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Seth Chapter 91
🕑 Added 2024-04-21 11:02:21 +0000 UTCChapter 91
Rebecca stared at Cyrla, her face paling as the body fell on the ground with a loud thud. Her hands shook as she took a step towards her body, the blood pooling around it making its way towards her foot and she stopped.
Her body still quivered slightly, but Rebecca knew she was dead.
Cyrla's eyes stared into the distance, hollow, but the purple gleam in it disappeared like a flame had been extinguished.
Maybe it was her mind playing tricks on her, but lots of memories flooded it. Her time in the academy, her rivalry and annoyance with Cyrla who she shared classes with and even times where her opportunities had been snatched by her.
There were feelings of regret, anger, pain and dissatisfaction, but no matter what, she had never expected to see her like this.
Although they weren't many, there were times she didn't mind the presence of Cyrla, so her feelings towards her had always been more complex than simply disliking her.
That's why even when she had found out she was behind the lesser abyssal horrors, she wanted to reprimand her with the law instead of straight up killing her. That connection had held her back.
Though, it didn't matter now.
She didn't know how long, but Rebecca kept looking at her, not daring to move before she heard a noise.
Seth stood right behind the body of Cyrla, his eyes looking down on it before his head shot to pick up the cane she had been using. Holding it in his hands, he snapped it, breaking it into two as the gem fiddled out, dropping on the ground.
With a stomp, he crushed it and twisted it into dust.
Just as he did so, a charging lesser abyssal horror suddenly vanished into thin air, leaving behind a line of miasma that soon dissipated into the atmosphere.
The same happened with all the other lesser abyssal horrors around the corridor. One by one, they disappeared like they were never there. Even the ones they had killed went with them, leaving behind only their blood that coated the floor and walls of the ruins.
Rebecca took a look at the corridor that was now mostly empty, then her gaze fixed on Seth.
Likewise, he looked back at her, eyes seeming to hide something before he frowned and spoke, “Rebecca, I'm sorry.”
For a second, she didn't know what to say, but her mouth moved on her own. “I… I told you not to do it. We would have captured her, brought her back to the academy. My master would have dealt with her. There was no reason to—”
“I saw no other way. We didn't have mana or stamina left to keep up with her. It was the only way to survive. I know you wanted to try something different, but I couldn't have waited until she had killed you. Even the others, they wouldn't have survived if I hadn't killed her. She was the servant of the Abyssal One, you know she was far gone.”
“Really? Do you think that was the only way?” she asked, her voice trembling as she closed her fists, every word she wanted to say stuck in her throat. “I know she was against us, but Seth, she used to be my classmate and maybe a friend. Not a good one, but still…”
Her words died there as she kept looking at the body of Cyrla. Sighing, she froze as Seth walked towards her, his hand moving to touch her shoulders, but she jerked back.
Seemingly disappointed, he shook his head. “I know you are upset, but I deemed it necessary. You can blame me all you want.”
Rebecca wanted to say something, but she held it back as they heard footsteps behind her.
Turning back, she saw Xarth standing looking confused until his eyes looked up at the body of Cyrla before the beastman nodded and looked at Seth.
“I believe we need to talk.”
***
Seth didn't know what it was, but looking at the body of Cyrla, he knew he had become heartless. Maybe, it wasn't all of him, but a part of him had gotten used to killing.
He didn't know if it was good or not, but he deemed it necessary to survive this damn fantasy world. Even if Rebecca looked hurt by his decision to kill Cyrla, he felt much less about it.
It was similar to when he had killed Gideon, but back then, he hadn't been in a sane mind. Here, he had done it knowing of the consequences and he knew he had to live with it as he glanced at Rebecca on their way out of the ruins.
Luckily, all of them survived.
It seemed like Seth had been quick enough to kill Cyrla, making the lesser abyssal horrors vanish and saving The Divers who were on the verge of bleeding out.
The only reason they had survived was because Zara had used up one of her artifacts to made up a shield around them, protecting them from the horrors when he had been busy with Cyrla. It was apparently a single use artifact, taking up all of Zara's mana and even a bit of her life force, so she had been unconscious on the way.
Log and Xarth carried her, taking turns. As for Zacky, he walked in the back, occasionally looking back at the long corridor, but choosing to stay silent.
It was not only him.
