Chapter 440: Ray alone
Anger, sadness, and fear. Ray didn't know what exactly he was feeling right now. All he knew was that at this moment, all he wanted to do was to go and see if the girls were alright. It was strange, but he hadn't felt like this before.
Even when he was away from the Redwing kingdom and when he wasn't with the girls, just knowing they were alive was enough. So he didn't understand why was he worried about them now.
He knew they were alive, right? But still, it didn't change that fact, and it was the very reason why he had used all his strength to finish the fight as quickly as possible. He wasn't even trying to get a faster time than Roki. He had completely forgotten about the entire competition altogether.
After declining to fight the emperor tier beast, Ray walked up to the dead beast and then using his fist, he impaled its chest. At this moment, accessing his system he made the beast crystal appear in his hand that was in his inventory and pulled it out from the beast lifting it up in the air.
"Wow, like a real gladiator, I'm really starting to like this guy!" Someone from the crowd said and they all let out an almighty cheer as he raised his hand.
Even if they were upset at him for not taking on the Emperor tier beast, they couldn't be upset for too long after he had given the impressive performance he had done.
However, his reason for doing this wasn't to gloat in his victory. It was because after killing the beast; the system had automatically given him a crystal. If they were to check the beast for a crystal, they would find no result. Not wanting to cause any suspicion, Ray needed to make it look like he was the one that had extracted the crystal.
It was safe to say Ray was in a rush to leave the place. He had decided that it would be best for him to look for the girls rather than to focus on the event anymore. But there were still some procedures he needed to go through before leaving, and he also needed to wait for the audience to leave the field.
At the reception area, the crowd had left and Roki was busy registering for the event once again for the next day. That was when he saw Nes walk past him, however this time, he had walked straight past the registration center.
Roki looked on the sheet and he could see no such name.
'Is he not planning to participate, tomorrow?' Roki thought.
Exiting from the arena, the first thing Ray decided to do was send to a message to the guys asking where they would meet up. He waited and waited, but in the end, got no such reply. Thinking that they might have gone back to the inn and fallen asleep, Ray returned to the inn but still could see no one there.
"What happened to them?" Ray said. "Has their fate become the same as the girls?"
He popped up the list and all four of their names were still present on the Redwings list. It settled his heart a little, but for the first time in a while, Ray was in a city completely on his own. Some would say this was probably one of the most scary things to happen. the very idea of Ray being on his own.?Before leaving the inn to search the streets, the Inn keeper had stopped him.
"Sir, I'm sorry to ask but, will you be staying a few more nights? If so, I will need to take the payment now, as you can see we will be really busy in the next few days as more visitors come in." The little girl asked.
Ray looked around and soon realized that he had left his money with the boys as well. So instead he opted up his hand and handed the girl two intermediate crystals he had gotten from the arena.
"Is this okay for now, I have yet to exchange them?" Ray replied.
"This is more than enough, thank you, sir." The girl bowed down and quickly left to go fill in her sheets of paper.
Even if Ray didn't have money, he had the crystals he had obtained from the fights he could exchange for coin, and he still had the king tier crystal as well, but he would have rather used that to turn into a nice piece of equipment. But he didn't have enough money to pay for someone to do the process in the first place. The others had the money for that, so for now he would just have to keep it on himself.
After paying for the rooms of he went to look for the guys and girls himself. It was a rather unusual style for him, but all he could do was to use his dragging eyes and at the same time ask people from the inns and tavern if they had seen anyone.
The conversation was unusual, to say the least, with a few people even shunning him for how direct and rude Ray seemed to be, and it turns out Ray wasn't the best at giving descriptions.
He would pull random people facing them towards him, with no introductions, and went straight to the point.
"Have you seen a bald headed man, who has an annoying voice, with a blonde handsome boy when comparing them to normal human standards?"
"What, who the hell are you! Screw off!" The man said.
But Ray would then grip them even tighter than his hand was held against their forearm, the pain could be seen on the man's face.
"Hey, sent that the contestant from the arena!" Another shouted, spotting him.
"Yeah, it is. He was just fighting a second ago."
Not liking the attention, Ray let go of the man's hand and went looking elsewhere.
Eventually, he decided to rest at one of the inns sitting down, trying to gather his thoughts on just where they could be and what to do from here.
'Should I contact the others and let them send more people?' Ray thought. 'Or maybe just ask them all to come and start a war…'
The thoughts Ray was having now were more than dangerous, but he honestly didn't know what to do, or any better.
Then, suddenly, a man had come over and sat opposite him. When looking up it was an old man with black hair and a beard, which both were slightly grayed. It was Roki from the arena.
"I've been watching you for a while now and you seemed troubled," Roki said. "I guess that's why your performance was… unexpected to say the least."
Ray said nothing, he respected the man in front of him, but right now he had bigger problems.
"Look, I don't know what is going on but you seem young and I think you will be able to deal with it," Roki said. "I just needed to say what's on my mind, so feel free to listen if you wish. First, I want to thank you. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have been able to be where I am today."
"I had been stuck in my skills, not improving but not declining either. That was until I had met you. You were the first person to give me the competition I needed. It helped me improve, and I have gone beyond what I ever thought I would be capable of."
"I saw that you weren't; registered for the event tomorrow. I'm guessing that it's because of whatever is going on. However, tomorrow is the last day of the event. The arena will soon be preparing for the upcoming All kingdom tournament, so they will no longer hold it after tomorrow.
"That's why tomorrow, I will be taking part as well. If you can, I wish you will be there, for I have decided that it will be the day I take on the emperor tier beast. I want you to watch me, and I want to compete with you again."
If Ray wasn't listening before, he was listening now. The man in front of him sounded sincere and heartfelt. The warrior side of Ray felt touched, and right now more than anything he too wanted to compete.
But he had his friends to worry about.
While in the middle of his thoughts, it felt like he had heard the others speak to him. He could hear Kyle and Harry telling him, "Don't worry about us."
If it was one day, they could wait, right?
Roki got up from his seat and started to leave. He wasn't expecting an answer, but just as he was about to leave the door...
"I'll be there," Ray shouted. "And I'll take on the emperor tier as well."
*****
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