"Who are you? And what are you doing here?"
Sid asked the shadow as he covered his boner with his hand. At first, he saw that this was a classic case of trapping men in compromising situations and drawing money from them.
But when the shadow's eyes met his, all of Sid's "excitement" was washed away and he felt a threat of death looming over his head. He wasn't sure what the situation he had gotten himself into was, but it wasn't something he could brush off his shoulders and move on.
Sid quickly wore his army-issue armour and wielded his lightning-element spear. He also cast his Beast Contract spell. The berserker got his confidence back when he took the precautions he thought would be enough to deal with the threat.
"I asked you a question, you asshole. Who are you and what are you doing here?"
Sid pressed his words and spoke in a low voice when he asked the same question. The shadow chuckled before responding.
"Stop asking silly questions like these Sid. Why would a guy in a mask tell you who he is? Use your brain for once man.
Then again, you thought someone named Jasmine could be a girl who is particularly interested in you. You can't even identify a made-up name that is usually used by hookers. So expecting you to read the mood is foolishness on my part."
Eren paused while drawing a strange dagger from his storage space. He started imbuing his mana on it as he stared at Sid. The latter had a stoic expression on his face as he replied to Eren's accusations.
"Um... I think there's some kind of confusion. Perhaps you are a pimp seeking payment from a different person? Because I've never been with hookers."
Eren heard this and his smiling face behind the mask stiffened. He had forgotten that not everyone was like the previous-timeline-him. It was he who had a lot of experience with hookers. And he was projecting that on this poor guy who was just trying to get lucky with his Altashia-look-alike.
'At least I've changed now.'
Eren thought to himself and he felt happy about the money he must have saved by not seeking professional services. He still didn't think there was anything wrong with him availing of such services. It was just that the miser in him had better and more convenient options.
Trying his luck with Altashia was liable to put pressure on his wallet though.
'I'm sure she's worth it.'
Eren continued to have random thoughts as he confronted his team's berserker. The guy didn't seem like much of a challenge to him. Plus, with the setup he had planned for Sid, it was only a matter of time before Eren got his desired results.
Eren had decided to seek professional help in luring Sid here. He needed the guy to be in the Badlands for his procedure. The butcher's team had just completed another mission. So the team members had another free weekend they could use for themselves. The butcher had chosen this time to take care of Sid forever.
Contrary to what one might think though, confronting and killing Sid was less personal and more of an experiment.
"Here. Catch this."
Eren threw a vial of potion at Sid who was already looking at him warily. He saw the guy throwing stuff at him and immediately assumed it was something dangerous. While retreading using his movement spell, Sid made the Red Lightning Bull rush toward the potion.
The bull which was the product of the Beast Contract spell charged forwards towards the vial and caught it in its mouth. The vial broke as a result and an invisible gas spread in the vicinity. The bull snorted its nose and got busy spinning around itself as if it was expecting an attack from every direction.
Sid was sure that he had already escaped the potion's area of effect. But then he saw the shadow following him using his movement spell and throwing another bunch of vials at him. Three vials were coming at Sid from three directions.
Sid wanted to confront the guy and his potions. But without knowing about the effects of the potion, doing something like this would be foolish. So he chose to run in the only direction that was free of risk for him.
Or so he thought.
As soon as Sid chose to run over a certain region, an array trap was activated with his presence acting as the trigger. It quickly sprung a mana layer, trapping Sid inside it.
This was an array trap!
The same array of traps he had seen in Purgatory's underground dungeon. He had already started his studies on the book he had received as his floor clearance reward from the Purgatory's underground dungeon. The book contained all the basic stuff about the construction, maintenance, and operation of the arrays.
Four distinct open vials were made visible at the four distinct corners of the array trap inside the mana layer. They all released a dense amount of smoke from their mouths. This time, the smoke's hue was light green.
"Poi… mana poison!"
Sid cried out in alarm as he saw the smoke's colour. Immediately, he stopped breathing and focused on getting out from under the array. Meanwhile, he controlled his contract beast and made it attack him.
Meanwhile, the butcher was looking at him as a researcher would look at the mice he had put in one of his cages for the experiment.
Eren retreated to a nearby tree's upper branch with one long jump using his movement spell. It was just a moment too late for the bull to hit him from the side.
The bull charged at the tree trunk on which Eren had climbed. But this was not a one-and-done attack it seemed. The bull pulled out his deeply pierced horns from the trunk with a sudden pull. It then retreated a few steps only to charge at the same tree with greater zeal than before while snorting air through its puffed nostrils.
It kept on charging at the trunk while releasing red bolts of lightning. But as the tree's wood was an insulator, Eren remained safe on one of its branches as he watched Sid's struggles with keen interest.
All of Sid's attempts to break free from the array trap were futile. The mana poison soon entered his system because of the constant smoke released by the four vials.
Things were only going to get worse for Sid from this point on.
