Back in the swamplands, a bewildered Brennan was experiencing things that could only be described as bizarre. He would at times lose control over his arm or leg, sometimes he would spit out noxious poison.
For the king of a state to fall to such a state... It was really pitiful.
But Eon did not think it was pitiful as much as it was interesting. Was it possible that if he swallowed the blob he would have lived longer? That was the thought that had entered Eon's head seeing that outside of small hiccups, Brennan was alive and well.
As a last resort, Eon certainly had no problem with swallowing something that could save him. Perhaps it was because the king noticed Eon's stares but Brennan became much less open to voicing these annoyances that came up naturally after swallowing a toxic slime creature.
But maybe the one having the worst time was not Brennan, but W. The latter had been at the mercy of Bloody in the fight for sight. Ultimately losing the battle, he was almost pushed back into controlling the limbs.
'Damn Bloody just give me one eye!' Brennan was still blind thanks to W and Bloody. Their petty squabbles were actually a small matter. The king was indeed having it the worst.
Currently, Brennan and Eon were out on the dock. Eon had told Brennan about all the things he did to improve the lives of the lizardmen and frankly, Brennan was appalled. He had never considered the sage of space to be a man incapable of distinguishing between friend or foe. He was raising monsters!
The act of raising armies of monsters was rightfully forbidden. That was a crime punishable by deaths in many kingdoms!
"Mast- Master Eon, why was it you are- Why are you doing this again?" For a while now this was a question Brennan kept on trying to bring up but Eon constantly dodged. That was because he was unwilling to reveal himself as a coward.
"To conquer the dungeon" He wanted to live longer but the answers to his question of how was at the end of this dungeon. He had to conquer every last floor.
Brennan suddenly felt conflicted. To commit crimes for the sake of conquering a dungeon… Technically it was a lawless land. Worst case scenario, he could give Eon a royal pardon. But Brennan knew the mere thought was a joke.
He had already been briefed about the situation with his kingdom. He could only hope his son had wisened up a bit since he last saw him or there would not even be a kingdom to enforce any laws.
Thinking along those lines, Brennan realized he wanted to leave. He couldn't stay in a dungeon while suffering from blindness and temporal paralysis.
"Eon, I- I want to go back outside" The voice of the king didn't sound very confident as he practically pleaded with the sage to return him to the outside.
Eon was initially puzzled, back outside? They were already outside the lizardmen hut. But it was apparent that Brennan Bosque wanted to return to his kingdom.
The conversation between Eon and Brennan came as mere vibrations for W. Frustrated by this, W gave up on vying for power with Bloody entirely. W's body moved closer to one of the ears and used blood integration to listen to the outside. If he couldn't control their sight, he could partially control their hearing.
"Argh!" Brennan suddenly exclaimed before covering up one ear with both hands.
"Brennan?" Eon asked. His question was however falling onto a deaf ear. That was right, a deaf ear. Brennan lost hearing in one ear! The man suddenly felt terrified at the prospect of slowly losing control of his body and becoming paralyzed.
"I- lost hearing in one ear…" Brennan said sounding dazed. When it rained… it poured! But it poured under harsh winds that buffeted his face… but there was also hail in the pouring rain… and one just so happened to smack him right in the eye! Overall, a series of misfortune.
Eon frowned seeing this. He had to rethink his earlier thoughts. Perhaps extending his life through such a method was not good after all. It felt like the sentient blood clot was slowly encroaching on Brennan's body.
"So you want to leave the dungeon?" Eon questioned as if looking to know if Brennan thought that was a good idea with his current state.
But while mortified at the increasing loss of senses, Brennan was still not willing to give up on leaving the dungeon. While in there he could only rely on Eon instead of himself. The prospect of leaving one's self up to the whims of a fellow human was never good.
This insistence was putting Eon in a tight spot, however. Leaving with Brennan was not a choice given his situation. Not just that but the assault on the Hydra was incredibly close.
