Weak Lynn

Good thing Constantine did not pause dramatically when he spoke, or Lynn's heart might have leaped right out of his mouth.

Trigon...'s daughter.

Lynn did not know who Trigon's daughter was or which elementary school she attended, but he had heard of Trigon.

That was a ruthless bastard who could trade blows with Darkseid!

The top-tier demon Constantine had mentioned was actually this top-tier?!

Lynn might have been crazy, but he was not stupid.

Was someone on Trigon's level really an opponent he could measure himself against? To put it bluntly, that demon god from another dimension only needed to pour the slightest trace of his aura into Lynn, and he might be "stuffed to death" on the spot.

Taking a little handgun against a big shot like that—what else could it be but nonsense? Even suicide did not need to be this fancy!

Thinking it over now, Lynn realized that everything they had done had gone a little too... smoothly.

They found the town at just the right time, noticed they were being watched at just the right time, and found the culprit directly at just the right time...

Constantine's ability to adapt on the fly had been flawless. The magic circle he drew looked as though he had practiced it ten thousand times, and the magical item hidden in his trench coat belt just happened to counter their opponent...

Clearly, Constantine had set Lynn up.

Lynn was not too surprised by that outcome. It was just that the danger involved had far exceeded his expectations.

If anything had gone wrong earlier, he would have been reduced to ashes. To hell with studying the system, and to hell with making use of his cheat.

Now, whenever Lynn thought of all the reckless, overconfident things he had done since entering the town, he felt as though he had danced blindfolded, only to remove the blindfold and discover he was not standing on solid ground but on a plank suspended over a bottomless abyss.

A cold sweat broke out all over Lynn's body. He was genuinely scared.

And that brush with death had not earned him enough value to offset the psychological pressure.

So, after rapidly recalling and reviewing everything that had happened, Lynn brought his thoughts back to the present and focused on what was before him.

When he lowered his head and turned, seeing Constantine lying on the grass with a relaxed smile, a blade of grass between his teeth, basking in the sunlight after the thick fog had dispersed, every inch of him radiating ease, comfort, and carefree indifference...

Lynn's rage erupted.

"I'm going to beat you to death, you little bastard!"

Constantine could not understand the language Lynn had suddenly blurted out. But every language carried emotional rises and falls, weights and tones.

Oh no! This guy isn't too embarrassed to argue after taking a loss!

Constantine suddenly understood his predicament. While deeply regretting not running away sooner, he clutched his head in both hands and shouted repeatedly, "Lynn! Calm—"

A clump of dirt with grass still attached smacked into Constantine's mouth. The next second, Lynn's sandbag-sized fists rained down.

Kitty had no idea what was happening, but the feeling of being soaked in fear from when that girl had hugged it had not yet completely faded.

Now that it saw Lynn violently beating Constantine, Kitty naturally had to help no matter what!

"Meow meow meow!"

Lynn straddled Constantine and pummeled him with heavy fists. Every so often, when Kitty interfered, he would grab its tail and toss it away.

Then Kitty would meow and run back to rejoin the battle.

Amid Constantine's intermittent explanations and pleas for mercy, along with Kitty's meowing, Lynn beat him for five whole minutes. For those entire five minutes, Lynn did not say a word.

At first, Constantine begged for mercy and put on an act. Later, when he still did not hear Lynn talking back, he guessed that Lynn was truly angry.

Constantine stopped talking too and only desperately protected his face.

That had always been his style. If taking a beating could earn him a powerful helper willing to enter a life-or-death situation like this with him, Constantine could never take enough punches.

This deal was an absolute steal!

Lynn had never intended to do anything serious to Constantine. He was just angry. Not because he had nearly been set up and killed, but because he had guarded against this and that, only to be trapped in the end anyway.

And judging from the outcome, he had lost this from the very beginning. He had lost completely and utterly.

All those precautions afterward had been a joke. The moment he opened his mouth to demand "compensation" from Constantine, he had already fallen into Constantine's trap.

Now it seemed that Lynn had even helped dig the pit himself.

How humiliating...

Lynn still found an opportunity to hit Constantine in the face one last time. He did not know whether Constantine's handsome looks had survived, but at least both eyes were blackened like a panda's. He looked much more pleasing that way.

Nicely symmetrical.

"Lynn, I'm very sorry I dragged you into this."

Constantine began putting on a show of deep feeling. His performance was not particularly smooth, though. It was hard to look natural with panda eyes.

Still, he insisted on repeating all the things he had said to every helper he had screwed over before.

They still had to go through the motions.

After saying it, Constantine believed it quite a bit himself. He was genuinely moved by his own speech and even felt a little wronged. How could Lynn hit a man in the face? Honestly!

Lynn did not see it that way. He had slaughtered pigs in his previous life. His heart had long since become as cold as the butcher's knife that grew thinner with every sharpening.

"Constantine, you'd better give me an explanation. Otherwise, I guarantee that by tomorrow morning, a video of you violating an anthill will be all over the internet. The uncensored kind."

Constantine seriously doubted whether Lynn had the ability to pull something like that off, but he had absolutely no desire to verify it.

"Okay, okay!"

Pointing in a circle at the wandering souls gradually closing in from every direction, Constantine spread his hands. "These are Fugitives from different eras and regions. They are acknowledged nowhere, and before they are destroyed, they gradually become evil spirits wandering the human world. They're all yours! All of them!"

Lynn glanced around, curling his lip. "You already owed me these."

Constantine really wanted to argue. I only owed you ten demon souls. These Fugitives together are worth nearly thirty demon souls. Do you have no shame?

But he did not say that. Being in the wrong was one thing, compensation was another, and besides...

Ah, they were only fair-weather brothers. Who knew when they might still be useful to each other?

"Okay, um... this. Take this."

Constantine had clearly come prepared. That thoroughly confirmed his crime of planning to screw Lynn over from the start.

He pulled something that looked like a silver lighter from his pocket and placed it in Lynn's hand.

Lynn swore that, back in the cabin, he had not found anything at all in Constantine's pockets.

"What does this thing do?"

Constantine gave a mysterious smile. "Heh heh, if you want to go to Hell..."

"You're the one who wants to go to Hell!"

"Right, right, right. I want to go to Hell. I want to go to Hell..."

Before Lynn's fist could come down again, Constantine rapidly explained how to use it. Then he watched Lynn summon that Lantern Hammer again.

Covering his head, Constantine's expression changed. "That's unnecessary, brother."

Lynn shot him an impatient glare. "It has nothing to do with you. I'm collecting my interest."

Lynn realized that he was still too weak.

Luckily, these Fugitives gathering around them could solve his immediate problem.

I'm drawing a prize!

PS: First battle in the solo lane: Constantine wins.

I have some things to take care of, so there will only be one chapter today.

I've mostly worked out the bonus chapter rules. One version is for before it goes premium, and one is for after. We'll see this Friday whether it can get recommended. If it can, I'll post both. If not...

Then I'll only post the post-premium version. T^T

Please vote!