NOVEL WEB Chapter 558: We'll Find Her!
That's when I rise up, but this isn't the end. I'll find her body. I'll keep searching until I know for sure, I'll...
I dash into the bloody mess. The smell is pungent, and every time I touch one, I just want to hurl, but I keep going. I turn every cadaver and try to look at their faces. It seems they've been here for a while already.
"I'll help. Who are we looking for?"
[You can't miss her, she's the only one with pink hair in the lot.]
We both keep flipping corpses diligently. We do so all day long until finally, we have seen every single one. But she isn't here.
"It's good news that we didn't find her. Where to next?"
[Follow me.]
I bring our party toward Aqua's statue. Or I try to. No matter how I keep searching, I can't find it. It's like the entire water canals, and the small pond have all disappeared. How?!
I spend a while observing it all before I finally understand it. They filled it up with soil! I slowly start digging with my hands.
"Let me help you. This soil doesn't look too hard. They'll be fine."
My friend summons an army of Gus, and they start digging. Soon they unearth the top of Aqua's statue. What happened here? I quickly touch it. I'll ask her directly! But nothing happens.
There is not even a shadow of an effect. It's like it has run out of power completely. How does one charge such a thing? Divine power? I barely have any for myself.
But just as I'm wondering how to proceed, the Gus finish digging. That's when appears a small blue cocoon. Inside there seems to be someone! Just as I'm about to open it, my friend stops me.
"Careful! It probably keeps them alive!"
I see. I just have to be quick then. I swing my arm, shattering it completely. Just as life starts leaving the person inside, I heal her. She's a woman that looks young. I don't remember ever seeing her.
Her eyes slowly flutter open. She seems lost for a few seconds before her gaze becomes clear again. That's when she backs off, shouting:
"Who are you?!"
[Don't worry. Just tell me what happened?]
She starts shivering, and tears appear at the edge of her eyes.
"They somehow learned that we were vulnerable, that we had lost the water barrier. They were merciless, and …. wait! You're the one that destroyed it! You're the one that killed us all!"
[Stop spouting nonsense and talk.]
"If it wasn't for you. If it wasn't for —"
*SLAP*
I bitch slap her. She totally deserves it, no matter how much shock she is under.
[Because of me?! I tried to help, and you people betrayed me! It's your goddamn fault this all happened! Yours! Stop trying to find excuses and tell me if there are survivors!]
She goes blank for a few seconds then stares at us in anger. Unbelievable! Sure, she's traumatized, but can't she pull herself together for a second? Good thing my friend intervenes.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of it."
Once again, he's here to save the day. Soon, tons of Gus start crawling onto her body until she finally starts screaming, crying, and talking, most importantly.
We now know where to head. The culprit seems to really be the Ever-Reaching Sect. They seem to be living in a vast forest not too far away.
[Thank you. It wasn't so hard, right?]
She's mumbling something incomprehensible amidst her tears. She'll be fine…probably.
We search the area carefully once more, but we soon conclude that there is nothing else to be found here. Nothing but destruction and death.
I can't help but give the place one last look as we leave. I have seen the horror of a god suddenly turning evil, and I now see the aftermath of a war. These people are all crazy.
[This place used to be so beautiful. They had to ruin it. For what? Just senseless greed. Such a shame. They don't deserve to even live in this world.]
"Yes, but this is the reality of this world.*Sigh*."
[Yes, but does it have to be? I don't agree. Not at all. Here is what I will do. I will slowly gather allies. Then I'll take over this place. If The Unnamed God Sect rules, there won't be any war.]
My friend looks at me, utterly shocked.
[I know, I must sound crazy, right?]
"If it was anyone else for sure. But I know you're not. If anything, you're just kind."
[Kind? No. I'm just selfish. I just want to live in peace.]
I still remember the other world. There were so many problems plaguing it, but at least there was a semblance of peace. I want to at least achieve this goal.
[Alright, let's go.]
We walk in silence for days. Eventually, we reach our target, a huge forest. Well, the trees aren't as big as the ones in the archaic forest. This one is just vast.
It is full of life, doesn't feel gloomy in the least and has fresh air too. How can a place so peaceful be a den of murderers? Then again, most of their targets weren't good people in the first place.
"What exactly is the plan here?"
[We aren't looking for trouble. We want to find the whereabouts of my friend. As long as we can save her, then everything else will be fine.]
"What if they attack us?"
[These guys are archers, right? As long as they are not mages, I should be able to deal with them fairly easily.]
For me, arrows may as well be rain. Actually, rain wets, so it would be worse. I wonder what these guys will look like.
We keep progressing. My friend is scouting with Gus. We encounter many monsters, but all are relatively weak.
It also helps that we have Gus with us. As soon as they sense them, they dart away, tail between their legs.
We are searching everywhere, but there is only so much ground we can cover every day. That's considering that we both have scouting abilities.
[Do you think she was lying to us back there?]
"No, she seemed really terrified. They probably simply are really well hidden."
[Makes sense.]
Thus we walk, we eat barbecue, and we take quick naps. Eventually, we do encounter something. In the distance, there is a silhouette progressing between the trees.
As I use my scouting ability, I can't help but show shock.
"What is it?"
[In front, there's an elf!]
Guess we'll be able to ask for directions…
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[A/N] Volume 1 is about to end soon, the plan is to resume volume 2 as a new novel, fresh (As the writing style has evolved a lot since chapter 1) More details on discord ;)