CHAPTER 59: KEEP MOVING

"Max, did you really only get some egg bombs as your rewards?" Andrea asked with a hint of suspicion in his voice.

I couldn’t blame him. Even the people who barely fought got great rewards, so how did he end up with some bombs?

"Bastard! Are you saying that I’m a liar?!" Maxwell yelled angrily. "I have got many egg bombs in all sizes. I didn’t lie, but didn’t tell you that one of them is slightly special."

"Special?" Celestina asked curiously.

Andrea chuckled. "Oh, don’t tell me, is it the size of your entire chubby body? That will be really special."

"Chubby? I’m muscled!!" He paused for a moment and inhaled slowly. "It’s a bomb that doesn’t hurt who I consider as my ally. Happy now?"

My eyes lit up once I heard him.

That was actually a great item. I could already imagine many different scenarios where it would be useful.

"But I’m not planning to use it." Max suddenly cut my thoughts off. "Not unless it’s an absolute necessity."

Andrea stared at him with disgust and disdain. "I didn’t know you were that stingy, tsk."

"Not stingy, it’s just too powerful! Argh, nevermind. You won’t understand."

"Stop." I raised my hand, stopping them from talking.

My eyes widened as I saw a humanoid figure in knight armor.

"Someone is there, let’s talk to him. He is either a human or an elf."

"Oh finally!"

"I’m not sharing my food though."

"Stingy bastard!"

•••

*BOOOOM!*

An immense explosion erupted, covering the entire place in white flames.

The white flames passed through my body like a breeze, only warming my body instead of burning it.

All my rotten flesh and broken bones got healed almost completely, my blood started flowing through my body again, and only my soul remained without healing.

With trembling legs, I stood up and started moving towards Maxwell.

I was barely seeing anything. On one hand, I was mentally exhausted, making my vision blurry and my head dazed, and on the other hand, the white flames were everywhere, covering my sight.

I had to rely on my soul sense to find my way. I was feeling the souls of Maxwell, Celestina, and the knight, but their current state wasn’t known to me.

*Thud!*

I stumbled over something, and fell on the ground. I narrowed my eyes to see what was under me and froze.

It was my katana, or what remained of it.

All I saw was half the hilt, a melted fragment of the blade, a blue key resting besides it.

I took the key from the ground and gave the sword one last look.

After months of fighting together, it finally got shattered.

I shook my head and stood up. There was no time for this. It was just a sword, a tool.

With each step I took forward, I got closer to Maxwell, and the more I got closer, the stronger my heart thumped.

After 5 minutes of walking, I fell on my knees and stared in front of me with a blank face.

What I was scared of happened.

I couldn’t find Maxwell’s body, but only his soul.

His soul was taking the form of his real body, but his skin color was brown, and both his eyes and hair were green.

He looked at me with some embarrassment while scratching his spectral hair.

He was dead.

And it was my fault.

Andrea wouldn’t have died if I entered the door faster and sensed the knight’s soul.

And there were many things I could have done to save Maxwell.

With a shaking voice, I started apologizing: "I’m sorry... if-if I aimed for the mana core, if I endured the pain and took its soul out instead of running, if—!"

Suddenly, Maxwell tried to put his hand on my shoulder, but it passed through me.

He quickly brought his hand to his mouth, pretending to cough, and gave me a thumbs up.

"...."

"Haha." A soft laugh escaped my mouth as my tears started flowing like a river.

"Thank you... for everything."

Using some soul aura, I touched Maxwell’s soul and sent him to my abyssal pocket.

I turned my head to the nearest soul to me, it was the knight’s soul. It was floating above a pool of molten gold.

The white flames were fading slowly, making my vision a little clearer, so I could now see it.

It was a green soul that took the shape of a man covering his face with a flaming veil.

He kept looking around himself nervously, probably trying to find its body.

*Tak - Tak - Tak*

Step by step, I moved slowly until I stood in front of it.

My body started shaking aggressively. Not in fear. Not in pain. Not in sadness. Not in hesitation.

It was shaking in anger and hatred.

I was looking directly at what killed 2 members of my team.

2 challengers who didn’t think about stabbing me.

2 men who saved me countless times.

2 friends who always laughed with me.

"It’s all your fault." I hissed, my voice sharp as daggers. "You won’t find peace, I’ll make sure of that myself."

I gripped the knight’s soul firmly and sent it to my pocket.

I turned to the place that Celestina’s soul was in and moved to it.

After walking for 5 more minutes, I found myself standing behind her.

She lay unconsciously on the ground with blood covering her entire body, but her injuries had healed and her soul was safe inside her body.

I sighed in relief, but then I noticed something strange behind her.

Countless light fragments were gathering together, and after a minute, they formed an orb of light.

It was the guiding light. It somehow returned and started pointing its light at the supposed exit direction.

But there was a problem.

The light was separated, pointing in 3 different directions.

Enhancing my eyes, I finally started scanning my surroundings.

We were in a place that looked like a basement, and above us, the place looked like an old castle’s hall with broken stairs leading to multiple doors.

The guiding light was pointing at 3 of those doors, which confused me.

Maybe it was broken. Maybe there were many exits. Maybe they were leading to the same exit.

But there was nothing I could do.

Despite my exhaustion, I carried Celestina on my back and took the guiding light from the ground.

I decided to follow a random path for now.

I turned my hands and legs into claws and started climbing to the door.

I couldn’t wait any longer. I didn’t know what could suddenly come out and attack us, and I couldn’t make any barriers to protect us.

’Until Celestina wakes up... I have to keep moving.’

After all that happened, I couldn’t die and let their sacrifices be for nothing, and I had to return them to Eldoria.

And if possible, searching for their families or friends if they had any.