After walking for another 10 minutes, the group finally reached a small open area near the edge of the forest where they could stop and take a break. It was dry and rather warm since it was surrounded by large trees that protected them from the strong wind whistling in their ears.
Quickly, the mercenaries set up a small camp there to rest. Their eagerness to sit down and perhaps take a nap was clear on their faces. They were thoroughly exhausted and hungry.
Arthur sat down near the tree, resting his back against its giant trunk. Feeling the ancient wood on his book almost resonating with loud thuds in his ears, he felt rather peaceful for a moment as he watched the group sit down and rest.
“Who wants some fruits?” One mercenary asked as he pulled out a bag from his backpack. In it were a few sundried fruits he brought with him for the trip.
“Dried fruits? Did your wife make those?”
“Haha, yeah… She heard about the mission and wanted to give me some food that wouldn’t spoil or rot for the long journey.” He replied with an awkward yet proud look on his face. Your journey continues at My Virtual Library Empire
“Man… You’re a lucky bastard, I tell you! When am I going to marry?!”
“Haha, a lousy idiot like you would need several lifetimes to find a partner.” Another man snickered jokingly.
“What did you say?!”
“Hahahaha!”
“Tsk… Let me dream in peace. When I find my future wife, I will make sure you aren’t invited to the wedding.”
As the group joked around, Deka and Sergi busied themselves with making sure the area had no threat and then sat down to rest too.
“We will resume moving in 45 minutes. Keep quiet not to attract monsters.” Deka said as she covered her face, clearly trying to take a small nap to restore some energy. The cold weather didn’t help much with that, but with how tired she was, it didn’t take her long to drift to sleep.
The small campfire they made flickered gently as it warmed the surrounding area. It was a rather cozy feeling for what it’s worth and it made everyone calm down and contemplate everything that happened so far.
Especially Arthur who found himself in a rather odd tranquility. His buzzing mind quietened, and he could finally think with far more clarity.
His mind slowly wandered back to all the stuff that happened in the past few days. Some were good, some were normal, and some were… really bad.
‘It was quite the eventful week if you ask me. Very eventful indeed.’ He mused with a sarcastic tone. Arthur was frankly not happy with his current situation even though in hindsight, Arthur had been in one success after the other when it comes to his journey in the Divine Realm and even in the academy.
His rank increased, he was still the strongest player in the world by a far margin, and he was about to execute the greatest quest this game had ever seen. It was all going according to plan.
“But…” He clenched his fists tightly. “It had to be ruined, after all. I can’t really get why this always happens. When I gain something, I must lose another.” He muttered.
Arthur’s life had been nothing but a boring cycle of continuous hell with sprinkles of happiness in there. However, even those moments of happiness were never complete. There was always something that would happen that would ruin his mood and make him forget about the good things.
‘I wonder if I can just apologize and it will somehow fix itself… It’s fine I’m not that important of a friend, at least those people accepted me for who I am without any judgment. I never had that before.’
The friends Arthur made after meeting Isla and the others were ones he was certain would last him a lifetime. Just imagining everything ending in a few months really struck him hard, and he couldn’t accept it. There was still a way to fix it and perhaps even improve it.
‘How am I supposed to do that is the question…’ Arthur’s hand slowly trailed to the menu as he opened the messaging tab and stared at Isla’s last message with a dazed look on his face.
He could respond, it would only take him a few taps. But, the task felt so heavy, it might as well be harder than actually fighting monsters. If he responded, what could he say? That he was sorry? That he didn’t understand his place? Or to simply ask her to apologize?
The options felt quite off and he didn’t want to choose between them.
“…” Pursing his lips, Arthur closed the tab before he slammed his head against the hard wood. ‘Forget about it. Whatever happens in the future I will just deal with it then… I’m too tired to think now.’
So, Arthur decided to take a nap instead since he had nothing to do at that moment. There were still 40 minutes before their departure and the place was very calm, perfect enough to relax his mind for a while.
‘Now that I think about it… I never slept before inside the game. I usually don’t need it since this body is not normal. But… It could be very helpful now.’
“RAAAAAAA!!!”
Suddenly, and out of nowhere, all that tranquility vanished like mist as a very loud screech penetrated through the thick vegetation. Immediately, all the mercenaries snapped out of their own worlds and picked up their weapons.
The roar was clearly that of a monster and it was close enough for them to feel it vibrate through their bones.
Arthur was the first to react as he stood up and looked in the direction of the noise. ‘I had to jinx it, didn’t I?’ He grabbed his sword and looked at Deka. The latter was already preparing herself for battle.
The boy nodded his head at her before he walked slowly toward the source of the noise to check. The rest of the squad prepared themselves for an ambush, taking their usual defensive formation.
‘That roar sounded like that of a Yeti. Did they discover our location?’ Arthur thought to himself as he peeked from one side of a large tree in the direction of the noise. However, he couldn’t see anything alarming.
Even his senses didn’t pick up any presence nearby, which was very odd considering the fact the noise was awfully close.
‘… Did it run away?’ Staring left and right, Arthur kept his senses spread as far as possible, gathering all kinds of information about his surroundings.
“It’s very quiet.” He whispered to Deka. “I can’t see anything.”
The woman raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Are you sure? The roar came from no more than 200 meters.”
‘Yetis have a really strong sense of smell. This thing would’ve already caught our presence and attacked. Did it get farther away…’
The situation was rather odd and the tension only made it worse. So, Deka decided to tell her group to keep an eye on their surroundings in case the Yeti decided to attack from a different angle.
This was a good idea since Yetis are naturally sneaky predators for their large sizes. However, what Deka and the others didn’t realize was that… They didn’t search for their target in the right place.
“ROARRRRR!!!!”
A//N: Thank you all for the gifts, golden tickets, and PS. Let’s keep it up!