[1% LIFESTEAL] Chapter 59 - Oops

[Minor note]

Finally caught back up to ten chapters ahead :D. Hopefully, I can make that even more now that I have more time. Have fun, guys. Hope you enjoy! 

[Note end]

Not many people had survived the destruction of Camp Violet. As Mark walked right beside Nahar and Madam, he witnessed the destruction himself. According to the reports, the camp had been destroyed by some form of fire-affinity entity. None of the people who had directly seen what had attacked the camp survived to share what it was.

The most prevalent assumption was that it had been some sort of fire-concept-related eidolon, but there was also the worst-case scenario that this had been a deliberate attack, either by some form of human party or, in the worst case, an unknown sapient species. Regardless of precisely what happened to the camp, the result was harrowing.

The destruction was so thorough and horrible that none of what had been destroyed had been recovered or even cleaned; barely intact corpses littered the premises of what had once been the residential area of the camp. Mark felt his stomach drop as he witnessed the destruction; this was where Freddy had been?

Again, he had no idea precisely what Madam was basing the presumption that he was still alive on, but no more thinking about that for now. All he knew was that she was confident he was still alive, and they were on a mission to find him.

According to the report, a few survivors had managed to hide away in the surrounding caves, but Freddy Stern hadn't been among those discovered. Madam claimed that he was still alive, and the most likely scenario was that he was hiding in the caverns somewhere. With his talent, surviving even in such conditions wasn’t an utterly unbelievable possibility. Thus, they began their search.

For the most part, Nahar and Mark weren't here to help look for him; Madam could handle that part just fine, and she sure didn’t need any bodyguards.

But they had made a deal with her; Nahar had promised to represent the Kraven in compensating Freddy for the injustice he had suffered from their clan. Mark, on the other hand, was only there to admit guilt and apologize. They would first sit him down and explain the situation from every perspective as soon as they found him.

Mark had no idea why she was going this far out of her way for somebody like Freddy. It wasn't like he was against it, but it was unusual that somebody of her station would be going this far out of her way for somebody who seemed so far below her. Her motives and intentions weren't his to judge. His part had been getting the poor man into the situation, to begin with, and whatever she intended to do to him wasn't something he really had a right to speak about.

"Stay close to me, boys," she said. "If he is near us, I will know his location." That was all the instruction Nahar and Mark received..

For the first few hours of the search, all they had come across were just a few loose monsters and a couple of animals. Eventually, they finally came across the zone they had been looking for. It was a barren area utterly void of life. The only thing of note there was what had been the arena.

The Kraven still had a copy of every report made before the immediate destruction of Camp Violet. Regarding reports mentioning Freddy, they found one mentioning him running away deep into the Wastes, where a group of scouts was sent after him. If he had indeed done so and was still hiding in this area, it would make sense how he managed to survive the destruction of Camp Violet.

It was quite unlikely for him to still be in the actual Wastes; this area truly lived up to its namesake with no plant or any life at all.

The walls appeared to be nothing but plain dirt and barren stone.

The most likely possibility was that he had temporarily hidden away in the Wastes and then returned to the caverns. However, there was no actual confirmation that this was the case, and judging by the circumstances of why he ran away in the first place, the most likely scenario was that he would have just continued running, either leaving through the other side or, in the most likely scenario, by locating a passage somewhere within.

As they continued their search, however, something immediately stood out.

"There seem to be no passages in this area," Mark commented.

"Indeed," Madame said, "but this isn't too unusual. It isn’t as if passages appear everywhere at the same density. Earth would have been destroyed long ago if that was the case."

Mark nodded, already aware of this but still felt that this area was incredibly unnerving.

Eventually, it seemed that even Madame herself was beginning to share this sentiment. "Perhaps you were onto something, dear Mark," she said. "This area is truly unnatural."

Suddenly, Madame stopped; her eyes squinted, her gaze sharpening. She closed her eyes, and once she opened them again, she appeared distressed and concerned. Both Nahar and Mark reacted immediately. If she was acting like this, then there was definitely danger ahead. Mark made his giant sword appear, and Nahar conjured bladed blood whips. She didn't tell them to put their weapons away.

As they made their way forward, something distinctly chilling appeared in the air. Eventually, they spotted it. A small opening was close to the top of one of the caverns.

There, they spotted a circular passage embedded into the ceiling, emitting a cold light.

***

It took quite a while for Freddy to get into the club. The line he was waiting in was one of a few. It was also the longest one. He stood there for around forty minutes and eventually reached the entrance.

