Chapter 335 - Recovery

Mercury stirred, then he opened his eyes he felt entirely drained and wanted very much to continue sleeping, a shame he had to get up and out of bed

"Ugh…."

Mercury rolled over on his back and looked into the ceiling of the tent for a bit before he set himself up and then got out of bed, after getting out of bed he washed his face with some water that stood in a tray before he got dressed and walked out of the tent. Outside the camp had begun to clear up, it had been two days since Mercury had declared that there were no more survivors in Ode, people had been stopping by to say their thanks to Mercury in the past two evenings before they left to restart their lives at relatives or try their luck in distant cities, they appeared happy to leave the nightmare behind and start anew… Well, most people at least…

Mercury looked to the side over at the tent where Naila had been staying the past 12 days, she was grieving still

'It's about time… First I should check up on Marie's progress…'

Mercury walked towards the outskirts of the camp and found Marie and Julia, Marie was slowly walking around a tree while holding onto it, her legs were shaking and her forehead was covered in sweat, Mercury stood and watched her from a distance for a bit as to not disturb her concentration, she walked around the tree a couple of times before she tried to make it to another tree, however she stumbled and was caught by Julia that had been following closely after her, Julia asked her

"Why don't you take a break, Marie?"

Marie shook her head slightly before she attempted to get on her feet again, Mercury sighed and approached them, then he flicked Marie's forehead

"Ouch!"

"You know you won't make any progress when you get stubborn like this"

Marie rubbed her forehead looking slightly resentful as she sat down on the ground again, Mercury sighed and sat down next to her before he gave her a quick kiss, Julia sat down on the other side of Mercury and for a bit the three of them sat in silence before Julia spoke

"So… What's the plan?"

Mercury thought for a bit before he began speaking

"Well… For now, it's simple"

Julia nodded before she began speaking while counting on her fingers

"First we need to get Marie mobile, then we return to Ingrid… And then what? We enter enemy territory and find out how exactly Mercury's body is a weapon?"

Mercury nodded

"Yeah, but you missed one thing… We're going to need a guide"

"Ah… Well, I think we'll leave that up to you Mercury"

Marie nodded before she spoke

"Just don't charm her completely"

"I am not going to charm her… Have some faith in me… I am going to piss her off and possibly get beaten in the process"

Darkness… Darkness enveloped everything around her, she felt tormented by the darkness but at the same time the thought of stepping out of the darkness was not something that occurred to her, after all, that would mean forsaking her dear brother Terak

"Brother…"

As twins, the two of them had grown up together, trained together, and supported each other through the years, the only reason why she had made it as an active mana armor smith was because of her brother Terak, while the Wasim clan was a worrier clan that might seem tightly knit it was an ancient one at that, branch families were vying for power and there were limited seats at the old active mana armor smiths lectures

"Terak…"

She curled up on the bedding and closed her eyes. She wanted very much to sleep, sleep so that she could see her dear brother Terak again, that was how she spent her time, sleeping…

"Man, it really smells in here"

Naila woke up with a set when the voice sounded out inside the tent, while she woke up with a twitch she didn't turn around and pretended to be asleep still, the owner of the voice was of course Mercury that spoke again after a brief pause

"It really does smell in here… You wonder what it smells like right..?"

"..."

"Of course you do, because you don't smell it, you've been laying in it for the past 12 days, after all, It's the smell of defeat"

"..."

"And here I thought that I had gotten some reliable servants… Guess I should have left you in the debris… Together with your brother"

"...up"

"Hmm? What was that?

"Shut up…"

"Ah… The howls of a defeated wolf, how nostalgic, Hey can't you at least put some spirit into it?"

"Shut up"

"There it is, why don't you howl for me some more? Oh, that's right, you can't do that without your brother either, pathetic---"

"SHUT UP!"