The population of the lizardmen and their equipment was enough to classify as fodder and perhaps even cause some actual damage. Eon either had to enact his plan in advance or have someone send Brennan out.
To him, the latter seemed more likely. But could he trust lizardmen to take a blind man out?
"I want to leave" Brennan said with conviction.
"I can't take you out and I can't have monsters escort you while you are blind" Eon said coldly. Brennan felt pitiful at the thought of not being able to exit the dungeon.
W however had his mind light up with an idea after hearing Eon's reason for declining.
'Bloody! Quickly let him regain one eye!' Blood integration was a skill that integrated blood into one's body but fragment separated parts of the body. Bloody could still cut off the connection.
Bloody who heard W's command was suddenly undergoing an internal struggle. To listen to w… not to listen to w… that was the question.
'Damn it Bloody! This is what Ed would want!' W transmitted to the uncooperative Blob.
Bloody ultimately gave in thought begrudgingly and they lost sight through the right eye. Brennan then suddenly grunted, feeling his right eye become painful. It was as if it had been cut inside.
"Argh…" Brennan pressed his hand against his right eye. He was definitely a liability!
W didn't know about Brennan's thoughts but he was not going to let things be. He had been observing the actions of Eon and realized the potential of Bloody through it.
The eye had been fragmented at the nerve. W concentrated deeply and tried to channel the mana in his own body or that of Bloody's to connect back the severed nerve to the brain as it had been originally.
The mana coursed freely through Bloody's body rather than his own and it reached out to many parts of Brennan's body. It was coursing through Brennan like blood previously but now, it was coursing backward.
Brennan twitched. He was going to die!
But something seemed to suddenly click. A blurry visage entered Brennan's mind.
"This… I can see…" Brennan said slowly getting up off the ground. He could-
"Huh?" Brennan waved his hand in front of his face and quickly realized that he could only see through one eye. Nevertheless, a stream of tears still found its way out of his eye.
The darkness had partially retreated and he could now see the swamp that surrounded them. Brennan could now appreciate the swamp fauna and the dock. Not just that, but Brennan could also see the haggard state of Eon.
This pained Brennan a little but he was determined to leave.
"Eon, let me out" Brennan said to Eon who could only sigh helplessly. He was quite suspicious about the timing but if the heavens deemed it so and Brennan himself wanted it, there was no other option.
"Brennan, I hope you realize that you have a monster inside you" Eon said pressing his hand on Brennan's shoulders. This was a reminder that something eerie lay inside him. That currently, he could be getting manipulated.
"Wh- What are you trying to say?!" Brennan said defensively.
"What I am trying to say is if you leave the dungeon and the monster goes out with you... I hope you remember my words" Eon said as a final warning. It wasn't unheard of for special monsters to possess or hideaway in one's body and exit the dungeon.
The key was of course it wasn't unheard of. The cases were exceedingly rare though one would assume not many monsters lacked the capabilities.
Brennan's mind was once more wrapped in turmoil. Was he making the right choice? Or was he being selfish?
W who was hearing the questions posed by Eon couldn't help but become panicky. The old guy was ruining his plan!
'If we enter the orc plains I can try and take control of the body to lead it to Ed' From there Ed could try merging to give him the spiritual mark skill. W assumed he had leveled it up enough.
After that, it was as simple as walking out of the dungeon. The mobs were not going to attack him. At least not the ones that mattered. The strong ones were all under Ed so there was no real chance of friendly fire.
Yet this exceedingly likely to succeed plan might be put into peril by a couple of extremely reasonable words of advice. How unbearable! People that could think were the worst of the worst!
The pressure was put on Brennan and he did eventually open his mouth to speak up.
"I…" He was the king of a nation, how could he be so indecisive?
Brennan cleared his throat.
"I am going out" Brennan declared. He was a B-class adventurer at his peak. Or at least he had been, now he could probably only demonstrate half that strength. Still, not much could pose him a problem.
Eon didn't say anything about his choice. He would just settle the matter.
