Knowing he shouldn't talk back and accept the insult, Mathew bit his lip while battling his pride and common sense.
He should stay quiet as he had always done and let Alexei be right, but hadn't things changed?
Hadn't they equalized?
Each person had been granted abilities; although they hadn't fought each other, Mathew knew he was talented.
The screen that only he could see said so.
The pride and ego that he usually suppressed because of his circumstances rose, causing his face to flush with anger.
After all, he, too, had abilities and could stand up for himself.
His boss couldn't push him around anymore.
His family wasn't here, and all the prisoners hated him.
If anything, Alexei should need him to aid him in resisting the people who would inevitably team up and come for his life.
Especially with how he was making enemies by torturing and killing everyone.
They were equals now, and he could speak his mind.
His opinion had to be heeded.
Clenching his teeth, Mathew turned to face Alexei.
"You're wrong! If you hadn't thrown her, she wouldn't have needed those extra minutes and could be ready to fight immediately. You know how scary those monsters are!"
"If she had listened to me the first time I said to go fight instead of running away like a rat, just like the person talking to me right now, she wouldn't have needed those extra minutes. She can take it as me saving her the effort of running there. Pro bono express taxi service." Alexei responded with a blank expression.
It was the face he put on when he had to talk to 'idiots and useless people with an inflated sense of importance who enjoy wasting my time when I would literally rather be counting sand or mopping the ocean than speaking to them.'
Seeing that expression directed at him, Matthew's anger began to take over his head.
"You-"
"Me what? Stay out of my way. I'm busy."
While continuing to have the conversation, Alexei hadn't ceased releasing the seemingly endless chains to find prisoners trying to escape and tossing them forward or using his chains to rip a limb or two of those who tried to attack him while walking through the forest.
He also used the same chains to attack the green humanoid beasts dressed in loin cloths that occasionally charged toward them with crude weapons like knives, swords, and even clubs.
Sometimes, the chains restrained the green beasts, and at other times, using their own weapons to drive them to death and grab the faint glowing coins that appeared upon their death.
In Matthew's eyes, it looked to him like he was watching an action movie sequence, and Alexei was the main character.
He couldn't help but feel an uncontrollable level of jealousy.
Alexei's control over the chains was precise and accurate, and there seemed to be no limit to how long they could extend.
They moved as if they had always been a part of him, not some ability he had gained less than a day ago.
Seeing the continuously gruesome sight of both human and otherworldly limbs flying in the air and splattering both red and green blood everywhere, including his own face, Mathew quelled his roiling stomach while looking at the screen that came up when he tapped the black band on his right wrist.
[Culling Participant: Mathew Dae Kim]
[Time Remaining: 364: 12: 06: 35]
[Class: Analytical Mage]
[Lv1
Life Energy Coins: 0
Skills: Spell Breakdown, Instant Cast(4 minutes remaining until next use), Mana Blast, Memorize (1 slot)
Memorized Spell: Fireball (Lv 1)
]
It was like something out of the fantasy games he used to play when he was younger.
Honestly, looking at where they were now, a lush forested area leading to plains filled with large boulders, instead of the sterile prison where he had been previously, he wished that it was a dream.
But when he remembered the sight of the angel, what it had insinuated, the rush of pain to his wrist, and then the chaos that had broken out, the mutilated bodies that he had seen, he couldn't help but be slightly afraid.
Suddenly, his eyes spotted two green goblins with rusty knives slip past Alexei's chains and dash toward him.
"Mana blast!"
Holding out his hand, he quickly fired a bolt of blue mana, feeling the new mysterious energy in his body drain away, but the two goblins rolled dramatically to the side to avoid it.
As he began scrambling backward, his leather shoes slipped on a patch of grass, and he fell to the ground.
One goblin leaped into the air; its rusty knife pointed at Mathew's throat as it screamed.
KRAYYYYYYYYKKKKK!!!
"F-fireball!"
A huge ball of fire burst from Matthew's palm, completely disintegrating the goblin.
Sighing in relief, Mathew tried to get up, but the second goblin dashed at him, swinging its knife wildly while grunting like a pig.
Slash-
Slash-
Slash-
Slash-
The stench of an unwashed body and blood filled the air as the goblin completely focused on attempting to take Matthews's life.
Despite his attempts to send out a magical attack, only little bursts of blue bolts flew and the goblin continued pressuring him, its beady eyes glaring menacingly as it jabbed furiously at the man in front of it.
"A-Alexei! Help me!" A terrified cry rang out, but the recipient just looked bored.
"Should I? You look like you're having fun, though." Amber's eyes stared curiously as Mathew scrambled wildly on the ground to avoid the goblin, as if waiting to see what trick he would pull out next.
Mathew's previously ordinary suit was stained with plant juices and mud, and was being shredded by sharp knife swings as he narrowly dodged the wide swings.
If it weren't for the height difference between the two, he would have gotten his throat slashed like one of the other careless prisoners.
Panicked and flailing, as his glasses fell off, he forced every bit of energy he had into his palm and quickly fired a mana blast toward the goblin, grazing its hand and blasting its entire body back into a tree.
THUD!
KREYEAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
A primal scream erupted from the goblin's mouth, the thick veins that corded its neck visible as its jaw opened widely, exposing jagged, pointed teeth.
Furious, the goblin dashed forward, and Mathew tried to run while looking back, but twisted his ankle and fell.
As he turned, a slightly dull knife sliced deeper into the side, making him feel numb before unimaginable pain swept through his body in addition to the drained feeling.
"Alexei! Please!" Mathew screamed as the hand clutching his waist came covered in red blood.
Angry, he held his hand out while gritting his teeth.
"Fireball!"
Alexei: "........."
Goblin: "......."
Absolutely nothing happened.
