Chapter 362: Confusion (1/2)

”Brooother!” Shattering the ominous silence that engulfed the bloodied battlefield, the desperate, woeful cry of Lily rang through.

Already standing, with Sam and Biggy at her sides, she was running towards the direction Aiden was last seen, the still lingering albeit mostly dissipated cloud of smoke.

The white, gaseous thick fog remained, lingering over the originating point of the brutal explosion. No movements of any sort, no sounds could be heard besides the scared girl's scampering feet and her canine companions' limbs kicking the ground as they charged towards Aiden's last known position.

”Brooother! Where are you? Are you okay?!” She cried out again, tears already gathering and escaping through the corner of her eyes as she stepped over the charred carcasses without any care in the world.

A bit further behind, the royal siblings were also back on their feet by now. Their ragged, torn, dusty clothing, disheveled hair, and dirty, grime-covered faces transformed them into simple vagabonds.

Still, they didn't care the slightest. Worry, mixed with the dread of their own dark thoughts was visible on their faces. They were also focusing on Aiden's direction. Although they didn't say a word, the tightly clenched fists on their sides were a telltale sign of their current mental states.

They couldn't help but think of the worst. Whatever caused that explosion was incredibly fierce. The boy being at its very center, how could he possibly survive it? What made them even more puzzled was the fact that they couldn't even understand what happened. As they were all busy with the smaller, regular-sized sahuagins at the time, they could only steal vague, brief glances towards them.

What Drake saw was that the large, mutated shark-headed fish monster was capable of manipulating the water and use it as a medium to cast some spell. While this was surprising as such creatures were incredibly rare, it was not unheard of. However, how could a ball of water cause such a violent reaction?

Not to mention the inferno it released! The initial shockwave itself burnt the nearest sahuagins to a degree that it was hard to even make anything out of its charred remains.

Slowly looking through the field, Drake's eyes wandered into an incredibly gruesome scene. Almost everything was burnt to crisp, most of the creatures they were fighting just moments ago, were unrecognizable.

As he looked at the one closest to him, suddenly another dreadful thought entered his and at the same time, Scarlet's mind. Their faces twitched, turning into something of utter shock and confusion, they looked at each other as they blurted out the question at the same time.

”How…?!”

”How are we…?!”

Yes. Even though they rather not think too deeply into it, they still couldn't understand how are they alive, and unharmed by the explosion?

Albeit it might have felt that it took longer, all this thinking took them barely half of a minute. Their eyes wandered on the back of Lily, without wasting any more time they stepped forward themselves as well, following behind the despairing blonde half-elf girl. Just like her, they also wanted to know what was going on with their friend.

—-

”Broother! Broootheeer!” Lily shouted for the third time. Since there was still no response, she was about to charge into the thick, milky white cloud, when suddenly her pleas were finally answered.

Heavy coughing reached her and the royal siblings' ears a step behind, as the hazy, blurred silhouette of a familiar young man finally appeared as she sat up, on the ground.

”S-stop shouting, Lily!” Between the coughing fits, Aiden's grumbling voice could be heard. ”My head is already splitting, quiet down a bit…”

The girl, however, couldn't hold back herself at all. Hearing the familiar voice of her beloved brother, she immediately charged into the barring white cloud, bolting towards the sitting silhouette.

A moment later, a painful grunt could be heard, as the blonde rocket crash-landed on its destination. Two large-bodied canines closely following behind, surrounding their alpha, giving him a gentle, welcoming lick over his face.

”Argh! S-stop it! Let me go… Apletely unprepared he couldn't react at all and the violent reaction exploded.