Chapter 549: Reena’s realization
Meanwhile, looking from above, Barnaby pointed at the three-way standoff that was happening in the game.
"Look what we have here, folks! Reena has just stumbled upon the confrontation between Reptar and Erlos! Now, we know from the history of their companies that they are long-standing rivals! Who will win?!
Will the Crocodile prove himself to be the apex predator? Or will his nemesis Alligator come out on top?
Or maybe, we’ll see the underdog win! Reena herself has proven to be quite capable when dealing with the other Maugnetics, given the versatility of her Red Dust."
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...
...
Reena, noticing that their stares were directed at herself, slowly walked out of the bushes and into the clearing. She had her hands up, indicating that she had no intention of interfering in whatever they were doing.
"I’m just passing by," she said. "I don’t want to interrupt your fight."
She then slowly backed away from them, intending to go back the way she came.
The two looked at her and smiled.
"Oh, you don’t have to go away. You’re not interrupting us," said Reptar, fixing his cowboy hat.
"In fact, we were just about to come look for you," Erlos said.
It was at this point that Reena noticed that Erlos’ khaki shorts and shirt were completely spotless. They weren’t tattered from a brutal fight, nor was it stained with dirt or blood. It was specless.
This immediately came off as a red flag to her. She knew that whenever Reptar and Erlos met each other, there would always be some sort of confrontation between them. They were rivals, through and through. One would always try to best the other.
But this time, something was different. They weren’t facing each other like enemies.
They were facing her, as if she was their enemy.
"You’re... you’re working together," she realized.
Reptar stomped his foot on the ground, with the spurs on his cowboy boot making that rolling sound. "Correct-a-mundo!"
Reena defensively lowered her posture immediately. There was nothing good about the two rivals settling their conflict and working together.
"You know, Reena. We realized that we stand a better chance to win the Soo drops if we put all of our energy from fighting one another, to fighting all the others," Erlos said, walking cautiously towards her, as if he was approaching a wild animal and trying not to spook it.
"You understand us, right? I mean, if we’re honest with ourselves, there’s no way that we’re ever going to defeat Beau by ourselves. Sometimes, we need to team up."
Reena had her hands behind her back, slowly reaching for her scimitars. The remaining speck of Red Dust in her body slowly gathered around her palms, ready to be used.
"Now, you want to eliminate me," she said to them, scoffing.
Reptar tipped his cowboy hat to her. "No, no, not yet. We’ve known each other for way too long. We’re planning to defeat that guy from Reborn. We’re better off starting with the weakest first, no offense to him."
Erlos agreed. "It’s just the smartest move we can make. We don’t have anything against the guy. We even commend him for how he had performed in the auction. But let’s face it. This is a competition, not a friendly meeting. Someone has to be eliminated one way or the other. And we just don’t want it to be us."
Reena gritted her teeth. Knowing that they were targeting Michael, she tried not to look back in his direction.
"Then you should let me leave and I’ll let you guys be," she lied. She was going to go back and warn Michael what they were planning.
"Come on, Reena. We know you met with the boy. We know you fought against him. That’s the reason why we’re even here in the first place," Erlos admitted.
"Just tell us where he is, and you can go on your way."
If she told them where he was, then she could hold on to the game for much longer. There could even be a chance for her teammate on the other side to find a Key and allow her to take one of the drops in the Glass Dome.
This was what she wanted. She told herself that she would do anything she could to get Spice Vise into the Major Factions.
And the way to do that was to betray Michael.
We didn’t even say we’re allies, so I won’t be betraying him, she reasoned.
But no matter what she tried to think, she couldn’t bring herself to move.
Just then, she remembered what Michael said to her in the worm’s stomach.
’I’m doing this to make people feel comfortable...’
His words were like a bolt of lightning in her mind. What was she doing this for anyway?
She only started working on her father’s company because she treasured her late mother’s memory of cooking with spices. Because of that, she wanted other people to feel as happy as she did when cooking with spices.
That was the reason why she was doing this.
She wasn’t doing this because she wanted to become part of the Major Factions. She just wanted spices, her spices, to spread love and joy throughout the world!
And with this breakthrough, Reena knew what she had to do.
"I’m sorry, but I can’t let you do that."
The two looked at her, surprised. They thought that she’d have no problem telling them Michael’s location.
"That’s fine," Erlos sighed. "We’ll just look for him ourselves."
The two of them slowly walked in the direction from where she and Michael separated.
And just as they walked past her, they suddenly stopped in their tracks.
"Are you serious?" Reptar asked, grabbing his cowboy hat. "You’re really doing this?"
Erlos looked down at his legs and saw that a string of Red Dust was lassoed near his ankle, preventing him from moving. If he did, then he’d have to say goodbye to his feet.
Reptar was in a similar situation, forcing both of them to stop.
"You could have played in the game for a little while longer if you had just gone on your way silently," Erlos said, taking out a whip from his waist and snapping it in the air.
Reptar turned around and faced Reena. "It’s not usually my style to hit a lady, but this is a game. So, I’ll have to ask for your forgiveness later, m’lady."
Immediately, a projection of a tremendous alligator head appeared above Reptar, its teeth bared and ready to chomp at anything.
His Mithril Relic gauntlets glowed with a dark green energy as he used both of his hands and chomped down on the Red Dust string tied around his ankles.
A projection of a crocodile’s jaws coincided with his arms and bit down onto the string, which immediately broke off and dispersed into pure Red Dust.
However, even those Red Dust were soon crushed into smithereens as Reptar’s gauntlets went for another bite.
Reena gritted her teeth. Her small collection of Red Dust had depleted even more.
She should have known. He was in the 5th stage of Body Formation after all.
She’d have trouble fighting against him if he was alone. But then, she also had to worry about Erlos, who was in the peak 4th stage.
But despite the obvious disparity in strength, Reena still held strong. She had to stop them from finding Michael.