14. Rescue operation (9)

Nagi stood in front of me, fidgeting nervously.

"Come on, buddy, why'd you look so concerned all of a sudden? It's not like I've done anything bad to you yet."

He looked even more worried after hearing my words.

I've been nothing but benevolent with him. How odd.

Still puzzled, I unraveled my eye band, wove it into my cloak, and squinted from the sudden light flooding my vision.

Ow, shit. The world is so damn bright.

It was nice to see things again, though, after relying on essence sense for half a day.

My eyes, as expected, had yet to return to a human form, evidenced by the suddenly palpable tension from Nagi.

Same thing applied to my left arm. I had it covered by a long sleeve for a reason.

I stared at him with a blank expression, wiping any friendliness from my face and focusing on intensifying the energy flowing through my eyes.

Truth is, our eyes, as threadrippers, have a power as well, which I guess is not too surprising given how different they look from an average human’s.

It’s a truly vile power, though.

I hadn’t used it even in fights with my life on the line. Last time I unleashed it, it took me ten years to recover.

Right now, I only focused a tiny amount of energy on my eyes, enough to start emitting a terrifying presence but not enough to let it overtake me. It is a fine line, however. Under normal circumstances, I would’ve never resorted to this, but with the upcoming battle, I had no choice.

The world slowed. It would be more accurate to say that my perception of time accelerated, yet that wasn’t the goal.

The real strength of a threadripper’s eyes - of my eyes - was the ability to glimpse into the thread construct of any object, living or otherwise, accompanied by an extreme fear induction.

Nagi, who was previously nervously fidgeting, was now paralyzed by terror. He didn’t dare move in front of his natural predator.

And in that terror, I relished.

Every muscle, every thread in my body, even going as far as things that were never meant to be made of thread for a regular human, writhed grotesquely.

I felt an overwhelming bloodlust. My hair flowed with life, and I felt something wet slide down my cheeks. It was strings of ethereal essence, a dimly glowing silver in shade.

Nagi looked absolutely delectable right now. I wanted to devour him. His bones, his brain, his blood, his muscle, his eyeballs, his intestines, his hair, his veins, his-

Focus.

"Yo, Dren."

"Yes?"

He was looking at me with curiosity, wondering what I was going to show him. But all I saw was a picturesque meal standing right in front of me, yearning to become a part of me.

Of course, I have no chance against him. But maybe I should give it a shot? He’s brimming with strength. I bet he would taste way better than those first-tier soldiers from yesterday.

Logically, I understood how irrational the thought was, but was it really so bad to give in and have a bite?

"Concuss me. One solid strike to the head will do. I should be able to tank one punch from you right now."

Smack!

Without hesitation, he slapped the back of my head really damn hard.

My head was flung back, and with a deathly crack, my neck snapped. I stumbled, my head hanging limply.

Lyrael recoiled, real concern in her eyes, while Nagi fell on his ass, crawling backwards slowly.

"You bastard! You… Ori…"

She raised her hand, palm skywards, ready to attack Dren.

I would’ve felt touched by the notion, if not for the precarious state of my body.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Crack

Squelch

Suddenly, even more unnatural sounds were produced, and my neck snapped back into place.

Everyone looked at me, shocked. Everyone but Dren.

After all, we rehearsed this with him.

"Whew. Thanks."

"Wha-How?"

Lyrael stared with trembling fingertips, but also relief.

Honestly. She is too good of a person. To be this worried about someone like me - why did she even bother with the ‘cold and calculative’ girl act earlier, if she was this soft? Idk if I deserved to have people like her around me.

"Sorry, Lyrael. I should’ve told you this would happen. I just… didn’t think you’d worry about me."

I scratched my neck awkwardly, the claws leaving cut marks.

"You piece of shit! ‘Didn’t think I’d worry’?! You should’ve just died right here, if you were going to act like that. Dren! Let me kill this fucker myself."

She stomped towards me, pissed off.

"Wait up! Please. If you show any more hostility than this, I might lose my cool."

That wasn’t a lie. Thanks to Dren discombobulating me, I managed to calm down somewhat.

Good thing he went all out. Seems my neck snapping helped pause the energy flow to my eyes.

I had very little practice activating my eyes, so I didn’t actually know if getting bitch-slapped would help.

What’s good is good is good, I s’pose.

"Fine. But once all is said and done, you’re in for a solid beating."

With a ‘hmpf’, she folded her arms and took a step back.

I shivered at her threat.

"Hah! How twisted do you gotta be to scare a threadripper? Never change."

I genuinely praised Lyrael, and walked up to pat her on the shoulder, having somewhat reigned in the hunger.

