Curious, Arthur decided to check out Hank's thoughts.
"I love my master! He's so amazing! So tall, so cool, so… shiny. Look at him walk, striding like the king he is. Swoosh, swoosh, with that awesome cape—okay, fine, he doesn't have a cape, but I can imagine it! A majestic, flowing cape flapping in the wind! Oh, Master is such a gentleman! Remember that time he fed me that extra plump rabbit? What a provider! Truly the best human alive. Wait... is it normal to adore your master this much? Maybe not, but who cares? Master is the greatest!"
Arthur froze mid-step, his eyes widening in disbelief.
He glanced at Hank perched on his shoulder.
Arthur blinked rapidly, trying to process the flurry of admiration flooding his mind. 'What in the—this hawk has a fan club?!'
He stared at Hank, who was now preening his feathers proudly. Hank let out a chirp, and in Arthur's mind, the thoughts resumed.
"Look at him staring at me. I bet he's impressed by my feathers. Am I posing too much? No, no, just enough to look awesome. Oh, wait! Maybe he's thinking about giving me a treat. Yes, yes, a big, fat treat. Maybe a fish this time? Oh, I hope so! A whole fish! That's love, right? Treat equals love, I'm sure of it. Oh, my brilliant, kind, amazing Master, how I adore thee!"
Arthur pressed a hand to his forehead, suppressing a groan. 'How did I not notice'
He quickly ended his talent effect and decided to find a way to forget about what he just heard from both of his summons.
"Let's look at my status, it might make me feel better,"
He opened his status panel.
[Class:] Shadow Monarch (SSS)
[Talent:] Primordial Summoner (SSS), Lucky (SSS)
[Physical Damage:] 11
[Damage Resistance:] 14
[Attributes:] Strength 11, Agility 14, Vitality 14, Intelligence 18 (+20%)
[Skills:] Shadow Bind(Legendary), Shadow Dweller(Legendary), Blade Whirl(Epic), Enhanced Senses(Rare), Mana Coating(Rare)
[Attribute Points:] 9
[Equipment:] Ring of Darkness (Legendary), Platinum Dagger (Very Rare), Mana Ring(Rare), Iron Necklace (Rare), Backpack (Rare), Iron Boots (Rare), Iron Armor (Rare), ...
"Yeah, that made me feel a bit better," Arthur nodded.
As he was about to check his summons skills, he received a message from Gates.
Gates: "Sure, where do you want to meet up?"
Fateless: "Let's meet up at the village's inn, it's quite important."
As Arthur made his way to the village, in a happy mood. But elsewhere, others weren't sharing his enthusiasm.
In the real world. Elite's Group Chat.
Player1: "Fuck you, John! You motherfucker! You traitor!"
Player2: "Yeah, John, you spineless bastard! I'm $10,000 in debt because of you!"
Player3: "How could you leave us there to deal with Fateless? You knew what would happen, and you ran like a coward!"
Player4: "You're the one who picked the fight with him in the first place! You practically dragged us into that mess, and then you bailed. Do you have no shame?"
The messages flooded in, a torrent of rage and accusations.
Each notification dinged relentlessly on John's phone, the screen lighting up with insults. His jaw clenched as he read them, the sting of guilt mixed with bitter frustration. He could feel the heat rise to his face as the accusations replayed in his mind.
He gripped his phone tightly, trying to ignore the venom pouring in from the group.
Player5: "You better pray we never meet you in-game again, John. You won't like what happens next."
Player1: "You're a disgrace, you hear me? A complete disgrace. Hope you enjoy being a solo player because no one's ever going to team up with you again."
John stared at the last message for a long moment. The flashing notification bar at the top of his screen showed there were still more coming, but he didn't have the strength to open them anymore.
He closed the app with a tap and tossed the phone onto his desk.
The room was silent. J
ohn sat back in his chair, staring blankly at the wall in front of him. His hands tightened into fists as memories of the encounter with Fateless flooded his mind.
The humiliation of running, the shame of leaving his team behind to face Fateless, the mocking smirk Fateless wore as he watched it all unfold.
It was like a poison, eating him away from the inside.
"Damn it…" he muttered under his breath, running a hand through his hair. After thinking about what to say for a while, he picked up his phone and decided to have his own outburst like the rest.
John's fingers moved furiously across his phone screen, his frustration spilling out into the group chat.
John: "Shut up, idiots!"
The group chat went silent for a moment as everyone processed his outburst. John didn't stop there.
John: "Why are you all blaming me? Marcus, Desmo, and Foitus21—I don't want to hear a single word from any of you! You ran like cowards and got yourselves slaughtered by his summons! I stayed and fought longer than any of you, and I'm the one with the damn speed talent. What gave you the guts to flee first?"
Desmo: "You're the leader! You're supposed to take responsibility!"
John's fingers tightened around his phone, his anger boiling over.
John: "Me? Take responsibility? Are you deaf? I stayed back longer than you idiots. You're the ones who panicked and ran like chickens into his trap! You didn't even try to stick together, and now you're blaming me for the mess you caused?"
John: "It's your fault for running after we all stopped clearly trying to negotiate with him, you broke the deal. And, everyone knows what happened after that."
The accusations were met with silence. After a moment, another name appeared in the chat.
Yohan: "Everyone, calm down. This isn't helping."