The goblin immediately paused, staring cautiously between Alexei and Mathew.
"Fireball!"
Despite him screaming again, nothing came out of his palm.
"How energetic. Well, you seem to have it handled. I believe in you. Fighting!~" A cheery statement came out as Alexei turned and began walking away while whistling.
Seeing that the threat was leaving, the goblin grinned wildly and began swinging its knife while cornering the bleeding prey.
As Mathew fell to the ground once more, the goblin mounted him, and the two began grappling.
"Alexei!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Oh? You're stronger than you look. And is your side healing too? How quick~"
Feeling panicked and shaking his arms, Mathew threw out his last card.
"You Bastard! You better help me survive! Help me! Oth-otherwise I'll tell Cyril everything you did if I survive!"
"Ohh?"
The blond man immediately stopped walking and glanced back.
"Yes! I'll report you to him and tell him you abandoned me! So help me!"
"Hmmm, okay," a gentle tone sounded out, and suddenly, black chains erupted from the goblin's chest, stopping it right before it stabbed Mathew in the head.
KREYYYYHHHH-
As the goblin's mouth moved, blood poured out, one of the chains wrapped around its neck before yanking upward, ripping off the head and dropping it onto Mathew's face.
SPLAT!
As the sour blood and questionable chunks entered his mouth and he accidentally swallowed, Mathew immediately gagged, threw off the body while rolling over, and threw up everything he had in his stomach and then some.
"Ooopsie."
That bastard had done it on purpose!
This whole situation was hell, and this bastard here was having fun torturing people.
Regaining some of his clarity as he continued vomiting, Mathew began worrying for himself and his younger sister, friends, and family.
Was this happening to them, too?
Were they also trapped with psychopaths like his boss, who was just happily killing everything and playing around with blood?
Hopefully, this was just an isolated incident due to mysterious circumstances….otherwise….
Before he could continue the thought, black chains wrapped around his legs.
"Pathetic. Struggling against only two of them. Get up. You're wasting my time." Alexei spoke to him like a dog while his chains dragged him along the ground as he walked forward.
Mathew could feel his back filling with dirt and strange liquid, and anger began to rise up again.
It was a righteous anger that rose to cover his fear and another more selfish emotion.
It was this man next to him who made him have complex feelings.
He was supposed to be a good person on the side of justice, with a great family background, great connections, an amazing career, and yet he was the one who had shown the most violence, the most selfishness and cruelty not the criminals who were locked up.
Even now, it seemed that the gods were on Alexei's side, granting him powers that seemed better than everybody else's.
Making him seem like the hero.
It wasn't fair.
Especially when Alexei was the bad one.
The sight of Alexei coldly cutting down everybody in his way was chilling.
No matter who had tried to run away and escape, he had chased them down with his chains and thrown them into the portal before eventually following through himself while dragging Mathew along despite his protests.
He knew Alexei wasn't willingly protecting him; he was doing it out of obligation to a mutual friend.
But even when he knew that he needed protection and acknowledged that he would have died without it, Mathew hated the fact that Alexei constantly rubbed it in his face and made him feel worthless.
He hated the fact that Alexei's friendship with another person was the only reason that he was alive now.
Even now, he was being dragged on the ground like a dog in this strange place because Alexei was concerned about someone else's opinion of him, not that he valued Mathew.
[Dungeon Goblin Fields]
[Level 1]
[Time before break: 38: 42: 01]
It was the title that appeared over the portal.
The inside of the portal had been an entirely different environment filled with green humanoid beasts, of which he was the goblins.
Standing at around 4 feet tall, with narrow, beady eyes, large wart-filled noses, severe overbite from sharp fangs protruding from their lips, and filthy rag-like clothing that spread out a horrid stench, they were quite nauseating to see and smell.
The goblins had targeted the humans as soon as they came through the portal, slaughtering those who came with their weapons and feasting on the glowing crystals that came out in more significant amounts from the human bodies, and sometimes fighting each other over them.
If the prisoners in orange jumpsuits hadn't eventually bandied together properly to fight the monsters due to Alexei's brutality towards those who ran, they would have been annihilated.
Still, many people had also begun killing each other and the monsters, shouting happily when absorbing those glowing crystals while acting as if they had snorted drugs that made them energetic.
Mathew became curious.
He wanted to try it.
Although he was immensely curious about them, wondering if they worked like game exp, he had never been able to secure any for himself since Alexei immediately collected them all, or other people snatched them.
Even the ones that came from the goblins he defeated were quickly snatched up.
When he had been tempted to try and get some, wanting to understand the frenzied joy of the people who received them, a cold voice stopped him.
"Take one step toward it, and I'm done protecting you. Try me."
It had been enough to stop him.
Now, that same voice was ruthlessly criticizing him.
"Instead of lying there like a useless beggar, get up and start walking. Or is it that you want me to throw you forward, too? You've not only been useless, but you're now slowing me down, which is really not worth it. Worse than a rat. Actually, at this point, a rat would be more useful." Alexei calmly spoke as his chains forcibly lifted Mathew into an upright position when he got tired of dragging him.
It was the final straw.
Finally losing his temper, all the pent-up frustration came out, and Mathew snapped back, seeing that the timer on his ability was up. He would show him!
"Stop talking to me like that, and stop threatening me! You're the one who dragged me here in the first place! I didn't ask for this. I didn't even want to come!"
Alexei looked him over before he burst out laughing, wiping tears from his eyes that curved happily.
He had the sweetest smile on his face, like he was watching a heartwarming scene.
"Ah? Finally, exploded? I wondered when you would finally show your true colors. You've been suppressing it for a while, so good job. You'll go far in the corporate world. Bravo~"
Compliments came pouring out in a sincere voice as Alexei slowly clapped.
Of course, the other party didn't take it seriously.