The Guardian

Chapter 253: Was it Possible?

Aurora groaned in pain as she hit the cliff wall. Her mind was disoriented, but her emotions slowly pushed her to her limits... Mainly anger.

That emotion got her body to give enough of a push to reach S rank as a fighter and made her able to resist the effects of her abnormal state.

When she opened her eyes, Aurora noticed that she was falling into an endless abyss.

In the air, some monsters were trying to float amidst large boulders, while on the sides were holes of all kinds.

Her body immediately moved with her sword in her hand, which she had not released, and created platforms under her feet.

*Crack*

*Crack*

Her speed and falling force caused the magical platforms to shatter to pieces without being able to stop her, but slowed her speed until her boots began to crack.

Still, she could stabilize her position in mid-air and dodged the falling rocks as she slashed at the monsters with her sword.

The pain was intense, but her mind was kept steady, mostly by the anger that was surging.

Aurora was angry and furious... Her pathetic state made her feel angrier, as she felt she should have paid more attention.

She assumed that the conflict between Marius and Cedric would not extend to this point... And now she was suffering the consequences of her mistake.

“GRAA!”

Aurora dodged the rocks falling from the sky and then, as she jumped, an abomination that was hidden in another falling rock jumped out to hit her.

The blow pushed her backwards and she let gravity take her, seeing the abomination being hit by a rock falling from above.

As she turned upwards, she noticed that rocks were falling and in her direction, an enormous boulder was descending.

The worst thing was not that.

—The end is near....

Her system gave a warning.

The depth of the cliff was large... Just as one had thought when looking at it from above, the crevasse was deep and at this moment, she was about to reach the end.

Aurora took a deep breath and looking at that huge boulder, she cut it with her colorless aura, managing to split the huge rock.

However, another rock was behind her and her overused boots broke, preventing her from creating more platforms.

Using some rocks as a base, she jumped up to the wall and thrust her sword, generating a small blue barrier for support.

The sword went through the wall and then, by the force of the fall, slid into the wall while practically cutting through the rock of the cliff.

The light blue barrier protected her from the rocks and debris falling from above.

*BOOM*

A huge boom sounded from below as the rocks hit the ground and Aurora remained, holding her sword and maintaining her aura.

Her sword stopped, and she remained pinned, protecting herself from the rocks falling from above.

“Ugh...”

Aurora then coughed blood on the wall and saw the reddish-blackish colored blood with some lumps of flesh that were all too visible.

Whatever Marius did to her body with the spell he cast on her, it was enough for her to feel like she was coughing up part of her organs.

However, her concept of a fighter powered by all her emotions was fueling her body, allowing her to reach S rank and the vitality of an S rank was no joke.

She was not simply strong, but her organs were strong, and her regeneration was greater.

The pain, dizziness and desire to vomit led to her feeling horrible.

—There is no more debris and monsters falling.

Reading those words from her system, Aurora drew her sword and fell to the ground.

She used the light blue aura of her sword to reduce the pain of the fall and relied on her body to hold the rest.

“Ugg...”

Letting out a groan of pain as she fell, she hit the ground, rolling next to several pieces of debris.

Everything was dark, and there was no light, but her senses were sharp and shaped her surroundings.

She could feel the debris and shattered creatures as they impacted the ground.

How battered was her body?

Her muscles ached, her head ached, her bones ached... practically, her entire body ached.

She was bleeding from the head from some blow and her fighter armor was practically destroyed, while her boots didn’t even work.

The personal barrier of the combat suit was also destroyed and her bones creaked as she moved.

Biting her lips to keep from falling unconscious, she didn’t wait for outside help and, drawing from her system’s inventory, drank a potion.

“UGAHHH!”

When she drank it, she didn’t manage to swallow it completely, as she vomited on the floor.

The reddish color of the potion mixed with blood and blackish lumpy color that Aurora couldn’t recognize what it belonged to.

“Ugghh...”

Aurora closed her eyes and vomited it all up, then as she finished, she pulled out an S-rank healing scroll from her space ring.

The light from the spell engraved on the scroll covered her and she felt better, but as the scroll helped her internal regeneration, she had to vomit again.

Marius’ attack was internal, and she needed to get rid of everything bad in her body, so she had to vomit.

“Healers are scary...” Aurora muttered, firming herself against the wall, still exhausted.

Whatever had caused Marius, she was feeling better now... She felt like she could breathe more calmly, even her senses became sharper again along with her thoughts.

That her body was slowly starting to recover thanks to the combination of the scroll and her regeneration made the damage to her evident.

—Sorry... I was paying attention to the monsters and never noticed.

Her system’s apology was given in text form and even though it sounded simple... Aurora felt her system’s annoyance and slight anger.

How could she sense her system’s emotions?

She had been with her system for as long as she could remember, even though she had never heard it speak, she had learned to spot nuances in the text.

“Are you scared? You’ve been close to losing your host.” Aurora joked, taking a concoction to see in the dark.

That concoction helped her vision gain some visibility, allowing her to observe her surroundings.

She was deep in the crevice between the huge rocks, creatures, and shattered monsters on the ground.

Aurora checking noticed a human figure on the ground... Or what was left of that figure.

Dan Stolojan, the hero known as ‘Swift Burst’, had managed to slow down the falling speed despite being affected by Marius, but he couldn’t survive in the end.

The lower part of the man’s body had disappeared, and it was hard to tell if it was a creature, a monster or he had hit something... No, it was even possible that a large rock had shattered his body.

