“Rrrrr… I can’t feel my legs anymore… This weather is brutal.” A mercenary shuddered as he grabbed his coat and tightened it around his body, trying to cover it from the cold. The weather was brutally cold.
It was so cold, in fact, that the mercenaries could see their breath freeze the moment it left their bodies. Each breath felt really painful as if someone was freezing their lungs and then burning them.
“Where are we supposed to go now, Deka?” Another asked as he looked down at the slope. Down there was a raging ocean of water that they could never take a step into. Their only path toward the settlement had been fully closed and they could do nothing about it.
“It looks like a good swim,” Arthur muttered.
“Are you crazy?! You want to swim in that?!” One of the mercenaries heard him.
“Don’t worry, man. I won’t jump in there.” Arthur laughed. “But, we definitely are stuck here. There is no way we can cross this forest till the flood somehow disappears and the others certainly won’t be able to reach us anytime soon either. Nice situation.”
“…”
Arthur’s words hit everyone like a truck as they hadn’t thought about that yet. Since the entire forest was completely flooded with water, reaching them was simply impossible. In fact, this flood might even cause a threat to the settlement and they would get busy trying to stop it.
So, in other words, their hopes of seeing help arrive for them very soon became a distant idea.
“No way…”
“How the hell are we going back then…”
“You have got to be kidding me.”
Almost immediately, all the happiness and excitement they had vanished like mist and they felt as if the entire world collapsed on their heads. Meanwhile, Arthur watched the scene with an amused look on his face.
‘Their hopes are easily crushed, haha. Well, I understand their feelings. It’s a rough spot to be at.’ He crossed his arms in front of him.
“Don’t panic.” At that moment, Deka spoke as she wiped the blood off her face. “Hah… We aren’t all done yet! If we can’t cross the forest now then we will simply have to take the other route.”
“… The other route?” Arthur raised an eyebrow. “Which route?”
“… Deka? Are you serious?” Sergi stepped in front of her and asked with a cold tone. “We’re going there?”
“… Do you have another option, Sergi?” Deka retorted. “I know that it’s very dangerous. But, can we really do anything else? The entire forest is flooded. It will take them days to reach us at the current rate.”
“We’re going to our death, Deka!” The man yelled in anger. “That place is literally a death sentence!”
“And staying here is an even worse death,” Deka replied. “We are stuck in the snow, freezing to death!”
“…” Sergi clenched his teeth in frustration as he looked away. He knew that Isla had a point, their situation was really horrible and time was ticking very quickly. The night was about to arrive and they had to make a move before things got worse.
“Guys, hold on a second. What is this place you two are arguing about?” Arthur asked as he opened his map to check. He couldn’t see anything eye-catching about the map. The forest covered most of it and the rest was the slope and the mountain foot.
He was a little concerned about the fact Sergi was that afraid of going there.
“…”
Looking around him, all he saw were pale looks and afraid eyes. They all knew what the two were talking about, except for him.
“… I guess you aren’t aware of it,” Deka muttered with a sigh. “We are talking about going east to reach the edge of the forest.”
“And why is that dangerous?”
“Because the forest ends at a river bed and from there… We will have to sail through the Great Akora River.” She replied. “It’s a river that descended from the highest floor of the tower and passed through all the floors and it ends here, on Frozen Peak.”
“The Great Akora River, huh?” Arthur rubbed his chin. ‘This sounds like a very interesting place indeed.’
The fact the river descends from the highest floor to this place is already a very intriguing idea. His curiosity was tingling.
“And why is this place dangerous?”
“Because due to the fact, it came from the highest floor and passed through so many floors, it carried along with it all kinds of river creatures down to this level… It’s easily the most dangerous place in the first three floors of the tower.”
“… Oh.” Arthur raised an eyebrow. “So we can find monsters from several floors above us lurking in it?”
“Yes. Nobody dares to go there and no mercenary had crossed it in a long time.” Deka replied. “The chances of us pulling that off is…”
“0%. The chances are 0%. We are going there to die.” Sergi cut her off.
“Then grace us with another idea if you’re so smart,” Deka said.
“Don’t talk to me like that,” Sergi replied. “Tsk, it’s better to just set camp here and wait for them to arrive.”
“… Are you serious, Sergi?” Another mercenary said. “We are barely alive as we are. Waiting several more days… We won’t make it!”
“… He’s right, Sergi… Look at us, we are all heavily injured. How can we stay in this cold for another day let alone several days?”
The mercenaries started voicing their complaints one by one as if they found the courage to speak. They couldn’t swallow the idea of spending several days in this cold weather. Death was knocking on their door, waiting for them to let their guard down.
“So you want to pass that cursed river?”
“… I would rather try to make it back than stay here and only rely on hope.”
“…” Sergi’s eyes widened slightly when he heard that. Those words made him close his mouth.
Everyone shared the same look on their faces at that moment. The look of defiance against all odds. They didn’t seem like they were afraid of facing the river and sailing through it. In fact, it felt as if they were gladly willing to do that if they had a chance of making it back to the settlement.
Your next chapter is on My Virtual Library Empire
Sitting there not doing anything while praying for a miracle to happen wasn’t their method of executing things… Never been, never was.
“You guys…” Sergi muttered. “So, that’s what you decided, huh?”
“…” Everyone averted their eyes with a shameful look. They didn’t want to put Sergi in that position, but he gave them no choice. The lives of the group are way more important.
“Ok… Fine, do whatever you want. If you want us to pass that river then we shall do that.” He lifted his hands up as a sign of him giving up.
“…” Deka stared at him silently, not knowing what to say.
‘Interesting conversation is going on here. Can I get some popcorn?’ Arthur shook his head with a wry smile. Seeing the group being torn apart by such a tough position was quite intense. It was a true test of their bond as mercenaries and comrades.
Whether they can retain that relationship after all of this or not… Arthur didn’t know.
A//N: Thank you all for the gifts, golden tickets, and PS. Let’s keep it up!