Chapter 59: Cornered
Dapper lost all sense of composure; he couldn’t believe how completely he was left in the dust. Ahead, he saw the white-haired boy standing at the end of the road leading to the Campus, casually tapping his foot against the ground.
Dapper and the rest of the students eventually caught up and laid eyes on him. He was clearly a teenager too, standing about six feet tall. He had two dangling earrings just like Dapper and a sharp jawline with a strikingly handsome face. Girls were already swarming him, which only served to piss Dapper off. More and more students, including those who’d been bitten by the hellhounds, began to gather. Apparently, once enough people reached the finish line, Digos called the hellhounds back.
"Hey, Dapper, you look so fucking pissed, huh?" a familiar voice said behind him. Dapper turned his head and saw Shinro and Riley approaching. Their faces were swollen, and visible bite marks covered their legs, evident through their tattered clothes.
"Hey guys, how are you holding up?" Dapper asked, exchanging a handshake with Shinro. When he reached for Riley, she blushed as their hands met.
’What’s up with her?’
"Man, I’m hanging in there. We’ve been looking for you in the crowd. Riley wouldn’t let me rest until we found you," Shinro said, scratching his head.
"I-I didn’t say that!" Riley quickly denied, her face turning crimson.
"You both got bitten, huh? But it looks like the wounds are healing," Dapper noted, studying the marks.
"It hurts like hell! And they didn’t just bite, we got smacked in the face with their damn paws too," Shinro complained, his mouth still slightly swollen.
"We’re just mages! How do they expect us to outrun those things?" Riley added, clutching her staff tightly.
"I keep telling you both, stop using being a mage as an excuse for being weak. What’s the point of having a massive Mana pool if you die before casting a spell?" Dapper said, his tone firm. Shinro and Riley both lowered their heads.
"Besides... I didn’t know someone like him was among us," Dapper continued, looking toward the white-haired boy. "He’s one of those gifted ones, people blessed with insane power without effort. Monkeys like us can’t relate," he muttered, clenching his fists. His thoughts drifted to the reality of his Rankless system, the need to constantly fuck just to fulfill conditions and unlock system privileges. He also had to kill monsters and train his body nonstop. Even though he had a cheat system, it came with a heavy price.