Undead Beast Master: Living Solely for My Desires-Chapter 201: Echoes of the Future

Now that Zaroth had received the gifts that Elysia wanted to give him, he began to glance around the armory.

'Honestly, her home is pretty comfortable. Is there any chance—'

"Okay, that is it. You can leave now," Elysia spoke, cutting off his train of thought.

It seemed that she was busy as always, so it would be rude to take too much of her time.

With a sigh, Zaroth began to leave. The mansion was easy to navigate, as such, he knew the way back.

That was before he was stopped as he felt Elysia's hand on his shoulder.

"I am telling you again, do not blame yourself too much."

Zaroth nodded silently as he left.

Taking a step outside of the mansion, he took a deep breath of the clean air.

The memory of the corpse with the exploded head returned, alongside the stench of burned human flesh, but it wasn't that vivid anymore. As such, he was able to ignore it somewhat.

'So, I guess to get you out of depression is some shiny gifts?' Luna teased, echoing in his mind, no doubt trying to lift his spirits up.

Taking a moment to think, he scoffed.

"Well, I guess I am a simple man after all," he muttered as a small smile formed on his face.

It was still night, so he headed back to his apartment.

The walk was relaxing as there still weren't many people on the streets.

After about half an hour, he finally returned and collapsed on the bed as exhaustion overwhelmed him.

He closed his eyes and waited. Thankfully, he was finally able to fall asleep, taking much-needed rest, as he hadn't been able to sleep since the 13th round.

The next morning, he debated whether or not he should go to the academy.

While, yes, seeing his friends might help his mind relax, he didn't really feel that being alongside people would be that great.

"Aren't you supposed to have exams soon?" Luna pointed out.

Zaroth, in turn, sighed. While, yes, he could go without seeing people for a few days, missing more lectures would just result in him getting subpar—and maybe even failing—marks on the exams.

That would no doubt anger Elysia to some extent. The fallout likely wouldn't be too severe, but he felt indebted to her and didn't want to test her patience further.

So, seeing the writing on the wall, Zaroth quickly got ready by eating breakfast, taking a shower, and heading for the academy.

*****

"Isn't that him?" a girl whispered to her friend.

"Yes, he is! I still get nightmares from the way he made his opponent's head explode!" her friend commented.

"Why are you two surprised? Look at his eyes! He is a dragon descendant! Of course, he is going to fight like an animal!" a male student scoffed.

"Sure, but are you willing to fight him?" one of the women asked the man.

At the question, his smug smile disappeared. "Of course not! I am not a lunatic like him! I don't want to lose my life!"

Zaroth tried not to pay attention to the chatter happening around him.

It seemed that after the 13th fight in the tournament, he had become something like a celebrity… though it wasn't with a positive reception.

"Well, it is not surprising. Not everybody could get behind one man killing another, especially in the tournament," he muttered under his breath.

His walk to the academy wasn't that long, and soon he approached the place. He casually sat around his friends.

The first one to notice him was Roran, so he spoke.

"Oh? Look who finally decided to show up."

Lily nudged him with her elbow. "Roran! Don't talk like that. You know he might be stressed—he had killed a man, after all!"

"Bullshit!" Roran exploded, which seemed rather inconsistent with his personality… or maybe that was just his way of showing his worry?

"I vividly remember him killing the Epic Beast Master without a problem! He even began to laugh like a maniac!"

Zack leaned back in his chair.

"Well, that is true, but considering the way he reacted, this was probably the first time he had killed somebody that he didn't want to."

The three of them shifted their gazes to Zaroth as they awaited his words.

"…Well, yes, I can say it was the first time. So this was probably why I felt weird these couple of days, but I am fine now."

Roran took a sigh of relief as his mood seemed to lift up.

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"All is good, then."

Their conversation was cut short, however, as Elysia entered the room, about to begin the lecture.

Zaroth let out a sigh of relief.

His friends were obviously not worried that he had killed a man… well, it wasn't the first time for sure, but to him, it felt different.

And yet, his friends didn't seem to mind, as they even tried to lift his spirits up.

He didn't know if he was supposed to scoff or be grateful.

At the beginning, he had started their friendship with the thought that they would be useful and powerful allies.

But over the course of these months that they had spent together, they had become real friends.

Honestly, from time to time, it still felt like a foreign concept—having friends.

The only reason he had survived for so long when he was outside the major cities with his cursed mother was because he hadn't trusted anyone, hadn't shown sympathy to anyone.

But he was slowly changing—growing for the better.

He shifted his gaze to the ceiling.

He wanted to have a talk with Midnight.

He also wanted to find Vera and figure out what the fuck was the reason she had appeared that day. Like, who goes to pretty much a stranger and announces that they have the same goal as them—to kill the gods—only to vanish?

He narrowed his eyes as he began to think.

'Wasn't she close with Sofia? Maybe I can ask her?… Though now that I think about it, after her loss to Grace in the tournament, I don't recall seeing her.'

"Fuck it," he muttered quickly.

There were too many things that needed to be investigated, and it would be a bad idea to spread out too much. As such, he was going to solely focus on getting stronger for the tournament.

*****

Zaroth was in one of the recovery rooms, as per usual.

However, this time, he was alone—his friends weren't with him.

A moment later, he summoned his beasts, and all of them materialized in the room.

As per his command, they all positioned themselves to the other side of the room.

Zaroth took a breath as he took hold of the odachi with both of his hands.

He really wanted to try out the weapon and learn how to use it.

And what better way than using it in a real combat scenario?

His beasts were obviously uncomfortable at the idea of attacking their master, but it was for the greater good, after all.

So soon after, they all charged toward him, and he did as well.

For the next few hours, the room was filled with the sounds of beasts' grunts, and the air had a lingering smell of blood.