Once he approached, the bouncer asked for his ID. Freddy pulled it out and handed it to the man, who immediately reacted by raising his eyebrows. The man pulled a device out of his pocket and pressed it against the ID.

The device beeped, glowing green, and the man met Freddy's eyes. "Uhmm, sir," the bouncer started, "the waiting line for two-star archs is over there," he said, pointing at the shortest waiting line.

He winced at that, having feared this happening. "Nah, man," he laughed awkwardly, dismissing the bouncer. "I'm the humble type. I prefer waiting in line." He cringed at his own words

"Well," the man hesitated, "if that's what you please, it's certainly well within your rights. That’ll be fifty dollars,” he stated.

"Yeah,” he confirmed awkwardly, handing over the money as he tried to step past the man and walk into the club. The bouncer stopped him, grabbed his hand, and taped a small sticker to the back, one holding the club's logo.

Freddy had no clue exactly what that was, but it was probably a confirmation that he entered legitimately.

Once again, he was assaulted by blaring lights and music so loud that it was blasting his eardrums open. He had no idea where to go or what to do, so he just strolled forward, pushing his way through the mass of people as he looked for a seat or a spot or anything.

A series of lounges lined the side of the crowded club. Most were empty, even though the club was highly crowded. So he made his way toward them and sat down at one.

"Sir, are you here for a reservation?" one of the waiters asked almost immediately as he sat down.

He froze, wanting to bite himself at his stupidity.

"No," he said, "I was wondering if I could buy one of these lounges."

"Buy?" the man asked. "Do you want to reserve a lounge?"

"Yeah, that's what I meant," he confirmed.

"Sorry, sir, but all of these are reserved for the night," the man said apologetically, looking at the logo taped to the back of Freddy’s hand. As soon as he spotted it, his gaze changed slightly. "But we do have one of the VIP lounges still open."

"How much would that cost?" he asked the man.

"Well, the lounge itself is technically free, but you must pay for at least a premium ten-man bottle service."

"And how much would that cost?" he asked him again.

"It's thirty-five thousand dollars," the man answered.

"Holy shit!" Freddy exclaimed. "You know what, could you just show me to a table or something?"

The man smiled. "Sure thing, sir," he said. "Please follow me."

The man guided him through the mass of people, moving through the area and reaching one of the abandoned corners where he pointed Freddy to a few round tables with nobody standing at them.

He thanked the man, taking his place at the table as the waiter asked him what he wanted to order. Although he had no idea how he wanted others to join him, he didn't intend to stand there alone.

As the waiter patiently waited for him to make his order, he tried thinking back to his previous outing into a club. What did the people drink there? He remembered an assortment of miscellaneous drinks made of all sorts of fancy ether ingredients, and as for the regular drinks...

"I'll have one bottle of vodka, one bottle of whiskey, and a bottle of cocktail," he said.

"We don't sell cocktails in bottles," the man said, seeming amused at Freddy's behavior.

"Give me like ten glasses, then," he said instead.

"Do you have any preferences?" the man asked. "If you don't, I could just bring you ten random drinks," he added helpfully, already catching on to the fact that Freddy was a fucking moron.

"Sure thing," he answered.

The man nodded at him with an amused smile, winked, raised a thumbs up, and mouthed, "Good luck."

"Thank you," he mouthed back.

It took a surprisingly short time for the man to fetch him the drinks. Not even ten minutes later, he was no longer standing there like an idiot; now, he was standing there like an idiot with a table full of drinks that nobody was drinking, not even himself.

A few people walked around and passed him, and he glared at them expectantly. He glared a bit too hard, it seemed, as most people interpreted his gaze as one of a warning, not an invitation. Minutes passed, and the bucket of ice slowly turned into a bucket of slush. Eventually, he finally caved in and grabbed one of the cocktails. "Mmm, sweet," he hummed.

As he put his drink down, he turned around and spotted two familiar figures walking around. The first was Robert, the lanky, long-haired archer, and the second was Lance, the tall, black brawler.

"Hey!" he yelled, waving at them.

The two men glared at him with a frown and then at each other, seemingly utterly oblivious as to who he was. It was no surprise, either, since not a single time while dealing with them had he taken off his helmet. After waving at them enough times and calling enthusiastically enough, the two men finally caved in and made their way forward.

"Hey, man," Robert greeted him cautiously as he gave him a handshake. "Do we know you?"

"I'm Fre—" he started but interrupted himself. "I'm Liam," he said instead.

