I didn't realize that I never wrote anything to specify what class Chung was. My bad. He's supposed to be a Tactical Trooper. TTxCEm isn't common but... Eh.
Enjoy~
"Morning Eve!"
I waved to the yawning girl who walked in. Her hair was a long mess from her sleep. Ophelia gently brushed her queen's hair while she walked to sit down. Elsword came out of the kitchen with a bowl of brightly colored fruits and a nice helping of eggs, placing both in the center of the table. The others soon filed out from their rooms and positioned themselves in their normal spots.
Eve and I were the first to finish our breakfast. We both packed up our knapsacks, after thanking Elsword for his wonderful cooking of course, and began to head out the door.
"Wait!" Rena stood up from her chair and ran to the kitchen, bringing out two brown paper bags. "I made you two something for the trip."
Eve opened it up, blinked once, and closed it immediately. "Thank you Rena. I'll make sure to eat it."
I began to open mine up. "Eeeeeeek!" A giant spider sat at the bottom of the bag that I just dropped on the floor. I, not so carefully, backed up right into the door. Elsword bursted out laughing at my reaction.
"You scream like a little girl, Chung," Eve told me blandly. Rena picked up the paper bag and pulled the spider out. It turns out that the spider was just a bunch of fruit she carved.
"T-That's not funny..." I said to Rena, trying to catch my breath.
The Wind Sneaker giggled lightly before returning her masterpiece back to the bag. "I was hoping it would be." She winked at me before returning to the table to eat. "Have a good time you two!"
We should be really thankful for the Cobo Express. If it weren't for them, Eve and I would probably be a week late getting to Ruben, and the town would be in total destruction.
The two of us stepped out of the Cobo wagon with Oberon helping Eve out. I pulled our knapsacks out from the back and handed Eve's to Ophelia. We made our way to a red-roofed building where an unshaven man stood outside.
"Ah, you two must be the people Elsword sent, right?" Hagus asked as we approached him. We both nodded our heads. The bearded man smiled wide. "Well, welcome to Ruben!"
Before either of us could respond to his greeting, a man dressed in red clothes ran up to Hagus with a troubled look on his face. "The demons are nearby Hagus. We must make our attack soon." The man said with concern.
"Ah yes. Lowe, this is..."
"I'm Chung and this is Eve."
The man named Lowe shook my hand and bowed slightly to Eve. "So these are the two Elsword sent?" He asked as he inspected us. Quite honestly, I was feeling a little self-conscious about my heavy armor right then. I stick out a lot when I'm outside of Hamel.
Hagus nodded. "Correct. These two will be in charge of the troops for the invasion. Anything they say is to be obeyed." He stroked his beard in a surprisingly tranquil mood compared to the situation.
Eve held up her hand to Hagus. "We will not be needing any of your troops. Chung and I can fight them off by ourselves."
She looked quickly at me. I smiled back before she gave me the normal reaction and turned back to the matter at hand. The drones hovered around her head. The look on their faces matched Eve's almost as if they were in an agreement about their opinion of me.
Don't be discouraged Chung. You're here. You have a chance to make her like you. Don't give up now...!
Hagus and Lowe's eyebrows shot up at Eve's order. "Are you sure you two won't be needing any assistance? We can provide you with an amazing amount of backup." Lowe asked.
I shook my head. "It's alright. We'll be fine."
Lowe nodded before walking up to me and handing me a small burlap bag tied with a white string. "The head demon dropped this before we retreated. We believe it might be of some use to you two."
Inside the sack were about ten orbs imbued with a dark blue color. I took one out and held it up to the light. A liquid swished back and forth inside.
Water orbs? What would a glitter need these for? Most glitters use weapons.
I returned the orb to the bag and pocketed it in my knapsack. "Thank you Lowe, Hagus."
"The demons should be near the forest ruins on the outskirts of town. You should head out as soon as possible."
A gust of wind blew against the trees as the moon shined through the thicket of leaves. We still hadn't found the incoming demons, and I was starting to lose some hope. Eve had unsummoned her nasods moments ago, and her drones were fast asleep in her arms. She and I continued to walk amidst the grass with an awkward silence between us.
'I can't remember a time where we were at peace like this. It's nice, although strange that it has to be in silence. But my chest... It feels like it's jumping around on the inside, like last night. I can sense the sweat growing under my armor, but it's not even hot out. I only feel this way when she's involved... Why is that?'
I looked at the silver-haired girl momentarily. She seemed to be worn-out from the 3 hours of walking we had done. Strands of her hair were sticking out in odd directions.
An abnormal rustling of leaves came from a bush to my right, catching our attention. We quickly put up our guard and prepared ourselves for the enemies' approach. From inside the bush came...
A mushroom. It hopped out rather calmly as we slowly lowered our weapons.
"I got this Eve," I told her while loading my cannon with ammo. I aimed it at the red and yellow mushroom carefully before shooting it.
The little guy simply jumped out of the line of fire, my attack missing completely. It danced around happily, mocking me. I flinched for a moment. Eve gave me a raised eyebrow that questioned my failure to hit such a simple enemy.
"Uh..! One sec! I have this under control!" I reassured Eve as I loaded my cannon once again. I made sure to point my Destroyer carefully at the mushroom this time.
"Dread Chase!"
A series of missiles advanced forward, tracking it down. The monster evaded the attack by jumping behind a conveniently giant boulder. It immediately came out of hiding and pounced towards me. The mushroom bit my long tail of hair and held tight.
"Gah! Get it off me!" I screamed as I turned in circles. My hair flew through the wind with the mushroom keeping its hold on me.
Eve grabbed my shoulders and stopped my rotating. Upon doing so, she slapped me hard on the face, leaving a stinging sensation on my cheek. She immediately followed up by grabbing my tail of hair and lifting it up, coming face to face with my tiny terror.
"You are very annoying," she told the mushroom as she slapped it. It released its grasp on me and ran straight into the bushes where it came from.
I turned around to look at Eve, who had her back to me. "T-Thanks... Sorry about that..." She stayed extremely silent towards my response, her fists balled up tight. Her body was extremely tense like she was holding something in.
S-She's angry... Great. There goes my only chance. Now she'll hate me to the ends of Elrios. Perhaps I should just learn to live with it instead.
As I frowned in disappointment, she slowly wound her head around to look at me. When her eyes met up with mine, her cheeks puffed up. Her head moved forward slightly before she covered her mouth with right hand. I gave the silver-haired girl a confused look, to which she put her left hand into action by placing it over the other. Her hands squeezed her mouth tightly before finally losing to the force building up in her.
Eve, the emotionless nasod, let out a loud and cheerful laugh.