attack, surprised and confused that Soren was actually willing to betray them for someone he just met. "I can't believe you." He glared at Soren.
"I'm confident that I can take you down." Soren raises his sword at his teammates again and glances at his captain. "Captain Flint is too strong for me to kill, but I will see what I can do." His eyes narrowed at Flint, whose jaws were clenched in anger. Soren felt like the safest chance he had at fighting against his captain would be only when his teammate was out of his way. And although he knew that he couldn't win a fight against Flint, he had hope that Lucian would be able to at least see his talent and know that he could be useful as a teammate.
Flint cracked his knuckles; he wasn't going to stand by and let Lucian cause division in his team. He moved with great speed to give Soren a nose-crunching punch on the face, but his fist landed on Lucian's palm. In surprise he steps away from Lucian.
"I was only testing him; I didn't expect him to actually raise his sword against his teammates because of me." Lucian looked backward at Soren, who was surprised that Lucian had saved him from his captain.
"Sounds like you are feeling special." Flint was bitter and angry. His men were loyal, but not loyal enough to accept reckless orders from him.
"I was born special." Lucian stated in arrogance. His former self was usually humble about his noble inheritage, but being in Hlasked has left a dent in Lucian's personality, and it was one that could never be fixed, not unless his memory and experience in Hlasked were completely erased. "I have a final test for you. If you pass this, then I'm going to recognize you as my teammate." Lucian paused; he could feel Flint's harsh glare. If looks could kill, he would be dead by now. "You are not killing anyone this time." Flint's expression relaxed until Lucian added, "unless it's necessary."