Chapter 206: A Strange Bond.

At the same time, Jake stood a short distance away, while Aria hid behind a rock further back, peeking her head out to watch the scene in front of her.

Right now, Samu’dra was bathed in a strange light.

The light was so bright that Jake had to narrow his eyes as he watched.

"What... is happening?"

He had no idea.

A moment ago, Samu’dra had still been lying on the ground after their battle.

Then, the moment Jake accepted the recruitment option, this strange light had appeared and completely covered its body.

Suddenly, Jake’s face twisted slightly in pain.

"Urgh..."

A sharp pain shot through his ribs.

He instinctively placed a hand against his side and took a slow breath.

The battle had left more damage than he wanted to admit.

But Jake didn’t take his eyes off Samu’dra.

Instead, his expression gradually became more serious.

He had no idea what this strange light was doing.

And considering what Samu’dra had just put him through...

Jake had to prepare for the worst.

"Aria."

"Yeah?"

"Stay behind that rock."

Aria blinked.

"...I was already doing that."

"Good. Keep doing it."

Jake slowly straightened his body despite the pain in his ribs.

At that moment—

[Ding!]

A familiar system notification suddenly rang in his mind.

[Crew Recruitment is successful.]

Jake froze.

The strange light surrounding Samu’dra suddenly began to fade.

The blinding glow gradually weakened until it finally disappeared completely, revealing Samu’dra’s figure once again.

It was still the same naga as before, but... all of its injuries seemed to be gone.

Jake stared at it for a moment before looking down at his own battered body.

"..."

His ribs were still hurting and a few purple bruises and cuts were still scattered across his body.

Seeing this, Jake couldn’t help but complain.

"...Damn you. You heal others, but you don’t heal the owner? What kind of class is that?"

He couldn’t help but feel a little bitter.

Behind the rock, Aria slowly raised her head a little higher to get a better look.

"Is it over?"

Jake didn’t answer immediately.

His eyes remained fixed on Samu’dra, waiting for any sign of movement.

For a few seconds, nothing happened.

Then Jake slowly lowered his hand from his weapon.

"Looks like it."

But at that moment, Samu’dra’s eye slowly opened.

Seeing this, Jake immediately tensed.

Aria also flinched behind the rock, quickly lowering herself as she prepared for the worst.

Samu’dra slowly raised its head and looked around.

Its gaze moved across the surroundings before finally landing on Jake.

"..."

The two stared at each other.

One second passed... then another.

Jake’s expression became increasingly cautious.

He couldn’t tell what Samu’dra was thinking.

After everything that had happened, he was fully prepared for another attack.

But surprisingly... Samu’dra didn’t move toward him.

Instead, it slowly lean up and sat down.

Jake blinked.

"...Huh?"

Samu’dra then reached toward its side for its weapon and began inspecting it as if nothing had happened.

It carefully checked the blade, running its claw along the weapon and examining every part of it.

Samu’dra didn’t really know how to properly maintain a weapon.

This was simply its own way of doing it.

It would carefully look for any damaged or weakened parts of the blade.

And whenever it found one, it would remember the damaged area and try to avoid using that part of the blade to strike its enemies.

To Samu’dra, that was enough to keep its weapon usable.

Meanwhile, Jake simply watched the scene, unsure of what he was supposed to do.

Then, he suddenly felt something strange between himself and Samu’dra.

It was difficult to explain.

He couldn’t see or hear anything, yet there was a faint connection between them, almost like an invisible bond that had appeared the moment Samu’dra became part of his Crew.

More importantly, Jake could somehow feel that the hostility between them was gone.

The tension that had been there before had completely disappeared, and his body, which had been prepared for another attack, slowly relaxed.

Somehow, he simply knew that Samu’dra no longer saw him as an enemy.

And it seemed Samu’dra knew the same thing.

Just moments ago, they had been fighting to the death, but now there was a strange sense of comfort between them.

Jake lowered his hand from his weapon and looked at Samu’dra with a complicated expression.

"...So this is what being Crew Members with a monster feels like?"

Behind the rock, Aria noticed Jake had relaxed and slowly stepped out from her hiding place.

"Is it safe now?"

Jake glanced at her before looking back at Samu’dra.

"Yeah. Somehow... I know he won’t attack us."

Jake smiled and finally relaxed.

He glanced at Aria, who was still watching Samu’dra cautiously.

"Looks like we don’t have to worry anymore."

Aria looked at him.

"Really?"

Jake nodded.

"Yeah. And he has a name..."

He looked back at the naga, who was still inspecting his weapon.

"His name is Samu’dra."

The moment Jake said the name, Samu’dra’s movements suddenly stopped.

Its hand remained on the weapon as it slowly raised its head and looked toward Jake.

Jake noticed the change and met its gaze.

"What?"

Samu’dra stared at him for a moment, its single eye narrowing slightly as if trying to understand something.

It had never heard that name before, but hearing Jake say it felt strangely... strange.

Perhaps it was because of the bond between them.

Jake could somehow sense the change as well.

He wasn’t sure what Samu’dra was thinking, but he had a feeling that it understood he was calling it by its name.

Jake smiled slightly.

"Yeah. Your name is Samu’dra."

Samu’dra’s eye flashed with a faint emotion before it slowly nodded.

A rough voice came from its throat.

"...I see."

Jake blinked.

For some reason, he had the feeling that this fella didn’t even know its own name.

Jake was about to say something else, but suddenly—

"Ugh!"

A sharp pain tore through his chest.

His expression twisted as he clutched his ribs, his body staggering before he dropped onto one knee.

Sweat quickly formed on his forehead and ran down his temple as the pain he had been ignoring suddenly came rushing back all at once.

"Jake!"

Aria immediately rushed over to his side.

"What happened?!"

Jake gritted his teeth and tried to steady his breathing.

"...Nothing. I’m fine."

"You’re obviously not fine!"

Aria crouched beside him, looking at his injured ribs with concern.

Jake took a few slow breaths, waiting for the pain to ease.

It seemed that the moment he had finally relaxed, all the pain from the battle had decided to catch up with him at once.

"...Damn."

He couldn’t help but laugh bitterly.

"I guess I was too focused on Samu’dra to notice how badly I was hurt."

Jake gritted his teeth and took a few slow breaths until the pain became more manageable.

Then, from the corner of his eye, he noticed movement.

Jake glanced forward.

Samu’dra had slowly stood up.

"...Huh?"

Aria also turned to look.

Samu’dra didn’t say anything.

"..."

After giving another look at Jake, it simply picked up its weapon and began walking away.

Thud.

Thud.

Each heavy step made the ground tremble slightly beneath its feet.

Jake stared at the naga’s back as it continued walking toward somewhere in the distance.

"...Where is he going?"