Game World's Awakening
Chapter 70: Humans Can Be Interesting

Chapter 70: Humans Can Be Interesting

The Nurotaur understood why the boy was asking him this.

’If he asks me for something else, like a very powerful weapon, perhaps the weapon will be able to kill the griffin, but he won’t be able to wield it, and he’ll end up dying at the griffin’s hands and losing the weapon, so it’s useless. But if he asks me for the griffin, he will save himself and gain great fighting power.’ He couldn’t help but be surprised.

He didn’t expect humans to think so deeply in such a short time.

That’s why he smiled. "I can promise you that," he replied.

At this point, the griffin turned to look at him sharply. "Lord?!" he shouted in shock.

But the Nurotaur simply gave him a look. "Consider it your payment for breaking the outer wall of my dwelling."

"Ah?! Lord Nurotaur, that’s..."

"I don’t care about your opinion, little Griffin."

"..."

The griffin was completely beside himself, not knowing how to respond.

Since when had he become a bargaining chip in some strange game?

But then again...

’Right, it’s only if they beat him...’ Remembering the conditions imposed by the Nurotaur, the griffin calmed down.

There was no way they could win, no matter what they did.

Elliot and Jenna nodded. "If that’s the case, then we’d like to begin. You said you’d give us weapons, right? Can we see them?"

"Of course." The Nurotauro waved his hand and opened a large door to one side. "That room is full of basic and powerful weapons, large and small. Go in there and choose as many as you want according to the strategy you want to use, but remember the rules. I won’t see you during this time, as I don’t want to interfere with your strategies, to make it more fun."

They both nodded. "Thank you, Lord Nurotaur. We’ll be right back." They both immediately entered the room.

Outside, the Nurotaur sat nearby and waited for them while preparing a large fighting area. The griffin carefully approached him.

"Lord Nurotaur, may I ask you a question?" he asked.

"Aren’t you already asking it?"

"Uh... right. Then why are you doing this? I understand that Nurotaurs don’t like humans."

"Haha. It’s not that we don’t like them; we just hate the arrogance of that race. But there are some interesting humans."

"Are those two?" The griffin looked toward the next room, where Elliot and Jenna were, as he asked the question.

But the Nurotaur shook his head, laughing. "Hahaha, of course not. At least not yet. But 400 years ago, I met one. He was worthy of respect, praise, and admiration. He changed my opinion of humans, and since then I’ve wanted to learn more about them."

"Oh..." The griffin nodded, finding that strange. Most humans he had met were either annoying, crawling bastards who wanted to kill him, or were his food. He had never met one who was interesting.

But in his response, he found a way to absolve himself of any responsibility here.

"If you want to learn more about them, why don’t I bring you more humans? There are several human cities nearby; I can bring you all kinds. Those two are... very weak. I don’t think they’ll satisfy you."

"No." The Nurotaur immediately shook his head. "It’s not about quantity, it’s about quality. Those two, despite being incredibly weak, managed to get through the same octopus you fought. They almost died, but they made it. Do you think another human could do that in those circumstances?"

"Huh?" The Griffin was shocked. "They fought an octopus like that and came out alive? That bastard had amazing cumulative strength! How could they win?"

"Hahaha. That’s because they understood the essence of the test, but you decided to kill him."

"Didn’t we have to kill him?"

"Why would my little ones send you to kill their toys?" The Nurotaur looked at him strangely, making him feel embarrassed.

"The essence of the test was to survive and get through it. That’s the difference between them and you; they understood the essence. And of all the humans I’ve met, they’re the only ones who have managed to understand it."

The griffin was so stunned that he almost hit himself in the face several times.

He fought to the death against that damn octopus! And it turns out he didn’t have to kill it?!

But in the end, he could understand why those two humans had escaped him. ’They’re humans. They’re cunning by nature.’

Somehow, he suddenly began to feel afraid.

’What if...’ He looked at the Nurotaur.

What would happen if they won? He would have to become a slave.

A slave!

’...No. Impossible. An octopus is an octopus. A Nurotaur is something else entirely.’ He quickly shook his head in disagreement with such ridiculous possibilities that shouldn’t even be 0.0001%.

As they chatted quietly, with the Nurotaur finally finding someone different to talk to, time passed, and after an hour or so, Elliot and Jenna came out.

They were wearing clothes similar to the assassins’ clothes that they had found inside. It was difficult to hide some weapons, but very easy to hide others.

The Nurotaur turned to look at them. "Are you ready? We won’t be using the System because I don’t have it, but you can rest assured that I still have mechanisms to limit my power, so you don’t have to worry about dying in combat."

They both nodded. "We’re ready. We trust you, Lord Nurotaur." They replied in unison.

A lie, obviously. How could they trust him? But they had no choice but to lie.

They had both decided to cling to that slim, or almost non-existent, chance of winning. They wouldn’t give up so easily, just because they faced a being whose strength was incalculable.

"Good." Nurotauro then pointed to one side. A room had disappeared there, and in its place, a classic fighting arena appeared.

"That’s where we’ll fight. There are no restrictions on movement within the arena; you can even touch the walls around you. The only rules I mentioned before: I must touch each of you three times to win. You only need to touch me once, it doesn’t matter who does it, but you must touch me with something that is your body or is touching your body."

"Do you understand?"

Elliot and Jenna didn’t want to waste any more time. They both walked to the combat area and finally looked at him.

"We understand. We’re ready," they replied.

Finally, the Nurotaur stood up and stood in front of them. Immediately, the mechanisms around him greatly limited his power and stats. Only his agility remained unrestricted.

"If you’re ready, then let’s get started." He declared, pulling out a bell and handing it to Elliot. "Ring it when you want to start. You have the advantage because you’re younger."

’...Advantage, huh.’ Elliot scoffed at those words. Damn it, that didn’t mean any advantage.

The speed with which that Nurotaur had stopped the previous griffin was such that none of the three could see it. And he was saying that ringing a bell was an advantage?

’Sigh. Forget it. Let’s stick to the plan.’