Belgianfri

Chapter 154: Aho.

I breathed in deep through my nose, smelling the ocean air. I hadn’t spent much time by the oceanfront in my life so far, so this was a welcome change. The salty air, the gentle rocking of the boat and the calm sea breeze… It made for a rather calming experience, I thought.

The first leg of our journey had seen us pass through the river that separated the Roa and Ergo from Alterian. T...

Chapter 153: A bright smile.

We spent the next few days returning to the border. Thankfully, the journey wasn’t as arduous as it had been the first time around. Perhaps our fight with the paradise bird had scared off the monster hordes in the inner reaches of the forest, because not a single group had approached us on our return journey. It was a shame we couldn’t get more experience from them, but there would be other...

Chapter 152: A final cry.

Though I was confident that we could slay the beast, I had killed a peak tier 4 classer before, after all, I still felt somewhat apprehensive.

“Are you sure we can’t just sneak in and take the liana? I can apparate up there with a skill of mine, you know?”

Emeri shook her head. “No chance. Extracting the liana’s medicinal parts requires time and skill. Time and skill you w...

Chapter 151: Paradise bird.

Over the next few days, we spent most of our time searching for the elusive heart severing liana. Supposedly, it could be found near this area, its distinct flowers located just below the crowns of the huge trees that made up the inner reaches of the forest.

So far, we hadn’t had much luck. Of the two lianas which resembled what we were looking for, one was a different species and anoth...

Chapter 150: Monsters.

At least I could take solace in the fact that the monsters surrounding us weren’t as large or as tough as the ones I had hunted during the tournament. On the other hand, they were present in far larger number, while there were far fewer of us to keep them busy.

Now that we had entered the inner reaches of the forest, the trees stood so tall and wide that their roots spread over the fore...

Chapter 149: Traversing the dark forest.

The dark forest turned out to be surprisingly dark. Who would have guessed it, right? What was interesting about that was that it wasn’t dark everywhere. Small patches of sunlight were sparingly littered throughout the forest and they functioned as resting spots for humans, animals and monsters simultaneously.

The map that Everic had provided us had a lot of these lit-up areas marked on...

Chapter 148: Hilda

Looking at the dried-out husk that was laying on the bed, I suddenly had an easier time empathising with Agard’s plight. His wife looked like a corpse, and not a recent one either. Grey, rippling skin… white tufty hair… The only sign that she was still alive was the subtle rise of her chest. She was still breathing despite… all of this. If I ever saw my mom like this, for example, I did...

Chapter 147: Agard.

Emeri took her stance and aimed her spear at Agard, whose facial expression remained glacial. He pulled a long, thin sword from his scabbard, which I recognized as a rapier, a weapon that wasn’t commonly used. Because of physical stats, there was little use for light, thin weapons, especially when they served a similar purpose as a normal broadsword.

Yet, Agard seemed confident, despite...

Chapter 146: Family conflict.

Everic’s eyes narrowed once he’d heard my request.

“Even if I could, it would require a significantly larger… contribution, on your part.

This time, it was my turn to grow suspicious. He had appeared at exactly the right time to take advantage of our situation, which he was most likely somehow responsible for. I was willing to let an offense like that slide, especially if I ...

Chapter 145: At the border.

“Here.” I said, as I pushed a small wooden figurine into Emeri’s hands. Her eyes went wide, and she turned the little statue around to take a better look. After a moment of silence, her cheeks turned red and she finally responded.

“Why did you…?” she asked, fixing her eyes on mine.

Suddenly feeling slightly embarrassed, I hurriedly cleared up her confusion. “It’s an ...

Chapter 144: A thoughtful gift.

Rolla had never been much of a town, economically speaking. Sure, all of the basics were present. You had a few bakers, a few butchers, and the like. But for anything more than that, you’d have to go to Reito, which was seen as the Eastern capital of the entire country.

In this situation, however, I would have to work with what I had. As I was strolling through Rolla’s main street, th...

Chapter 143: Rejoining family.

I regarded the older man at the other side of the table with suspicion. What was this guy scheming this time? Had he really not been involved in the situation, or was he looking for a convenient scapegoat?

For some reason, though, adventuring with Emeri didn’t sound so bad. I still vividly remembered her spearmanship, which had lit a competitive flame in my chest at the time. I had a va...

Chapter 142: A slightly holy meeting…

As I entered Reito’s cathedral, I couldn’t help but admire its architecture, despite my hesitance. The outside of the building was adorned by elaborate murals that were visible from anywhere in the city due to the building’s sheer height. At certain intervals, a row of angel-shaped gargoyles would stand guard and look upon the city below. If I knew even a single thing about the system, th...

Chapter 141: Departure from the between lands.

The next morning, I rose early. With my body rested and my equipment gathered, I felt that the time had come for me to draw this quest to a close. What had been a dangerous but straightforward mission had quickly evolved into a war over an entire territory, one that I had even participated in. For better or worse, I had experienced many new things, some horrific, some... good, I guess.

Ca...

Chapter 140: Do stars move?

After sinking into the murky waters of lake equilibrium, my vision turned black and my other senses were muted. This feeling of non-existence lasted but a moment, soon to be replaced by wonder. As my sight returned, I found myself surrounded by countless colors, some I could swear I had never seen before.

