Elias played the voice recording at the end of the message.
With the background continuously rumbling with the sound of explosions, a lot of shouts, and what sounded like the continuous growls of a beast, Elias couldn't help but pinch his forehead, feeling confused.
He could barely make out the sound of Dorian's voice from all the madness.
[Dorian: Hey buddy! Say, how about you come join me in beating up some asses! Yeah! I am having the time of my life over here and thought I should share some happiness, you know, as buddies.
And uhh, it will be very nice if you come real quick. And please, absolutely do not involve the girls, especially Belle—oh shit!]
His voice was then cut off by the sound of a loud explosion that literally resonated across the device, causing it to vibrate slightly on his wrist.
"What was that about?" Belle asked, her voice suspicious.
Elias hissed, muttering under his breath.
"Like hell I know."
He could tell Dorian was in trouble, and the idiot would rather die than admit he was probably getting his ass kicked.
What the hell does he mean by sharing happiness? He wanted none of that kind of happiness, okay!
Now he had to make a choice. To abandon Dorian or go help him out?
One of the reasons why he felt a shred of hesitation was the fact that he had close to no idea about the opponent in question. Exactly how strong was the person Dorian was up against?
In fact, why the hell would anyone target an Aragus in the first place? Did they have a death wish?
And most importantly, shouldn't Dorian be under the perception that he was pretty weak? What made him confident enough to ask him for help and not the others?
Involving Belle and Chloe was the better choice, after all, both girls seemed to be strong. But Elias could somewhat guess why Dorian was adamant that he came alone. After all, involving someone like Belle would make it seem as though the princess came to save the prince...
Which must be kind of embarrassing for him.
And if Cherry knew about this, she might inevitably drag Belle along too.
He sighed.
'I always get caught up in bullshit.'
He typed into his device, typing a message to Cherry and setting a fifteen-minute timer for it to send.
[If you have received this message, come find Dorian and me using the location on our devices. We are probably getting beaten up.]
He turned away from Belle, who was giving him a quizzical look now.
She called from over his shoulder. "Are you sure there's nothing going on?"
Elias shook his head. "See you in class tomorrow."
At the same time, he ascertained his Mental Strength.
[Mental Strength: 2870/7000]
'It should somewhat recover before I arrive.'
Tightening his hand around Lizzy, he let Nova guide him towards Dorian's location.
The moment he was all alone, he willed Lizzy to disappear from his shoulders, sending her to one of the rooms at the Withering Castle. Thankfully, Lizzy was a heavy sleeper, so he was quite sure she wouldn't be waking up anytime soon.
Moving through the curving partitions, he felt himself advancing towards the walls at the end of the arena, a door slowly coming into his view.
Getting to the door, Elias raised an eyebrow, the device on his wrist showing that Dorian was unmistakably behind the doors.
In fact, there was no need for confirmation, since he could already hear the sound of explosions and fighting from the other end.
Elias took a deep, irritated breath, then he pushed open the doors.
The night sky was illuminated by brief specks of stars spread across it like a sea of constellations, the wonderful outline of the city spread below him in all directions.
But Elias only had his eyes fixed on the courtyard where an intense battle was currently raging on.
"Take that, bitches!"
Dorian was standing behind the tremor of a massive, gorilla-like creature. It was twice the height of a man, its body covered in dark, coarse fur that seemed to ripple even when it wasn't moving. Its shoulders were impossibly broad, and every breath it took sent a faint vibration through the ground beneath its feet.
A deep, almost inaudible hum reverberated from within its body, like the distant roar of an earthquake trapped beneath its skin.
[RRRROOOHHH!]
Elias narrowed his eyes.
Surrounding the tremor were four figures, three in clown masks, while the other one wore a blue helmet. Elias still recognized him as part of the rest he had walked past in the bathroom.
They fought from a distance, their faces grim. And that was for good reason.
Even now, Elias could feel it. With every step taken closer to the tremor, it felt like his insides were squeezing out, almost like his organs were turning into mush.
Although it mostly felt like a one-sided beatdown, since while the tremor rampaged, they kept running to keep their distance. Slowly, they were eventually wearing it down with their long-ranged attacks.
The boy with the blue helmet had his Resonance String constantly letting out rays of rending light, inflicting ugly lacerations on the body of the tremor.
Each time the tremor punched, the other boy's Resonance String pulsed, before rebounding the attack seamlessly.
One of the girls stood still at a distance, the ringing of her Resonance String constantly causing the tremor to freeze intermittently once in a while, enabling the others to attack it freely in that interval.
But strangely, the other girl, unlike the others, focused her attacks in Dorian's direction instead, firing arrows continuously towards him.
Her Resonance String rang loudly before each shot, each of them moving through a trajectory that inevitably led to Dorian. If Elias was to guess, then her awakened ability gave her some kind of heightened perception.
But the craziest thing was the fact that Dorian was somehow, ridiculously, dodging all her shots.
"Dammit!"
Dorian slid and fell down on the floor, her shot arrow narrowly missing him to fly into the distance. He stood on his feet irritatedly, then bent to dust himself.
An arrow flew above him at that same moment, missing its mark yet again.
Elias watched his Resonance String out in the open, the lemon-colored String ringing loudly.
[🎵Ting Ting Ting🎶]
'So his luck does work after all.'
But despite all of this, Elias was wary for another reason.
Within the shadow of a tree stood three figures watching the fight with complete detachment, one of whom now shifted, walking towards his direction.
The person spoke now, his voice like a whisper. "You are not supposed to be here."
Elias readied himself.
What came into his view was a boy in a masquerade mask, his hair a bright, translucent crimson. Even with the mask, Elias couldn't shake off the feeling that he was wearing a blindfold.
The same voice came from behind him. "You are not supposed to be here."
Elias widened his eyes.
'How?'
Wasn't he standing right in front of him moments ago—
He pushed himself away, shooting in the opposite direction.
He narrowed his eyes, his chest heaving.
Now that he could see much more clearly, he realized that there were two of them. Both of them had their faces snapping towards him in eerie similarity.
Elias couldn't help but feel wary. 'Is this some kind of cloning ability?'
He had barely finished the thought before he heard a sharp sound behind him, something that could only be made by the ringing of a Resonance String.
From the edge of his eyes, he saw a sight that made his blood run cold.
The true body of the boy was behind him with his Resonance String already manifested, the dagger in its hand viciously striking towards his torso.
At the same time, a System Notification chimed in his head.
Ding Ding
[New Mission:
Dominate and overpower your opponents, claiming victory.
Reward: Rite of Challenge — Earn the right to claim Noctis, the Silent Fang!]