Rise of the Eromancer

Chapter 58: Carrying The Strongest Woman in The World

A second.

A minute.

An hour.

Perhaps even an entire day.

Rhys had spent an entire day walking without pause carrying several weights on him. Ayesha, aside from waking up from time to time to cuss at Rhys, have remained completely unconscious and unresponsive on his back. She wasn't the heaviest weight Rhys was carrying, however, it was the metal chains hanging on his neck — the lives of the Faceless Crew, compressed into simple dog tags.

Ayesha told him he had no time to mourn, but all he really seemed to have was time as he walked in the direction he assumed to be where the base of the Underworld Corps was. He really had no idea how far they've actually traveled.

How could he? When he spent all that time just talking to his friends on their rusted and almost broken down jeep… but even that was gone.

No. 2 and Ayesha called Arachnea a god. But gods, to his limited knowledge, never mingle with them at all. So why… why did Rhys even encounter Arachnea in the first place? She was after him — Rhys read her desires before everything went to shit, and she wanted him.

She wanted to eat him.

If Rhys had not meet Arachnea under the Hole of his school, then the Faceless Crew would still be alive.

Again.

It's him again — he had someone killed, and he was the only one to survive again.

He could have saved all of them if he just allowed Arachnea to eat him there and then.

"..." But then again… would the others just have let him be eaten?

No. They would have done the same thing no matter what. That… was just how they are.

"...No matter what," Rhys whispered to himself as he nudged his shoulder, slightly adjusting Ayesha as he continued to walk another mile carrying her. And soon, Rhys reached a field of grass; vast and almost completely empty if not for the long river surrounded by stones flowing across its horizon. And still, he continued to walk.

It wasn't until he found a large boulder near the river did he finally rest; carefully and gently placing Ayesha on a bedrock, making sure they were hidden as much as possible from sight. And as soon as the weight was literally taken off his shoulders, he immediately noticed that the warmth stayed. Ayesha's blood, completely soaking his jacket all the way to his white shirt.

He then turned to look at Ayesha, only to see that her wounds had barely healed, if at all.

"Ayesha… Commander Ayesha."

"!!!"

Rhys tried waking Ayesha up, tugging on her as hard as he could. But alas, Ayesha only pushed Rhys away.

"Ayesha…" Rhys, however, did not even move an inch as there seemed to be no strength left in Ayesha's arm. Her face was also completely flushed and pale at the same time; her breaths, fettered. Rhys stared at her for a few seconds, before removing his blood-stained clothes and washing them.

And as soon as most of the blood was washed away from his shirt, he returned to Ayesha and sat beside her.

"Asking permission to take off your clothes and touch your body, Ayesha," Rhys whispered.

"..." Ayesha, however, only slightly opened her eyes and glanced at Rhys, before letting out another gasp and closing her eyes.

"...I'll take that as a yes," and with a small sigh, Rhys very gently sat Ayesha up, taking off her torn-ridden clothes and throwing them in the shallow part of the river where it would stay and soak. And as Rhys returned his gaze to Ayesha… he saw that even her sports bra was soaked in blood,

"...I will apologize later."

Rhys carefully removed Ayesha's bar; her ample-sized breasts, almost bouncing as they were released. Rhys did not stare, however, as he just carefully placed Ayesha back on the ground and started wiping her clean; his shirt, slowly being filled by Ayesha's blood and sweat again.

And as he reached his arm, Rhys could not help but stop and hold her hand tight; placing it close to his forehead as he whispered,

"Please, Ayesha. Not you… not you too," Rhys breathed out, "I'll carry you back to the Surface if I have to… just live."

"..." And as Rhys focused on cleaning Ayesha, he did not notice one of the Hearts floating above her head fluctuating and blinking. It took a while until Rhys was able to completely clean Ayesha; the wounds covering her entire body, now more evident than earlier.

All of her cuts were squirming like worms; throbbing as they seemed to be desperate to heal themselves.

"...You'll be fine, Ayesha," Rhys muttered as he covered her with his jacket; still slightly wet, but enough to cover her from the heat of the helios. Rhys then very slowly stood up… and soon, an orchestra of howls started to surround him.

The howls did not come from the horizon, however. Instead, shadows began to veil Rhys from above.

"..." He looked up, only to see several winged creatures hovering and circling above them. Their transparent wings were more akin to that of a fly, if a fly was as large as a motorcycle… and looked like a flying dog without arms and an oversized set of legs.

"Don't worry, Ayesha…" A gust of wind started to surround Rhys as threads started to protrude from his fingers,

"...I'll protect you this time."

***

"Kh…" Ayesha was woken up by her own gasp; almost choking as she swallowed the little bit of blood oozing from her lungs. Her eyes started to open, only to see helios and the foggy world of the Underworld.

And without even a second later, she remembered Rhys taking off her clothes and cleaning her body — not her almost dying fighting Arachne, not her losing her comrades — but Rhys washing her body without her permission… even touching between her thighs.

"Recruit!"

And so Ayesha quickly sat up and screamed, her eyes quickly trying to scan for Rhys.

"Wh…"

What she found, however, was a field filled with blood, guts, and mangled flesh.

"...Recruit?" Ayesha stood up as she called for Rhys's name. She did not even mind that she was almost completely naked and started walking around; the sound of flesh squelching as she tried to find Rhys,

"...Recruit!?"

And as the endless body parts of all sorts of beasts and monsters served as a carpet for her to step on, she finally found a trace of Rhys.

His right arm… and only his right arm.

"Rhys!? Rhys!" Ayesha started running across all the blood and guts, following its trail until he reached the sea of grass with fewer monsters. And there, at the very end of it, he saw Rhys sitting on the ground.

"Oh…" Rhys very slowly turned around, revealing his body that was missing a limb—no. Limbs. Ayesha watched as Rhys tried to stand up, only to struggle as half of his right leg was missing too,

"...You're finally awake."

And with those words barely escaping his mouth; his eyes which were barely open fully closed.

"!!!" And before he could completely fall to the ground, Ayesha disappeared from her spot and caught him.

"Rhys…?" Ayesha quickly tried to hear Rhys's heartbeat, only to hear nothing but a minute thud, barely even drumming.

"I did it… Ayesha," Rhys whispered right into her ear, "I… protected you."

"Rhys, you… you didn't need to," Ayesha stuttered, as this time, it was Rhys's blood dripping onto her; his remaining hand, seemingly trying to hand her his own dog tag, "...These insects wouldn't…"

These monsters wouldn't have even put as much as a scratch on Ayesha's skin. But she did not say that, and instead, she just very gently wrapped her arms around Rhys and shook her head.

Protecting her?

Has anyone in her life actually ever done that before? No — because she didn't need to be protected, everyone was just using her to protect themselves. Everyone…

…except Rhys.

"Thank you, Recruit… thank you," Ayesha whispered back. And with a small sniffle, another one of the 5 hearts above her head started to fluctuate… with 3 of them now completely red, "But…

…hold on to your tag for now. Don't fucking think you're done serving under me."