Undead Beast Master: Living Solely for My Desires-Chapter 343: From Toast to Chaos

In the middle of the warfront, where two enemy empires bordered one another and a third loomed close by, Zaroth and David didn't take long to decide where they should meet to catch up.

What better place for a talk like that than a bar?

Quickly entering the place, Zaroth was surprised to see it completely empty. Sure, he had been told that David was the only person in the whole town defending it, but knowing and seeing something were two vastly different things.

Zaroth's nostrils quickly picked up on the faint smell of alcohol. It was clear that David had spent some time drinking, most likely trying to kill the boredom.

Sitting themselves across from one another, David put an old bottle of whiskey on the table with a thud.

With a satisfying pop, he opened it and filled their glasses to the brim.

Raising them high in the air, they spoke in unison, "Cheers."

They quickly drank most of the contents and proceeded to slam them down.

Zaroth released a satisfied sigh. It had been some time since he had been in a bar with a fellow friend. Sure, he had went with Eldros before, but there had always been pressing matters. This time, he could let his thoughts go. For once, he could just… relax.

David felt similarly. He had grown beyond bored being alone with the Spectral Warden, so he welcomed the company.

"So why don't you begin?" Zaroth asked with a sly smile, resting his back against the chair.

Taking another shot from the glass, David parted his lips. He decided to start from the beginning—when he learned that his sister wasn't alive, the shock he felt at the moment, how he had made the decision to protect this town from the enemy army. He also went into detail with his fight against Rynor and the weird creature he had witnessed in the Abyss.

Zaroth scratched his chin. He didn't expect that the Graveborn empire were going to send one of their own princes to attack as well. Not to mention from David's retelling of the events, it was clear the man was very deadly.

'He is able to redirect any attack?' This was the thing that intrigued Zaroth the most. This was, from the look of things, was an overpowered ability. He was surely going to struggle if he fought against such opponent.

What also piqued his interest was the monster that David had witnessed in the Abyss. Sadly, due to his own instincts telling him it was a strong being, he had fled before he could have gotten a better look of it. After that, he had entered the Abyss multiple times but hadn't become witness to a thing like that again.

'Luna, do you know something about it?' he asked. She had long ago finished burning the dead and had entered his mana core once more.

'No,' she replied instantly.

With a sigh, Zaroth refilled his glass before recalling what he had lived through after Althea's death.

He recalled everything—even his meeting with the elf and what he had been told by the system.

Both of them had a habit to share everything with one another.

"Oh? So this is why I felt there was something different about you," during his explanation, the Spectral Warden spoke up. "So this Fragment thing is in you, huh? This makes sense."

Naturally, David frowned. The thing had interrupted Zaroth during his recalling of events, which led to David cursing the Spectral Warden for a few good minutes. During the entire time, Zaroth was watching the scene before him with an amused smile.

'Some things never change,' he thought about to drink another cup only to realize that it was already empty.

He reached out to grab the bottle, but it looked like it had been emptied out as well.

"Do you have something else?" he asked, prompting David to stop his argument with the Spectral Warden.

At the question, David broke into a grin and pointed at the counter behind the bar.

"The whole town is deserted, remember? We can drink as much as we want."

Zaroth's eyes began to sparkle upon the realization.

"Then what the hell are we waiting for?! Let's start drinking!"

The rest of the night passed in a blur. They drank heavily—enough to completely knock themselves out.

*****

"Oh, my head," Zaroth grunted, gripping his head with both hands, slowly sitting up.

A moment later, he couldn't hold it in. He turned to the side and emptied his stomach.

"Maybe mixing dozens of alcohols into a single glass was not the best of ideas," he muttered, a wave of regret passing over him.

Yet it didn't last long as he felt unexpectedly grateful. His current condition reminded him of when he was still in the academy drinking with his friends when there was nothing else to do.

Shifting his gaze, he observed his friend. They were in the center of the small town, David close to him, was sitting in the fountain, clothing off his body, most likely suffering from a headache.

"Some things really never change," Zaroth mused, getting up on his two feet and paced to David.

"You alive, man?" he asked with a hint of amusement.

"Uh…" David groaned, gazing back, only to look at the water in the fountain again.

"Yes, just leave me alone for a few minutes… or hours," he spoke, waving his hand dismissively.

"Expected reaction. I doubt you have as much resilience to alcohol as me," Zaroth joked, about to explore the town—something he didn't have time to do last night.

He was going to return to the former slave city, but it wasn't going to hurt to see the place that David was protecting.

BOOM!

Or that was the plan until an ear-piercing explosion rang out from the east.

"What the hell was that?!" David shouted. In an instant, all signs of a hangover vanished. His instincts knew: a battle was coming.

Zaroth had a similar reaction, summoning Nightshade. He dressed in his robes and put on the demonic mask, while he had Luna stand close to him, ready to act if the need arose.

"Did you really have to break the walls like that? Weren't we going to rely on the element of surprise?" Rynor asked, gazing at his brother.

A menacing chuckle escaped from Ragnar's helmet, "That was before I learned a dragon resided here."

"This is the prince I talked about!" David shouted, getting out of the fountain and pointing at Rynor.

Zaroth spared a brief glance at the man he was pointing at, but soon his gaze returned to what he felt was the bigger threat—

Ragnar. The man was completely hidden by the dark armor he was wearing, yet Zaroth was easily able to tell it was going to be tough to defeat him.

"Are you Ghost? Bring out the dragon!" Upon seeing Zaroth, Ragnar commanded, pointing with his sword at him.

Zaroth chuckled coldly, gripping his odachi in his right hand. "You are too weak to demand anything from me," he stated.

A few heartbeats passed in tense silence as the two figures hidden by their respective attires stared at one another.

Suddenly, a familiar voice rang out in Zaroth's head,

[A Fragment detected]

A menacing smile appeared on Zaroth's face as he shot towards Ragnar.

If he didn't have the motivation to face him, now he had!