Pride Online

Chapter 14: The Event of Hunting Lord Inferno Part III

Warunya!!!

Wisana’s heart was about to jump out of his chest.

He was longing and dying to see her, but when he did see her, it was too sudden, too close. He was not planning to face her like this. Wisana could see that she would definitely ask him to join her, and then she would discover how he sucked at playing games.

Moreover, she would want to know Maysa, his party, too.

Heck, no.

If she saw Maysa, she would get something wrong, like thinking Maysa and him were together, since he was avoiding his friends, but still playing with her!

As Wisana was plotting something in his head, the girl started to feel that she was being stared at. Warunya slowly looked up at him, making the freaked-out man flinch again. He then decided that he should,

RUN NOW!!

As fast as his thoughts, the tall one turned and started running away, leaving the dust pervading behind him. Warunya raised eyebrows when she looked at his back, a bit confused. Manoch had no clues either, because he flinched, turning to look at him.

“Hey! Bro, you forgot your scarf!!” The seller tried to yell after him, but there was no use since Wisana had already gone into the crowd.

“Damn. Who’s gonna be my lap rat, now?”

The complaint that Warunya ignored. The beautiful eyes were staring at the crowd. There was something familiar about that guy, the way he ran, or his figure. She felt like she’d seen it before.

“That guy, can it be...?”

-----------------

The chicken stopped after running far enough. He was gasping for air then disappearing into one of the most crowded stalls to hide from Warunya’s sight for a while.

“What’s up, lil bro. What are you buying?” A woman asked with her hoarse tone of voice. She was medium height. She had a piece of cloth covering one eye like a pirate. She was wearing a black bandana with skulls and crossbones prints on her blonde, shoulder-length hair.

“I’d like to buy some firebombs, flash bombs, and smoke bombs. Ten each, please.”

“Oh, alright. Wait a sec.” finishing that, she then took out those items to transform them into cards, handing them to Wisana quickly. He noticed that this stall was one of the best-sellers since this was the only place that had three staff to handle the numbers of customers.

“Lil bro bought this many, you’re joining the hunt, too?”

“Huh? Uh, yeah.” Wisana responded without realizing what the question was. He grabbed his shopping bag from the merchant, then he told Jinnie to pay her 3,000 coins, eyes were still rolling left and right, paranoid.

When he put all his inventory away, the tall man hastily fled from the stall. He was hiding himself in the crowd, using some taller guys as a shield, his eyes looking anxious.

If Warunya was here, it meant that Tunwa and Nuchjaree were surely here, too!

Wisana quickly concluded as he sneaked around, searching for his friends. He needed to find them first, so he could avoid them!

“Excuse me!”

Speaking of the devil, here it came again.

A sweet, familiar voice spoke, Wisana slowly glancing over his shoulder.

Sh*t!

Warunya was running in his direction, panting.

What should he do?!

“You forgot something.”

What should he do?

In the meantime, Wisana’s brain was so overdriven that his temples were throbbing. He could not run anymore, since there was a large crowd in front of him.

First, he used them as a shield to hide himself, but now they had turned into a barrier!

How to get out of this? How?

Oh, that’s right!

-----------------

Warunya was holding the red scarf tightly in her hand, as she rushed up to the black-haired guy ahead of her. She put her hand on the man’s shoulder to get his attention, softly. But that made him freeze before he slowly turned his face to give her a dry smile.

Her big eyes widened a little when she could see his face, which was half-covered in a white opera mask. It looked contrasted with the arm guard he was wearing on the left arm, and the leather belt that held it in place with a big dragon buckle.

His taste in fashion was so... weird.

“Can I help you with something, miss?” The masked man asked with an unusually low voice, but it strangely sounded smooth to her ears. She raised her eyebrows.

“Well, uh…” Warunya was a bit stuttering because of that. “You forgot this at the clothes store, so I volunteered to bring it to you.” She finished as she handed out the scarf to the owner. The ember eyes behind the mask narrowed before his lips curled up into a smile.

