350 Chapter 350: Last Minute Arrival (1/2)
”Richie!”
”Richard!”
My friends were immediately upon me the moment I set foot on the ground. Above, Draco circled above the city hall for a moment and let out one last triumphant roar before he disappeared. Below, the students watched the now empty skies in awe.
”Whoa…”
”That guy can actually summon a dragon?!”
”Amazing…”
”Hmph.” One of the students, Castian from Caliban Academy, shook his head and sighed. ”But it's a pity…didn't his friends already say he's disqualified? Seems like he was rescued by the Silver Wolves mercenaries…”
He then paused for a second and cocked his head to the side.
”…but doesn't it look more like he was the one who rescued the Silver Wolves mercenaries instead?”
”Nah, I didn't do anything.” I raised both hands up. ”They were actually done with their missions and were about to return to base. Since I was heading back here and we were all going in the same direction, I thought I might as well give them a lift. But they didn't need to be rescued. They could have made it back here on their own. I was just helping them return here faster, and save them a lot of time.”
”You helped us a lot!” one of the Silver Wolves mercenaries told me. He smiled as he placed a hand on my shoulder. ”Thanks!”
”No problem.”
While the students chattered excitedly, I noticed a fairly large group approaching me. They were wearing the red and yellow uniforms of Lie Huo Academy. Three of them in particular, struck me as extremely familiar.
”You are the one who helped us!” A girl exclaimed emotionally, brushing her blond hair from her face as she tried to smile. Her eyes were slightly red from crying, and she was still sniffling. ”Thank you very much!”
”I'm so sorry…” the skinny guy bowed his head. ”Because of us, you ended up almost losing your life. I'm so glad you manage to survive.”
”We can't express our gratitude enough,” the huge guy finished as he reached out with a hand to offer a handshake. I accepted it, and while the big guy was putting enough strength to crush my hand, I knew he did it out of overwhelming emotion rather than any malice on his part. He was almost in tears. ”I'm so glad…”
A lot of the other students watched, stunned by how the team of one academy had gathered around a student from another academy and expressed such an outpouring of emotion. Clearly none of them had heard what had happened to Lie Huo Academy, or to me.
”Hah! What did I tell you?”
In contrast, Craig was chuckling as he strode toward me. Slapping me in the back so hard that I was sent sprawling forward – I was pretty exhausted after trying to fight off a horde of dragons, after all, and my injured right arm still hadn't healed fully – he threw an arm around my shoulders before whispering into my ear.
”It's good to have you back.”
”It's good to be back,” I responded.
”I knew you wouldn't die from a little blizzard like that!” Dong Fang Yue Chu yelled, laughing in delight. ”You maniac! You suicidal maniac! You actually pulled it off! You survived the Den of Dragons and returned to us safely!”
”With some time left, to boot too,” Theodore added with a smile. He glanced at the holographic bulletin board, which displayed the las remaining three minutes and fifty-six seconds. Not that it mattered, since I was already disqualified. But I knew he wasn't referring to the qualifiers or the tournament. ”A day later and we wouldn't be here to welcome you back.”
”Sorry, everyone. I got myself eliminated from the tournament. Looks like I won't be joining you in the next stage in Aurora City.”
”Don't worry about it.” Harrison was the next to place a hand on my shoulder. He smiled encouragingly. ”The most important thing is that you came back safely. That's all that matters.”
”Thanks.”
”Leave the rest to us!” Pearl said with a forced smile. ”Even though it'll hurt, not having you in the team, you can still count on us to put up a good fight.”
I smiled back and nodded. ”I look forward to that.”
”Go get some rest, man.” Theodore thumped me in the back. ”You look exhausted. Given how you spent so many days out in the wilderness, you're going to need it. When was the last time you took a warm shower and slept on a soft, comfortable bed?”
”About two weeks.” That was the amount of time we were given to make the trek across the Aurora Mountain Range and forest to reach Olympus City, so that sounded just about right.
”Get going then. We have your stuff waiting for you in your room.” Harrison patted my shoulder again. He grinned when I raised an eyebrow. ”We always knew you would be coming back, so we kept everything in order.”
”That's right,” Cody agreed. ”All of us believe that you will definitely return.”
”You're a pretty tenacious fella,” Bu Fan added, much to my surprise. He didn't seem to care about my surprise, folding his arms and nodding gruffly in grudging respect. ”I doubt there's anything in this world that can kill you.”
That was most likely because I had plot armor, but that was beside the point.