Chapter 162 - 160

Chapter 162: Chapter 160

The moment weapons started flying in every possible direction, I immediately ducked.

"...Nope. I’m out."

Without another word, I dropped flat onto the ground and began crawling away from the battlefield.

"My life’s worth more than money."

BOOM!

A section of the cavern wall exploded.

"...Definitely more than money."

I continued crawling as bodies started landing around me one after another.

"No contract."

THUD!

A soldier crashed to my left.

"No client."

BAM!

Another rolled across the floor to my right as I stopped to poke him.

"...You alive?"

No answer.

"I’ll take that as a maybe."

I kept crawling.

"I suddenly remember I left the stove on."

One poor guy skidded across the floor and stopped right in front of me, face-first.

"...That must’ve hurt."

I gave him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder.

"Now move."

With absolutely no mercy, I pushed his unconscious body aside and continued crawling.

At this point, I had completely lost track of the battle. I don’t even know who’s fighting who anymore.

One group was wearing black uniforms, the other group was also wearing black uniforms, and worse, some of them had already stolen each other’s weapons.

This is the most disorganized battle I’ve ever seen.

"Who am I even avoiding anymore?"

Someone flew over my head and got thrown into the lake.

London the megalodon suddenly resurfaced, looked at the unconscious man floating beside him and gently pushed him back towards shore before disappearing underwater again.

"...He’s surprisingly considerate."

I was so close.

I could practically see freedom.

’Just a few more meters...’

THUNK!

A dagger buried itself into the ground directly in front of my hand.

I slowly lowered my gaze to see the blade had missed my fingers by less than a millimeter.

"..."

A vein popped on my forehead as I stood and pointed furiously at the battlefield.

"WHO THE HELL THREW THAT DAGGER?!"

Everyone paused mid-fight and stared at me.

I pointed dramatically at my hand. "DON’T YOU PEOPLE KNOW HOW IMPORTANT AN ARTISAN’S HANDS ARE?!"

Nobody answered.

"My hands pay my bills!"

"I carve energy stones!"

"If these get injured..."

I wiggled my fingers dramatically.

"...WHO’S GOING TO COMPENSATE ME?!"

One of the men slowly pointed at me. "...Isn’t she the mission?"

Every.

Single.

Head.

Turned.

Towards me.

"..."

My righteous anger evaporated instantly as I cleared my throat.

"...How about..." I forced the friendliest smile of my life. "...we make a deal?"

"CATCH HER!!"

"DAMN IT!" I spun around and bolted away.

’ME AND MY BIG MOUTH!’

Dozens of footsteps thundered behind me but before anyone could reach me, Gawain appeared out of nowhere, his twin daggers flashing in the air.

CLANG!

Three swords were knocked away instantly.

At the same time, Remington’s electrified rope dart wrapped around another man’s ankle, sending him crashing face-first into the floor while Colt intercepted the rest with terrifying efficiency.

The three of them formed a wall between me and everyone else.

"GO!"

"I AM GOING!"

I didn’t need to be told twice.

I sprinted towards the nearest tunnel when a familiar hand suddenly grabbed mine.

"This way!"

Before I could react, Kayden pulled me toward the underground lake. "...Let’s jump."

The moment I saw all that water and how dark it was, my brain started playing funeral music.

"TO HELL WITH JUMPING!"

I shrieked as I yanked my hand back.

"Nope. Absolutely not. I refuse. My soul has already left my body just looking at that water."

"Blanca it’s the only way out," Kayden gestured toward the tunnel we entered from.

Or rather...

What was left of it.

Now it was just a pile of rubble thanks to the lunatics currently turning his mansion into a war zone.

"NO!"

I could already hear my heartbeat speeding up.

"The other exits have already been destroyed."

His voice remained calm despite the chaos around us.

"If we force our way through the front, we don’t know how many more people are waiting outside."

"It’s not that! I-I—"

I clenched my fists.

"It’s..."

"I..."

The words tangled in my throat as my breathing became uneven.

"I..."

’Why was this so difficult to explain?’

"I..."

Meanwhile, Kayden didn’t interrupt me and simply waited.

"It’s okay."

His voice was surprisingly gentle amidst the explosions and screaming happening behind us.

"Take your time."

I took a shaky breath.

"I..."

’Come on, just say it.’

I squeezed my eyes shut.

"...I can’t swim."

My brain immediately decided to remind me why I couldn’t swim.

Everything else disappeared and all I could see was endless darkness, suffocating me slowly as the cold current wrapped around my legs.

I remember my foot being chained to a block of cement, the crushing weight pulling me downwards and no matter how hard I kicked, I couldn’t reach the surface.

One of my family’s enemies had decided throwing me off a cliff attached to a cement block was a perfectly reasonable idea.

Luckily, my emergency GPS was still functioning and my parents had found me first before I became fish food.

But ever since then, large bodies of water and I had maintained a very respectful distance from one another.

A loud explosion somewhere behind us pulled me back to the present and noticed I was breathing too fast, my hands wouldn’t stop shaking.

Kayden didn’t ask what happened instead, he slowly extended one hand towards me.

"I won’t let you drown."

His voice remained calm.

"Trust me."

I looked up, meeting his eyes.

There was no pressure, no impatience, only certainty.

Without even realizing, my breathing slowly began to steady as I reached out towards his hand.

Our fingers had barely touched when a strange feeling crawled across the back of my neck.

MOVE!

Without thinking, I lunged forward and instead of taking his hand, I grabbed Kayden by the collar, violently spinning him around.

"What—"

BANG!

For a split second, everything stopped as I felt something... warm.

’That’s strange.’

I slowly looked down to see a deep crimson stain spreading across the back of my shirt, growing larger by the second.

Whoever had fired, clearly had been aiming at Kayden.

I blinked once before looking back up at him.

Kayden still hadn’t moved, his eyes were fixed on me, looking terrified.

It was such an unfamiliar expression on someone who seemed composed that I couldn’t help finding it a little funny.

I reached up, my fingers gently patted his cheek.

"I... just saved you."

My voice came out much weaker than I expected.

"Maybe we can... change the contract?"

It wasn’t until I spoke that I felt something warm trickle from the corner of my mouth.

Blood.

It slipped between my lips, staining my teeth a deep crimson.

Huh. That probably wasn’t a good sign.

Kayden’s face went completely white.

"No."

His voice shook.

"No..."

He caught me before my knees could give out.

One arm wrapped around my waist while the other desperately pressed against the wound.

His gloves were almost instantly soaked red.

"...Stay with me."

His usually composed voice had cracked.

I don’t think I ever heard someone sound so frightened before.

"...It’s okay," I smiled again. "My body’s pretty durable."

That was probably true.

Maybe.

"..."

My eyelids suddenly felt unbelievably heavy.

"...I’m..."

"...kind of sleepy."

I rested my forehead against his shoulder.

"Let me..."

"...rest for a little while..."

I let out a small laugh that ended in another cough.

More blood stained my lips.

"...Then..."

"...we can start carving your energy stone..."

"...okay?"

I could see Kayden was trying to say something as his arms tightened around me but I couldn’t hear him anymore.

The last thing I felt was someone gently holding me closer, as though afraid I would disappear if he loosened his grip.

It’s been a while since I’d been shot. I almost forgot how cold it felt.

Darkness slowly crept into the edges of my vision.

Then...

Everything disappeared.