Chapter 193

Hearing what Alex said didn’t make Lyner’s anger dissipate, he just redirected his anger at Alex for the time being . Feeling the full brunt of Lyner’s overwhelming bloodlust, Alex remained calm . Though he was a bit surprised to see the easy-going teacher act this way .

This might be his actual personality showing, Alex wasn’t sure but he needed to be extremely wary .

"Alex I’ll say it again, I’m not in the mood . So you better let go, or I might not be able to hold back . "

"Sir Lyner I know you’re angry, but you must forgive my friend . He might sound boastful and arrogant, but that’s just his way to hide his insecurities, and like you said he’s just a child . So shouldn’t a grown man like you be magnanimous to a junior like him . "

Lyner looked at Alex, his eyes were like daggers trying to pierce him . After a long silence, Lyner’s bloodlust lessened a bit, but Alex didn’t let his guard down . It was never simple with the man called the strongest of Berdonia . He was a person who sometimes looks foolish and impulsive, but at the same time, he also feels intelligent and wise . What you get when you mixed those things together is whatever Lyner was .

Matthew seeing Alex defend him was shocked . He knew the trouble he was getting himself into, and still went and said what he said . He was alright with dying in the hands of the strongest of Berdonia, thinking wouldn’t that be a great honor . Still, if there was a way not to die, he would still take it . But seeing that it was his rival that he wanted to beat that was saving him, made Matthew feel mixed emotions .

He was grateful at the same time irritated and angry . He also didn’t like the feeling that Alex was actually pitying him . He then noticed that Lyner was looking at him, which made him clench his fist in frustration .

Seeing the look of distress hiding behind the arrogance, Lyner sighed .

"I cannot let his insult slide, but you are right he is but a child . So I will give you a chance . If you two are able to flee from me for about twenty minutes, and I’m unable to catch both of you within that time limit . I will not do anything to that friend of yours, but if I do catch you, I’ll be taking an arm from him, and you’ll be my sparring partner for the next three days . Of course, while I give chase you two can try and kill me, that’s if you can . "

When Lyner said these words he shrugged his shoulders, he then continued speaking . "Do not worry the killing rule only applies to you, I won’t try to kill you, but I can make this chase extremely painful . Do you agree to these conditions?"

" . . . I agree, but before we start can Matthew rest for a few more minutes?"

"Whatever, I’ll give you about-" Lyner with his sharp eyes looked at Matthew before he continued his answer . "Fifteen minutes, that’s enough time for the baby to recover . " Alex nodded his head in agreement and left Lyner’s side to approach Matthew who was trying to catch his breath .

"Why did you do that? I could have handled the situation myself!" The first thing that came out of Matthew’s mouth was not words of gratitude, but his usual condescending words . Alex had no time to fight it out with Matthew, so he pushed the already tired Matthew and made him sit down .

"I have no time for whatever complaints you have Matthew . I don’t care if it damages your pride, but you have to follow my orders . "

Matthew was about to open his mouth to argue, but Alex shut it close by pinching his lips shut with his fingers . Alex who was now kneeling in front of Matthew looked at him eye to eye and spoke .

"Like I said I have no time for your complaints . We are about to face the strongest of Berdonia, and it will take everything we got just to escape . So I want you to listen carefully, the rules of this game are simple as long as he doesn’t catch both of us, we win . Meaning that victory is assured as long as one of us escapes . So here’s the plan . "

. . .

Lyner watched the two kids planning what they were going to do against him . He couldn’t hear them from this distance, but even if he could he wouldn’t bother listening . This was the arrogance that comes with overwhelming strength .

Lyner took a cigaret from his pocket and a lighter and started smoking . While he waited he started to think about what happened moments ago . After all these years, he was still affected by the word coward .

It’s been twenty years since that incident and he thought he already stopped caring, but turns out he still cared . Lyner silently smokes his cigaret as he remembered that time when he lost everything and became the man that he was now .

He remembered the scared faces of his classmates, as they looked at him asking for help . He remembers the taunting laugh of the man who called him a coward . Every time he remembers that moment Lyner no matter the circumstance gets unbelievable angry . Right now he was still able to hold it in, but for some reason he keeps on hearing Matthew’s voice calling him a coward, making him want to rip off his head .