All of them stayed silent throughout the way. Seth felt like it was partially because they wanted to give space to Rebecca who looked lost, carrying the dead body of Cyrla on her back.
They had protested not to bring her back, but she had been adamant, not wanting to leave her for the monsters. In the end, they hadn't argued, wanting to get out of the ruins as soon as possible.
Fortunately, no monsters attacked them. No skeletons, no guardians and no lesser abyssal horrors— It was a quiet path and after a few turns and a couple sets of stairs, they finally saw the entrance that led to the light of the sun.
Since they had been able to find a gold chest on the way, Xarth also seemed a bit better than before, carrying it in one of his arms. It was a bitter feeling to leave all the other chests in the ruins, but they could always come back for them.
Right now, reaching the city and tending to their injuries was far better.
As they stepped onto the rays of light, all of them looked at each other with a wry smile on their faces. No one cheered, no one grinned, no one said anything. They simply walked, moving to go towards the city.
Maybe it was their blood soaked armour or simply the merchants were short on time, they weren't able to get a lift until half an hour on the road and even the merchant with the small carriage who stopped was surprised when he saw the condition of all of them.
He still gave him a lift when Xarth tossed him a gold coin.
It took a while to get to the city, but they were let in quite easily since the guard at the gate recognised The Divers and just assumed they were coming from a monster extermination quest from their battered shapes. He did give some looks at Cyrla's dead body, but understanding the atmosphere, kept quiet.
As soon as they entered through the gates, Rebecca stopped and looked at Seth.
“I'm going to meet you later. I need to deal with her,” she said, clutching the still body of Cyrla in her hand.
He nodded, feeling happy that she hadn't walked away without saying anything like he had initially assumed. “Okay, I would be going towards the academy to meet Kalrus.”
He clutched the Weather Staff strapped on his back and sighed, hoping the rude old man had answers for him now.
“Okay.” Rebecca left, saying that.
Once she left, Seth saw Xarth walking towards him, the rest of his party standing behind him in a distance. Knowing what the beastman was going to say, he steeled himself.
“You lied to us!” Xarth growled.
“I didn't know it was Cyrla after us.”
“But you had more of an idea than you let on. The Seven Seals are after you. I don't know why, but I know it's about the mana you use. I haven't seen it before and those damn creatures felt similar,” he said, putting two and two together and waited for Seth to reply.
Frowning, his mind raced before he found the words. “You are right. I should have told you about that. I'm sorry for hiding things in the ruins and risking your life.”
“You better be!” The beastman grunted yet again. “If someone had died, I would have shredded you to pieces even if it cost my life.”
Seth knew Xarth couldn't do anything to him with the gap between them, but he wasn't bothered by his anger. It was natural and he would have been the same in his place.
Instead of getting angry himself, he lowered his head.
“Again, I apologise. It was on me. In return, you all can take most of the credit for finding out the hidden path of the Stormweaver's ruins and claim the chests for yourself. I know it would help out your standing in the guild.”
“That's better,” Xarth said after a minute of silence. It looked like he hadn't expected Seth to say that and didn't find the strength to continue the argument. Turning to look at his companions, he sighed. “We can talk about it later if you are in the city. I believe we both need to look after our wounds for now.”
“Yes.”
With that, he was gone, mixing in with the large crowd of people with his party in tow.
Seth kept looking at their backs until it was impossible to and then, crouched down, all his strength leaving his body.
Closing his eyes, he thought back to everything that had happened in the ruins. The history of the Stormweaver, golems, lesser abyssal horrors, void spectre and Cyrla.
It had been a difficult journey, as difficult as his time in the Tunnels of Grithza, but at least, he had companions this time.
“Ones I might have made upset,” he muttered, thinking back to Rebecca. Despite her mood, he didn't feel bad about killing Cyrla, so he could only hope that her mood would get better in the upcoming days.
Fortunately, his trip had let him rank up and although he hadn't gotten any level up notifications with the last battle, his skills had gone up.
Your skill “Void Dominance" has levelled up to Level 2!
Your skill “Cloak of Shadows" has levelled up to Level 4!
Aside from it, there was nothing and after taking one look at his injuries, he stood up, deciding to fix his body first. The exhaustion and after effects of using Abyssal Form were still there as he staggered forward.
Still, there was something nice about finally being in civilisation as he made his way towards the academy, hoping that Kalrus would have a few potions in his room.
