Chapter 217 - Untimely Revival
The group descended from the mountain at a faster pace. Ed thought it would be fun if they would have a little competition.
"The last one in the city has to buy everyone dinner tonight!" Ed yelled and suddenly leaped from the steep mountain path and into the forest to cut through the distance.
"Unfair!" Hope and Connor yelled at the same time, also leaping from the path and into the forest.
They were using the tree branches as stepping stones while they jumped down the mountain. It would be faster to do this instead of just run in the ground, even when it consumes much more energy.
"They do realize that the guild pays for everything, right?" Minos quirked his brow up. He was about to turn to his friend when he felt a strong gush of wind blew past him.
"Minos, you'll have to buy me dinner!" Aquarius yelled as he leaped to the tree branches. "See you, loser."
Elliot and Lance narrowed their eyes at each other. Each of their foot were twitching, waiting for the other to move first before they would go blast themselves from the ground and into the trees.
"We're not as childish as them, right?" Lance chuckled. He scratched the back of his head and waited for Elliot's response.
"Yeah," Elliot said. He took a step forward and look at Lance once more. "Or are we?"
"We're not better!" Lance yelled and leaped to the trees. Elliot didn't waste any more time and followed him, spamming his Hasty Aspire skill to catch up with the others.
"Those kids are lame," Minos sighed. "Good thing I'm with you two mature… gentlemen."
He turned to his back and saw that George and Ethan weren't there anymore. The two had already hopped from one tree branch to another, going even before Lance and Elliot did.
"Seriously, these kids–"
"Blackout."
A loud thud sounded on the dirt floor. Minos's body fell, his eyes were empty, but they were still wide open. A drop of drool trailed from his lips as he laid there unconsciously.
"You're too big of a man," a tall boy with a black suit said. He wore a scarf that covered his mouth and a pair of dark eyeglasses to cover his eyes. "Goo, you can do your thing now."
There was a slime-like figure that emerged from the eyeglasses dude. It crawled over to the unconscious Minos's body and entered the large man's chest plate.
The slime latched itself onto Minos's skin, planting thread-like roots into the man's pores.
"Little Goo," the man said. "Do good."
"Yes, Master Daniel," the slime responded. "For the Fallen."
–
It had been a couple of minutes since the others got to Solaguer's grand welcome arch. They have been waiting for Minos who was taking his time walking down the mountain.
A few meters from the actual entrance was a small bridge that was placed over a small river. This river was the one that passed through Solaguer and is the people's source of water. The river is large and would divide itself just by the North entrance of Solaguer.
The small divided rivers pass throughout the city and exits into the other entrances, the South entrance having the smallest exit.
"Is he okay?" Elliot asked. "I think he's taking too long to climb down."
"Yeah," Aquarius cleared his throat. "Even for Minos, this is just too long."
A minute after their conversation, the man they were looking for emerged from the forest. His body was filled with filth and his head was covered with grass and leaves.
"Where have you been?" Aquarius asked. "Why are you…"
"I have the awfullest dream," Minos grunted. "I dreamt that I was unconscious and some slime was–"
Aquarius ran up to Minos and slammed his hand on Minos's chest. The latter's eyes widened when Aquarius slid his hand inside his armor, clutching the cloth inside.
"Liquid Purification," Aquarius whispered.
It was all too sudden for them. No one expected for anything to happen, but Minos's chest plate exploded. Both the men were thrown into different directions, Minos falling on the ground while Aquarius was caught by Hope.
"F*ck," Aquarius cursed and leaped from Hope's clutch. "You freak!"
Even when his hand up to his arm was burnt, Aquarius still ran to Minos's side. He raised his other arm in the air, the others crowding around them to which Aquarius shoved with his injured arm.
"Don't come near me," Aquarius said. They heard a spring-like sound coming from the river. A splurge of water blasted from the river, forming a vortex and turning into blood. Aquarius pulled the water and replaced the burnt flesh on Minos's chest.
"Don't even try dying on me," Aquarius said. "I'll kill you if you do."
Minos's breathing was getting shallower. The large open hole in his chest was draining his HP faster than Aquarius could recover it. His eyes started to roll on the back of his head, while his skin started to pale.
"Aqua Replenish! Aqua Replenish! Aqua Replenish!"
The blood turned to flesh and the flesh attached themselves to Minos's chest. The chest was now almost healed, only Aquarius was hesitating.
"What are you still doing?" Elliot asked. "Heal him."
Aquarius dropped his hand to the side, tears started streaming in his eyes.
"I-I'm… too late."
Elliot's eyes widened. It felt like everything went in slow motion when Minos's hand slowly lost its life as it draped on the ground.
'Use my power.'
Elliot heard the voice spoke. He wanted to say something but he was too frozen to move.
The smell of death was slowly entering his nose, a smell he didn't want to see, especially a smell from an ally. Elliot wanted to turn back, he wanted to close his eyes.
He didn't want any one of his friends to die like this.
'You piece of sh*t! Use my power!'
'New skill << Untimely Revival >> Unlocked.'
With a gulp, Elliot kneeled beside Minos's body and placed his hand on his chest. The blood vortex from Aquarius was slowly falling to the ground when Elliot led his arm up.
"Keep it steady," Elliot said.
"Untimely Revival."
There were a series of magical symbols that lit up from Minos's chest. A blue circle, a green diamond, a red triangle, and a brown square.
The magic symbols lifted in the air, forming layers as they slowly rotated. Elliot could only gulp as he watched the light from the symbols. There were glyphs on the symbols that he haven't seen before. Glyphs that doesn't look like they belong in this realm.
When the top symbol, the blue circle reached Elliot's height, the symbols slammed themselves to Minos's chest, creating a bright blast of light that could be seen from the other side of Solaguer.
Minos raised his arm and he took a couple of deep breathes, "What in the–"
He was cut off when a thump sounded beside him, Elliot fell to the ground in unconsciousness.