“This is so nice of you for returning it to me, miss.”

“No, it’s nothing.”

The masked man’s hand was touching hers when he grabbed the scarf purposely. She flushed slightly as she took her hand back.

“Uh, ...”

“Well, I’m not good at keeping my stuff, but I think I can hold on to this hand all day.” He kept his voice in this deep, smooth tone. He smiled softly at her. Something significant in the way he looked at her made Warunya flush.

Those eyes and the warm, pretty smile,

Even though they just met, why did he look so familiar?!

“Anyway, thank you so much for returning this to me,” he said in a deep voice, putting the scarf on his neck. Then the fully dressed nodded at her once as he was asking her pardon before leaving.

“Err, wait, please.”

The masked man paused, slowly turning back to her for another time.

“Yes, miss.”

“May I have your name?”

Hearing that made his broad smile get even broader. The taller one leaned in a bit too close to Warunya, making her face redden.

“Let me guess, you’re interested in me?”

“N... no. Not like that.” She got stuttered because of this unexpected question. “The clothes shop owner, he needed to know your name.”

“Er... well, guess I mistook the sign, then.” He said, chuckling a little.

“No, there wasn’t such a thing.” She scolded, her face still flushing.

“I’m... er Vincent.” He replied, a bit sounding too awkward, but he kept smiling.

“Vincent?”

“Yes, that’s my name. Well, if there’s nothing else, I'll have to excuse myself.”

“Wait, Vincent!”

Warunya was shocked when she heard herself yelling to hold him back. She did not understand why either, but she guessed that it was because of those eyes and the familiar smile that bugged her.

“Yes, miss?” Vincent asked.

“Well...” She was unsure of what to say. “You’re here to join Lord Inferno hunt, too?”

“What makes you ask that?” He purposely sounded her out.

“You look expert like a pro player, so I think that you’re joining the hunt.”

“What about you?” He asked. “Are you joining the hunt?”

“No. I'm here to join the photo event.”

Her answer brought a smile to his face.

“Why are you keeping me? Is there anything I can help you with, miss? Er...”

“My name is Warunya, but you can call me Orn.” She introduced herself with a friendly smile.

“Okay, Orn, do you need help with anything? I’ll help you as much as I can for a nice person like you.” The girl paused with his words, looking like she was too shy to say it out loud.

“I... I want to ask you,”

“Yes.”

“If you’re here alone. If so, I want us to be together.”

“Heh...” The man drawled as he grinned.

“Please don’t take it the wrong way again! I mean that I’m asking you to join my party. Maybe you can help me set up some good scenes with the Lord Inferno for the photo contest.”

“Oh,” the man chuckled quietly. “I almost took it wrong for the second time.”

“W... well, about that.”

He laughed as he saw Warunya look at her feet, embarrassed. He took a deep breath before patting her shoulder softly.

“I’m sorry, Orn,” he said, his face looking a bit withered. “I already have a party. Maybe another time?”

“Oh, okay.” She looked withered as well.

“We can get to know each other more next time, then discuss which dungeon we should go to on our first date, sounds good?”

“Vincent, come on.”

The masked man giggled again as he saw her being embarrassed before he realized that he was taking too long. He held up his hand, ready to wave goodbye to her.

“I better go. My friend is waiting for me.” Not wasting any more time, the tall one started walking toward the crowd before Warunya could protest.

“I can contact you later, right, Vincent?!”

He paused, then turned to smile at her, waving his hand as if to say, ‘No problems,’ and disappeared into the crowd.

Even though the man was completely out of her sight, she was still standing there, not noticing other players passing by.

“There she is, Orn!”

“Warunya, did you find the belts?”

A short while later, her party showed up. Nuchjaree was carrying a bag full of health potions, as well as Tunwa was carrying various types of explosive items in his arms. They both were walking towards her, looking exhausted.

“Hey,” the other greeted, but Warunya had not responded.

