Chapter 84 - Misunderstanding

It came to his mind that they have to come back to the Magical Cave where the Potassium Nitrate material can be found. However, he slowly shook his head as he refused to do his foolish idea.

In his opinion, there's a high chance that the Death March quest would repeat again and that would be really bad for them. Why? He just simply couldn't guarantee if he can escape again with hundred of monsters.

At this point, he was just hoping a cave or rock occurred that contained the materials they needed after they succeeded out of this volcano. Aside from that, he was worried about the place because the strong explosion that transpired could be the main reason to trigger this volcano to explode.

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To begin with, Emma was looking at Riku for the few minutes that had passed. She was worried about his condition as he was heavily breathing and had slow movements. Or to be exact, it looked at any moment Riku can't raise his legs again.

"Are you sure you want to continue this expedition, Riku? We can stay in a safe place for a while." She said in a worried, then immediately went closer to him after he suddenly lost his footing and stumbled. 

Luckily, Emma reached him at the exact time. She then wrapped his arm over her shoulders to assist him to walk out of this volcano.

"No, I'm good, Emma. We have to finish our job here and leave this place." He refused her suggestion as he knew he would be having a hard time creating land mines since it was the first time he was doing this.

He was weakened by the sunlight as its heat was penetrating inside his body even though his body was covered by a thick blanket. On top of that, the blanket was heating his body that producing a sweat that made him really exhausted.

"Why you kept refusing, Riku? We just arrive here and we didn't spend so much time! Also, we already get one of the materials you needed once we get the other one we can leave this place!" She said in a high tone as she noticed Riku's body was barely shivering, at the same time, the white blanket soaked his sweat.

"We don't have a lot of time to stay here-" He paused for a second as Emma was doing something that could hurt him and drain all of his health power.

Emma was removing the blanket that covered his body. It was the main reason why he strongly pushed her even though he didn't like to do that to her.

Thud!

She fell to the ground along with a shocked expression on her face. It seemed she didn't expect Riku could do that thing to him. She was dumbfounded for a couple of seconds.

Riku was blinking his eyes in confusion, regretting what he have done to her. But eventually, he immediately apologized to her so the situation didn't get worse. "I-I'm sorry, Emma, I didn't mean to do that." He stuttered, at the same time, helping her to regain her footing.

Slap!

However, Emma strongly slapped his hand as she was angry about what had happened between them. "If you don't want to rest, that's fine! But don't blame if there's something happens to you here!" She yelled, then angrily pushed herself into a stood-up position.

His hand stayed in the same place, seeing Emma was started to walk again. "H-Hey, Emma! Let me explain!" His voice echoed in the entire place, didn't notice because of that scene some of his strength suddenly recovered. 

He quickly chased her, trying to hold her arm to stop her. But, Emma had no intention to open up the conversation with him as she always swiped his hand.

"Come on, Emma! Listen to me, I didn't mean to do that to you! You know how much I respected you!" He was trying to convince her, yet, Emma pretended that she didn't hear anything as she proceeded to walk down.

The scenario continues like this until Emma heard something new for her ears.

Bam!

She was gradually looking behind her, seeing the man kneeling on the surface. First, she thought Riku already drained his strength, so she quickly went towards him to check his condition.

"Hey, Riku! What happens to you?!"

Since Riku's heading was pointing to the ground. She barely lifted it and saw his face had a broad smile. Of course, she was mad as she was literally worried about his condition, but that emotion easily faded after Riku strongly held his arm as she tried to escape from him once again.

"Come on, Emma! Listen to me. Yes, I admit that I pushed you but please hear my explanation why I did that to you." He said in a pitying tone in order to catch Emma's attention.

At this point, she couldn't do anything after this man grabbed her arm tightly, didn't like to give her an opening to escape. She angrily sighed while her brows were pointing to each other.

"Fine, but once I hear that there's something wrong with your explanation. I promised you that this is the last time that we are going to have an expedition. Also, I'm going to leave the Arzotoc village, I don't care if you had a lot of information about the monster or you're the last person who could use the [Transformation magic. Cause I don't stick with the people who can hurt someone when they are angry!" She said these words as she really meant it.

Moreover, Riku understood her reaction right now since he had no right to push someone that could cause an injury. "Again, Emma, I'm very sorry about what happened to us. But the thing here is, I can't remove my jacket if the sun hits us like this." Even though he didn't want to reveal his weakness to her. But what he could do? He can't take that going to leave him as Emma was the most valuable person from him in this world.

To put it simply, Emma was a skilled adventurer that could low and mid-level monsters, that was his opinion. Aside from Solomon, Emma was the one who knows about his black wings, and she helped him several times.

Her eyes were softened, wanting to hear some more from this man. Of course, she was shocked since the sun couldn't hurt him as long as he didn't try to move closer to it. "Huh? Are you kidding me, Riku? How's the sun can affect you? Also, the sun has a huge benefit in our world."

"But that's the truth, Emma! Do you see me walking outside without this blanket? It can hurt me and easily drained all the strength inside my body." He spits these words out of his mouth but based on Emma's reaction right now. He could easily tell she would not try to believe in him.

"That's enough, Riku. You are just making a story! I know the sun can drain some strength and let us feel mild heat, but that's not enough to hurt us." She said in an annoyed tone, then pushed herself into a stood up position as she wanted to come back into her kingdom and cancel this expedition.

At this point, Riku saw how Emma acting in front of him. Furthermore, he must show some evidence to prove that he wasn't lying to her.

She whirled around while hearing the sound of the garment tearing apart from her behind. She knew Riku was doing something, yet, she had no intention to know more about that as she started to stroll around. In her mind, she can go back to her kingdom without the help of that man's wings.

Creek! Creek! Creek

Arghhh!

And all of a sudden, there was a man who was groaning in pain, showing how his arm was easily burned by the sun. "L-Leave if you want to leave, b-but take a look at this!" He stammered as he was enduring the severe pain penetrating his skin.

As soon as she looked around. She saw smoke and how the sun burned Riku's arm in an instant. Of course, she was shocked didn't know what was exactly going on with him. But one thing she was sure that Riku was enduring the pain given by the sunlight.

Her eyes were widened but quickly charged towards her and used her body so that sunlight couldn't reach him. She noticed Riku's body was tremendous trembling, and also she immediately put back the white blanket that was lost to his arm.

At this juncture, she was certain Riku was saying the truth and found out that he had no intention to hurt her. Inside her mind, Riku just does that to project himself from this severe pain. At the same time, she was clueless about how the sun can deal so much damage to him.

"Riku, don't tell me that thing is a curse?"