Panic finally setting in, the group immediately became agitated by their leader’s sudden disappearance.
The realization caused fear to creep into their hearts. Without Hans around, they could be attacked at any moment and end up getting killed in the process.
“Where’s Hans? Where did he go?”
“How could he suddenly just disappear? I thought there weren’t supposed to be any traps around these parts.”
“Didn’t the kid say there weren’t supposed to be any Monsters or traps going forward from now?”
It was unknown who exactly in the group had asked the last question.
But with it, as though a dam had burst open, everyone’s attention suddenly shifted to the one who had stated the coast was clear for these parts and that there shouldn’t be anything they couldn’t handle going forward.
Drawing closer to Felix, the group immediately diverted their annoyance toward him.
“Where did he go? Didn’t you say we wouldn’t encounter anything we couldn’t handle till we reached our destination?”
To which another added.
“Weren’t you supposed to make sure things like this didn’t happen? Wasn’t that the only reason you were allowed to join us in the first place?”
Then another.
“You had one job. ONE! Yet you still found a way to screw it up! This is why I was against letting you join us in the first place.”
At the sudden turn of events brought about by Hans’s disappearance, those who had been faking their earlier congratulations while secretly disliking Felix’s presence for one reason or another didn’t miss the opportunity to lash out at him.
Fuelled by the fear and confusion spreading through the group, most of them joined in as well, while others simply panicked or chose to remain silent.
Hearing all this, Felix didn’t retort, nor did he try to defend himself.
After all, he was already familiar with such situations.
Aware of how any reason, no matter how valid, he tried to give in his defence would simply be discarded by the others, as they weren’t in a reasonable frame of mind at the moment.
Instead, his mind was occupied by something else.
‘How did a trap suddenly appear out of nowhere? I made sure to check that these parts were clear. So how did I miss one?’
Most enchanted traps, such as the one that had activated beneath Hans moments before his disappearance, emitted a warm bluish glow whenever Felix perceived the world around him through his Attribute.
As such, it enabled him to easily identify traps long before he got close to them.
Yet, for reasons unknown to him, he hadn’t perceived a single trace of any trap through his Attribute when he had used it earlier.
Though this might have been because he had stretched his perception to its maximum range in order to avoid getting detected by any higher-Grade Monsters and accidentally stumbling into their detection range, waking them up in the process.
As such, he often left some distance between each activation of the Attribute.
Only after reaching the furthest point his mind had previously perceived would he activate it again, just as he had been advised.
This caused the information furthest from him to become less vivid whenever he stretched it too far.
‘I highly doubt that’s the case here though.’
Even considering that, Felix knew the chances of him completely missing a trap, if one had truly been there beforehand, were highly unlikely.
After pushing himself to the limit while dealing with the Alpha, he had become aware of the exact point at which his mind began jumbling the information gathered by the Attribute.
As such, he never went beyond that point, only pushing it slightly further whenever necessary to avoid making a false judgement.
Yet somehow, he had still missed a trap?
Snapping him out of his thoughts, some of the others began drawing closer, poking his chest at his lack of response.
Their accusations only increased as they crowded around him.
Yet Felix could only grit his teeth and bear it.
Having spent most of his life trying to ensure a better future for himself and his sisters, Felix had often worked multiple jobs at once just so they could barely get by.
Most times, his employers would find excuses to criticize his performance in order to avoid paying him his full share, or simply as a means of keeping it for themselves.
Whenever he tried to complain about the unfairness of their behaviour, they would accuse him of being rude and ungrateful toward those who had given him an opportunity to work despite him being unclassified and lacking any certificate to prove his competence.
As such, they would often brand him as a troublesome brat and use that as justification to chase him away.
And with the limited number of people willing to hire a weak, malnourished, underage dropout, he didn’t have many options.
Not to mention that the loss of a single job could set them back weeks’ worth of carefully budgeted food, forcing them to either stop eating twice a day or sacrifice something else instead.
As a result, he had developed the habit of avoiding trouble rather than instigating or worsening it.
Whether it was a boss hurling insults at him for no valid reason, a coworker taking credit for his work, or something similar, he endured it all, swallowing his frustrations as he did.
Because he couldn’t afford to lose even a single job.
No matter how underpaid or underappreciated it was.
One less job meant one more bill he would have to sacrifice or somehow find another way to cover.
Aware of all this, he wasn’t surprised that the fake smiles, and even some of the genuine ones, had now turned into blame.
People were always quick to point out faults while being equally quick to forget the good someone had done.
Despite all this, he also understood the others’ point of view.
After all, Hans had been the main reason most of them agreed to come in the first place.
They knew they were safe under his strong and reliable leadership, allowing them to entertain the idea that a group of weak Low-Ranks even stood a chance of upgrading their Rank.
As such, his sudden disappearance had served as a wake-up call, reminding them just how vulnerable they truly were without him.
Their fear had warped into frustration. That frustration had become anger. And that anger had been directed toward Felix.
‘It still doesn’t make it any less annoying.’
Despite understanding all this, coupled with his past experiences, it didn’t make the situation any less irritating.
After all, he was human too.
Wasn’t he allowed to get frustrated?
Wasn’t he allowed to speak his mind?
What right did they have that he didn’t?
What made their actions justified while his weren’t?
He was trying his best as well. Going as far as pushing his Attribute to its limits, even feeling slightly lightheaded from extending his perception further than he was currently capable of handling.
Yet the moment things went wrong, the first person to be blamed was always him.
The first person to take the fall was always him.
So why did he have to keep putting up with any of this?
Grating his teeth in frustration, while his nails unconsciously dug into his clenched palm, Felix struggled to endure it this time.
Then...
“You’re nothing more than a weak F-Rank piece of trash. It was pointless to put our hopes in someone like you in the first place.”
*Snap*
He wasn’t sure who exactly had said it or what had led to that point, as his thoughts had drifted elsewhere.
But that was the last straw.
After all, there was always a limit to how much people could endure.
Raising his head toward the person who had spoken, he was about to retort, until...
“The only trash here is you lot of overgrown children claiming to be adults.”
Stunned, the rest turned toward the speaker.
Surprised as well, Felix turned to the source of the voice.
Because the one who had spoken was none other than the middle-aged man who had first thanked him after their return from defeating the Alpha.