Reborn as an A-Rank Guide: Trapped By The Crazy Sentinels

As the lights inside the training bay dimmed, the area around Illai quickly filled with holographic projections of vicious aliens that spawned at random with no discernible pattern.

The realistic creatures dripped saliva and lunged from every angle. Orion moved through the encirclement with fluid precision, so fast that only afterimages remained visible.

Bang—bang—bang!

Accompanied by the sizzle of burning energy, several aliens were struck and dissolved in quick succession.

Orion placed the rifle in her hands and began demonstrating proper shooting form. Bunny gripped the weapon with excitement and immediately opened fire on the distant targets in a wild spray.

Unfortunately, her hit rate was catastrophic. She was a pure master of drawing human outlines with laser beams.

Orion showed no impatience. He carefully corrected her stance and the way she applied force, deliberately keeping a certain amount of physical contact throughout.

Ever since that guidance session, his craving for her touch had grown more intense with each passing day. He even dreamed about it every night—dreamed of her scent, her face, and the things she had done to him.

Yet the snake still did not dare to act on any of it.

Today’s assessment standard for Bunny was to qualify for special training: kill the set number of aliens without being bitten once.

For a complete beginner, that was no easy task.

She attempted the test dozens of times and failed every single one.

After the thirtieth failure, she finally collapsed from exhaustion, sprawled flat on the floor and desperately wanting to scream like a prairie dog. Why was this so hard?!

Seeing her like that, Orion worried the ground was too cold. He picked her up and settled her onto a sandbag mat to rest.

When Bunny opened her eyes, she found Orion squatting quietly beside her. At some point his spirit form had slipped out and coiled itself into a mosquito-coil shape on top of his head.

One man and one snake—four ruby-red, dramatic eyes staring at her in perfect unison.

Their faces were classic serpent aesthetics: upturned outer corners of the eyes, deep and cool sockets, high straight noses, and clean jawlines that delivered a strong first impression of sexual tension.

Yet the teardrop moles at the outer corners of their eyes softened some of the aggression, adding a touch of allure to the cold beauty.

Most sentinels with sharp, masculine bone structure found this kind of androgynous elegance outside their usual standards of attractiveness.

But Bunny liked it—and that was all that mattered.

Without warning, she dropped her head against Orion’s chest and used him as a human backrest while she recovered.

A man’s chest muscles were surprisingly soft once he relaxed. She even took the liberty of nuzzling against them a couple of times. Bullying an honest type like this was genuinely satisfying.

And he was mute, so he couldn’t even protest.

The guide’s sudden closeness left Orion both flattered and overwhelmed. Those two little nuzzles nearly sent his heart into a frantic pounding.

His entire body went rigid. He didn’t dare make any other movement, simply remaining silent and obedient as a living seat cushion.

In the places she couldn’t see, the pure virgin’s ear tips and cheeks had already flushed a shy pink.

Illai, however, was not having it. They looked exactly the same—why was she only nuzzling his brother’s chest??

He scooted over to her other side and demanded in a soft, spoiled tone:

”My chest is soft too. Why are you only rubbing against my brother’s and not mine?”

Bunny glanced at him. ”I like lying on your brother’s chest.”

???

The little black mamba instantly felt wronged. If he couldn’t have it, then nobody could.

”You’re playing favorites! You already gave my brother a guidance session, and I got nothing! You’re biased! Biased! ...”

”Whatever my brother has, I want it too! ...”

Screaming, twisting, crawling in the dark...

The cool outer corners of his eyes reddened on command.

Orion simply watched his younger brother’s performance in silence.

Bunny’s ears were about to give out from the noise. With no other choice left, she decided to be strictly fair. ”Fine. I’ll lie on each of your chests for ten minutes.”

She had said ten minutes, and she meant exactly ten minutes.

The moment the time was up, Illai unceremoniously pulled Bunny out of his brother’s arms and into his own.

She didn’t particularly mind. As long as she was comfortable, it made little difference whose lap she rested on.

Perverts, of course, were the exception.

These sentinels lived year-round under extreme survival pressure. Suppressants were both addictive and subject to tolerance—the more they used, the less effective the drugs became over time.

Even the faintest trace of guide pheromones radiating from Bunny was enough to loosen the constant tension in their nerves.

They liked staying close to her. Seeking a little personal benefit outside of work wasn’t entirely unreasonable.

Bunny was not an inflexible woman.

She lifted her head from Illai’s chest. ”You’re scheduled for guidance today, right? Perfect—I’ll do your session early.”

That way she wouldn’t have to work overtime tonight.

The moment she tried to stand, Illai hauled her straight back down.

”The ten minutes aren’t over yet.”

His voice was pure, concentrated grievance.

”Are you still getting the guidance session or not?”

Illai thought for a second, then spun her around so she was sitting face-to-face on the hot, hard muscle of his thighs. A woman’s body was far too soft—pressing against his solid frame, she felt almost weightless, like cotton.

He liked this position.

Predictably, a solid knock landed on his head, leaving a noticeable lump.

”You’re still young. Learn some self-respect.”

Once the restraint gear was in place, Bunny worked quickly. She released her mental threads and entered Illai’s spiritual sea.

It was a withered forest under moonlight.

Pale silver light poured down in heavy sheets. Leaves in every shade of brown, ochre, and dark russet blanketed the ground like an ancient, faded carpet.

Crows skimmed low over the treetops. Bunny’s footsteps sank into the damp carpet of dead leaves, the soft rustling sounds spreading through the barren woods.

It was far too dark. She couldn’t see where the pollutants had settled at all.

She had no choice but to use her own mental threads as light sources, splitting them into a fine web that spread outward like a starry sky and illuminated the entire forest of dry leaves.

Okay. Now she could see.

Once again she became a diligent, unpaid cleaner. She remained extremely cautious, however, because Illai’s spirit form was a black mamba.

Black mambas and king cobras shared the title of the most venomous snakes, yet their temperaments could not have been more different.

If a king cobra was a rule-abiding gentleman, then a black mamba was a pure opportunist.

When a king cobra encountered danger, its first reaction was to raise its head and neck hood and hiss a clear warning. If you stayed still and showed no aggressive intent, it generally would not attack a human.

A black mamba, on the other hand, did not care whether you had aggressive intent or not. The moment it saw a person it would simply decide, ”What is this thing? Bite first, ask questions later.”

It was especially fond of hiding among piles of dead leaves and tall grass—completely invisible—until you stepped right onto its face, at which point it would strike without hesitation.

Bunny ”swept the streets” for a long time before she finally brought Illai’s instability level down from 88 percent to 51 percent. After her experience with Orion, she no longer dared to push a sentinel’s instability below 50 percent too easily.

Perhaps once her own rank rose higher, she would no longer trigger bonding heat so readily.

Fortunately, she had not encountered the little opportunist. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and prepared to withdraw—only to look down and let out a piercing soprano scream.

So that was why she hadn’t seen the little bastard. The tiny menace had been secretly coiled around her ankle the entire time, staring up at her with big, sparkling eyes.

When had it even climbed up there?!

Spirit forms attacking guides was not unheard of, especially when the sentinel’s instability was high.

She shook her foot, trying to dislodge it. The snake only tightened its hold.

”Get off!”

The snake hissed. (No.)

”I said get off!”