“Nuch, is your friend okay?”

“Not sure, why is she flushing? Can we catch a fever in the game, too?”

After they finished criticizing, they both blinked at each other, then they decided to drag the paused girl out of the way since she seemed to be blocking others for too long.

-----------------

“That was close!”

That was the first thing that came out of his mouth after he took off the mask. Currently, Wisana was sweating, feeling sick in his stomach due to holding in his breath for too long.

“Vincent! Ew, why did I come up with that name?” He said as he sarcastically laughed at himself. “From Wisana to Vincent, I couldn't be more embarrassing!”

Then he signed in relief.

Wisana was kind of surprised by himself, too. Why did he have the balls to talk to her like that after wearing that mask? Moreover, as soon as he got the new name, the tension and awkwardness he had over those pretty eyes seemed to be completely gone!

But he wanted to praise himself for not getting caught, too. Good job, Wisana!

Well, maybe next time he should wear the mask and try to flirt with her again. He chuckled at the thought, then awkwardly looked around to figure out where he was going. Then he paused.

Okay, yeah, he did not get lost or go too far. He could still see the dungeon gate, but he was seeing it from the inside of the dungeon!!!

“Holy cow. Guess my feet just unconsciously followed the others in here, huh?”

Which was not good! He needed to find May!

He was about to walk out of there when the large crowd suddenly rushed through the gate, pushing Wisana far back into the dungeon.

“Hey! Move away! I need to get out!” Wisana yelled at them.

“You move! Keep moving, you’re blocking the way!”

“Geez, what the heck is up with you, man? I have to get the best spot for the quest. Keep walking!”

Not only was he pushed in, but also got yelled at. Eventually, Wisana stopped fighting and followed the other into the dungeon with cold sweat.

Damn it. Not a camera was bought. Maysa was nowhere to be found. And then he got lost in this creepy dungeon with the toughest boss!

Na was so screwed.

“Let me outta here, I need to find my friend. Noooooo. I’m so dead here without her!”

-----------------

“Where the hell are you, Wisana?” A moody complaint slipped out of the thin lips of Maysa. She checked the time. It was almost 8 o’clock at the moment, and there were still no traces of Wisana.

The girl flipped her long brown hair off her shoulder before she sat on the well that was their meeting up, looking upset.

“What’s he doing right now? The others will take all the good spots,” she said, checking the time again. It was 7.59 already!

Maysa shook her head, before she snapped her fingers, bringing up a pink floral hologram screen.

“Al, can you fine Wisana? Tell me where he is.” The sweet voice commanded her personal AI, sounded a bit tenser than usual.

“Please wait a moment... I found him, miss.”

Al’s speed brought a satisfied smile to her oval face.

“Where is he?”

“Currently, Mister Wisana is in the abandoned dungeon and is moving toward the entrance of torture room level 1.

“Oh, that’s why I couldn’t find him anywhere,” Maysa said as she signed in relief. She was glad that at least he did not have some server problems and disconnected from the game.

She was happy until she realized what Al said. The grey beautiful eyes widened.

“Huh?! What did you say?!”

“Currently, Mister Wisana is in the abandoned dungeon, and is now in the area of torture room level 1.”

“Ugh! Damn it Wisana! You’re doing this again?!” This time, Maysa patted harshly on her forehead, offended quite a lot that know-all did not listen to her, and got all cocky to go on the quest without her!

“It’s 8 o’clock, the event of Lord Inferno hunt officially starts now! The monster has already respawned, have fun finding him in the dungeon!”

After the announcement for Pride staff, Maysa hastily got up in no time. The pair of grey eyes glanced at the dungeon’s gate, as her brain told her to run as fast as she could.

“Hold on, Wisanaaa! Don’t die, yet. I'm coming to get you now!”

Her voice ended as her slender figure disappeared in the dungeon entrance. That was the moment she realized.

Having this guy as a party, she was really not going to die of old age!