CHAPTER 74: CHAPTER 73: HAMMER THROW

"Could you... go any... faster...?" Ben panted, barely keeping up with Zaen, yet sarcasm was on the point.

"Stop following me!" Zaen yelled back.

"No... this won’t do! If... I’m alone, I’ll definitely... get caught and knocked out! You must... help me as my... roommate!"

"I swear I’ll kick you out the moment all this is over."

"You can’t," Ben smirked. "Because... we are... linked together."

"Unlink me then before I unlink your license to live on this planet."

"Haha, I like you... more now, Brother-in-law," Ben mumbled. "I’m sure you’ll like my sister as much as you like me. We’re twins... after all!"

"That’s why I want to get rid of you," Zaen mumbled to himself.

Something strange was happening. He should have been able to outrun Ben easily, yet whenever he wanted to do that, taking even the smallest step turned into a herculean task.

The distance between the two remained fixed at a hundred meters. It wouldn’t have been so bad if others hadn’t been running past them.

Zaen could see over sixty silhouettes ahead of him. At that rate, the seniors would kick their asses first. His entire plan was backfiring because of a stupid pig.

Like hell I’ll let that happen.

Instead of running away, Zaen ran towards Ben. The latter got excited, thinking he was there to help him, and readily offered him a hand.

Zaen grabbed his arm and smiled... like a devil.

"Um... I think I can walk fine myself—" Ben tried pulling his arm back, but Zaen didn’t let go.

"I’m your roommate, right? I should help you. Isn’t that what you said?"

Every hair on Ben’s neck stood on end. He panicked as Zaen’s grip on his wrists got tighter. He knew he had angered him, and whatever that was in Zaen’s mind wouldn’t end well for him.

"Zaen... buddy... roommate... let’s talk about this—"

The next moment, Zaen dug his feet into the ground and spun. Ben’s strange ability was affecting his agility, yet had no effect on Zaen’s strength.

Ben’s feet left the ground on the first turn as he swung around Zaen like the moon around the Earth.

"W-Wait! L-Let me tell you something—LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHINGGG!"

Ben’s voice got cut off as Zaen picked up speed. Dust spiraled around them, forming a miniature sandstorm of their own.

The recruits who had been running past them suddenly lost all the urge to run away. Even the instructors watching the live feed were confused, wondering what was going on.

"What... the hell... is he doing?" One of the instructors said.

"Has he lost his mind! If anything happens to Recruit Cho, his family will dismantle the entire campus!"

Meanwhile, Zaen was oblivious to Ben’s true identity and just staring at the point where Ben had disappeared from his perception.

"We are linked, right?" Zaen asked, his vision fixed in the direction of their dorms.

Surprisingly, even though he was rotating at high speed, his perception remained constant as if he wasn’t moving at all. Even after a dozen spins, he wasn’t dizzy at all.

Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for Ben, who was already knocked out.

With a final turn, Zaen let go of Ben, who launched towards the dorms like a homing missile. He soared above several runners, but they didn’t notice him until his massive form blocked the sun.

"It’s a bird!"

"No, it’s a plane!"

"No! It’s Superm—"

"MOMMMYYYYYYYYYYY!"

Meanwhile, Zaen flexed his joints and warmed up like he was expecting something to happen, but in his mind, he was panicking.

Wait... being unconscious wouldn’t sever the link Ben mentioned... right? Oh, he’s awake now. Why is he screaming like that, though?

Just as he was wondering about it, he felt a strange tug. It was barely noticeable... but then Ben crossed the hundred-meter mark. The next second, Zaen was yanked away like he was being sucked by a vacuum cleaner.

"WOAH!" Zaen screamed like he was on a rollercoaster.

Those under him saw two people flying. Rubbed their eyes. Saw them disappear and, thinking they were hallucinating, continued onwards.

***

Zaen was hit with an awful stench the moment he landed next to Ben. He couldn’t see the strange yellowish puddle right under him, but he remembered the smell just fine to know what had happened.

"Well... that should teach you not to mess with me... you’re not dead, are you?" Zaen mumbled, kicking the other’s feet.

"...alive," Ben barely mumbled before collapsing again.

Zaen wrinkled his nose. The stench was so strong it could peel paint without needing chemicals.

Putting in the herculean effort, Zaen ignored the smell, hooked his hands under Ben’s armpits and dragged his limp body across the ground to the gates, hoping to get him changed before anyone else noticed the piggy or his soiled pants.

After all, it was as Ben had said. They were roommates, and Zaen had no intention of being known as the roommate of the one who soiled his pants on the first day of the academy.

However, the main gate door was locked... from the inside.

"...you got to be kidding me."

The locked door could only mean one of two things. Either Rhino did not want them anywhere near the buildings, or someone had arrived before them and locked the door so no one else could enter.

Fortunately, it wasn’t enough to stop Zaen.

He let go of Piggy and summoned the Boning Sword, which transformed into a crowbar.

"Opening locked doors is a speciality of mine," he smiled and hit the gate.

The door shattered, sending chinks of metal flying in all directions. The loud noise woke Ben up. He had just sat up when a large chunk of metal flew towards him... embedding itself in the ground, right in between his legs.

"EEK!"

Ben’s eyes widened... before he collapsed again. A fresh stench invaded Zaen’s nose as he turned towards Ben.

"Ugh! Just how much of it have you stored inside!"

Zaen pinched the bridge of his nose, looked at Ben’s unconscious, soiled, pathetic form, and wondered, clearly not for the first time, if transferring dorm rooms was still an option.