It didn’t matter what the cause was... He was dead now.

The amusement of the joke she gave her system disappeared when she noticed the man’s body.

Still, Aurora did not cry. She had already lost too many people and acquaintances to cry at this point.

—I should have...

“No, you shouldn’t have done anything. You have no obligation,” Aurora interrupted, and looking high in the sky where everything was dark, she asked. “Do you feel anything about his death? Or simply for the effect his death has on me?”

Her system didn’t respond and Aurora took a deep breath, having lost her calm.

She was not naïve.

Her system was strange and its capabilities were varied, but it was clear that it was far from simple.

She didn’t like to ask herself questions because of the fact that the answer scared her... And that answer would lead to asking her more questions than she could handle.

“I’m sorry,” Aurora muttered, and sighing again, she added. “I got carried away.”

—It’s okay... You’re right.

Her system responded with a small text affirming her words, and Aurora ignored it.

He was right.

Even though there were some strange things she could do, her system didn’t care about others and only let glimpses of emotions show when something affected her.

Her system was as indifferent as her gluttonous sister and moved according to her decisions.

Still, no matter what truths her system hid, to Aurora, her system was her system.

Just like Alice, she was her sister, despite all the quirks that glutton had.

“So, can we escape by flying up?” Aurora asked, getting up, testing the limits of her body.

One rib ached a little, her hip still felt a little numb and the muscles in her legs appreciate burning while she could barely move one arm.

The only thing that was in perfect condition was her senses.

Aurora thought of things she hated to push her unnamed fighter concept and re-entered S-rank, which reduced pain and aided her natural regeneration.

While she was new to using her concept and hadn’t had time to fully test it, she had grasped the essence of her concept.

Feeding a cauldron with her emotions... That being primarily anger.

Perhaps thinking about such matters that angered her was not as effective as feeling it naturally, though it was still working and the concept was still activated.

Looking high into the sky, she could notice pure darkness and also a strange feeling.

Her instincts were telling her that she should not go high flying, as it was dangerous.

—In the middle of the fall I noticed holes through the walls and some worm-like creatures... Climbing up might not be easy at all.

Her system reaffirmed that feeling her instincts were giving her.

Her instincts warned her that there were hidden enemies.

That feeling grew when she noticed the quietness of the surroundings and that no monsters or creatures had approached from the smell of flesh and noise.

Aurora took a deep breath and pulled out the armor she had long since not worn in public, but still kept.

This time, she did not put on the white mask and only the battle armor.

The silver-colored metallic breastplate and shoulder pads would normally stand out if light was reflected, but this armor was designed to reduce her presence and prevent her from being noticed, allowing her to hide well.

Unlike her classic combat suit, this battle armor gave her high protection and the only problem was that it was not specialized for a fighter, but for a swordsman.

Now she was going to use her sword, so there was no problem.

Using ‘quick change’, all her clothes changed immediately in less than the blink of an eye and as she adjusted the sheath to hold her sword, she took a deep breath.

The other fighter outfit was destroyed with cuts all over and with the nodes keeping the barrier overloaded and the boots lost the function of creating platforms.

Aurora kept her gaze upward and, after a second, decided how to move.

She did not wish to stay too long in this place and while she knew Alice would come for her, no matter what anyone else told her, she felt it was dangerous for her current state.

Alice was someone very special and just like Aurora would go looking for her anywhere, no matter what others said, her sister would come looking for her... It was an almost blind trust.

Leaving a drone with some orders hidden nearby, she activated the stealth on her battle armor and began walking forward through the middle of the cliff.

She had already put Dan’s remains away to give him a decent burial, or as decent a burial as he could have.

Anything was better than his body being eaten by monsters or corrupted by Chaos.

The walls were a considerable distance apart and as she moved, the debris disappeared and the walk became a run.

She was trying to move away from this area to start moving upwards, all the while leaving marks in her path in case she was followed.

However, unlike what she thought, her instincts still kept giving her a strange feeling.

She felt like something or someone was following and watching while hiding... If someone said it was a ghost or something intangible that she couldn’t see, she would believe it.

Still, no matter how much she concentrated her senses, she did not perceive the source of that feeling.

—Am I going crazy? —Aurora asked her system through her thoughts.

Right now, she didn’t dare to stop, and neither did she dare to let her guard down or generate a noise.

She was on high alert.

Not many individuals or monsters caused her to feel such danger, but now she felt that this situation was one of them.

A situation that because of her strength she might not be able to cope with... Nor, even if she was at peak performance.

That ominous feeling she had felt only a few times in her life, and it was similar to when her parents got angry... When two individuals of her parents’ rank got angry.

Was that following her?

Whoever was following it wasn’t stealthy enough to hide completely and instead was releasing intentions, which made its following noticeable to her even though she couldn’t see it or feel the exact presence.

—No, something is there... On the other side of the cliff wall. It’s hiding, perhaps watching somehow.

Was it possible?

Aurora didn’t hesitate too much... Honestly, when there was magic, anything was possible at this moment.

Using her sword to engrave signs on the wall, she continued her run and then stopped when she noticed a huge hole through the wall creating a deep tunnel.

She held her sword and released her S-Rank presence to give warning to whoever was guarding it and just then she sensed another presence approaching through the tunnel.

It was a figure that appeared from deep in the tunnel and the figure, instead of being wary of the aura she released, signaled for her to follow.

Aurora felt the presence at her back and compared it to the presence of the figure, then decided to move forward, advancing cautiously to follow the figure.