Thors’ eyes lingered on Elden’s for a moment, the tension growing thicker and thicker between the two.
His next reply would determine what happened next.
And whatever that was, Elden was ready to react.
In the next moment, Elden found himself astounded by Thors’ reaction.
It appeared that Thors simply sighed it off and rubbed his eyes, seeming very unconcerned by any of it.
Then he spoke in a low tone, "Of course the bastard decides to make a move now."
Elden paused for a moment before speaking once again, "I believe Bishop thinks he will only get a slap on the wrist even if he kills Seoul..."
Thors’ lower lip curled into his mouth as he bit down on it slightly.
’It’s true. Bishop would get away with killing Seoul.’
Though Seoul was a part of the Top Ten and supposedly a prized possession of the academy, thanks to the battle against Valon and how the Top Ten had been ruthlessly defeated, those involved had fallen greatly in the academy’s regard.
Seoul was one of the students involved in that skirmish, and currently, he and the other four were being looked down upon by the academy.
’Right now, if Bishop actually manages to kill Seoul, it would be like another highborn killing a street rat.’
Thors ran his fingers through his hair, a troubled look settling across his face.
Without a doubt, after Seoul, he would be next.
He grumbled inwardly.
’Why are all these bad situations piling up all at once?’
He sat there for a few seconds before finally rising from the bed. He spared Elden a short stare and then walked toward the exit of the room, leaving him with only a few words.
"Thank you..."
With that, he exited the room and began trailing through the hostel halls as quickly as he could.
Thors groaned as he pondered his current to-do list. First of all was the battle against Valon and his need to grow stronger—not just to be on par with the current Top Ten, but to surpass them and eventually even Valon.
Another was protecting Seoul.
Thors pocketed his hands, feeling a cold chill run up his spine as he imagined the scenario of finding his only friend in the academy so far, murdered in cold blood.
’I can’t allow that to happen...’ Thors pronounced inwardly.
Still, both of these interests clashed with one another.
To visit the dungeon and grow stronger, Thors desperately wanted this. But at the same time, he could not afford to be absent now of all times while Seoul was still recovering.
Thors grunted as he felt his head ache from the difficulty of the choice he had to make here.
He had been thinking for so long that he hadn’t realized how far away from the hostel he had gotten.
Now traversing through the empty streets, the only source of light being the street lamps, which shone brightly whenever they sensed motion approaching them, only to dim immediately afterward.
The chill of the night wind brushed across his face, his hair tickling against his forehead as he moved at a steady pace through the familiar streets.
It was cold... Only slightly, yet Thors folded his arms and hugged himself as he moved.
Just for a moment, he took his mind off the wearisome thoughts clouding his mind and stared up at the crescent moon hanging high above.
The moon?!
"What the..."
Thors’ instincts kicked in.
His body jolted into motion as he lurched backward, avoiding by a mere second a plummeting dagger aimed to split his skull in two.
Wham!
The ground trembled as the figure holding the dagger crashed into it, the force of his landing threatening to break through the cemented flooring beneath him.
Thors retreated again, putting more distance between himself and the attacker.
Far enough, he stopped and glared at the man, scanning him from his pitch-black hair to his robust face and dark clothing that covered him from head to toe, assessing the character carefully.
He had no idea who this was, but judging from the sudden approach and the weapon held in the hands of this individual...
Surely hugging was not his intention.
"Who the hell are you?" Thors sneered.
The attacker said nothing.
He did nothing.
He simply smiled and took two paces backward.
Thors raised a brow at the strange action.
’What is going on... Why am I being attacked here...?’
"Hahahaha! What a fool you are."
That voice...
Thors’ head tilted abruptly to the right, past the street and toward the other sidewalk.
There, he spotted three other students dressed in black from head to toe.
Another round of laughter came from his right.
He turned and saw several others walking out from behind bushes and lamp posts, one even stepping out from a shadow cast by the streetlights.
One after another, they emerged, slowly cornering Thors in a death circle.
Thors’ stomach knotted as he recognized a few faces among the number of attackers.
Three of them were the boys he had beaten earlier today, all wearing smug looks on their faces, far more confident than they had been earlier.
He tilted his head to the right and saw Bishop and his two goons—the fat and slim boys—each carrying a baseball bat in one hand.
The others were complete strangers to Thors...
But from what he could see, he was extremely fucked on all sides.
Bishop chuckled once again, slapping his knees, his laughter becoming the only thing filling the awkward silence.
It lasted rather long.
Long enough to become irritating.
But Thors dared not say a single thing...
He only watched as his heart pounded against his chest, his eyes shaking in their sockets as his vision blurred in and out.
He held up a hand to his face, catching it as it shuddered uncontrollably.
’Wait... Am I terrified?’
Bishop finally reeled back from his laughter, stood upright, and stared dead into Thors’ eyes.
"What did my measly runt tell you, rat?!"
Thors’ blood ran cold, his face turning pale.
The sight seemed to amuse Bishop even more.
"Oh, you didn’t know?"
Bishop’s eyes glimmered with amusement.
"We never planned to kill Seoul in the first place. Our target has always been you, Rat."
Thors’ heart palpitated as the premonition crashed into him like a poisoned knife.
He had been tricked.