Chapter 65: Saving a Bastard

Bob only got like that when he was hungry, which wasn’t the case. The little guy had been eating a lot since I got those crystals from that treasure room. So what was the reason behind it?

We couldn’t communicate just yet, only when he was on my head like a helmet, so all I could do was wonder what he was thinking.

Bob jumped toward Balthazar, opening his mouth non-stop. The sound of his teeth sent shivers down my spine. Balthazar stayed quite calm. He put his palms forward, glowing runes appearing in the air. Then, almost instantly, a cage made of runes appeared around Bob, trapping him in place.

"This is my runic prison," he said. "Just the first level of it, but already enough to trap powerful things inside."

He moved closer to get a better look at Bob. I honestly didn’t like seeing my dear friend locked in a cage like that. I was ready to ask Balthazar to undo the cage, but then, to my surprise, Bob destroyed it himself!

With a headbutt, the runic prison was shattered to pieces. Bob was once again chewing the air non-stop, just hoping to get Balthazar’s head in his mouth soon enough.

Surprisingly, Balthazar jumped back with impressive agility and speed for such an old man. Then, he did the same thing, but this time the runic prison was much stronger. I could feel it too!

No matter what Bob tried, or how many times he headbutted the cage, nothing worked. The runic cage didn’t get a single crack.

"Let me talk to him," I said, "to understand why he’s acting like this."

Balthazar nodded and waited. He then frowned, turning to stare at me. "What are you waiting for?"

"I need to get closer to him. Can you put me inside the cage with him?"

He walked over toward me and touched my shoulder. A rune appeared on it.

"This will allow you to pass through the cage, so go on."

I did what he said, walking over toward the runic prison. It was so weird, but I simply passed through it as if the cage didn’t exist, like it was just a mere illusion. Once inside, I pointed at my head and Bob understood. He jumped and turned into a slime helmet so we could talk.

"Why are you acting so crazy, Bob?" I said.

"Acting crazy? I’m the only one being brave enough to fight and defend this place. Why are you speaking with your enemy? Did you give up already? Damn it, I thought my master wasn’t like this."

"..."

I stood silent.

"What!?" Bob said.

"Did it cross your mind that maybe I wasn’t fighting him to defend this place because... he’s not an enemy?"

"Oh..."

The disappointment in his voice was easy to spot. I think Bob just wanted an excuse to let go of his anger and fight something.

He finally calmed down, no longer red but back to his blue color. The teeth disappeared too.

"So what was it?" Balthazar asked me, curious to learn more about Bob.

"He just thought you were an enemy and was fighting to protect his home," I said.

Balthazar started laughing. "At least now you know you can count on it when shit gets bad."

He moved even closer to Bob, getting a better look at him.

"I can’t believe it, this is the creature stated in ancient scrolls," he said. "I honestly thought it was just a legend at this point."

"Ancient scrolls? Where did you learn about Bob?"

"During one of my excavations thirty years ago," Balthazar said as he stopped staring at Bob and started staring at me. "Not much, though. It was just a picture of him, a drawing, and people worshiping him after multiplying their food. He was like a deity to some people back in the ancient times."

I could see that happening, for sure. Bob could multiply more than monster crystals, as he had cloned those books in the restricted section for me. So multiplying food for a tribe of people didn’t sound absurd.

But if Balthazar said that, then he knew...

"You know this isn’t the first time the rifts appeared, right?" I said.

When he heard that, Balthazar’s eyes went wide, but then he realized he had just mentioned ancient scrolls. If Bob had been alive so long ago, then rifts must have existed at that point, since he wasn’t from this world.

"So you know about this... Yes, correct. We don’t know how long rifts have been around, but some say 5000 years ago or more. Humankind almost went extinct a few times. That’s why they keep this a secret, to not scare people."

I was fucking scared when he said that. Almost extinct a few times? Was he telling me that right after a whole invasion of monsters started all over the country, and probably the world? Fucking great, really.

"What do we do now?" I asked him.

Between us, he was the most experienced. I was taking a risky shot by trusting him, but at that point, I had barely anyone I could trust.

"Me? I’ll investigate these keys further and make sure no one finds me. As for you, well, first heal Zeph, then grow stronger, I guess. We’ll probably go together to the new continent with Lion Heart, but it might take more time than we hoped with this whole mess going on."

"Why heal Zeph?" I complained. "He’s a fucking pain in the ass."

Balthazar laughed. Everyone knew we didn’t get along during our time in the academy.

"First of all, because he has a Rank S ability, so he’ll probably be pretty useful in the future. Also, his family is powerful and rich. Matter of fact, you should heal him and bring him to his family. They’ll certainly repay you kindly for doing this."

"Rank S ability? This guy? No fucking way. No one said that in the academy!"

I couldn’t believe it. The most annoying person I knew had a rank S ability, something so rare that only a few people had.

It didn’t mean he would turn into an S Rank Hunter in the future, as there were lots of aspects to it, and some people, even with natural talent, couldn’t get there. But he certainly had a much better shot than most.

"No one knows about it," Balthazar said. "The academy kept it a secret to avoid people targeting him while he’s still growing powerful. Something his family asked for."

Apparently I would have to actually help him, damn it.

"Where does his family live?"

"Lake Crescent, in an isolated mansion. I’ll write down the location for you. But you should first find a way to stabilize his wounds. We don’t want him dying before you reach his family’s manor."

That was just wonderful. Balthazar wrote the address down for me on a piece of paper, saying that he was avoiding using any type of phone so he wouldn’t get tracked down by someone.

"How can we even speak, then?" I asked him.

He placed a rune on my forearm.

"With this rune, we can talk to each other, send messages, but you can only send me 3 messages, and I can only send you 3 messages before it disappears. So we must use it wisely, understood?"

I nodded. After he wrote down the address for me, he simply left my pocket dimension.

"Take care, kid."

The man vanished almost instantly, like a teleport. He was quite powerful, honestly. Those runes of his were versatile and useful in lots of situations.

Anyway, I went back inside the pocket dimension, grabbing Zeph from the ground and putting him on the bed inside my cabin.

Bob was there with me, asking if that one was a friend too or if he should go mad again...

"Unfortunately, a friend..."

I had nothing to use to stop Zeph from bleeding out. Balthazar and I had been talking, just leaving him there on the ground. He had lost a lot of blood by that point.

So, I had to ask Bob to stabilize his wounds for me. He changed forms and covered Zeph’s whole body, like a slime armor around it. It didn’t take long for the bleeding to stop and the wounds to close. It was truly magical.

But it was just the superficial wounds that had been healed. Zeph was still damaged on the inside and didn’t wake up after that.

I had to bring him back to his family manor in Lake Crescent. Great.

But that was something for the next morning. I was tired, and it was night, so going there wasn’t the best idea. Zeph seemed to be quite stable, so he wouldn’t die so soon. I think.

I created another bed for me and slept soundly for a few hours, waking up the following morning with a mission to save that bastard.

The first thing I saw in the morning was Seattle, as I was still on that mountain. And boy, things were bad...