Chapter 101 - Help Me
A roar sounded from above the thick clouds. Lightning bolts lit the skies. The bluish white lightning ignited and engulfed the skies with sparks, making it look like the sun was up.
"You forgot about this big-ass dragon!" Zeud yelled. He was riding his chariot while Libetator was chasing after him. "But it's okay now. He's tired!"
He suddenly leaped from his chariot and levitated, the lightning streaks that were embellished in the skies covering him. Closing his hands in front of him like he was praying, Zeud had casted his spell.
"Thunder God's Lightning Blast!"
He thrust his palms forward, the streaks of white magic from the cloud followed his movements as a colossal beam of lightning blasted of from his palms. The power was so immense that the pressure had reached the ground, shaking it with a terrifying force.
Libetator tried to fire one of his beams but he was too late, the lightning was too fast and it had already reached him, electrocuting the dragon.
Liberator could only roar in pain until smoke was coming out from him, making Johnson decide to stop the old man. He raised a wall of sand against them, barely blocking the conitnuous attack.
"Sir, he's only under a spell!" Johnson yelled. "And we can break it."
"What?" the man stopped his relentless attack, Libetator losing his grip as he slowly fell to the ground. "Why are you only telling me this now? I could've only binded him."
Johnson had to fire a surge of cloud that made of sand below Liberator, slowly putting him on the ground while Ed walked over and removed the spell.
"It's something that would still be activated even after the caster had died," Johnson said. "How are your friends?"
Ed did not say anything and proceeded to nullify the spell. He was silent as well as the others. After Lance yelled, they didn't have the energy to speak, feeling gloomy even after the victory.
When the symbol appeared and broke, silence followed. The Adventurers whispered to themselves, waiting for someone to say the word.
"We have won!" Zeud yelled from the skies. He fired his lightning bolt and cleared the clouds, revealing the approaching dawn.
"We won?"
"Did we really won?"
"We won!"
…
The people had hollered and cheered victoriously. After facing a very terrifying enemy like a Triple Alpha Strike, they only had a few casualties.
It was unavoidable for some to perish, but compared to the usual Alpha Strike, let alone tripe, this was the most successful one.
"Where are my siblings?" Lilith walked over to Johnson, moving the loudly cheering bodies away. "You told me you'd hide them."
"Oh, right," Johnson said and placed his hand on the ground. He moved the bunker from beneath and opened the door to it. "You can come out now."
Pommel was the one who walked out first. He was raising his staff defensively, thinking it was all a trap. "Did we win?"
"Yeah," Johnson said. "We won."
Elliot watched his notifications after defeating Bright when one appeared.
'Hourglass of Tima's had finished its effects.'
'The time will now merge and claim its flow.'
Elliot quirked his brow. "Claim its–"
Elliot wasn't able to finish when he lost consciousness in an instant, dropping to the ground, and making everyone look at his unconscious body.
"Elliot!"
–
Elliot was staring at the ceiling, thinking about everything that Lance had told them. A hidden scar that he hid for so long that he couldn't suppress anymore.
He just woke up from the effects of the item he used. It said that after an hour of activation, it would merge the original time from the user's modified time.
Brushing the confusion of the effects away, Elliot found himself thinking about what Lance said.
"He said Eliot was like me," Elliot said to himself as he rolled to the other side. "Argh! What the hell, Lance? Making me feel bad."
He sat up and jumped in shock when he saw four figures laying their heads on his bed. They sat on four chairs that surrounded him two on each side.
"Look at these fools," Elliot chukled and shook Lance awake first. "Hey."
Lance fluttered his eyes open, seeing his friend already up. He grinned at first but a scowl replaced his face. He had to restrain himself from punching Elliot in the face weakly, gripping his fist in his side instead.
"Explain," Lance warned. The ominous aura that came from him woke the others up.
"I was exhausted," Elliot lied. "I battled a witch earlier that night, then the dragons. My body took a toll on me."
"Your stupid decisions took toll on you because you don't listen," Lance smacked Elliot by the back of his head.
