Chapter 136: Sudden Ambush
Examining the stats of the ring, Erin thought it would provide Layla with an excellent boost in power.
[Inspect]
[Creator: Asahi Kanemaru and Alex Way]
[Intermediate tier Burnscale Ring]
[+1 Strength]
[+ 2 Stamina]
[Active skill: Flame enchant]
[When worn by its wearer, it will enchant any projectile currently loaded in the bow it is contacting with a temporary flaming aura]
She handed the ring to Layla, and she put it on.
"It fits perfectly," Layla noted, "Let’s go to the training center so I could test it out."
"I did get a little bit of help from my partner to give it a good skill," Asahi chuckled, "But I think you’ll find its ability really useful."
Layla smiled, "Thank you so much!"
"Come on, let’s go," Erin softly said.
They left and headed to the training center. As they did, Erin opened up a new umbrella, and Layla stepped underneath it next to her.
"You don’t need to hide from the sunlight," Erin commented.
"I know, but the sun is kinda bright today," Layla lied.
Erin thought it a little strange, but didn’t mind her getting closer.
Before they could make it to the training center, they both began to smell several figures approaching their way.
"You notice it right?" Erin asked in a low voice.
Layla grew alert, and looked around for the source of the scent.
"I do, but why now?" Layla wondered.
That was when Erin heard the sound of an ability charging.
"Get down!" Erin shouted, then pushed Layla onto the floor as a green energy beam flew past where they once were.
Quickly taking out their weapons, the two girls watched as 7 people came into view completely surrounding them.
Then, a new notification screen popped up.
[Survive the encounter]
[Rewards: ???]
’Just like before...’ Erin thought.
Earlier in the school year, a group of Mono’s lackeys had ganged up on her, but she was caught off guard and on her own.
But she wasn’t the same person as before.
"Can you handle yourself?" Erin quickly asked.
"I think so," Layla said as she rolled out of the way of another green blast, and drew her bow.
—
"Seriously, it’s just hanging out," Peter reassured, "She has nothing to do with Earl."
Currently, Peter was taking Quinn to the nearby park where he planned to meet up with Cia. The entire time, Quinn was worried for his roommate as he was once adamant that his new ’friends’ weren’t actually bad. It was incredibly rare for any high levels to not treat low levels poorly. Even for Erin, it took her a while to change her mindset on ability levels.
’But she’s a level 4, so maybe she isn’t so bad,’ Quinn contemplated, ’and that one level 5 guy proved that it wasn’t impossible.’
Quinn quickly shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts, ’I’m starting to sound like Mono with how much I keep thinking about these high and low level relationships,’
"Cia! I hope you don’t mind that I brought along a friend," Peter called out.
Looking to see who Peter’s new friend was, he spotted a girl sitting on a large quilt in the lush grass. Next to her was a woven wooden basket as well as a small cooler box.
"An extra person?" Cia asked, a little disappointed, "What’s average Joe doing here?"
Quinn blinked, taken completely by surprise from the comment.
’At least I look average now, that’s an improvement from being ugly,’ he thought to himself.
Peter winced, "Er, Cia, you meant Quinn, right? He’s a friend of mine."
She paused, then cleared her throat, "Well... I was just thinking that we might not have enough food for the three of us."
"It’s fine, I ate earlier," Quinn said.
Peter slightly nudged Quinn, "Hopefully our food won’t make you hungry."
They spent that time taking out different food items as Cia and Peter chatted with one another while Quinn mostly remained silent. From what he could tell, the two seemed to get along pretty well, despite her initial comment towards him. Apparently, when he first met her, Cia did the same thing to Peter back when they left him with Layla the other day.
Just as he was wondering what her message about the knives were all about, she took out a pumpkin pie from the basket, and began cutting into it.
Thinking about it, even if Cia didn’t always leave the best first impressions, having a friend who wasn’t as connected to Erin didn’t seem like a bad idea. With how much Peter had already gone through, Quinn was hoping that his friend wouldn’t need to deal with all the baggage that came with vampires.
The wind calmly rustled the grass, the sun shone brightly, but not too much as to be blinding, and the occasional bird chirped, Quinn was finding it seemed to be a peaceful, beautiful day.
’You know, I think I can get used to this—’ Quinn began to think, when a system notification suddenly appeared in his vision.
It was something he had seen before, but to have it suddenly pop up yet again was alarming. What was happening with Erin?
"—Right Quinn?" Peter nudged his roommate, only to turn around and find him staring off into the distance.
"Hey, what are you looking at?" He carefully asked.
"Ugh, don’t tell me he just realized he’s lactose intolerant or something," Cia sarcastically muttered.
"I’m sure he’s not," Peter defended.
Quinn began to quickly get up, clearly in a hurry, "Sorry guys, I just remembered I forgot something. Just continue talking without me."
With that, he was gone, leaving Peter and Cia confused.
"Wow, I can’t believe he would ditch you like that. What is he? Some sort of deadbeat dad?" Cia commented dryly, "What kind of excuse is that?"
Peter gulped. He knew that Quinn always had his reasons, but from his perspective, it was definitely abrupt.
"Well—" Peter began, about to defend his friend, before Cia interrupted him.
"I mean, from what you told me, he’s done this before," Cia explained, "Honestly, I just got bad vibes from him. He barely even talked to us."
"No, I swear he’s a good friend!" Peter tried explaining, "If anything, me inviting him today was really sudden. I should’ve told him sooner."
Cia rolled her eyes, "If you say so, but you shouldn’t make excuses on his behalf."
Hearing those words, Peter bit his tongue. He knew Quinn more than Cia did, and yet, he still couldn’t help but feel like there was some sort of disconnect between the two. How could there not be when he had tried to push him into a red portal planet?
’Maybe... I messed up our friendship too much,’ a solemn thought entered Peter’s mind. ’He might be better off without me.’
