337 Chapter 337: Loss (2/2)
Raising a hand to his eyes, Harrison watched the tail of the blizzard whip across the mountain peaks, searching for new victims to torment and freeze. The hailstones had vanished along with its parent, leaving mild drifts of snow that lazily settled over their encampment.
”The blizzard is finally gone. The horde of Horned Boariceratops have also run off somewhere as well, and I don't think they will be coming back. I think we're safe for now.”
”I hope you're right about Richard, Harrison.” Yue Chu glanced at the Den of Dragons, which was slightly more visible than before, now that the dense blizzard was gone. ”I honestly still think we should call for rescue…”
”Uuu…it's all my fault.” Pearl was sobbing. ”If only my magic was strong enough to endure the onslaught of the blizzard earlier, then…”
”Uh, wasn't it Richard, and then Harrison who were conjuring the barrier before the accident?” Bu Fan was blint as usual. ”I mean no offense, but you only summoned your Guardian Sphere for the first few minutes before Richard took over. Nothing you did would have made any difference.”
Sheila smacked him, and Lily kicked him. Bu Fan staggered and whirled around to glare at the two girls.
”Hey! What's that for?!”
”For not showing any delicacy to a girl!”
”For not showing any tact at all!”
”Huh? But I was just telling the truth…!” he then glanced at Harrison worriedly. ”The person who is feeling the guiltiest right now should be our captain.”
”Oh, wow…” Yue Chu's jaw dropped as he stared at Bu Fan in amazement. ”I never thought I would hear that from you. You're actually being considerate of someone?”
”Hey!” Bu Fan snapped. ”What do you take me for?!”
Harrison ignored the banter between the two and placed a hand on Pearl's shoulder, offering some comfort.
”Pearl, please don't blame yourself. You did your best under the circumstances. If anything, I'm the one who should assume responsibility.”
”No!” Pearl squeezed his hand tightly, looking stricken. ”You did your best too! No one could have known that would have happened!”
”Yeah, Captain!” Craig agreed wholeheartedly. ”This isn't anyone's fault!”
”Given Richard's abilities and resourcefulness, I'm sure he'll survive even if he somehow ends up in a Den of Dragons.” Theodore looked thoughtful. ”In fact, I won't be surprised if he gets a new summoned beast, or some treasure, or some new skill when he escapes from there and rejoins us.”
”Just like the typical main character of a Chinese web novel, huh?” Yue Chu chuckled with a shake of his head. ”That figures. Richie's always reading those.”
”I still think we should request for help, even if we have to forfeit the qualifiers.” Pearl raised a trembling hand, trying to stifle the quiver in her voice. ”Without Richard, we wouldn't have made it this far.”
”I agree,” Cody said quietly.
”Me too!” Yue Chu growled forcefully.
”Actually…” Harrison raised the blue badge that the tournament staff handed to him at the beginning of the qualifiers. The squarish device projected a blue-tinted holographic screen above. ”I already did that. I contacted the tournament staff using the emergency hotline, right after the blizzard blew past us. That was the first thing I did the moment I regained a signal.”
”Eh?!” everyone stared at him in shock. Harrison could only shrug sheepishly.
”Sorry for not telling you guys. But I thought that Richard's life was more important than reaching a consensus.”
”That's true,” Craig agreed with a nod. ”We're not some murderous bastards who abandon our comrade to the wild like…Bei Pan Zhe and those girls.”
By the way, the teammates who deserted me during my first mission, because they wanted me to die during an ”accident” after getting jealous of me being close to Alicia, were currently imprisoned. They wouldn't be getting out of jail for another twenty or thirty years. Ten at the minimum, if they get released on parole.
By then I would be so far out of their lives it wouldn't matter. And their own lives had been ruined by their criminal record. Nobody would hire them to be mages.
”So are they sending a rescue squad for Richard?” Pearl asked eagerly.
”Well…” Harrison began to replay the conversation for them to hear. As they exchanged glances of astonishment, he nodded. ”Yeah, they told us to resume the trek, and reminded me that as long as at least half of us reach the destination, we will qualify for the next round. As for Richard, there is already someone looking after him, so they told me not to worry about him. He's in good hands.” He took a deep breath and stared at the holographic screen. ”As you heard, they told me to trust them.”
”I trust them,” Yue Chu said simply.
”I bet that someone is that green-haired girl from earlier,” Craig remarked cheekily. ”He get to be alone with her in such a barren place…we need to grill him for details when he returns!”
”Yeah!” Lily was giggling.
”We want to hear all about it.” Sheila was nodding. Girls and their love for romance gossip. Ugh.
”Anyway, we should continue to move on. We'll head to Olympus City and wait for Richard there.” Harrison straightened up, switched off the holographic screen and put the blue badge back into the pocket of his winter coat. ”Let's get ready to move out! We have a lot of ground to cover and not much time left! And we sure as hell don't want to arrive in Olympus City after Richard has already reached there!”
”Yeah!”
With a roar of approval, everyone began to enthusiastically break camp and prepared for the remainder of the journey.