Chapter 163 - Another... Me?

Leon and Osric both seemed a little surprised as their eyes widened ever so slightly. But they didn't say anything. After a bit of digging, I felt someone more solid. I pulled it out and was greeted with what looked like a tiny blue bean.

I inspected it.

"Mm. Got it."

Leon's eyes lit up.

"Wow, you noticed they had lifeforce within them so quickly?"

I shrugged my shoulders.

"Yeah."

Osric furrowed his brows.

"...I thought you said there was nothing valuable here."

Leon laughed.

"Did you not hear him earlier? He can create something very similar all the time. Of course they aren't valuable in his eyes."

Osric nodded.

"Ah... then if we were to decide who gets it, surely he doesn't need one, right?"

I rolled my eyes.

"There are two more plant monsters over there for you to take from. That way, we each get one."

Osric looked over, then hurriedly rushed towards the nearest one. As for Leon, he casually walked up to the last one.

They both killed the plant monsters without a single ounce of hesitation or mercy. Then, they retrieved their respective blue beans.

Leon came back and turned to me.

"Is that all for this section?"

I nodded.

"Pretty much."

With that, I led us to the place with the crying kid. As we walked down the halls, Osric had his head down inspecting his blue bean. On the other hand, Leon turned to me with a curious expression.

"There are quite a few cracks lined across these walls. Is that anything to be concerned about?"

I tilted my head to the side.

"Maybe."

Leon blinked a few times.

"I see."

We eventually arrived at a lamppost in the middle of the room. There was a wind that sounded like a wail, circulating around in the room. And in the middle of the lamppost, was a flickering blue light.

I turned to look at the others.

"I think I can do something with this. You can stand back if you wish."

Osric hesitated for a moment, then cleared his throat.

"I shall come with. After all... you shouldn't be left alone as there might be something dangerous."

Leon shrugged his shoulders.

"This place is quite interesting. I see no reason to not explore further."

I nodded.

"Alright."

The only reason I said that was to save them from walking forward pointlessly. It wasn't that big of a deal.

As we got closer, the wind similarly got stronger. As for the sound, it gradually became the cries of a baby. I found that it was a little hard to resist the wind, as my body wasn't fully suited to this.

I used the growing spell to create another black fruit and ate it. Leon noticeably raised an eyebrow when he saw me do this, but didn't say anything. The effect of the fruit was immediately apparent, as it was no longer difficult for me to resist the wind.

Though the uncomfortable overly full feeling came back.

The light from the lamppost began to flicker. As we got closer, it began flickering faster.

Until eventually, the blue light brightened considerably, until I couldn't see anything.

My vision gradually refocused on the situation at hand. I saw myself in a small room of white walls and a small black pedestal with a baby on top. The baby was flailing its limbs and crying, but that was reasonable as it had several deep scars across its body.

Suddenly, I remembered what would happen if I reached out towards the baby. A hallway would form, then I would have to strain myself heavily just to step forward.

I took a deep breath, bracing myself.

Then, my hand reached out towards the baby. It froze, unable to move any further. The crying kept getting louder, hurting my mind. Then, the pedestal and the baby warped, before appearing ahead of me.

Shrugging off the painful pressure that appeared, I immediately took a step forward. That was when I heard a cry of pain.

It was my voice.

But I could've sworn I didn't do it.

I turned around to see a figure made of ethereal black dust. It had a crown, cape, and even a wooden stake in its hand.

It was my figure.

A gaping black void pulled at the figure, forcefully distorting the ethereal black dust before swallowing it whole. Seeing this made me quite anxious, prompting me to begin running forward.

...But that was when I realized there was no pressure.

In fact, there wasn't even any force trying to pull me back.

I took one more glance back to see that while the void was there, it was still.

What just happened?

I looked down at my own body to see that it was composed of ethereal black dust, just like the other figure. After a bit of hesitation, I walked towards the baby.

It was still crying loudly and it was still quite painful.

Upon reaching the pedestal, the baby suddenly stopped crying and turned to me. Its eyes were wide open and even its mouth. The baby was shocked.

It pointed at me.

"Bah! Bah, bah?"

I scratched the back of my head.

"What?"

The baby swung around the finger he used to point at me.

"Bah!"

A bitter smile formed on my face.

"I can't understand."

I took a step forward. But that made the baby freak out more, calling out louder and swinging his finger around.

It seemed... afraid.

I raised my hands up.

"Hey, hey! I don't mean anything bad. Don't you want to get out of here? I can carry you out."

The baby fell silent.

After a few moments, it slowly nodded, but still seemed to be filled with distrust.

A soft sigh escaped me.

"Alright, let's get you out of there."

I cradled the baby and walked back down the pathway. Upon reaching the void, I took a step through it.

...

The light was blinding, making me cover my eyes. That was when I heard a voice.

"What do you mean?"

I shook my head, then looked towards the voice. It was Leon. He was walking forward, then stopped to turn towards me.

"Is there something wrong?"

I shook my head.

"Ah, no."

Leon raised an eyebrow.

"Then why did you stop walking?"

I blinked a few times.

"Huh? I was walking?"

I looked around to see that we were in the middle of the hallway.

...This wasn't where I remember being.

"What is happening?"

Leon looked at me strangely.

"Well, you were telling us about the last pathway. You said that the ground will fall when we step on it, so I should use my earth magic to get across. Then, you said we would be able to meet the man behind all this, both dead and alive."

I furrowed my brows.

"I..."

A chill swept over me.

"I said all that?"

Osric raised an eyebrow.

"What? It's not exactly profane, I don't see the problem."

I rubbed my temple with the palm of my hand.

"I just... don't remember it happening."

I turned around to see a pale blue light following us. It kept quite the distance, probably not trusting me.

The other two turned around as well. Leon let out an interested hum.

"Since when was that thing following us?"

Osric rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger.

"Is it alive?"

The pale blue light backed off more.

A soft sigh escaped me.

"It's basically a baby. The reason it's that far back is that it probably doesn't trust us."

I shook my head.

"But more than that, I very clearly don't remember doing all that."

Leon blinked a few times.

"If that really is the case, you may have some sort of memory disease."

I covered my forehead with my hand frustratedly.

"Whatever, I will just think about it later."

Osric turned to me.

"So were all those things you said before false?"

I shook my head.

"No, no they were true. At the end of the hallway is some resurrection magic type thing. We can make the original person come back to life and all that."

Osric furrowed his brows.

"Is that... a bad idea?"

Leon laughed.

"Most likely. However, it is far too interesting to pass up, no?"

Osric rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger.

"And we are not weak individuals."

He shrugged his shoulders.

"Witnessing something as grand as a resurrection would make this quite an exciting trip."

A chuckle escaped me.

"Then let's get to it."

Once we reached the initial place we entered, I walked down the last pathway. It was covered in sand and caused my feet to sink. Eventually, the ground caved in, making me fall.

But I just teleported out, landing back on solid ground.

The pathway quickly fell down, becoming an empty void.

Leon raised an eyebrow.

"That would be quite the scare for most."

I nodded.

"Yeah. Anyways, it's your turn."

Leon chuckled.

"Alright then."

And now.... I began devising a plan.