93 Back in the game (1/2)
Part 1
”Gustav!! Look! Look!! Its the ground!! Real ground!!”
”Yes... Indeed...”
”And this is a wall!! A real wall!!!!”
”... Yes...”
”And look!! A demon!! A real, physical demon!!!”
”Huuuuman fooood!!!!”
”Oh! One second...”
”Blaaarghhhh!!!”
”...”
”Anyway... Where were we...?”
Gustav was observing with worry as Evlin just finished blasting a demon with her crossbow using raw magic.
For some reason, the girl wouldn't stop gazing at her surroundings and going ”A real this!!! A real that!!!” every time she saw any kind of object.
Even when piles of monsters tried to attack the two she would just smile and laugh while saying ”Real things to punch!! I can finally punch things again!!!”.
Gustav was starting to be concerned that maybe Evlin had spent too much time in the white void and was handling the real world with way more excitement than she needed.
”I can feel the cold breeze of the mountain!! I can feel cold!!!!”
”... Huh...”
”God!!! I can't believe I'm finally out of that place!! I don't want to go back to the white void for at least a thousand years!!”
”Evlin... Now that you're back...”
”Oooff...”
”Evlin!!!”
While she was busy singing about how much she was enjoying being back in the physical world, Evlin suddenly fell with her face on the snow and became unable to move.
”Evlin!!! What's wrong!! Does it hurt??”
Gustav rushed towards her to see if there was anything wrong but he couldn't find any injuries anywhere.
”Huu... Ry...”
”... Eh...?”
”Hun... Gry...”
”...”
”I can't remember the last time I ate anything...”
”...”
”Please tell me you have some food...”
Gustav wanted to find a small corner to cry on. For a moment he thought to himself ”This is the girl I was killing myself to protect...??”. The brave leader of his team was acting less like a hero and more like a child who got sick from playing around too much while visiting an amusement park for the first time.
For a second Gustav almost felt nostalgic feeling he was in the company of Marceus when he was younger.
”I have some food on my rucksack... But please, try to focus... We are in the middle of a war zone...”
”Aye, aye, boss...”
”...”
Now that Evlin was back, Gustav needed to reorganize his thoughts.
Recovering Evlin meant that Xadi had been dealt with. But they also needed to save Ashley, get the cursed weapon from the demon leader and defeat Marcus.
While the crossbow magician was enjoying filling up her belly, Gustav was trying to come up with the best course of action of what his next move should be.
Ashley's safety was clearly the top priority. But according to Lilith, she was being guarded by the demon leader, who from what Lilith and Daren reported, was much stronger than any enemy they've faced before.
They weren't clear on which was stronger, him or Marcus, but they figured it would be best to just assume they were about the same level of danger.
So now that they had their team leader back they had two choices, face the demon leader or face Marcus.
Defeating the demon leader would mean getting Ashley and the cursed weapon, but they didn't know truly how powerful he was, plus, they were on some kind of truce with him right now.
Defeating Marcus would also be risky since he now had a whole team of slayers by his side.
”What to do...? What to do...?”
[Gustav... Gustav can you hear me??]
[!!!??]
”Eh...!?”
Gustav was taken by surprise from suddenly hearing Ashley's voice inside his mind. He hadn't seen Ashley ever since the dryad took her body.
He was so shocked he almost forgot to answer her.
[Ashley!!?? Ashley is that you??]
[It's me... I need your help...]
It really was Ashley. The dryad might have taken over her body but her mind was still there stuck deep inside. He was hit by a huge sense of relief from finding out his friend wasn't gone after all.
After calming down a bit he returned to talk to her. Maybe she figured out a way to separate from the dryad or run away from the demon leader?
[My help...?]
[I need you to give me Marcus's location!]
[What??]
[I'm going to take the demon leader towards him!]
[WHAT!!??]
”Huh...!?”
Evlin saw Gustav making a face as if had almost been hit by a bus. He was shaking with fear and could barely move with his mouth wide open.
”Gus...? You ok...??”
”Evlin... It's Ashley!!”
”Ashley?? What!? What happened with Ashley!? Where is she??”
”Hold on... I'll put you in our conversation...”
Gustav extended the range of his power and allowed Evlin to enter the telepathic chat-room. Evlin didn't understand how her sister was able to talk right now since as far as she knew, Ashley was still fused with the dryad. Maybe she managed to get her body back by will power alone?
[Ash!!! Ash, sis!! Are you there!!??]
[Evie!!?? Evie, thank the heavens you're ok!! I haven't heard any news from you for so long, I was starting to imagine I had lost you too!!]
[Sorry, sorry, I was having some technical difficulties... Wait... Losing me too...?]
[...]
[Ash, what happened??]
[Evie... The demon leader...]
[...]
[He... He... He killed my brother...]
[Oh, no...]
Evlin could feel the suffering in Ashley's thoughts. Even if she herself never liked Xadi she knew that he was still Ashley's family. No matter how horrible he was, he was still someone who used to be important for her in the past, so she must clearly be in a lot of pain right now.
[Ash... I'm so sorry... I wish I could...]
[Evlin...]
[...! Yes...?]
[I... I want to make him pay...]
[Huh...?]
[Will you help me...?]
[Ash... What are you trying to do...?]
[The only thing I know how to do well... I'm using my big brain to help everyone...]
[...]
[I managed to get my body back from the dryad. I can use it to lure the leader towards Marcus and make both of them destroy each other.]
[You got your body back? How did you do that?]
[... I told the dryad that I would give her some dumb sword that she was trying to obtain... It's not really important...]
[Dumb sword...?? Wait... You mean-]
[Evlin focus!! I need Gustav to contact the rest of the group and tell me where Marcus is!!]
[Ash, this plan is crazy... If you really have control over your body back, then let's reunite so I can return you to normal.]
[I can't... The leader won't leave me alone until you show up and talk to him...]
[... What...?? Why would he... Oh, wait... Let me guess... He wants to capture me and use my magic for something stupid...]
[... Yeah, pretty much...]