Chapter 214. A Dream Within a Dream (2) (2/2)
“Sorry! Just a peek is fine, so don’t push yourself.”
[Okay, okay. Don’t worry about it.]
The black smoke flew forward like flowing water and disappeared. He heard someone calling his name from behind, but he raised his hand to tell them he was okay and waited for Flone.
‘What’s taking her so long?’
Given Flone’s speed and the distance she was traveling, she should already be back.
Plus, we can’t eliminate the possibility of the undead being able to dream. As long as they have their own will, that is.
As he grew nervous, remembering Kazuki’s words, a black smoke cut through the fog and reappeared.
Seol Jihu barely held himself back from shouting.
“Flone, are you okay?”
[Un. There wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.]
Flone whispered in a ladylike manner.
[I didn’t see anything special… well, other than a pile of rocks that was shining blue.]
“A pile of rocks?”
[Yeah, it looked like this.]
The black smoke flew down and drew a picture on the dirt. Two headstones were standing vertically and a large flat stone was sitting horizontally on top of them. The entire structure looked just like a dolmen.
[It looked kind of odd… so I flew over and poked it, but nothing happened.]
Seol Jihu smiled bitterly. He had told her to only take a look, but it seemed curiosity had gotten the better of her.
[Should I go break it?]
“No, no, it’s fine.”
Seol Jihu stopped Flone. The problem was that he didn’t know what the pile of rocks was. Breaking the stone structure would be great if it resulted in the fog or the curse lifting, but it could also be the same as poking a beehive. As no one knew what result it would bring forth, it was best not to touch it so recklessly.
Seol Jihu returned to the expedition team.
“A dolmen that’s shining blue?”
When he explained what Flone told him, Kazuki gave him a strange look.
“How did you see? I still can’t see anything with my eyes.”
“Oh, uh….”
“You didn’t even go that far out.”
Seol Jihu let them know about the dolmen since now wasn’t the time to hide any information, but he was still hesitant to reveal Flone.
It as then that Chohong suddenly spoke.
“Oh right, what was that about?”
“?”
“During the war! You flew in the air! You said you’d tell me after the war. Argh, I’ve forgotten about it until now.”
[Chet, I got tricked!]
‘Tricked?’
Seol Jihu smiled bitterly. His comrades did not know about Flone yet. A part of the reason was how secretive Flone was, but the main reason was that she hated revealing herself. Even last night, when the team was having banquet noodles, Flone had gone off by herself to eat in secret.
Seol Jihu suggested many times for Flone to introduce herself to the team, but she flew off whenever he brought up the topic.
The reason was rather silly as well.
She said she was too embarrassed.
‘She can’t hide herself forever.’
It really looked like Flone was just embarrassed, so Seol Jihu decided to introduce her once and for all after the expedition.
But since they were in the middle of an expedition right now, he only revealed the necessary bits. When he explained how Flone came to accompany him, everyone’s expressions turned strange.
And when he mentioned that she was the evil ghost from the Forest of Denial’s tomb, Chohong and Hugo let out loud gasps.
“Wha, wha, wha, what? T-The ghost that killed Samuel’s team?”
“Stop.”
Kazuki cut Chohong off.
“We’ll listen to the full story later. We’re in the middle of an expedition right now.”
He then turned to Seol Jihu.
“I know you have your own thoughts as the leader. I’m not trying to intrude on your authority, but I think it would have been better if you told us about her sooner.”
“….”
“That way, we would have been able to check if the curse affected ghosts as well when the Sky Fairy lifted the curse for us, and she could have scouted for us too.”
Seol Jihu dropped his jaw at Kazuki’s perfectly logical argument. He had indeed not thought that far.
“Sorry. She just hates showing herself in front of others….”
“Mm… I guess it can’t be helped then.”
Kazuki slowly closed his eyes. He seemed to be organizing his thoughts. After a brief moment of silence, Kazuki opened his eyes and asked.
“So to sum it up, you asked this ghost to scout what’s up ahead?”
“Yes.”
“This is a ghost, not a human.”
Kazuki seemed to be focused on the fact that Flone was a ghost rather than the dolmen she discovered. Seol Jihu was having similar thoughts.
“Yes, but her ego and consciousness is crystal clear. She’s no different than a human. She even sleeps periodically.”
“…What an interesting ghost.”
[What? What are you suggesting here? Is there a rule that says a ghost shouldn’t sleep? Have you tried being dead!?]
Flone fumed from inside the pendant. Of course, only Seol Jihu could hear her, and Kazuki smacked his lips.
“Looks like we have no choice but to keep going. We can’t treat humans and ghosts the same, but we don’t really have a choice.”
Seol Jihu agreed with this statement.
“Yes, I think so too.”
Once the leader and the header came to an agreement, the expedition team began to march forward again. No, just as they were about to start…
“Oh?”
Phi Sora’s shrill voice grabbed everyone’s attention. She was looking down at the ground with her right foot raised and with a bewildered expression.
“What’s wrong?”
“N-Nothing. I think I stepped on something….”
Seol Jihu examined the thicket carefully, but he didn’t see anything strange.
“You sure you aren’t just imagining it?”
“No, I definitely felt something….”
Phi Sora tilted her head, then moved away as if it was unpleasant. After this short happening, the expedition team slowly marched forward.
Not long afterwards, they began to see a bluish glow, just like Flone said. The light became brighter the deeper they went in until their surroundings were half-fog, half-light.
Finally, when they could vaguely see the pile of rocks from the distance…
Kazuki, who was standing at the front, leaned back and whispered.
“I think that’s it—”
It was then.
Paat!
While everyone was looking straight forward, the dolmen-like pile of rocks burst into blue light.
‘What?’
Seol Jihu shut his eyes reflexively as if a camera flash had gone off in front of him. Intense dizziness instantly swept through his head.
[Aaahhh?]
Starting with Flone, several groans rang out. Seol Jihu felt his body sway. He immediately opened his eyes and looked around the area. Everyone was squinting or covering their eyes with their hands. Other than that, he didn’t see anything strange. Nothing really caught his attention either.
When he looked down, wondering if anything happened to his body…
“!”
Seol Jihu blinked quickly.
The pendant, which had turned black after Flone’s liberation, was glowing brightly.
And in the same shade of blue as the dolmen.