Naila jumped from her bed with a spin, she used the momentum of her spin to launch a kick at Mercury that took the kick plainly on the chin without flinching as he continued

"Oh, so now you're angry? I thought you couldn't be angry without your dear brother to spur you on?"

"SHUT UP!"

Mercury suddenly roared

"No, I won't shut up! You act nothing like the proud warrior I had taken you for, instead of taking revenge or honoring your brother's memory you lay here and sob all day! Who knows what your brother would say if he saw you like this, pathetic!"

"SHUT UP, SHUT UP!"

Naila kicked and punched Mercury that stood unmoving, blocking a few of her attacks while letting the rest land on himself

"Are you angry? Are you frustrated? Then be angry, be frustrated! Do something! Instead of just wasting your life away!"

Naila heaved for breath as she asked

"What… Should… I… Do..?"

Looking at Naila that now had broken down in tears Mercury heaved a sigh before he spoke

"Why don't we avenge your brother?"

"Revenge..?"

Mercury paused before he sighed again and asked

"Meteor showers aren't normal around here right?"

"No..?"

"And who just happened to have found a set of ancient superweapons lying around?"

Naila's eyes went cold as she pieced this together, then she muttered

"Unforgivable…"

"That's right… though before you run off and die in a ditch somewhere I have a proposal for you, well it requires that we make our way into that hellscape again, what do you say?"

Naila nodded after some consideration

The two of them made their way into the ruined city again, along the way they passed people morning their losses and people digging through the ruins for lost wealth, soon they reached the center of the former city, Mercury entered a hole in the ground and entered the temple that was buried under the rubble, Naila followed after him and looked around curiously before she asked

"Mercury… Why are we at the temple?"

"Hmm..? Oh to meet someone"

Mercury walked along the hallways of the temple, thankfully most of the temple was built like a bunker and was underground so it was mostly intact, Mercury had saved a lot of people that had been trapped inside the temple so he knew his way around this particular temple well, soon he arrived at the section with the best prayer rooms and stepped inside with Naila following after him

"Close the door would you?"

"Sure…"

Naila looked around the inside of the prayer room while Mercury walked up and put his hand on the crystal ball

[SUBJECT #5 CONFIRMED, REQUEST DESCEND?]

"Mercury… what's that voice?"

Mercury ignored Naila and spoke

"Yes"

[DESCEND REQUEST CONFIRMED, PRESENCE OF MORTAL CONFIRMED, SMITE Y/N?]

"...No"

[CONFIRMED, POWERING ISLANTION BARRIER… COMPLETE, STARTING DIAL-UP… DIAL-UP CONFIRMED, RECEIVING TOKEN… TOKEN #27 CONFIRMED, STARTING DESCEND…]

Naila shuddered slightly then she looked towards the avatar on the altar before she began to shake, then she quickly kneeled down and lowered her head as the avatar set itself up and looked around before it spoke

[Wazzup Mercury~? Oh… I see you brought a mortal...]

Mercury noted that Party's voice was especially cold when she spoke the word mortal, it wasn't disdain, it was an almost alien detachment that was clear in her voice, Mercury spoke after choosing his words wisely

"Should I not have brought her here?"

[No, you should not… You are different from the mortals Mercury, you are a living god]

"I know that"

[And still, you brought her?]

"Yeah"

The avatar looked into Mercury's eyes for a while before it let out a sigh and spoke in a much more lax tone

[Well you're still young Mercury, you'll learn at some point~]

Mercury showed a smile and nodded

"That I will… Though a few days ago I experienced something I bet you never have"

[Oh really~?]

"Yeah, I experienced a meteor shower up close"

[hahaha~… ha… Wait, you're not joking?]

"Nope"

"Nope afraid not, why don't you take a peek around the city that used to be Ode..?"

The avatar's eyes went blank for a bit before they returned to normal, then Mercury felt the temperature in the room lower a few degrees

[Hoh~ A weapon from the age of the dragon council… Guess I didn't see it wrong after all… Why don't we take a stroll Mercury?~]