CH 36

Chapter 36 – To the Island of Lost Souls (3)

“Ahhhhh!”

From the moment we entered the temple till now, the elves were disappearing from the various traps that were installed inside. 

“Entering here was only the first step.”

The elf that saw an elf right next to him disappear murmured with a pale face.

“I..I cannot continue any longer!”

In the end, there were some elves who decided to run away.

“Hey….I’ll go with you!”

When one ran away, more and more followed.

“Scaredy-cats.”

I just looked at them pathetically.

“We don’t need guys like them. Don’t we have a long way to go?”

The only one who was advancing without running away was Bonnie.

“Let’s take a little break.”

I sat right onto the floor.

“You want to rest here? This place is filled with traps!”

Andrew looked at me questionably, as if he was tired of all the traps.

“I only need a little bit of rest. Let’s just rest until they come back.”

Andrew seemed confused.

“They are coming back?”

Then as soon as he finished speaking, I could hear hurried footsteps.

“What, I thought you guys said that you are leaving!”

The elves who ran for their lives to the exit ran back for their lives.

“Huh?”

“What the? Why are we back here?”

“No way! We definitely ran towards the entrance!”

The elves looked around with shocked faces. 

“Ahhhhh!”

One of the elves screamed and ran back to the entrance, but….

“He’s back.”

He returned again to his starting point.

“We are all going to die here.”

The elves plopped on the floor and murmured with half of their souls gone.

“Useless idiots. Shut up and follow along! You call yourselves elves?”

Bonnie looked at the elves pathetically and mentioned the pride of elves.

“Ye…yeah…I mean, there’s even a bunny and a human here.”

As if poking their pride had an effect, the others managed to get up again and got ready to move. 

“…After everything, I need to kill them all.”

As if I was the only one who heard Bonnie’s remark, all the rest marched forward in silence.

“Hmm?”

Andrew held out his hand instead of going forward.

“I will help you up.”

I stared at his hands blankly. I would have gotten up myself, but

“Thanks.”

I thought it would be rude to refuse a hand.

“But there’s a lot of traps here. Is the heart of my mom really that dangerous?”

Andrew laughed.

“Isn’t that right, Aris?”

I nodded at his question. 

“Yes, it sure is a terribly dangerous thing.”

Then Andrew’s face turned into ‘my assumption was right.’

“I bet. Let’s go.”

I could tell what Andrew was thinking looking at him from behind. He probably wanted to ask how I know all this stuff. Still, I didn’t know what that last face he made was.

“It’s all done!”

When we reached the front after going through all the booby traps, the surviving elves cheered in relief. 

“We are here, right?”

Andrew asked again.

There was another giant door in front of us. The elves looked at Andrew again, and Andrew placed his hands on the door as I instructed him.

Krrrrrooom!

When Andrew’s hands touched the door, the inside of the temple that was hidden finally surfaced.

“What the?”

“Is that a spring?”

Bonnie also carefully looked around the place.

“Look over there.”

Everyone’s eyes turned to where my fingers pointed, the altar in the center of the stream.

“A casket?”

There was a spectacularly made casket on top of the altar. That altar must have the heart of the Ice Queen.

“So that’s where the heart of that evil Ice Queen is.”

Bonnie pointed to the elves to cross the waterway.

“What if it’s another trap?”

The elves, who had been tricked many times, hesitated.

“It’s shallow, and there’s nothing inside.”

As Bonnie said, the water was clear and shallow enough to see right through. There were no visible traps, nor a single fish. 

“Sitll….”

The elves were still doubtful.

“Then, the cool captain over here and take the lead.”

I suggested that Bonnie go first.

“Me?”

Bonnie frowned as he looked at me.

I should just throw this bunny here into the water.”

Bonnie reached out his hands to grab me, so I backed away and smiled.

“What? Are you saying that a brave elf like you is scared?”

As Bonnie did earlier to the other elves, I picked on his pride.

“Scared? Bonnie Briehard is scared?”

Ah, that was too easy. Stupid earsy.

“I don’t understand why you would be afraid of such a small spring”

Bonnie stood in front of the spring shaking his head.

“What are you waiting for?”

I wanted Bonnie to go a little further. Into the spring. 

“I mean, I have no reason to wet my shoes.”

But Bonnie looked at Andrew after coming up with an excuse.

“Freeze this spring.”

Andrew blinked and then looked at me.

“Can I do that?”

I was a bit disappointed, but I nodded as if I was fine with everything.

“Yes, allow him.”

Then Andrew looked at Bonnie, impressed.

“What a smart captain! If I didn’t want my shoes to get wet, then I would have removed them and walked right in!”

Bonnie frowned again, as if he understood me criticizing him.

“If you speak once more, I will cook you in boiling water.”

“Heeek.”

Because Bonnie acted scary, I pretended to get scared by cramming my body.

“You may begin.”

Bonnie looked at Andrew, and Andrew froze the surface, being pushed to the corner. We were able to walk on top.

“Let’s go. There better be a heart inside.”

As Bonnie gave the signal, all the elves followed Bonnie to the altar. 

“Aris, what are you thinking?”

Andrew whispered into my ears.

“What do you mean? I am thinking of finding the heart.”

“Then that guy will take the heart. Shouldn’t we stop him now?”

I shook my head.

“There’s no need to hurry.”

“What?”

I could have told him why, but I thought it would be more fun to hide it. So, I just ended my sentence and followed Bonnie.

“Good job, bunny and the son of the Ice Queen dude.”

Bonnie, who stepped onto the altar before us, spread his arms as if he was welcoming.

“Right? Aren’t you thankful?”

Andrew and I walked up to the altar. In front was a scary curse written as ‘the one who opens this casket, shall live forever as two on this island.’

“It says that you become two. What should we do?”

The elves again looked at Bonnie with anxious faces.

“There’s no need for us to do it ourselves. This guy will open it.”

Bonnie looked at Andrew.

“Do we really have to open this casket?”

Andrew didn’t seem to like the idea of doing Bonnie a favor.

“If you don’t, we don’t have a choice.”

Bonnie took me as hostage.

“Hmm?”

I expected this of him, but it was earlier than I thought.

“What the?!”

Andrew was about to use his magic.

“If you use magic, this bunny will die first.”

Bonnie threatened Andrew. Andrew snorted.

“I don’t care if you kill her.”

But Bonnie smirked. 

“If you really didn’t care about her, you wouldn’t even have replied to me and used magic right away”

Andrew’s face hardened from Bonnie’s observation.

“Open it. This is my last warning.”

“Aris, you are sure that I can open this?”

I nodded, after seeing Andrew’s expression that seemed to scream out, ‘please say yes.’

“Yes, just open it wide in one go.”

As if Andrew became more confident from my certainty, he placed his hand on the lid of the casket.

Kwang!

At that moment, the temple shook.

“What is that?”

“A curse! It’s a curse!”

Except for Bonnie, the other elves panicked. Still, from my understanding, the curse that occurs after opening the casket was not something like the temple shaking or falling apart.

“But I didn’t even open it?”

Andrew took his hands off the casket and looked around. The explosive sounds and shaking continued.

“They are here.”

Amidst the shaking, I heard familiar footsteps. Footsteps that I heard so many times that I became fond of.

Then with those footsteps, I also heard the whole group of following footsteps.