He made up this idea of a chase so he could let loose, and maybe calm himself down enough to not want to kill the kid . Cause at this moment he really wanted to tear him apart .

’It’s been so long, but I guess I’m still a kid as well . ’ Even smoking his favorite cigaret wasn’t helping him calm down today .

. . .

Once Alex was done briefing Matthew on what to do he let go of his mouth .

"Do you understand the plan?" Matthew glared at him and answered back .

"Of course I understand the plan, I’m not an idiot . Still, your plan has a lot of what ifs in it . I was sure you were the type of person that plans every detail and doesn’t rely on guesses and hunches . "

"We are facing a person strong enough to crush us with his bare hands . We are unsure were his limits lay . I do not like facing an opponent I haven’t researched thoroughly, but that’s what we’re about to do . All the data I gathered, everything I observed about Sir Lyner has been used to make this plan . " Alex who usually had a stoic expression looked at Matthew with an icy glare before continuing what he was saying .

"This plan is just an improvise version of my real plan on how to take down Sir Lyner just in case I needed to . "

"Why are we using the improvise version, can’t we use the actual plan?"

"The actual plan consists of twenty fully equipped people, in a designated place I have scouted in advance and filled with traps . Right now we only have two people, one is even injured, and the equipment we have is at most sub-par . So I hope you stop complaining and just do as I told you . Also, stop antagonizing Sir Lyner . . . No, how about you just stop talking altogether . "

Matthew was about to respond to that, but Alex once again pinched his lips stopping him from talking back .

"I don’t expect you to thank me or anything, but I do expect you to follow my orders so that we can survive this ordeal . "

Lyner approached the two and spoke . "Are you ready? There is only a minute left until rest time is over . "

"We’re as ready as will ever be," Alex responded with his usual indifferent tone of voice, but this time he ended it with a sigh .

"Okay then, I’ll give you guys a twenty-second head start . The timer starts now, 1,2 . " When Alex and Matthew heard Lyner counting they started to run deeper into the mountains . They knew they had more of a chance to escape Lyner if they hide deeper into the mountains than in the open space down below .

Lyner seeing the two boys sprinting away continued his counting . Once he was done he also moved forward jumping up a branch of a nearby tree and chased the two by jumping from branch to branch .

. . .

Alex and Matthew who were running away from Lyner could pretty much feel him nearing since he wasn’t really hiding . There was no possible way not to notice that immense bloodlust that was chasing after them, slowly but surely nearing them .

At this moment Matthew finally understood why Lyner was called the monster of the battlefield . It wasn’t because of his overwhelming strength, it was because of his presence . The way he gives chase was like that of a monster . Moving fast enough to catch up, but not fast enough to be able to reach them immediately .

The fear of him reaching you weighed down on you, as you try to go faster . When you do that you noticed that he too was going faster, but just fast enough that he was barely catching up . This entire experience was very stressful to Matthew who has never gone through such hardships .

Alex, on the other hand, was as usual calm and collected . He already knew that Lyner would be toying with them, which will give them the chance they needed to win .

Lyner was even taunting them by repeating the verse made for him .

"Run, run, run, cause here he comes .

Run, run, run, for the monster comes .

A Swish of his blade and your head begone

With the shot of his gun, you’re all but done . "

He kept on repeating that verse as he chased Alex and Matthew . It didn’t really affect Alex too much since he already expected Lyner to act like this, but Matthew was not as mentally prepared as him . The intense bloodlust, the slow chase, as well as that verse, made him very anxious .

Alex who was running right beside Matthew spoke to him .

"Sir Lyner will continue this chase until there are only a few minutes left . Once he’s done attacking us mentally, he will begin his assault . When he’s trying to catch us he will try to tire us out, slowly like a predator playing with his prey . The moment he is sure of victory is our only chance, got it?"

Matthew gritted his teeth and nodded in response .

"As long as you follow my plan, we will have a chance of winning . "

. . .

Lyner who was looking at his watch while chasing Alex and Matthew saw that there were ten minutes left .

’Now it’s time for the real game . I’ll start with that kid Matthew, I might have promised not to kill him, but I never said that I’m not going to torture him . ’

Lyner then sped up and was about to begin the real chase .