I Reject Quests

Rewen's face didn't change. He had the same cold eyes he had from the start. "It turns out that bluffing is the only way out for you now." He sneered, sprinting off towards his opponent. When reaching the tree, he had a huge jump directly reaching the branch Banci was standing on.

Banci's eyes were wide and he hurriedly put his hands under his sleeve. 

But how could Rewen give him any change. With the two daggers in his hand, he swept through Banci's body like a butter. His shirt tore revealing a deep cut emerged from his chest. 

"Off you go." Rewen pushed him off from the tree and saw him fall. 

However, just as his body was about to touch the ground, his body immediately disappeared as if he had never existed in the first place. 

"Where did he go?" He questioned while looking around vigilantly, failing to notice a black figure creeping upon him from behind. 

*Slash*

A sword sliced through his back. 

While being dumbfounded for a while, Rewen recovered his calm and immediately jumped from the tree and made some distance. 'Fortunately, I noticed his shadow. If I didn't, that would have possibly been my end.' He let out a deep breath, trying to control the pain that was coming from his back.

'Huh? Where is he again?' He tried to spot Banci but couldn't see a shadow of him. 'Now I'm scared. So this is what a life-to-death battle really is, huh.' Unlike last time, he didn't want to get caught off-guard so he turned out and maintained a defensive stance. 'Maybe I should go to the top of the three to get a clear view.' Deciding to not waste any time, he sprinted off to a nearby tree.

*Swish*

An arrow immediately struck the place he was at a second ago.

'An arrow this time? I need to be more careful.' Rewen, however, didn't stop. He knew if he did the chances of getting hit by an incoming arrow would increase. He could only make his way through the top of the tree running haphazardly.

"Kuh!" He grunted, taking a huge leap from the ground.

With another jump from the branch, he came to the topmost branch of the tree. He then squatted. 'Now then, where is he?' 

As soon as he questioned that, he heard the rustling of leaves. Alerted, he moved away from his spot. An arrow brushed past the tree. 

Heaving a sigh of relief, Rewen took cover in a place with a lot of leaves. "This should be safe."

"AFRAID NOT!" Banci let out an unrestrained laugh as he made his through with a large sword on his hand. When he approached close enough, he did a vertical swing targeted at Rewen's head.

Supported by his two legs while squatting, Rewen didn't hesitate to jump from the tree from the back. 'Even if I fall, I could get up.' He thought so, but an incredibly strange thing happened before his eyes. Banci who swung the large sword again disappeared from his spot.

Getting a bad feeling, he backflipped in the air and saw the same Banci standing below him with a sword pointing towards his body. 'I would surely not live if the large pierced his body.' He now understood the difference between ranks. The small amount of pride he felt while defeating an actual Rank 2 Mage vanished. 

Then, his eyes turned decisive. He flicked the dagger on his hand and stretched his arm.

'Face it, Rewen. Life-to-death battles are not only between you and your opponent. It's also between your body and your mind. If you have the strength but not the ruthlessness, you can never win. Not only do you have to be ruthless to your enemies but also to yourself!'

As he got closer to the sword, Banci's expression changed. "Shit!" He lowered his sword and made a gap between himself and Rewen.

Rewen landed on his legs safely with his two daggers glued to the ground in order to lessen the impact of the fall. Standing up straight, he gave a carefree smile. "Coward."

It was only one word. But it managed to tick off Banci. "What a brat…" He snorted.

Rewen seemingly didn't take any offense, still smiling. "Do you want to explain what your skill is?"

"Why do you think I'll explain my secret skill to my opponent?" Banci raised his eyes.

"Are you new here?"

"Fuck off!" Banci raised his large sword and sprinted towards him.

"Did you seriously think…" Rewen took an offensive stance and held his breath, not getting bothered by the incoming man with a sword in his hand. 

When he got close and was about to swing his sword, Rewen quickly closed in the distance giving Banci a fright. Not giving him the time to think, he immediately launched a dagger against the man's face. "...I'm a pushover?"

However, the dagger passed through the man's body as if the man wasn't even present.

"Ah?" Looking at Banci's hollow eyes, Rewen instantly figured out what it was and was about to take a jump back from his spot. Unfortunately, he noticed the sword was heading towards him and had no time to dodge it.

*Clang*

His two daggers made contact with the sword but he still flew over clashing on to a nearby tree. 

"Oh my fucking God! What's with that transparent body of yours? According to the script, there should be your real body nearby, right?" Rewen winced in pain while getting up. His back still had a wound which he got earlier and now, another impact on his back had been made. 

"I'll be lucky if my spine didn't break." He chuckled. Even in the face of an enemy whom he had no idea about, he managed to crack a joke.

Banci looked over the young man with a grim face. His normally crazy look was all-gone. All that remained was a cold frown. "Kid. You are going too far." Somehow, he didn't like the young man's sense of humor.

Rewen laughed. "By the way, I have always wondered. When you cannibals get diarrhea, do you pop out an eyeball or teeth from you-know-where?" 

"..." Banci's eyes sharpened. Without saying anything, he dashed towards his grinning opponent wishing to cut off the grin from his face itself.

Rewen didn't stay on his spot unlike last time. Turning around, he made a run for it. 

"Haha! To think that a brat higher ranked than me is running away. Thank you for making me feel proud!" Banci laughed in a crazed manner while still chasing after him.

Rewen paid no heed to the words and continued running until he reached a huge tree and turned back. "Come." Again, taking a stance, he waited for his opponent to strike.

"Gladly!" Banci thought the previous lesson of getting into close quarters with him had not taught him a lesson.

The gap was three meters.

Rewen looked as if he was soaked in rain but in reality, it was his sweat. Holding back his pain in the back had taken a huge toll on his body. However, his eyes still had spirit. His posture was bent, with two daggers crossed on his eye level. He looked like he was ready to strike whenever he wanted.

Two meters.

Rewen tightly gripped the daggers and stretched both his arms.

At this moment, Banci found a massive opening.

One meter.

Banci was about to swing his sword towards his opponent's body but just as he was halfway through, two hands grabbed his sword. He raised his head and couldn't believe what he was seeing. 'This kid… h-he dropped his weapons?'

Rewen snatched the sword but didn't let his guard down. Immediately after he snatched the sword, he made a swing. 

Not towards where Banci was standing. He was useless without a weapon.

But towards his side where an arrow was incoming.

The arrow made contact with the sword and flew off.

"Turns out my plan worked." Rewen smiled towards Banci who was staring at him blankly. "Why don't you hit me?" He asked with a provocative smile. He knew that the Banci standing before him was basically a hologram who could do nothing to him. The real Banci was still hiding somewhere.

"Yo! The real Banci!" Rewen turned to where the arrow was shot out. "You have two options. Either get your fellow cannibal mates to deal with me or come deal with me yourself."

He got no response in return.

"Come on bro, don't be so uncooperative" Rewen shook his head disappointedly, then went to sit on a fallen tree. "I'm waiting!"

With the sword in his hand, his eyes were fixated in the direction of where the arrow came from. 'Damn, the sword is heavier than I actually thought.'

"Hey, who the fuck made this garbage?" Turning to hologram Banci, he asked.

Banci's eyes twitched.

"Ah, forget it. It's useless to talk to cannibals like you. It's my fault that I saw you as a human being who knows how to speak. Sorry."