Chapter 80

Chapter 80

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Cadel's eyes nearly rolled back in his head.

“There's mucus all over the inside. Be careful, Commander.”

The interior of every house they searched was filled with green mucus. It hadn't been there when they first rescued the survivors.

‘We crammed all the survivors into one place, and the houses that were left were completely abandoned, so he took advantage of that and just kind of ransacked the place.’

He'd gotten to a safe spot while all but the least of them were busy tracking him down. Cadel gritted his teeth as he spotted a trail of blood through the dripping mucus.

The dark, faded blood had hardened into a crust. The thought of Lydon being captured by Ergo and dragged from place to place made him cringe.

“......Let's go to the next house.”

There were too many traces and no obvious places to hide. It was most likely a set-up, he realized. As Cadel turned to leave.

Thump!

The floor rumbled. Stunned, Cadel looked at Van. Van straightened up as if he, too, had sensed the echo.

“Don't move, Commander.”

Van drew his greatsword, his senses straining, when another ringing sounded.

Swoosh!

Van’s greatsword pierced the floor without hesitation. With an effort, he opened his aura, and the sword's reddish aura stretched out sharply like a spear, slashing through the space beneath the floor.

Bang! Bang!

The house shook with the noise. The wooden planks that hadn't withstood the aura's violent struggles crumbled, revealing the hollow space below.

A storm of red auras intermittently illuminated the pitch-black underground. Cadel spotted a small shadow lying pitifully in the midst of the fierce aura that crashed down like lightning. Recognizing the pale blond hair in the aura's reflection, Cadel hurriedly stretched out his arm.

“Lydon!”

“Cadel, untie my arm. I'm suffocating to death!”

Van untied Lydon’s bound arms for the panicked Cadel and then tiptoed over to the fingers that had fallen around him, scowling.

“Are those your fingers, Lydon.”

Instead of answering, Lydon stretched out his ten intact fingers, then roughly untied the white cloth that covered his eyes.

The red eyes that followed.

‘That.......’

Cadel's eyes narrowed at him.

“He kept touching me, so I bit his hand as soon as it touched my mouth, and it came together like that. He hit me with the intention of killing me, but he just walked away as he couldn’t kill me! Ahaha!”

Lydon’s eyes were covered in blood. The broken veins stained the sclera red, and the wounds of the obvious purpose were edging narrowly across the eyes.

Cadel cupped Lydon's face. Upon closer inspection, the shape of the pupils, which were subtly misaligned along a thin oblique line, stood out.

“Your eyes.......”

“Yeah?”

“Can.......can your eyes see? Can you see me? Lydon, can you see what I’m doing.......”

At first glance, they appeared to have suffered serious internal injuries. Cadel's heart sank, fearing that Lydon might be blinded forever.

Fortunately, Lydon's gaze was straight on Cadel. Smiling his usual mischievous grin, he placed his hand over Cadel's.

“You have a funny look on your face, Cadel. Were you worried about me?”

“......So you can see fine.”

Cadel let out the breath he'd been holding and bowed his head. Lydon kissed the top of his head briefly.

“You were very worried.”

And with a tickle of laughter, the system window popped up.