I was shocked silly by her answer.
Oh my god! Not a week, but three months?
How could that even make any sense?!
W-wait a second. Did that mean I was basically a vegetable this whole time…?
“Could it be that I’ve been sitting on this… ‘chair’ for three months?”
“That is indeed so.”
The little Elf girl nodded her head as if it was the most obvious thing ever. Hell, I could even spot pride in her expression!
Jesus, they’re all insane!
No wonder I couldn’t move my body at all. Besides, since my head was leaning to one side and got stuck there, it made it seriously uncomfortable.
What a mystery it was that I was still even alive.
“My brain can’t really compute what’s being said here. So, like, let me get this straight. I sat here, like this, in this same position for the last three months? What about food?”
Tina responded, “We helped you drink holy water during every breakfast, lunch, and supper time.”
But I was asleep! How could I even drink anything?!
She must’ve read my mind or something because Tina quickly continued to clear up the air, “When we dripped some on your lips, you instinctively began drinking the holy water, Lord Angel.”
Hmm, could that be the reason for my vocal cords functioning properly, at least?
“…What about my, uh, nature’s calls?”
My questions caused a troubled expression to form on Tina’s face. “We’re not certain whether it’s because you’re Lord Angel or not, but you had no need for that.”
Well, that’s a relief, at least.
Since I hadn’t eaten anything, I figured that my body had no need to expel anything out, either. As for the holy water, it must’ve broken down as soon as entering my body and was used up for my healing process.
The skeletons carried holy water over to my position, poured it on me, and began massaging the stiff body parts. At the same time, I used divinity to reinforce my physique.
Along with the stinging sensation coming from my affected body parts, my stiff muscles and bones were gradually loosening up. It looked like I’d have to toil away for the next few days and try to retrain all of my muscles back to working order.
Now that some stability had been achieved, this pang of hunger suddenly sneaked up on me out of nowhere.
“I wish to eat some food.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Food.”
Tina dazedly stared at me before nodding her head. “Understood. I shall have some ready for you right away.”
She bowed deeply and walked backwards away from me, then started climbing down the altar altogether.
Thankfully, she didn’t seem to be a threat to my health. I figured it’d be good to take my time and speak to her. After getting something in my stomach first, of course.
I wanted to find out exactly where we were, plus what had transpired in the last three months.
**
Inside one of Aslan’s ancient ruins.
A man in his early to mid forties was walking down a narrow passageway.
Above him in the air was a ball of light made out of divinity, illuminating his surroundings.
“Can I really find what I’m looking for in here?”
This man had been wandering around the continent for the past ten years. He had already travelled to the kingdom of knights, Lome, the kingdom of magic, Aihrance, plus many others. However, the one person he had been searching for until now couldn’t be found in any of them.
Could it be that he was chasing a ghost again this time too?
“…Those stinking Vampire bastards, they can’t be making a fool of me, right?”
The man tutted unhappily.
He continued traversing the narrow passageway for a little while longer, but then, the spot his foot stepped on suddenly sunk lower to the floor.
“Huh?”
The man flinched and froze up on the spot before casting his gaze below. And with a face of someone who had stepped on a live landmine, he cautiously looked back.
He could hear something large making a racket from somewhere behind him.
Could it be…?
The source of the noise turned out to be a humongous boulder.
It was quickly rolling down on the narrow passageway and heading towards him.
That thing seemed to be constructed out of a combination of forged steel and another metal called ‘Eltera’, which possessed resistance to magic. It’d be a tall order to shatter it with divinity alone.
“That’s a bit too much, isn’t it?!”
The man hurriedly ran forward from there.
Unfortunately, every floor panel he inadvertently stepped on seemed to trigger some other types of traps; the ground suddenly caved in and arrows even began flying out from holes in the ceiling.
However, the man dodged them with plenty of room to spare. He continued running down the passageway.
Divinity reinforced his body and enhanced his vision at the same time. What his improved eyes saw next were hundreds of glowing eyeballs and dozens upon dozens of hairy legs hidden within the darkness of the narrow passageway.
They belonged to poisonous spiders with huge fangs, each as big as a grown man’s head.
“More traps, is it?! Those bloody Vampire bastards!”
When the man snapped his fingers, dozens of light swords created out of divinity materialised in the air. The shining swords shot forward simultaneously and utterly massacred the poisonous spiders blocking his path.
While barely managing to stay several steps ahead of the metal boulder behind him, he stared at the final exit over yonder as the walls on either side of the passageway began closing in.
‘Seriously, it’s one thing after another!’
