novelraw Chapter 166: Pathetic Boy
Chapter 166: Pathetic Boy
The screams grew louder as the vehicle sped across the sand, its engine roaring beneath the growing tension inside. No one spoke for several seconds until Aaron suddenly broke the silence.
"Why are we even helping that jerk anyway?" he muttered while staring ahead. "I already told you the kind of things he said, didn’t I? Honestly, he might even be part of the reason Grant and William’s relationship got so strained."
Gideon glanced at him briefly. "What do you mean?"
"Well, I kept seeing him hanging around Grant. Most of the time he just sat there listening to Grant criticize William while feeding that old man ego and justifying every stupid thought that guy had. Then, Eugene started to mock you and this territory, making things worse."
Aaron clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Don’t you think someone like that deserves punishment too?"
Before Gideon could answer, Daphne suddenly leaned forward from the back seat.
"But leaving him to die? Are you a psychopath?"
Her voice trembled as she continued. "He just lost his father while everyone around him already started moving on, starting a new life and stopped talking about him! Do you even know how painful that feels?"
Aaron let out a long sigh. "Believe me, I do."
"I’m older than you and even that brat. I know how terrible life can get. But actions still have consequences. If someone gets himself killed or eaten alive by aberrants because of his stupidity, that’s one of them."
Daphne immediately crossed her arms and sat up straighter. She grabbed the back of Gideon’s seat and glared at Aaron furiously.
"If you follow this asshole’s stupid reasoning and let Eugene die, then I’ll never forgive you!" she shouted at Gideon. "I’ll leave this territory with Grandpa! I don’t want a cruel leader that people blindly follow!"
The vehicle fell silent after that. Only Eugene’s distant screams and the sound of tires crushing sand filled the air.
Gideon opened his mouth to calm her down, but Aaron spoke first.
"Oh, come on. Don’t start crying over this." He laughed and shook his head lazily. "If Gideon actually listened to my advice, he would’ve stopped the car already."
"Shut up!" Daphne snapped. "I’m not crying! I’m just angry at you!"
Despite her denial, her face had already turned red, and tears were visibly gathering at the corners of her eyes.
Aaron turned around in his seat and pointed at her while laughing harder. "What? You are actually crying! Damn, I can’t believe you’re tearing up over an argument. How did you even survive the apocalypse?"
Daphne’s cheeks flushed even deeper. "By not being an asshole like you."
Before Aaron could continue provoking her, Gideon groaned in annoyance.
"Enough. Both of you focus on the road."
His eyes remained fixed ahead. "You know those Geysemire crabs are getting closer, right? What if it’s the giant one this time?"
While the other two argued over Eugene, Gideon’s mind was focused on something far more dangerous.
That giant aberrant.
He could probably defeat it if necessary, but that was not the real issue. The true problem was the fact that those creatures were moving closer and closer toward his territory even when he and Freebound actively killed them.
What if the king starts moving too?
Based on the latest information from the meeting regarding the Eagle Union, it was entirely possible. Especially since the oasis was nowhere near as far from his territory as Edelweiss Town had been. The nearest oasis was only fifty kilometers away.
And the fact that they only needed less than five minutes of driving to encounter Geysemire crabs was already a terrible sign.
As expected, Gideon soon spotted a massive cloud of smoke in the distance. It shifted unnaturally across the desert and continued growing larger the closer they got.
"Damn it," Aaron cursed under his breath as he loaded shells into the shotgun. "Does Eugene actually want to die?"
From the front seat, Gideon could finally see the aberrants clearly.
Several giant crabs surrounded a lone human figure in the middle of the sand. Each creature was nearly the same size as the vehicle itself, their enormous bodies scraping across the ground with terrifying speed.
There were five of them and trapped in the middle was Eugene.
"HELP!!!"
Eugene screamed desperately while firing his rifle wildly.
But the bullets were useless. The crabs’ shells were far too thick for ordinary ammunition to penetrate. Instead of injuring them, the gunfire only enraged the aberrants further, causing them to charge toward him at full speed.
"Eugene!" Daphne screamed back.
She immediately raised her hand, and in the next second massive wooden spikes burst violently from beneath the sand.
