Chapter 219: What Is The Point (1/2)

Ellen's fever got only worse and Arthur didn't know what to do. After resting for a bit, Arthur carried her on his back and headed deeper into the tunnel. He had to keep her warm so fire surrounded them both.

He traveled away from the desert as he used his detection rune. Like a normal awakener, also known as superhumans, Ellen started recovering after a while. Her breathing became more stable as her fever subsided.

As he was walking and replenishing his mana, Arthur felt his skin itch. He realized that it has been a day already since he used the artifact. Taking it from his subspace, Arthur poured mana into it and his face was back as Alexie Linan.

As his foot left marks on the frozen rocks, Arthur pondered what he should do. The Ender's minion has fled and the guardian of Rayxin knows of his identity. However, that left with a certain doubt.

Didn't master Ronin know of the guardian's ability? Why didn't he warn Arthur? Did he believe that Arthur wouldn't meet the guardian or did he believe in the guardian itself?

As the walls around them began to get warmer, Arthur felt Ellen shift on his back. Arthur stopped and placed her on the ground. Her eyelashes trembled before she began waking up.

”Where am I?” Her voice was weak as she whispered. Still wearing his disguise, Arthur lit a fire on his finger to illuminate the dark cave.

”We're underground. We've managed to flee from the worm, although I doubt it cared much about us, to begin with.”

”What are you going to do with me?” She asked, frightened. Arthur could see her tighten her grip on her shoulder as she looked at him wearily.

”Nothing, calm down,” Arthur said, although he admired how on guard she was. He would have ended up in better situations if he didn't trust people easily in the past. ”I'm simply carrying you until we find an exit. After that, it's on you.”

Ellen went quiet like usual as she looked at Arthur, examining his face. On the other hand, Arthur had prepared some meat from earlier to give to her in his pouch and handed it over.

”Eat. You'll get better faster if you do.”

”… It can be poisoned.”

”And I could have killed you while you're asleep. Heck, I could've just thrown you to the worm. You think I want to harm you after all that?”

His point was made and Ellen nodded her head, taking the meat from his hand. She started chewing it like a hamster would do as Arthur lied on the other side of the cave, replenishing his mana.

His mana breathing technique, which wasn't much, to begin with, was discarded after he learned his Art of Creation. Using his art, he can replenish his mana depending on 'existence' in the dimension he was.

The last bit was important because Arthur had realized earlier that it was harder to recover in this unstable pocket dimension than the outside world.

If he used the same logic, he could assume that he would get stronger if the two worlds remerged. It seems that would also be the case for everyone, so why did Jizo want them to keep living as two entities?

It didn't take a lot of time to answer, Jizo was afraid of something else that would be strengthened by the stabilized dimension. That thing, probably related to the Enders, has caused the betrayal of the seven guardians.

Jizo has told him that five guardians tried to betray their people and the other two kept neutral, not helping in the calamity the world was facing. However, he never mentioned what they betrayed, how, or why. Those were questions he would need to find the answer for.

”Ho…” Ellen tried to stand up on her own before she weakly fell back down. Arthur sighed and stood up to help her. ”Leave me alone, I can stand by myself.”

”You can also freeze to death here. It's a lot faster if I carry you.”

”I refuse. I can't die here anyway.”

”You're okay with failing this test?” Arthur raised his brow.

”…” Ellen assumed her signature silence. Arthur walked toward her and she stiffened.

”You have every right to doubt people, it's best for your survival. But at this moment, what options do you have but to rely on me?”

”There are fates worse than death,” Ellen said with wary eyes. Arthur was taken aback by her words and stared at her for a while, wondering what made her say that.

”That's true.” At long last, Arthur sighed. ”Staying weak is the worst of them.” His words left another silence before Ellen nodded her head.