Chapter 76 :

Episode 17 : A Child's Decision (4)

Asher, hopping from one place to another by using her portals, called out Alaine's name although she remained unable to correctly say the name ‘Alaine’.

"Alaina. Alanine?" Asher shouted before murmuring to herself. "Feels like I misspoke her name, but whatever."

After searching all the rooms on the second floor, Asher wasn't able to find Alaine.

"Where could they put her?" Asher scratched her head before rubbing her chin.

"There should be a basement somewhere, but it must be somewhere hidden in the second floor." Asher thought, remembering her first time at the casino.

"Why can't I remember something important? Goddamn my forgetfulness. Tch." Asher kicked the wall in anguish before noticing a shadow casting before her.

She looked to wherever that shadow belonged to and discovered Calum fully suited with armor.

"Whoa there. What are you trying to do by slapping dirty scraps on yourself, Calum?" Asher laughed when she laid eyes on the sight in front of her.

Calum pulled out a Nunchaku and showcased his Nunchaku skill by spinning it around.

However Asher wasn't even impressed by Calum's skill and immediately spawned a portal behind Calum with the other portal appearing slowly to the right beside her hand.

As if he knew Asher was going to go for his blind spot, he swayed his Nunchaku into the portal, popping out from the other side and swiftly hitting Asher's hand.

In a flash, Asher closed the portal to stop Calum as she held her hand, offering a deal to Calum. "Why don't we make this easy? You give me the girl and you won't get your men busted. How does that sound?"

"You mean to waste a perfect chance to get a jackpot? Hell no. I wouldn't want to leave precious ‘Numbers’ once I lay my eyes on it." Calum smirked, sprinting toward Asher.

"Ha. It's a beautiful day outside." Asher dashed directly at Calum while yanking out her scythe from her inventory.

"What the heck does that even mean?" Calum questioned the strange statement that Asher just spoke.

Spinning the scythe like a madman, Asher grasped firmly to the handle before slashing it at Calum who swiftly blocked it with his Nunchaku.

"Birds are singing, flowers are blooming." Asher began to talk nonsense while attacking Calum continuously with her scythe, preparing for the perfect time to use her portal.

It seemed Calum got tired of the odd words coming out of Asher's mouth, as a result, he knocked back Asher's scythe before landing a kick to Asher's stomach.

Being so close together, his kick would have been difficult to dodge despite what Calum thought, Asher managed to evade the kick by leaping up.

While in mid-air she was able to swing her scythe in a circle, forcing Calum to block the blade from coming close to his face.

Finally spotting an opening, Asher spawned in two portals, making certainty that Calum wouldn't catch on what she was doing.

Even with her mask on, Asher expressed a malicious smile on her face as she stared at Calum having trouble blocking her scythe with just his wooden Nunchaku. "On days like this, kids like you."

"Stop talking nonsense, woman!" Calum yelled, striking Asher's scythe which halted Asher rotating her scythe.

Immediately after that, Calum flung his Nunchaku toward Asher while she was trying to get back into spinning the scythe.

In this moment, Calum witnessed as his Nunchaku got nearer to Asher's face, he was expecting a win from his side.

..yet he didn't expect what was coming at him.

Moving like the flash, Asher dodged, moving her head away along with her back bending almost down to the floor, along with her scythe pointing the sharpest tip to the ground.

Calum saw her avoid his attack and so he wanted to attack again, but when he noticed what Asher was doing while bending herself back, it was too late.

A blade from the back poked out from a portal, thrusting into Calum's back in spite of having armor, it still went through with the amount of force Asher had put into while she was bending down.

"Should be burning in hell." Asher laughed sinisterly, getting back up and pulling her scythe out of the portal which was on the floor.

The scythe got pulled out and Calum suffered from the pain as he coughed out blood when the blade left his wound.

He collapsed onto his knees but as he did, he tried to take a HP potion from his pocket, almost opening it to drink it before Asher instantly stopped him by swinging her scythe toward that potion.

The potion crashed onto the wall when it couldn't hang onto the scythe, causing the liquid that was supposed to heal Calum, poured into the carpet.

"Just give up already and tell me where the girl is." Placing the scythe's handle on her shoulder while holding it still, Asher sneered by the sight of blood flowing out of Calum's chest wound.

"If I tell you, will you spare me?" Calum begged.

Asher put the scythe on the floor to use it as a resting place for her chin while speaking to Calum. "It depends if you're telling me the truth or not. But don't worry, I'm a person who keeps my word."

"Ha. Do you really think I would tell you?" Calum gave his response with a laugh.

Asher stepped up, slashing her scythe until she stopped with the blade being an inch close to Calum's neck. "Don't make me continue my game of ‘Killing people while singing a song lyric’."

"O-Okay okay! I-I will tell you! The girl is in the basement!"

"Where to find this basement?"

"There's a secret path underneath a bed!"

"A bed, huh? I think I saw one while searching. You better be telling me the truth or else I'll kill you for ruining my chances to gain their trust."

"Their..? Who? Wait, no I'm definitely not lying! Just spare me!"

Asher snickered as she stored her scythe in her inventory, lifting up Calum's chin. "You were looking all confident before but lookie here, you're shitting in your pants after getting your butt whooped. Pfft, this is hilarious."

After saying what she wanted, she left the wounded man behind, walking toward a room where she first saw a bed.

———

Mya trembled, her hands holding onto her amulet were shaking very much.

The reason why she was shaking as though the world surrounding her was going to end was because of witnessing JoonChul and HwanGi getting slashed up from the weapons the men used, yet they continued on keeping the men away from Mya.

As she noticed JoonChul struggling to not harm those men, he wasn't able to stop HwanGi from being pummeled by those guys.

Mya didn't know why she was hesitant when she told JoonChul that she would become brave like her mother.

In actuality, she was nowhere braver than her mother, instead she was a coward, standing while two grown men tried to protect her.

She mused to herself, lowering her head as she heard the groan of JoonChul and HwanGi. ‘Mom.. I'm not brave at all..’

Mya found a fist coming her way, she screamed with her arms blocking her head. "Eek!!"

But when she noticed that the fist didn't hit her, she moved her arms away to see what was going on and discovered JoonChul standing in front of her.

He turned around to glance at her and said to her, expressing his disappointment toward her. "Tch. Are you going to shame your mother with how cowardly you are? Walking her path, right. How shameful."

"What did you say?" Mya grumbled as her trembling halted.

"..." However, JoonChul didn't give her his answer and proceeded to fight off the bad guys.

As if JoonChul's words just stabbed a sword into Mya's confidence, Mya mumbled and sobbed. "..I'm brave.."

‘Mom.. what should I do.. I'm scared..’ Mya thought, covering her ears from listening to men shouting.

Without a doubt, she was scared. How could she not? She was just a 10 years old who let herself get involved in this kind of situation.

Unlike the Stage #10 part where she was thrown into the battle stadium without any preparation or any knowledge of what was happening around her, the situation right now was different since she accepted to go in the casino herself.

Out of the blue, HwanGi was knocked onto the ground beside Mya, startling her by surprise.

"Uncle! Are you okay!?" Mya uttered.

"I'm fine." Said the man who had blood bleeding out of his handsome face.

Mya's eyes became teary as she caressed HwanGi's forehead where the blood was dripping out of.

"Mya, get back quickly. This is dangerous for you."

‘..Uncle protected me.. and I did nothing to help.. This isn't right..’ Mya thought, building up her courage to become useful.

Mya cried out, determined to do whatever it takes for her to become like her mother. "I can be helpful..!!"

[Player ‘555’'s Hidden Skill, ‘Fighting Spirit’ has self-activated.]