Master of Myths

"What a bothersome group"

Muttering to himself YuJu climbed back into the car and started the engine, set its direction and moved to check the thing he just got

First was the solidified bug, he had to throw that thing away, it was merely a useless distraction to obtain the other item without giving away its value

"So this is the flesh golem, what a sorry sight compared to the behemoth that annihilated six guilds on its own"

He had not participated in that battle but did see the huge corpse as well as the ruin it lay to what humans barely built, in fact the monstrosity might have had earth's dwellers in its belly if not for the nine nightmares' who led humanity at the time

Placing the ball of flesh and intestines on the ground he started ripping it apart with his skeletal hand, the still ball quickly erupted into anger, flailing about and trying to latch onto him, alas the current body's too weak to cause any harm, unless it met a fleshly body that is

Once the layer of mangled flesh was torn there came another one, this one was quite different as it was very delicate looking with many veins going through it, all it was missing was a stable beat and one might mistake it for a heart 

YuJu didn't have any mercy for this thing and directly stabbed it with a knife, running the sharp blade around until he cut open the smaller ball in half like an orange

Inside was yet another round object, it wasn't made of flesh however but looked like a red pearl, very similar to the blood pear acquired by Ellis during the protection period of earth

Without any further delay he dropped it into a crystal container he prepared beforehand and sealed the top tightly

"With this thing out of the way would that troubling group survive?"

Last time Joco and the company were killed by the flesh golem before any of them had the chance to shine, what would their fate be this time around or would they die a meaningless death once more

"Most of them look like hooligans however"

Indeed, most of them were, only three had caught his eyes

"That old man, he didn't use any elementary control to make those earthen stairs, if he did I would have sensed the entrance a long time ago, did he perhaps make a contraption that he controls with another type of element? Or a mechanism built on laws other than elements? Whatever it was shows his potential in traps"

That was the most amazing one of the trio

"Joco has a tough defense since the sword didn't cut open his skin when I threw it at him, as for that woman…"

His hand rubbed at his chest for a bit, the pain had yet to go away

"She definitely bumped into me on purpose, must have used a strength boosting skill too"

If that was her natural strength then...what a scary woman

"All in all they were tricky, not unique or strong in particular but very tricky"

While acting dumb and making funny quips they sneaked one hidden test after the other, layering them under the friendly guise while looking for a weakness to benefit from the situation, even seeing his strength didn't seem to deter their resolve to rob him

"The next few camps should not be as annoying to deal with, well, when I get there at least"

Glancing toward the road view he could see how slow of a speed he was going at, there was no helping it though, who told him not to check for energy crystals before he set out?

"Hm?"

His eyes suddenly darted toward a series of broken apartments in the distance

"Someone is there, oh they are increasing"

He waited a bit and calculated how many different eyes gazed upon him

"Seventeen, should be a scout group with how quick they responded to their surveillance, perhaps they belong to a nearby camp I don't know of, hmm I should go over and provide them with weapons"

He knew most people would not have anything valuable to trade him with like Joco did, it didn't matter however, his main reason was to supply humans with advanced weaponry than to acquire something useful

Adjusting his path he headed where the gazes came from, curious as to what group he would encounter next

…..

"A little cowardly these ones are"

Seeing as they were hiding and didn't even dare run YuJu assumed, maybe they weren't worth wasting some useful items on after all

"Still I should talk to them first and then decide weth-"BOOM!

The car blew up from underneath sending him smashing to its ceiling, then tumbled across the ground while he and the few creatures trapped within rolled inside, bumping into one another in the messy aftershock

"Go get them!"

"Yaaa!"

Ordered a laughing voice prompting men and women to rush out of their hiding spots, all jumping at the upside down spiked vehicle that moved no more

Before they got there one of the spiked sides opened up like a gullwing revealing the bloody mess inside

There were a few creatures in cages, some of who were dead, burst open like a water melon by the explosion, the others however looked mostly okay, other than them there was a humanoid shadowy figure dripping blood from its unseen head

"What the hell is that creepy bastard? Quickly kill it and ste" Suk "-hughh kugh"

Before the woman's words were finished a dagger was stuck in her throat, blood spewed out in bursts as she gurgled for breath before falling to the ground, still and silent

""....""

A moment of silence overcame the place, quickly drowned out by the following screams and shouts

"Piece of crap! Kill it!"

"I'll rip you apart"

"Kate, no!!"

Undaunted by the threats and attacks sent his way YuJu disappeared from his spot, appearing next to three cloaked figures notching their arrows or channeling energy into the ground

"Ho-Crack!" "Pu!" "Ahhh-Ku!"

The first he cracked his head with a kick, the second punctured through the heart with the skeletal fingers, the third disrupting the energy flowing through her veins until her brian popped, that was three more down

Swish woom! BAM!

A sharp sword came slashing while a fist was swung from the top, each with a deadly force, both however missed as one went through empty air while the other punished the ground meaninglessly

Thud, creak-rip!!

The next second one head fell to the ground, lopped off from its body while the other was twisted around forcefully before getting ripped off from the neck, allowing the heavy body to fall to the bloody ground underneath

"Dammit! Another freaking scary bastard, run!"

Quickly realizing they were not his match the remaining survivors made a dash for it, each trying to outrun the other and not be the scapegoat

"What a joke"

In reality however there was no scapegoat, everyone would suffer the same fate

Suksuksuksuksuksuksuk!

One dagger after the other buried deep into the back of their soft fleshy necks, even the quickest of them did not escape the deadly aim of his, neither did the defense oriented ones manage to withstand the attack, everyone falling to the ground like flies

Silence once more reigned over the area

YuJu took a deep breath, not to calm down but stabilize the injury caused by slamming extra hard into the ceiling, then walked off toward the open vehicle

"Such a waste, should have been more careful"

Seeing as only a few blue furballs survived his chest deflated in a sigh, even the rare few creatures he brought along to help some of the more known humans were killed making it a great loss of resources

"I thought people would be smarter than to attack something clearly attracting great attention on purpose, how unbelievably dumb can these guys be?"

You don't get to survive this long with a slow mind, at least you shouldn't be able to, the previous group must have had quite the lucky life to remain alive up to this point with their reckless behaviour

"??"

His eyes suddenly went toward the explosion area where he swore a gaze was felt momentarily

"Ohh, I see"

With slow steps he approached the scorched earth, stepping on its hard structure with heavy footsteps announcing his arrival

"Hello there humans"

Voice, tone, wording, all switched seamlessly to the trader persona

"Allow me to introduce myself, Ephai, a traveling trader looking to bargain for his merch"

Sincerity radiated from his voice just as sneakiness reeked through his dark figure

"I believe you would be greatly interested in my wares"

To the two hiding below he gave his best smile, unseen as it may be, for these were customers worth selling

And thus, another peaceful trade was conducted under Ephai's great bargaining, one that was too difficult to refuse….