He quickly passed through the passageway as if sliding on ice.
The boulder crashed and stopped at the entrance, plugging it up.
After the man tumbled into an expansive hallway, he spat out a groan of relief before standing back up. However, once he saw how the interior of the hall sparkled so brightly, he ended up letting out an exclamation of admiration.
“This is a mountain of treasures, alright.”
Treasures were strewn about practically everywhere. Gold and silver, jewels of various shapes, sizes, and colours, and even countless magic stones were forming several small hills.
And perhaps inevitably, there was a ‘guardian’ looking after all of these as well.
The man turned and raised his head towards the direction where that stabbing glare was coming from.
It belonged to a massive lifeform at least ten metres tall and twenty-five metres in length. Its back, head, and even the rest of its torso were covered in hard, armour-like shells.
Its belly was covered in scales while it had a pair of bat-like wings on the back; a pair of horns resembling a crown could be found on the creature’s head.
This large Black Dragon stared at the small human while its lengthy tongue flicked in and out of its maw.
“…And now it’s a dragon, too? Those damn Vampires, they’re trying really hard to get me killed, aren’t they?”
The Black Dragon clamped its maw shut all of a sudden. But then, its throat and cheeks began ballooning up. Licks of crimson flames leaked out from its maw.
It was the Dragon’s Breath.
That was dangerous. That wasn’t something this man could handle!
“I gotta work my butt off every single time, don’t I?!”
The man quickly waved his hand around. Dozens of light swords generated in the air above before stabbing into the dragon’s body. Its hard shell split apart and the swords suppressed the Black Dragon’s body underneath.
The creature issued a horrifying screech. But even then, the dragon’s eyes continued glowing red and it opened its maw wide. The gathered flames swirled crazily like a tornado inside its mouth. It seemed like the Black Dragon hadn’t given up on its prey yet.
In that case…!
“Oh, the god of abundance, Tomer!”
The man offered a prayer.
A massive spear of light materialised in his hand.
Just as the dragon prepared to fire its Breath, the man finished his prayer first and immediately threw the nearly two metres-long spear with everything he had.
The air around them expanded.
The spear created by compressing an incredible amount of divinity stabbed straight into the dragon’s chest. Its scales exploded and a spray of blood rained down everywhere.
That had to be a fatal wound. Even if it was a mighty dragon, this attack should be…!
Madness began dyeing the dragon’s eyes. As if it was enraged even further now, the dragon glared at the man and opened its maw much wider.
…It seemed that his attack was slightly lacking in the firepower department.
“Well, even if it’s me, fighting a dragon is a bit…”
The man tutted unhappily and quickly scanned his surroundings. He eventually spotted what seemed to be the only exit in this place.
He hurriedly dashed over there while continuously creating more swords of light to stab the Black Dragon’s body.
With its hard shell being blown apart by the swords, bits of scales were flung about everywhere. Although the Black Dragon writhed in pain, it still did not give up on its prey.
The man leaped and slid into the narrow exit-like opening on the wall, and at the same time, the dragon spat out its Breath. A humongous ball of flames exploded out and scorched this tiny entrance before breaking the structure down.
Meanwhile, the man kept running and running for some more. Once he saw the lone glimmer of light coming from the exit, he literally threw himself at it.
Belatedly, the exit exploded in a fiery blast and the stones crumbled down behind him, The man tumbled down on the outer surface of the ancient ruin which resembled a pyramid until he hit the ground below.
“Fuu-woo…”
He shook his head and dusted the sand away from his clothes and hair. After staring back at the ancient ruin, he tutted softly.
‘Looks like it’s a bust this time, too.’
The man stood back up on his feet.
His name was White Olfolse. He was, once upon a time, the Crown Imperial Prince of the Theocratic Empire, a man who had actually ascended to the throne. And currently, while roaming the width and breadth of the continent, he…
“Just where are you, my son?”
…He was also a traveller searching for his missing son.
“Where should I go this time?”
He clicked his tongue and then pulled out a map.
There were no more places left to go. And he didn’t have enough information either.
He really couldn’t help it, though. The kingdom of Aslan was currently rather unstable at the moment. Not only that, he recently came across a piece of news saying that his father, Kelt Olfolse, was rampaging around recklessly as well.
For the time being, he should stop by at this kingdom’s capital, and then…
“It’s been a while, so should I head back home?”
He thought he should stop by at the Theocratic Empire and calm his irate father down.
He tutted again and began walking away.
< 066. New Fate -2 (Part One and Two) > Fin.