199 Chapter 199: Convalescing (1/2)
”Over here! A survivor!”
”I need help here! Sector 13A!”
”Anyone with earth magic? We need to move all this rubble!”
”Healer! Man down!”
I awoke to the bustle of voices that filled the remains of Azpire City. Anastasia was still holding my hand, but her shoulder had been patched up. She didn't really need the bandage, though. I could feel mana from a healing spell suffusing her shoulder and accelerating her recovery.
”Richard! You're awake!”
”Ana?”
I tried to get up, and winced at the sudden soreness that shot through my body. Gritting my teeth, I leaned over, allowing Anastasia to support me.
”You shouldn't be getting up yet,” Anastasia cautioned as she tried to gently push me back down. ”You'll open up your wounds again.”
”Don't worry about me.” I took a deep breath, and grimaced when my lungs stung. My recently mended ribcage protested when the soft tissue expanded against it, and I could almost imagine cracks reappearing all over the abused bone. My other injuries also seemed to be gone, particularly the ruptured organ resulting from Selina's kick. Regulating my breathing, I glanced around, surprised to see the crowd. ”What happened? Who…?”
”The Silver Wolves, the military and rescue teams are all here,” Anastasia explained. ”Shortly after you passed out, I contacted Feng Hai. It also helped that the Grim Reaper smashed a path through the monsters in this area, so it took little effort from the Silver Wolves to break through the thin line of monsters here and get to our position. Once they reached us, our healer cast a few spells on us and saved your life.”
”I hope you thanked her for me.”
Anastasia smiled. ”Yeah.”
”How about the others? Did they find any survivors?”
”Fancy you worrying about others when you're the one closest to death.” This time it was a newcomer. A twenty or thirty year old blond lady strode forward, her hands on her hips. She was flanked by none other than Feng Hai.
”Oh, Richard! You're finally up!”
”Instructor Feng.” I lowered my head humbly. Then I glanced at the blond lady and also greeted her with a bow.
”Heather St. Helen. Our healer.” Feng Hai introduced me. ”She's the one who saved your life.”
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”Thank you very much.” I bowed again, but deeper this time.
”As to answer your question…” Heather was glaring at me. ”There aren't many survivors. A few hundred civilians here and there, pockets of survivors hiding out in shelters and basements, able to avoid the monsters. But thanks to their intelligence, they manage to avoid conflict and injuries. There isn't anyone as wounded as you were!”
”Speaking of which, I was pretty sure I ordered the both of you to prioritize your survival and not engage with any enemy who is too powerful.” Feng Hai was frowning as well as he gave Anastasia and me a stern stare. ”Why in the blazing heavens did you go confront the Grim Reaper?”
Anastasia and I exchanged a glance and then shrugged.
”We didn't consider the Grim Reaper a big threat,” Ana declared plainly. ”We were confident of defeating her. She's only human after all.”
”I have previous experience of fighting against her spirit,” I added honestly. ”So I thought I would be able to come up with countermeasures against them.”
”Furthermore, we couldn't let her escape. This was a rare chance to subdue her. If we let her get away, she'll just return to take more lives in future. She's quite the evasive figure. Her existence among the Assassins Guild is considered legendary. I don't know they'll send her out again, if ever…”
Most likely, if they did send Selina out again, it would be to target someone from the ten great families. Not anymore, though, considering that both Anastasia and I had worked together to kill her. Her corpse was still nearby, wrapped up in a black body bag when the Silver Wolves came. They planned to cremate her to ensure that she would never return to haunt us again.
She deserved nothing less.
Feng Hai studied both me and Anastasia disbelievingly, as if he wondered if we were bluffing. We probably were, to be honest. It was just that it had been such a desperate and frenetic battle that the thought of escaping didn't even cross our minds.
Hell, there was no way we would be able to escape if Selina chose to chase us. She and Hades were too fast, too aggressive and too violent. Our only chance of survival lay in fighting.
”You yanking my chain or something?” Feng Hai finally spoke up, still skeptical. ”You seriously telling me that you thought you could win against a legendary Assassin like the Grim Reaper? The Assassin who had succeeded in 99% of her missions targeted at members of the ten great families and leaving a trail of dead behind?”
”Yeah?” I shrugged and pointed at the body bag where Selina's rotting, headless body was – it was easy to tell, because her head was placed right next to the body bag. ”We won, didn't we?” I tapped my glasses. ”And you should have gotten all the data that I transmitted to the cloud server.”
”Yes…no, that's not the point!” Feng Hai threw both of his hands up in frustration. He looked as if he wanted to say something, but when he glanced at Selina's corpse, he was at a loss for words. Probably because reality was staring right into his face. He tried not to hyperventilate, taking a deep breath to calm himself down. Gritting his teeth, he turned upon Ana. ”Especially you, Anastasia! You of all people should know how overwhelmingly powerful and deadly the Grim Reaper is!”