Chapter 1156 (2/2)

“...he always urged me to change his last name to Ghosthound when I asked him,” Madelyn finally admitted. The lizard woman shook her head. “But… he would never tell me what his last name was.”

“...the funeral will be held tomorrow.” Naffur’s eyes swept through the tired and cold grouping in front of him. Although the rain was loud, it couldn’t drown out his words. “I’ll make some calls to find out who he was so his family will have the opportunity to pay their respects. The rest of you… the promotion ceremony will happen immediately after the funeral. So take some time to decompress and really face what you are feeling right now.

“The other applicants will be there. If any of you choose to step down, someone will take your place. There is no shame in choosing to go another way. Because make no mistake,” Naffur reached up and pushed his soaked hair away from his eyes. “This is exactly the Path of the Order Ducis. We walk the lonely Paths to fight the hidden horrors of our Earth.”

Naffur turned away but was stopped when Valor spoke. “Didn’t you say there were two Raid Bosses we needed to take care of? We can still-”

“No,” This time, Ajax stepped forward with his arms crossed. “The battlefield is not the place to work through your emotions. Go back to your tents. Head into Kharon proper, get a drink. Heal. Vengeance can wait until you know what you will do next.”

One by one, they drifted away. Vye simply stood, her skin long numbed by the rain. Some part of her brain argued that her Vitality should make such a small temperature difference irrelevant, but Vye felt so very, very cold.

It was only when she saw the form of Garrett move that a hint of life returned to her eyes. Garrett, who had been one of her first friends who had entered into the Order Ducis, whose deep suspicion toward Randidly Ghosthound had driven him to investigate the Order that was based on the Ghosthound’s prestige.

Garrett, who Vye had been able to learn had a history with a woman who dated Randidly before he was the Ghosthound. Her name was Tessa, and it seemed to Vye that Garrett still loved her deeply.

After Garrett had been rather harsh and demanding in their confrontation in an alley, Vye had been much more distant. Their previous friendship had slowly starved itself to nothing. But it seemed that distance had reinvigorated Garrett’s desire to be a part of the Order Ducis. Over the past six months, he had given all of his energy in order to make it into the top ten, making it to the 9th spot in the applicants.

Yet even so, as Garrett stared at the ground, Vye’s heart trembled at the terrible cloak of guilt that hung over him.

Because it had been then, in the depth of the Slime cavern, that Garrett was the weakest of the ten and the one who was slowly pushed back by the high-Level slime lieutenants. To the point that he has sustained a deep blow to his leg and was hobbled. Without mobility, he was forced to endure blows that were far beyond the ability of his Endurance to cope with.

And as the slimes circled like sharks, and as Vye, Valor, and the others could just watch with abject horror, someone had broken out of their encirclement.

Laughing wildly, Aldo had descended like a vengeful god wreathed in golden and green fire. He smashed aside the slime that tried to slow him down and seemed unstoppable as he arrived at Garrett’s side. Perhaps sensing the change, the slimes had shifted into larger forms and tried to simply overwhelm Aldo.

Aldo was not overwhelmed.

The memories parted as Vye found herself face to face with her small tent. Sighing, she walked out of the rain and laid down on her bed without removing her wet clothes. Small drops of water began to slowly run down her sides to congregate on her lower back, causing persistent itches. Yet Vye didn’t move. She could still hear Aldo’s voice.

“To be the heroes worthy of carrying on the Ghosthound’s mantle… none of us can die in a dingy place like this!”

Three slime lieutenants had rushed Aldo. Two had been killed in the furiously fast three seconds of violent clashes that followed. Then, as Aldo had knocked the final one back and he was raising his fists to crush this slime’s desperate final attack… Aldo had slipped.

His barefoot had slipped.

The slime-covered stone beneath his feet caused him to slip. The moment had been burned into Vye’s retinas. They had fought too long and too hard, underneath too harsh of a teacher in Ajax, not to understand what was happening. Aldo probably understood it too, after he slipped. It was almost uncommonly unlucky.

Not just that he slipped, but that he happened to slip just enough that the slime’s desperate attack became deadly.

The slime’s counterattack had hit him directly in the heart, obliterating the organ immediately. As he died, Aldo’s mouth was open and smiling. He didn’t flinch, even without a heart. After a preternatural adjustment of his skewered body, his fist continued forward and smashed through the slime to kill it.

Vye shivered. She had Rejected what had happened immediately, but it had been too late.

Killing the Raid Boss felt hollow. They had paid too dear a price for one monster.