The colors drifted lazily in the wind, floating by without a care in the world, thei...

Chapter 139: The lake of equilibrium.

“So about those rewards...” I began, glancing at the dry man.

He chuckled lightly and set Maria down, before heading for the tent’s exit. As he passed me, he waved at me to follow him. The moment we exited the tent, he put a hand on my shoulder and I felt my body sag. Suddenly, all my strength left my body and I fell to the ground below. Before I even hit the ground, though, my body...

Chapter 138: Interlude: The drought.

Trigger warnings: Suicide(but not really) Character death (but not really)

Pov: The dry man.

I had expected this trial to be hard, no doubt. But did the system have to fuck me over right as I was reuniting with my daughter?

The cruel little fucker just loved messing with me, didn’t it... That’s why I always mess with it back, fuck the rules. Nothing gets to decide...

Chapter 137: The aftermath.

I awoke with a terrible headache. Honestly, for a moment I was convinced a rabbit was jumping inside of my skull. I hadn’t had a headache since... I couldn’t even remember.

I opened my eyes groggily, staring up at a brown tarp that hung above my head. I was laying down, I realized. Rather comfortably, too. Someone had been kind enough to support my head with a cushion.

Above my ...

Chapter 136: BET.

“Ready?” I asked the gathered warriors.

After receiving a few half-hearted replies, I just shook my head and went over the ‘plan’ a final time. We had set up in a semi-circle around the dungeon’s entrance, just like the larger army had done. I couldn’t exactly call this plan creative, but hey, it was effective, at least.

Supposedly, our scouts had encountered some enemie...

Chapter 135: The storm.

Golems, classers and beasts streamed out of the canyon, quickly forming files and columns. Clearly, they had been expecting our warm welcome, and they were well prepared to handle it.

Vaguely, I remember Ash sounding a horn, signaling a charge to our troops. Moments later, I found myself swept up in the frenzy, all 25000 of us sprinting at the rapidly forming army on the other side.

Chapter 134: The calm before the storm.

A few hours had passed since the strategy meeting and I was currently stuck guarding Maria. She seemed to be the most scared out of all of us, at this point. After spending years alone in a tower, with nothing but the guards’ murmuring to keep her company, she was having trouble adjusting to the rapidly changing situation. She seemed lost in the busy camp, our numbers now having grown to abou...

Chapter 133: War plans.

The next morning, my little camping site had turned into a full-on war encampment. After Ash had declared the need to raise an army, he and Olgierd had set off to gather the men and women that served the dry lord. On this side of the between lands, that was meant everybody that was old enough to carry a pike would soon be joining us at the front. Olgierd had argued that he was meant to guard Ma...

Chapter 132: A good king.

The four of us had made ourselves comfortable a little ways away from our previous campsite, since they were probably going to take a while to catch up.

Though the dry man’s reunion with Maria hadn’t gone as expected, I had to admit I felt more relieved than ashamed at my assumptions. At this point, I was fairly confident whatever the golden-armoured guard had claimed had been a lie s...

Chapter 131: Shame

The light at the end of the tunnel brightened with each step I took and, before I knew it, the dead trees of the dry forest hooved into view. Just a little further...

Moments later, we crossed the threshold and stepped out into the open air.

I was breathing heavily from the exertion and Maria wasn’t feeling well after enduring my sprint. I had tried to cushion her, but there was o...

Chapter 130: Light at the end of the tunnel.

The guard couldn’t follow me inside. I knew that, but still, I felt like I was being chased. Maria hadn’t recovered from that guard’s last remarks either. Entertaining the idea that the dry man only wanted her for the sake of killing her made me nauseous.

I couldn’t imagine delivering this little girl, who wasn’t even ten, to the jaws of death. Yet, I had little choice in the ma...

Chapter 129: Shivering thoughts.

Maria was clinging onto my back as I jumped higher and higher, until I reached the plateau. The explosions and crumbling sounds were still going on behind me, all the while.

“The tower is falling!” Maria shouted in awe.

I didn’t have the time to look over my shoulder as Maria’s prison collapsed, but from the noise it created, I could tell that the abyss watcher’s fort was ...

Chapter 128: Escape

I slowly made my way down the tower, Maria in tow. She had shared some info she had overheard the guards talking about, which made me fairly confident that the tower would indeed be empty at this time of night. A lapse in judgment on the guards’ front, perhaps.

The door leading from Maria’s room to the adjacent stairway had been a tough, metal contraption with a few dozen locks, but i...

Chapter 127: Maria

Faced with the massive stone fort, it was clear that I would have to come up with a plan. Unfortunately, reconnaissance was out of the question, since I didn’t want to be forced to stay in there for any longer than absolutely necessary. The longer I stuck around, the higher the chance that one of the abyss watcher’s generals would notice something stalking through the castle.

Thankful...

Chapter 126: Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

It didn’t take long For Revan to outrun the attacking golems, thankfully. Despite their powerful and fast attacks, their bodies were slow and clunky, so they had trouble keeping up with us.

Once we finally left their sight and the lasers stopped, I received a system notification.

Ding! Combat finished. [Hollow Ding! Combat finished. Congratulations on reaching [Hollow esse...