Huh? What’s with that reaction?

For some reason, she was beaming like a kid that’s been given a candy.

Suddenly, she lunged forward, and wrapped me in a big hug.

"Holy shit, Ori. That was the best compliment I’ve ever received!"

"Huh? Really?"

"Yes, really! Or was that a lie?"

Now, that’s just confusing as hell.

"Which part of what I said?"

"That I scared you, of course! I mean, to creep a threadripper out; isn’t that, like, the dream? You sleazy playboy… You don’t say that to every person you meet, do you?"

"Pff. Ahahahaha! Yes, yes, naturally. You’re just as much a crazy bitch as I remembered. Sorry for suspecting you to be a good person."

"I’m blushing, man! Now’s not the time for flirting."

"Lay off, Lyrael. This ain’t flirting. At least not by human standards. And anyways, we’ve only known each other for a few weeks. Not close enough to hug, no?"

"You two. Lock in, for gods’ sake. Acting mentally deranged in front of my men will make me look like an idiot for choosing to work with you."

Dren interrupted our prattle, reminding us to focus on the mission ahead.

"Sure thing, sir. Now then, lemme explain what I did all this convoluted shit for."

For the next few minutes, I described how I unleashed my eyes’ power and had Dren hit me to stop me from going overboard, as well as apologized to Nagi.

"My bad for scaring the life outta ya, friend."

"So it wasn’t intentional?"

"No, no. I meant to startle you. That was the fastest way to have voracity kick in at max gear."

Naturally, he didn’t like my explanation at all.

Sucks to suck, kid.

After that, the four of us walked further ahead, closing in on the Royal Detention.

"Oh, yeah. I guess I should explain the layout on the outside so you guys don't get lost mid operation…"

That was directed at the eleven Black Lake healers tailing us.

"E-excuse me? Do you mean you weren't trying to keep it a secret from us, uhh, Oreanthalys?"

"No? I just didn't think it was that important, in the grand scheme of things. But, put that thought on hold for a sec. Can you not call me by my full name? That was a joke! A joke."

I vaguely recall telling them to refer to me as Orenthalys.

I even smiled at the time! Surely they understood it was 'in jest'. Wait up, are those goons just making fun of my overly long name?

"Then, how should we address you?"

The man at the front of the other ten, in charge of keeping them organized - and apparently of the talking as well - awkwardly asked me.

"Call me boss, boss."

The man's look said it all. His eyes instantly darted towards Dren, their actual boss, wary of his reaction.

The boss in question simply gave a resigned sigh, and replied unenthusiastically.

"Just do what the Threadripper tells you. He paid well enough..."

I jumped in surprise. Well, 'skipped' would be a more accurate word to use, as we were still walking.

"Hehe. Assassins can be good friends too, apparently. Now, as you can see, guys, I'm the new boss. For the next few hours."

"Understood."

"Now, let me actually explain what I meant earlier by 'didn't think it was important'. You probably noticed that all the directions I gave you were in regards to how we will do the fighting - no mention of route or escape plan. You did notice, correct?"

Suddenly, I had a scary thought.

D-did I hire a bunch of idiots that didn't even question my ignoring of, like, the jail break part of the jail break? That could be really bad.

I briefed them quite extensively during the night, mostly explaining everyone's roles in the upcoming little brawl.

"Naturally. But the assumption was that you intended to keep that a secret."

"Huh? Why would I do that? No, nevermind that; I don't actually care. Basically, you only need to know that the entrance to the Royal Detention is through a basement hatch. There's this tower next to the Stone Cauldron palace, made of fucking stone of course, and we'll find it there. The security's tight, obviously, but we have a really good team comp. And Dren will make us the 'entrance'."

The men exchanged glances, unsure of how to respond. They seemed concerned with how throwaway my explanation was.

Eh, not like it matters. I just need these guys to use their fists well.

Dren halted his steps and spoke.

"We’re here."

I also stopped, and, after scanning the area, gave him a nod.

"Looks like it. Everyone ready?"

"Yes, boss."

"Let’s go get my sister out before the fire freak gets his hands on her."

I agreed with her words.

"Yeah. Since I might die here, may as well ask now."

I stepped up towards Lyrael.

"Think you’re dying here? You, of all people?"

"I can’t know for sure. I’ll have to fight a guy way above my level, after all."

"Fair. Ask away."

My expression turned serious.

"I’ve had a suspicion ever since meeting you and Nyra, but now I’m almost certain."

Lyrael was on edge, trying to figure out what it is I’ve learned about them.

"Certain?"

"Yes. I’m almost certain that those stockings you and Nyra wear are a pair of artifacts."

"...??"

She was flabbergasted.

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