"He did use tons of HP and MP potions," Ed said. "Those things would replenish your stats but you still need rest."
Giving up from interrogating the boy more, Lance fell back on his seat. "I can't believe I already warned you tons of times. And you still didn't listen. Why won't you listen?"
Connor leaned in and narrowed his eyes. "Maybe his earwax is too thick and our voices can't go through."
He blew in Elliot's ear making the latter flinch. "Connor, what the hell?"
Connor pinched Elliot's ear and leaned in, "Elliot? Can you hear me? My name is Connor, and I'm your friend."
"I can hear you loud and clear," Elliot said, pushing his friend away.
"He's right." Ed walked over and unfastened his scabbard from his belt. He raised it and slammed it on Elliot's head. "He can hear, but he can't listen because his problem is mental."
"That actually hurt, dude!" Elliot groaned, also pushing Ed away. "I could all hear you clearly, I could also listen and understand."
"I don't think you do though," Lance sighed. "Dozens of times I have told you not to dash forward like an idiot, and you still didn't follow my instructions. You almost died again. Again, Elliot, what the hell?"
"What happened to everyone?" Elliot swerved the topic away.
"You little–"
"Lance," Elliot raised his hands and smiled. "I'm totally okay. I will not die easily. Don't worry about me, okay? So, what happened to everyone?"
"The dragons returned to Dracon and I…" Hope took a deep breath and sighed. "I buried Uncle Clan there."
"What about Bright?" Elliot asked, thinking he could make use of her carcass.
"Dude," Ed suddenly cut off. "You should've seen how they threw her body off an island in their realm. These dragons are brutal, man. They literally lifted her and threw her into the pits of Dracon. Like, man. Where does that–"
A smack sounded from behind Ed's back. "Insensitive ass." He whispered to Ed. "She was still Hope's mother, you imbecile. Don't you think it would hurt him if you talk how they threw his mother like that?"
"Oh," Ed returned to his seat. "Sorry, Hope."
The boy smiled and shook his head, "No need to worry, Mr. Ed. I don't really think of her as a mother. I have the guild as my family. That's something that I would not exchange for anything."
"What the kids with pitch black eyes said was weird though, don't you think?" Ed suddenly brought up.
Elliot tilted his face, not hearing about what Lilith's younger siblings said. "What happened?"
"The one who wields the darkness and light would choose his path and would either destroy the world or save it or something like that," Connor said. "And we could all agree on someone who uses the Dualism equally."
They all looked at Lance who had his eyes widened. "W-What?"
"Maybe you have this destiny," Ed knowingly rubbed his index finger on his chin. "You might be the chosen one. The one being superior compared to all else."
"Impossible," Lance chuckled. "I'm just a simple guy that coincidentally uses both the affinities and has the Faint of them not merging inside me…"
He trailed off and gulped, "Holy cow. I hope not."
Ed groaned. "Of course you don't want that. You're a prince who left his throne to live another life. A life as a free Adventurer. If you're going to be the one who saves the world, you have some work to do."
"That's why it isn't me," Lance smiled. "I'm not worthy."
After their conversation, they decided to go to the guild house and eat their lunch. They exchanged a few more words before they completely fell silent.
"I'll go to Isabelle," Elliot said. "I need to finish Florencia's quest and check up on her. Kian did return to her shop, right?"
Connor nodded. "Yeah. He got back with us yesterday. After we threw– I mean buried Brighter corpse."
"Okay," Elliot said and walked out of the guild.
On his way to Isabelle's gem shop, Elliot saw a familiar girl that bought him nothing but trouble.
"Hey Flo–"
He stopped himself after seeing a larger man walking towards the girl. He looked like a thug and just when Elliot was going to run to them, thinking that the man was a thug, Florencia ran towards the man and slung her arm around his thick arm.
"How are you today, baby?" the man said with a thick scruff voice.
"I'm okay," Florencia said flirtatiously.
This made Elliot cringe. He was about to turn around when his eyes met with the little girl's teary eyed ones. What she mouthed made him grip the hilt of his sword and brandish it.
"Help me."