NOVEL SIMPLE It’s whatever…
To avoid suspicion, Eric told his allies to wait at the hotel, while only he and Del were going to catch the walking clues. Of course, they were against it but understood that the more people there were, the more chaotic it'd become.
And it was easy. Fairly easy. As easy as it was to scrap, diarrhoea turned hard and splattered onto the walls of the bathroom. Easy right? Stinky, disgusting and very, erm, straight-forward.
Either way, the two contenders were swiftly captured thanks to Eric's OP magic. See, easy, right? No need to complain or go get the previous vibrant and overly explicit description. Let's just forget that.
The two clowns also booked a hotel room, not far from the hotel where Eric and the others stayed.
"Mhm mhmm hmm hmhm!"
"Yeah, I absolutely have no idea what you're saying," Eric sat imposingly on his bed and was back in his element. Although the two tied up clowns who were pitiful victims in their own room, weren't authors, they were still the characters of an author, right? Teasing them was indirectly trashing the author, right?
And if the author suffered, Eric felt good about it. So, this trait that hasn't appeared in a long while, finally made it back. How wonderful. Del only stood next to Eric and thought about how he could make Eric even happier.
Furious muffles and the tied up, unable to talk due to Eric's magic, made it look like the victims were about to explode. Bulging veins and eyes that almost popped out on a red-faced, oxygen missing head.
"I really can't understand you guys," Eric bored said.
Fuck! Are you messing with us? Just fucking replaced the magic you wannabe villain! Seeing Eric's blind audacity, the males got only more furious. Fuck you and your 16 generations of ancestors! Oh, you know what? How about you let that handsome adonis screw you into oblivion and submissiveness huh? How do you like that?
Handsome adonis staring at cursed targets: Yes, I think we would really like that.
Two clowns: Fuck! Ok, we give up! You won!
Meanwhile, Eric didn't actually want to hear them talk, because if he found out the shortcut it meant: Dead end- Sanity
Full speed: Plot insanity!
And Eric didn't want it! But seeing these two clowns trying to use magic and wriggling like worms taken out of their comfort zone, Eric had to undo his magic. Then he wanted to open his mouth but instead, Del spoke up and an iciness instantly warped around the room, "The shortcut. Spit it out."
The two clowns who were able to freely talk and wanted to abuse their freedom: Why the fuck should we?
The Demon Lord: What?
Two clowns, pitiful and pathetic: Ok, we'll talk! Spare us! Spare us!
Eric: I guess it doesn't matter if I'm OP. Intimidation is the true OP and norm, huh?
However, Eric just looked like a spoilt, arrogant and good-looking guy who could ever match the true apex predator Del was. What... a shame.
"You aren't going to talk yet?" Del crossed his arms and his I'll-dare-you-to death-eyes broke the males out in a cold sweat.
"We-We talk! We heard about the shortcut from someone else!"
"Who?" Now Eric was intrigued.
"We don't know either! He was shrouded in black."
"But you just believed him?"
"Well, that's why we're arguing. We don't know either if we should believe it. It sounds too good to be true...."
Eclair did say that they were conflicted about taking the shortcut. But a lad shrouded in black? It sounded like Del or his men at the beginning of the story, however, Del was with Eric at all times.
"Why did the guy choose to tell you?"
"We don't know either!"
Eric's blank face was now riddled with black lines.
"You guys know absolutely nothing! And you still want to pursue the treasure? You aren't worth it!"
Eric's impatience and annoyance was clearly visible, however, Del's brain: Adorable. Cute. Amazing. Wonderful. Great. My soon to be lover is-
"It's not our fault!" the males cried injustice! A guy suddenly popped up, whispered sweet words of temptation like a devil and disappeared as soon as he came! They were perplexed as well! What should they have done? Grab the male, slap him like ready-made sushi fish onto the table and shake out all of his secrets? Yeah sure! That guy obviously had strong magic to appear out of nowhere and disappear to integrate with thin air!
"Useless."
Ok, we get it, stop stabbing our hearts!
"So, what's the shortcut and how can we get there?"
"The shortcut isn't actually a shortcut, it's the final destination or so the man said. It's something akin to a dungeon and once it's conquered, you'll get the treasure. It's basically the last checkpoint."
"What? So easily?"
So basically, it wasn't needed to go through all the checkpoints but one can straight head to the last checkpoint? What the hell? Wasn't this great? Eric quickly changed his opinion. All hail the plot! The plot is amazing! Wonderful! In the midst of his joy to escape earlier, Eric completely forgot that of course plots were never so easy or they wouldn't be plots.
"So, how do you get there? I don't believe anyone can just straight go to the last checkpoint."
"Of course, not, this was another point we were arguing about. Apparently, the condition was to have two contenders team up, one of them however should've failed a checkpoint and can only continue because another contender let them act as their proxy. There should also be three non-contenders, so only a five-man party can enter the dungeon. We thought about failing this checkpoint but that's too risky, right?"
What the hell? Eric's blank face was blank until it moulded into three fine lines. This fucking plot was after all too convenient! Wasn't this just perfectly describing Eric's situation? Didn't they perfectly fit the criteria? Fuck, was this all a coincidence?
Of course not! It was simply a badly orchestrated plot convenience of the author! It was already determined for Eric and co to get to meet these guys and find out about the shortcut since Eric failed the first checkpoint!
So damn obvious! Eric sighed. He questioned the clowns for some bit more before wiping their memories and setting them free.
"So?" Del hugged Eric to sleep again when they finally arrived in their own hotel room.
"We don't have a choice... we have to take the shortcut. Tomorrow morning, let's talk with the others about it,'' Eric yawned. He was too exhausted raging about the stupid plot!
"Ok, ok," Del's coaxing made Eric only sleepier and he missed the notification that suddenly said that his points reached now 450. Dammit, Del! Your hands!
***
The next morning. At breakfast.
"Let's go," the three allies immediately agreed. Eric told them about what they found out leaving out a few details such as Eric failing the first checkpoint obviously.
"You guys sure?" Eric didn't want to force them because obviously, the last checkpoint was going to be very hard.
"It's fine, we are always there for you."
"Thank you," Eric quickly said, putting a stop to any more cheesy lines, "So, in order to get to the last checkpoint, we have to find a certain portal. This will be hard."
"Really?" finally Del spoke up to give some cents of his own although he was rich as hell, "can't you just imagine, using your magic, to find out the portal's location? You did the same during the last checkpoint."
Oh... yeah... Eric forgot how fucking convenient his power was as well. What a bloody, unexciting cheat.