"Liam?" the man yelled, clearly bewildered. "You mean that Liam, the one we've been working with?"

"Yeah," he confirmed. "That's me!"

"Yo, what the f*** is up, my man?" Lance greeted him enthusiastically, causing him to raise an eyebrow. "What?" the man asked. "You're not the only one wearing a mask to work," he said, laughing vociferously and clenching his hand harder.

"What happened with the whole mask thing?" Robert asked. "I thought you were hiding your identity?"

"Well, it was never really about my identity for this," he said, scratching his head. "I don't really care if people see my face; I just… well, if I'm being honest, I just didn't feel like getting close to anyone."

"Ah, I see, okay," the man said. “Makes sense. By the way, you’re so much prettier than I thought you’d be,” he added jokingly. “I thought you’d be one ugly motherfucker.”

“Yeah,” Lance concurred with a chuckle. “Same.”

"Ok, so," Freddy said while trying to think of what else to say, "feel free to take anything you want."

"Sure thing, my man," Lance said as he reached for the whiskey. "God knows we sure need a drink."

"What?" Freddy asked. "Did something happen?"

"Yeah," Robert said, "actually, our party broke up today."

"What?" Freddy screamed. "How the hell did that happen? I was with you guys just this morning."

"Theo and Beatrice are getting a divorce," Lance said.

"Well, that came out of nowhere," he said.

"For you, maybe," Robert commented sarcastically. "Not for us. They weren't really acting like themselves around somebody who's, well, kind of an outsider. But yeah, they fight a lot. I think you even saw them do that a few times. Theo is kind of a manipulative asshole, and Beatrice is a control freak, so those two never meshed particularly well."

"Wow," Freddy said, genuinely bewildered. "I'm shocked to hear that."

"Yeah," Lance confirmed. "You’d never tell based on how they acted around you, but those two are major pieces of work."

"So, wait," Freddy started. "Your party is breaking up because of a divorce?"

"It's simple, really," Robert said. "If we had to pick between Theodore or Beatrice, or any party did, for that matter, everybody would pick Theo because he's just so much more useful. For me and Lance, he is the obvious choice, but Beatrice and Petra are best friends, and Kyle and Petra are engaged. I'm sure you can put two and two together."

"Ah, yeah. So are you guys just... is it just the two of you and Theo now?"

"No," the man denied, “is just me and Lance. Theo took an indefinite break from delving because he isn't really in the right mind space right now."

"Oof, yeah, that really sucks."

"Nah, it's cool," Robert said. "Our party has been a little dysfunctional for a while already. In fact, this is the perfect time for us to break up. Since, I'm gonna be honest, since you've been working with us for the last month, we've literally doubled our income. I have so much more money now than I've ever had in my entire life. Just thank you, honestly, thank you, man."

"Thanks for the compliment," Freddy replied, letting it get to his head just a little bit.

"By the way," Lance interrupted, "did you really bring back fifty-seven motherfuckin’ gorels by yourself today?"

"Yep," he confirmed.

"You fucking beast!" Lance said with a grin, offering him a fist pump.

Freddie obliged him. "I’ll be honest with you guys. This is my first time ever going out like this alone, and I have no clue what to do,” he said with a hint of shame hidden behind laughter. “I already embarrassed myself like ten times since I entered here, so you know, you got any advice?"

"Actually, you seem pretty damn young," Robert said. "How old are you?"

"I'm 22 years old," Freddy said.

"Twenty-two years old!?" Lance yelled. "Yo, no way, dude. I'm like forty, and this motherfucker is thirty-five. How are you already so strong? Do you come from a rich family? Come on, you can tell us."

"Look," he said, "I don’t really care about my identity, but I sure have some shit I'd like to keep private, so I'd be grateful if you could respect that."

“Aight, no problem,” Lance said. “Sorry for asking like that.”

“So,” Freddy returned back to the topic. “About that advice…?”

The two men grinned as they briefly looked at each other.

"You're about to start earning a lot of fucking money, dude," Robert said with a grin. "Trust me, man, you already have the most important part covered."

***

Freddy woke up the following day with a searing headache and a notable gap in his memory. "What the f*** happened, man?" he asked himself but suddenly froze as he heard breathing next to him.

There, he spotted a person. A naked person. A naked female person, to be exact. That was the good news. Then he felt his stomach rapidly sink as he recognized who it was. That was the bad news.

He knew her relatively well, given the previous month of working with her.

Because it was Beatrice, Theodore's ex-wife.