Death Leveling Chapter 31

[ … words ]

Ended up spending the whole night frolicking in my bedroll—couldn’t rest because of one exciting component that forced me to have fatal familial insomnia—who could rest with this?—the offspring I made, I could feel its MANA the entire time while being away from him!!

He wasn’t quite moving yet, but his MANA was steadily increasing—was he healing?—is that what was going on?—just the thought made me naughtily smirk and bite my lips—no woman could make me feel this way, I daresay.

“Tsss…” began hearing sounds from one of the tents—is someone up?—I closed my eyes and started focusing on the sound—is it Soyeon?—meekish sounds, so must be her.

Then, I heard quiet footsteps abruptly going out of the tent in incredible speed—now, that must be Nemo; self-satisfaction went over my brain upon the realization that I could recognize exactly who was who just from sounds alone; I could still sense their MANA and attach labels like that, but I wanted to rely on pure instinct instead.

“Time to get up, everyone!!” shouted Nemo.

“A’y, Captain,” replied Ku in lethargy.

We all walked out of our tents—we were dressed, as you’d expect…

“Ku, you good, bro?” I stated.

“Huh?” he replied confused; then looked down, “oh, shit, not again!”

He was in his underwear.

This reminded me of the time with X; maybe, they’re not all that different after all.

“Come on, Ku, you’re so hopeless!” awkwardly aired Soyeon, whilst looking away from him in embarrassment—a little shy, isn’t she?

Meanwhile Nemo tilted his head and sighed.

“Dress up and we’ll start— and you really need to stop with your exhibitionism, how many times have you done this?”

He’s done this before…? Guys, I think you need to do one-plus-one and realize something…

After he dressed up, Nemo inquired us, “would you prefer hunting or—”

Both of them immediately cut him off and in sync and confidence, exclaimed, “skip.”

“Skip?” I muttered.

Soyeon glanced at me, picking up on my bafflement, “means we’d rather have him use his System to get us something nice instead.”

Rather than being supportive of them, my eyes began sparking—I could use this—I realized and a mild grin hoisted itself on my face.

“Nemo, don’t you think you should have the final say here?”

He peeped at me—couldn’t see his expression because of his mask, but I could regardless read his emotions without an issue—slightly upset, aren’t you?—yeah, be upset and kneel, doggy.

“I mean, why do you let the two of them push you around like that—”

Quickly glanced at Ku and Soyeon and, speedily whispered, “no offense to you two.”

Then continued towards Nemo, “you’re the Leader, shouldn’t you be the one to decide something like this? And furthermore, how can we trust you with our lives if you have no balls to even say no?”

Clearly, with Soyeon, that didn’t quite sit straight.

“Dante, it’s really not that serious—we’re just lazy and hungry, no need to make a big deal out of nothing.”

“Tsk!” I let out, this time willingly and consciously; then, proceeded with my point, “yeah, it’s not about food—obviously, don’t you realize?—it’s about Nemo holding his own ground and being a Leader rather than a pushover.”

Ku walked in front of us and voiced, “unfortunately, I do agree with him—I’d really like Nemo to act more like a Leader.”

Nemo consequently, quite audibly, sighed and replied, “I’m sorry, kids—you’re right.” Is he?—I wonder, what could be the roots of his submissiveness?—maybe he’s like this in bed too?—is that it?

I’m surprised he’s able to apologize and own up like this, though—that does command some respect out of me, I’m sure most would at least be annoyed after being put in an awkward position like this.

“In that case…” he glanced at Ku, and then procedurally at me.

“…you two will be responsible for food this morning.”

Ku was about to affirm him—I could tell—but then I went and intervened before his mouth opened, “oh, could I do it alone? I’d always do it with someone, so I want to try and see if I can do it on my own!”

The determination in my tone was certainly going to make them surrender—right?—yes.

“Are you okay with that?” Nemo asked while facing Ku, almost rhetorically as if knowing what he was going to answer.

“I suppose so…”

“Dante, are you sure?—what if you get attacked by a monster?” Soyeon jumped in—I’d deem her annoying for dismissing me like this, but she’s acting exactly like I want her to.

Keep going, honey, underestimate me until one day I’m behind you with my teeth deep inside your neck!—oh, how I cra—

Oops… accidentally made some bloodlust ooze out—did Nemo pick it up?—he’s looking at me, in silence.

“Umm… I’m sure I’ll be fine, but if anything, I’ll scream like my life depends on it!—you’ll be ready, right?” I queried Soyeon, playfully with no weight behind my words.

Began walking forward, ignoring Nemo’s gaze—kindly, forget this happened!!

I’d never daydream like this before, but now I catch myself lusting over blood and imaginary— well, future scenarios; I still don’t know what to call myself or this transformation, but it certainly makes intrusive thoughts significantly more vivid and invasive.

“Hah,” I whispered to myself while glaring at all the trees—perfect cover, isn’t it?

Went up to them, then immediately sprinted off—started running with my eyes closed, didn’t even need them open because I knew the exact location of my little test experiment.

Once I got next to him, I began walking gradually with expectations drowning my mind.

“There you are!” I voiced next to the corpse.

Grabbed him by the hair and pulled his head in front of my face so I could see his expression clearly—empty-eyed, mouth drooling—no thoughts?—eh?

“Hello,” I whispered next to his ear.

“You alive? Hey!”

Then…

“Oh, fuck!!” I voiced, turned around and…

*Guuuuush!!*

Just by the hair, I managed to hide behind a tree—his mouth opened wide, so I knew exactly what was going to happen.

For a moment or ten, I simply sat behind the tree without doing anything—disappointment was reigning.

“Ah…” proceeded to take a deep breath and then took a glance at the scene—just like in that town, he exploded into nothing but blood.

“What went wrong…” I said empty-eyed, mirroring him from earlier.

Was it because of his MANA?—was it too weak to survive the transformation?

Whatever the case, some of them moved and even fought—there must be a way to replicate that, but clearly it won’t be as easy as I initially thought.

My determination faltered, but it didn’t die just yet.