The sharpened pillars shot upward with explosive force, piercing straight through two of the Geysemire crabs at the same time. The creatures let out shrill screeches as they were lifted from the ground as it penetrated the body, twitching violently before collapsing.
The remaining crabs reacted instantly. Their huge bodies skittered sideways across the sand, moving surprisingly fast as they tried to avoid the next wave of spikes erupting from below.
In the middle of the chaos, Eugene collapsed onto the ground in complete shock.
One of the wooden spikes had stopped mere inches in front of his crotch. His face turned pale as he stared at it, realizing just how close he had come to being impaled.
Meanwhile, Aaron leaned out of the moving vehicle and fired at one of the fleeing Geysemire crabs. The shotgun roared three times in rapid succession, and unlike Eugene’s rifle, the heavy blasts shattered straight through the creature’s thick shell.
The aberrant screeched before crashing onto the sand.
Aaron immediately jumped out of the vehicle while it was still slowing down. He rushed toward the fallen crab, stomped down hard on its struggling body, then shoved the shotgun beneath its shell and fired directly into its stomach.
The Geysemire let out one final horrific shriek before going limp.
At the same time, Gideon had already moved toward the remaining two. He summoned his sword mid-step, the blade materializing in his hand as he dashed forward. The crabs tried to turn toward him, their massive claws snapping violently through the air, but they were far too slow.
A single slash cut through the first one cleanly. Without stopping, Gideon twisted his body and swung again.
The second crab split apart just as easily. Both aberrants collapsed onto the sand in two perfectly clean halves.
Daphne was the last to step out of the vehicle. The moment her feet touched the sand, she hurried toward Eugene, who was still sitting frozen on the ground in shock.
She dropped to her knees in front of him and grabbed his shoulders tightly, shaking him without mercy.
"Are you okay?!" she shouted. "What were you even thinking, running away from your mother like that?! Do you have a death wish?!"
"W-What?" Eugene blinked at her blankly, still unable to process everything that had happened. "Daphne? What are you doing here?"
Only then did he notice Aaron and Gideon standing nearby. The moment his eyes landed on them, his expression stiffened and his head slowly lowered.
"Just let me go," he muttered bitterly. "I’ll move to Climber Rift alone."
Aaron immediately scoffed. "We found you after driving for barely five minutes, and you’re talking about going all the way to Climber Rift? Yeah, sure."
"So what?!" Eugene snapped defensively. "I just got lost, okay?!"
He tried to stand, but the moment he pushed himself up, his knees trembled violently beneath him.
Aaron burst into mocking laughter. "Hah! Your legs are already giving out just because you got chased by a few Geysemire crabs. You tried to fight them, failed miserably, then screamed for help like a child. Don’t joke with me."
His eyes narrowed sharply. "You just want to go somewhere you can feel important again, don’t you? Just like when your father was still alive."
"Don’t bring my father into this!" Eugene’s voice cracked with anger.
"And what are you going to do about it? Shoot me? You can barely even hold that rifle properly."
"I’ll shoot you then! I’ll—"
SLAP!
Before Eugene could even raise the rifle, Daphne’s palm struck his cheek hard enough to snap his head sideways.
Eugene froze. Even Aaron looked momentarily surprised.
Daphne’s face had hardened in a way none of them had seen before. Her entire body trembled with anger as she glared at him.
"Stop it! Do you even hear yourself right now?!"
Her voice shook more and more with every word. "You left your mother all alone! She cried every night worrying about you and bowed her head in front of everyone just to ask for help finding you!"
Tears were already gathering in her eyes, but she kept talking anyway. "And after all that, you still talk about leaving? You should be ashamed of yourself!"
Her shoulders rose and fell unevenly as she struggled to hold back her tears.
"Daphne..." Eugene whispered in disbelief.
He looked completely stunned. He could not believe he had just been slapped by the same girl who once cried because she killed an insect type aberrant that looked like a butterfly.
Daphne stood up before her tears could fall. "Let’s just go, leave him here. I don’t care about you anymore."
She immediately started walking back toward the vehicle.
"Daphne, wait—"
Eugene tried to follow her, but before he could take more than a step, a cold hand grabbed his shoulder firmly. It was Gideon
"Let’s talk first, you don’t seriously think our business is over, do you?"