Chapter Twenty-Three: Almost As If
1419 Words
I closed my eyes and focused on grass veins that wrapped themselves on his ankles.
I instantly felt the powerful drain of my dwindling mana, but still, I maintained the shape until they pulled him to a halt by causing him to almost fall.
“Rose, what the hell are you doing?”
“You listen to me, and listen well…the-,” I groaned as my eyes nearly sealed themselves, “If..you move o- one step further, the plants will amputate your legs.”
“Wha- what the hell-?”
“If…if Br-Breca dies. Yo-u kill me, too.”
I need Breca.
“What? What the hell do you want from me?”
The direction we ran was deep inside the wight’s territory. I could tell because the other area had a bit of light, whereas this side was completely dark.
“B-blow a hole on the wall t-to y-your right.”
“What?”
I was growing sleepier and sleepier. I could barely open my eyes.
I must have lost too much blood.
“Rose? Rose!!”
Adorable how desperately he called the name despite knowing my real name.
Still, even though the mockery sat at the base of my tongue, my mouth would not move.
“f**k!” Wreigner cursed, then placed me gently on the ground.
He walked tentatively to the wall I had mentioned then took a deep breath.’
“f*****g hell!” he cursed before swinging his sword in one swoop across the wall, blowing it open.
Isn't this a joke? Is the game not humorous?
Breca was fighting with what had to be her life, yet a lead holding such tremendous power held me in his arms with the intent of ‘escape’.
But how easily extras are discarded…
“Now what!?” he turned to me.
I closed my eyes.
“Rose!?”
Please, anything….even grass.
I quieted my senses as I searched desperately for a means to replenish my mana.
Anywhere in Bleakfen….there has to be a plant somewhere…there has to be somewhere where the grass still holds its green, where birds still sing their songs, and predators lay their traps?
Please…?
I had almost given up when I felt it, life-giving energy from a tree that was near dried up.
My lungs instantly expanded at the delightful feeling of mana filling my body. My eyes flew open in time to enjoy the last green glow of the wounds in my body patching themself up.
“F*cking thank the lousy gods!!” I whispered as I stood from where Wreigner placed me with newfound energy.
“You are a healer as well?” Wreigner asked, a confused look dressing his face as he stretched his hands to steady me in my position.
I brushed his stretched hands easily.
“The undead’s weakness is light. At first, I thought it was a coincidence that the beast did not join us in the moonlight, but look at where it dwelt.” I gestured to where we were.
His expression sullied at my blatant disregard of his question.
“So the moonlight?” He asked after clearing his throat.
“No, not quite.” I frowned, “The tower is in ruins, but this place, in particular, maintains its sanity. I’d bet you my left nut its weakness is the sun..”
“Y-your left n-nut? I don’t want your left-” he shook his head midsentence, “It’s practically hours till daylight.”
“I know that… you know that, but it, it does not know that! Or rather, it is not sure.”
“So…?”
“So, do you think you can get close enough to slice its neck if it is distracted?”
“Wha-what?”
“Do. You. Think. You. Can. Get. Close. Enough. To. Slice. Its. Neck. If. It. Is. Distracted.” I repeated, clapping my hands rudely after each word, “Did I, at any point, stutter?”
Wreigner clenched his jaw, then sighed.
“I can.”
“Alright. You have less than a minute. Run towards it.”
*
*
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Wreigner G Hyle
The woman is absolutely insane.
Her power as well. She could control plants as well as heal herself? What was that? Is that not too powerful?
Couple that with her intelligence…and it borders near…threatening.
Is that why the crown prince keeps spreading rumours about her, to camouflage her true nature?
Fuck, he was perplexed.
He utterly abhorred how easy it was for her to notice how horrid his thoughts and priorities were, but on the other hand…she was divine.
‘Rose’ picked a small bow from her back and walked to the hole on the wall leading to the outside.
The bow glowed green, and right before his very eyes, it enlargened. Rather it seemed as though it grew a pulse.
She took some orange firestones, attached them to an arrow, and pointed it to the low east.
“I need you to run towards him. When he sees the orange glow, he will panic. You only have five seconds for the glow to subside. Do you understand?”
“Y-yes.”
What was he feeling?
It was as though she was his captain. All his thoughts, questions, everything was silenced.
“GO!”
He was not ready, not wholly anyway, yet still, his feet moved, almost as though he was entirely hypnotised.
The orange glow in the sky was blindingly beautiful.
So much so that he almost stopped dead in his tracks just to watch it fade.
She was right about two things, one Breca was barely holding up, and the other, the beast, looked terrified of the sky.
Checkmate.
There was hardly any resistance as his blade met the beast's neck, even as he slowed his momentum and all that was left splurting around was hideously blackened blood.
“What the f*ck was that! If you were that O.P, why didn’t you let me take Arusei?” Breca cursed the second he landed.
Aha..so she was indeed the infamous Lady Arusei.
Breca wiped the blood oozing from her mouth and held her side.
“Are you okay?”
“No, not even close.” She answered, “f**k, I hate close-ranged fights.”
The headless body of the wight glowed goldenly.
“A legendary item.” Breca gasped as she approached the body for its loot despite her evident fatigue.
“Hey! What are you doing? The guild members said-,”
“The guild members? I don’t recall the ‘Guild members’ helping us kill this thing.” she defended, then proceeded to ransack the corpse.
“Raiding corpses now, are we?” Lady Arusei’s voice sounded, and despite his wishes, his heart fluttered.
Would she praise him?
“You look better?” Breca responded from her hunched over position.
“Mhnn.” She smiled, then crouched down to the Brackhill man’s corpse.
“You too?” he asked, trying to hide his disappointment.
“What do you mean, ‘you too’?” she asked, then pulled out a container filled with neon powder. “I think we need to smear this on our faces.”
“What? Why?”
“Just a hunch, of course. You are welcome to ignore it.”
“I found it! It’s the sword and this sapphire locket that’s legendary.” Breca announced. “I think we can sell these then divide the share by three? The rest of the guys should have their own share to divide from.”
“Wow,” Lady Arusei said as she applied the neon green across her face, “How... I swear there is a word for what you are….”
“Bet it’s a good word!”
She handed the container to Breca, who unquestioningly applied the powder, perhaps too mesmerised by her newly acquired contents, and forwarded the container to him.
“Why, are we….”
“Hunch.”
“Humour me.”
“Hmm, let’s see. The first few floors we walked with the Brackhill guy, we were not attacked by anything, but the second he turned his back away from the direction he led us, as in the moment the neon was not in view, he was attacked? Isn't that suspicious? A tower brimming with negative energy to only harbour one undead? Come on…”
She had a point, Wreigner realised.
Yet, why did he not realise all that before she mentioned it? Why had he not deduced all that himself?
- Writer
