Chapter 47：Guilt, Betrayal, and Friends (2/2)
”Shut up.” Jin moved closer toward him and Miko stood up from her seat. She held her dagger as she glared at Jin. The latter stood in front of Arthur as he continued, ”This is all because of you!”
”Jin, it's not!” Hazel shouted, feeling hypocrite because that's also what she felt at one point. ”Arthur saved me,” Her own words chocked, reminding her of her ugliness. ”It was I that… I…” Tears began to pour down.
***
”Is there something wrong?” Fey asked, to which Yuran simply shook his hand. He stood up from his seat by the river and looked at the monk, Qin, feeding the fishes. This gentle scene was a stark contrast to the killing he talked about yesterday.
Seref Silvera. Yuran knew about him most unexpectedly, as he searched up the young man who saved while being a non-awakener. He didn't realize this information would benefit him in his search of a Saint.
His conscious pricked at him, as he felt his morals conflicting with his dream. He looked at his palm and the scar it had, memories flashing back.
'Mother…'
He resolved his heart. If he needed to betray people, he'd betray them. If he needed to be the devil and slay gods, that he would. His eyes flickered with determination and wistfulness.
Arthur was someone who saved him, someone Yuran looked at like a little brother. But if he needed to betray him to get what he wants, then he would.
”I'll look into the surrounding,” He told Fey before he jumped and started running up the tree. With another jump, he stood at its highest point surveying the area. Mana gathered in his eyes as it enhanced his vision.
Down the stream, he noticed a hill where a giant wolf slept next to. He decided to change his way to avoid the monster, and he descended the tree before leaving with the other two toward the north. He heard that there were many injuries there because the summoned beast attacked them.
***
[New rune has been learned through modification.]
[Detection-II: Use mana to detect the surrounding life-forms.]
It was a lot different from Detection-I, as the only restrain was the mana Arthur was willing to invest. This message was the one that had appeared after he used the detection rune back at the camp.
That was all. He gained no other runes and no more stats points. Even so, Arthur felt pleased with this as he could now direct his detection by will. He used his rune and searched deep underground, and there were some monsters here and there. He even felt the presence of a powerful life-form, probably one of the monsters that would be summoned later.
His thoughts went back to the Dark Queen. He grabbed the dagger he kept by his side and examined it. It looked rather ordinary except for one characteristic. It was hallowing the surrounding like some divine artifact.
He kept it away as he stood up. The rest were sleeping, resting after yesterday's battle. It was nighttime and Arthur couldn't sleep. There were so many things on his mind that he didn't even want to shut his eyes to think about them.
He walked outside and found Kira to be asleep. He patted it gently as he watched it sleeping soundly. He sat by his side as he took out some mana cores he had gathered. He split the cores with Miko after their hunts and he was left with 3 mid-tier mana cores.
His mana increased by 10 after absorbing them all. His aching body felt slightly better, but his mind was tired. He was tired of staying here, trying to survive no matter what, and having to put up with these crazy people.
'Well, I also made some friends.'
Arthur smiled to himself as he lied on Kira's soft fur, as he remembered the people he met. Hazel, Yuran, and Miko. These people could be considered his friends, bound by helping each other. Jin was also not bad, after seeing how he defended Hazel. There was also the beautiful Fey, but she was aloft except for her interaction with Yuran.
Every person he met was unique in their way. He was making friends for the first time in years, and he couldn't help but smile as he remembered Yuran's kind face. He wondered what he was doing now.