"Why are you so comfortable with killing people?" Flint asked, but he was ignored.
'I don't need to hear it from you or anyone else.' Lucian thought, 'You are all nothing but hypocrites who were blessed with a system.'
"I want you to search for Luna." Lucian describes her appearance to Soren.
"Ghost girl isn't with you?" Flint asked, noticing for the first time that Lucian was alone.
"You aren't from our school, so how do you know her nickname?" Lucian glared at Flint.
"I heard others called her that the day we picked our teammates and formed a team." Flint gave Soren a certain look. Like Luna and Lucian, Soren was also rejected by others because of his system magic that they consider weird. Flint was able to convince others to let him join the team and wanted to do the same for Luna on that day, but he couldn't because his teammates were angry enough with Soren on the team. Flint suspects that accident was part of the reason why Soren felt a certain connection with Lucian, and with Lucian's growth in strength and courage, obsessive admiration came in.
"Her name is Luna; call her that, not ghost girl."
Flint smirks mischievously and asks, "Is she your girlfriend?"
"No, she's not." Lucian gave Flint a death glare, his hand moving to his sword in rage.
"You had a fight with your girlfriend, and now you want Soren to sort it out for you." Flint was enjoying Lucian's reaction; it was the perfect revenge for the trouble Lucian had caused him so far. "She probably doesn't want to talk to you or see your ugly-handsome face again." To his irritation, he couldn't deny Lucian's good looks. "With an attitude as bad as yours, I can tell why she is angry; she made—"
Lucian pulled out his sword. "Either you shut up, or I will make you." He threatened.
Sensing the danger coming from Lucian, Flint shut up.
Although Luna chose to walk away, Lucian still felt responsible for her.
"Do you know what she looks like?" Lucian asks Soren.
"Don't worry, if I see her, I will recognize her." Soren got ready to leave the cave.
"Wait. You are really taking orders from this guy?" Soren teammate asked. He still couldn't comprehend what was going on. "Captain, aren't you going to say anything? Stop him. What if he dies out there? His system magic doesn't work against monsters!"
'What sort of magic does he have?' Lucian was curious, but he could always find out later.
"Stay with Captain Flint and wait for me; I'm going to find her and bring her straight to you. That way our team will be complete." He mumbles the last part to himself.
"Captain?!"
Flint sighs and faces his men. "Let him go; he has the right to change teams if he wants. Being trapped in Hlasked is enough; let him exercise his freedom, and if he ends up dead out there, it is his choice!"
'He sounds like the kind of captain Luna wanted, someone sentimental and who actually cares about others and their decisions.' Lucian thought bitterly and then rolled his eyes when Flint's eyes found his. 'I don't like him.'
It had been 2 days since Soren left in search of Luna. Lucian had been with Flint and the rest of his teammates. After Soren's departure, Flint's remaining teammates, who had been out in the forest hunting for food, came back and were surprised and displeased to see Lucian with their captain. They hated Lucian more after hearing what had happened in their absence from their teammates who had witnessed it all, but regardless of their hateful emotions towards Lucian, they respected their captain's decision to let Lucian be and not attack him. They didn't have to fake a smile at Lucian; all they needed to do was to ignore him and mind their business. Lucian did the same; even though he hadn't been attacked, he still saw everyone around him as an enemy.
"So how long do you plan to hang around?" Flint asked awkwardly as he added more wood to the fire. There was a hidden area in the cave, and that was his hideout; he planned to stay there with his team until the game was over. The game wasn't about him; he felt no need to waste his life on useless battles when he could live peacefully with the new friends he had made. His teammates shared his ideas. Although Soren was different, he wanted to follow someone else.
"I will be gone when he returns." Lucian replied sharply; he kept his gaze on the burning flames. He knew he wasn't welcome in Flint's safe place; he didn't need anyone to tell him the obvious. Besides, he didn't like the illusion of feeling safe; it was nothing but an empty feeling to him.
"What if they are dead?" Flint laid out the thought that had been in his mind for a while now.
"They are alive." Lucian's voice was strong and left no room for argument; he didn't want negative thoughts, and his mental state was strong enough to believe that Luna was still alive. Luna had been with him since the game started; she had to be alive. He won't accept it if she is dead. "How did you defeat the dungeon king?" Lucian asked to distract his thoughts; also, he was curious. He has been studying Flint enough to know that he wasn't as stupid as the smile that easily graced his face as though his life hadn't been f*cked up like others. Flint team was the first organized team Lucian had seen. Everyone was in mutual agreement and was treated equally without discrimination, and that was something Lucian was sure that human nature would never allow, which means that Flint must have found a way to psychologically turn his teammates into something he wanted. Lucian was impressed; the only one that didn't fall for his hypnotizing skills was Soren, who had carved a different path for himself in his heart.
A dark look crossed Flint's face as he thought of the demon he was lucky to have escaped without losing any of his teammates. Only after he left the dungeon did his system notify him about the identity of the beast he encountered. "I played with him like he wanted from the start without argument."
'I should have done that.' Lucian thought.
"However, I didn't play the same violent game he wanted; I convinced him to play chess with me. The reward he gets for the game if I fail is me and my teammates. We will either stay with him trapped forever or be eaten; knowing how wicked that creature is, we will probably be eaten. And for the game I won, he told me new intel about Hlasked: one, he was also a prisoner of Hlasked, but he loved it; two, there are other dungeons in Hlasked with different monsters, and the strength of each monster depends on the dungeon ranking. The dungeon we escaped from was a C-rank dungeon, not that dangerous. Three, a piece of that demon soul is trapped in every dungeon in Hlasked."
Lucian listened and paid full attention to Flint; he thought back to the demon's last word to him.
"That's all he told me before he kicked me out of the dungeon." Flint lied, hiding one last detail from Lucian, because he didn't want Lucian to lose hope. Four, after the game is over, they won't ever be able to return home, ever! Flint has made the dungeon king erase that truth from his teammates memories.
'He is hiding something from me.' Lucian didn't ask any further about what the dungeon king told Flint; instead, he asked, "How did you find the dungeon king?" He was curious.
"I didn't. He found me. I think he likes to reveal himself to anyone that interests him."
"Okay." Lucian went back to silently staring at the flame; he wondered what Flint could be hiding and knew that he couldn't trick the truth out of him.
Lucian raised his eyes and was met with the back of Flint's head that was turned to pay attention to what his teammates were doing behind him. "I hate secretive nice guys like you." Lucian mumbles.
"What?" Flint asked, turning around again, but Lucian was fast in dropping his gaze, as though he never moved.
"Nothing."