Chapter 181 181: Making poor decisions

Things were going well. They had the dwarf in their hands and Aurora was dealing with the problems their group might be facing in the future.

It was all going exceptionally well. And this was enough for Natasha to get concerned.

As it stood, their group’s record of staying out of trouble was not that good. It was about time something happened to ruin their progress.

“Ouch. That little shit bit me and ran away. I will kill that dwarf once I get my hands on it.”

And there it was. It happened just as Natasha expected something to go wrong. Somehow, the dwarf had managed to escape Rita’s clutches and now they were one companion short.

“Don’t worry so much about the dwarf, Rita. We don’t need it to show us the way anymore. You should treat your bleeding first so that it doesn’t get infected.”

Natasha took Rita’s hand in her own to observe the wound she had suffered. The bleeding wasn’t excessive, and the cut wasn’t particularly deep.

This much could still be taken care of with ease.

“Darn. This happened only because my body is human right now. I wish I could return to my original unsealed state. Then I would not have let that dwarf go.”

Natasha listened to Rita cursing but she no longer consoled her. Rita needed to understand that she could not pick and choose her battle right now.

She needed to calm down and avoid creating trouble.

“The dwarf bit you hard. I’ll use a healing potion on you so sit tight.”

Natasha took out the remaining potion she had. She only had one left so she will have to ask Aurora for more.

Natasha had no idea where Aurora kept procuring these potions but Natasha would not look a gifted horse in the mouth.

“Does this feel better?”

Thankfully, though the wound was severe, it wasn’t fatal. Additionally, there was some superficial bleeding, but nothing of importance had been hit.

“Much better. Thanks for the treatment and I’ll pay you back for it later. For now, I have a dwarf to catch.”

“Rita, wait! Don’t chase after the dwarf…..”

Natasha’s warning fell on deaf ears. It seemed like Aurora had no intention of listening to her at all.

‘She’s as stubborn as ever. I should have expected her not to listen to me at all.’

Natasha sighed but she decided to follow after Rita. the redhead had already dared to cross the threshold of the forest.

‘Aurora will kill us once she finds us inside the forest. I hope we’ll be able to calm her down in time and get her to listen to us.’

Natasha knew it was not a good idea to ignore Aurora’s warning and enter the forbidden area. She had heard the stories about this place from other people.

But she could not leave Rita alone in that place. She had to brave her soul and look death in the face.

===========================

“You.Little.Shit. Come back here and face your punishment.”

Rita ran after the dwarf. She had the advantage of her system which showed her where the dwarf was running.

The little thing was fast but not fast enough to outrun a human’s leg. It did not take long for Rita to catch up to the little dwarf.

“Y-You? Why did you enter this place? Do you not value your life?”

The dwarf sounded stunned to see Rita follow after him. It was amusing to see the dwarf so out of it currently.

“What? You were the one who decided to run away. I am just chasing you to bring you back.”

Rita huffed as she tried to catch her breath. She had pushed her human stamina a little too hard and now her body was paying the price.

Lake Variety had a strange atmosphere surrounding it. It was making it difficult for Rita to breathe properly and her body also felt heavy.

‘Darn this seal. I would not be feeling like this if I had my powers.’

Had it not been for Aurora’s sake, Rita would have never agreed to seal her powers up. Living without powers made one feel too miserable.

“In all my years as a guide, I have never seen humans such as you. Just what did I do to get stuck with fools like you all? I don’t want to die because of you so leave me alone.”

The dwarf was not yelling yet but its voice held fear. Had Rita been a better person, she would have stopped to ask him why he was so fearful.

But the current Rita did not care about anyone’s feelings but Aurora’s and her companions. The dwarf did not matter to her.

“Unfortunately, you do not get a choice to leave us like this. You are coming back with me, whether you like it or not.”

The dwarf tried to dodge Rita’s hand but it was unable to. Rita had too fast reflexes and too much experience in her current body. That dwarf never stood a chance at all.

“Let me go. You will doom us all. Let me go.”

The dwarf was too noisy so Rita chose to forcefully quieten it.

Too bad, she was not able to do it in time before the dwarf’s struggles attracted the attention of nearby monsters.

Rita tensed as soon as she felt the corrupted energy come near her. It was similar to Aurora’s but it had a sharper edge to it.

It was suffocating but it clung to the person who had suddenly appeared in front of the duo.

“Ohhh, what do we have here? Another sacrifice? Why you shouldn’t have walked to your death.”

The corruption was dense. It was choking Rita by just being near it but was a silver lining in this situation.

Rita’s current human nature prevented her from being a victim of this corruption. No matter what happened, she would not be affected by this energy.

And since she would not be affected by this energy, she still had a chance to get away and find Aurora.

“Hey, where are you looking? Are you thinking of running away? Do not even t