Chapter 154
Lori took out clean bandages from her bag; they were fairly clean. After all, she had fallen into the dirt not long ago and was covered in grime. If she didn't wash them, the bandages might get dirty.
But where can we get clean water? There's only blood outside, the blood of the recently deceased.
The earth began to shake; of all times, an earthquake struck. Roofs swayed. In someone's house, perhaps the person lying in the corner, was struck on the head by a stone that smashed through a window.
Life can be incredibly strong at times, but it can also be so fragile. He may have tried to struggle, but he still died in the end.
His stubbornness as a human being led him to finally sever the tendons in his Achilles tendon and the tendons in his other hand with a dagger before committing suicide.
This means that even if he is infected by the chaotic elements and turns into a disgusting monster, he will not attack the humans who enter; he is "safe" because he is completely incapacitated.
As Lori bandaged the elf's wounds, she glanced at the person lying there. Karl had said that this person would be taken away later. After treating him, it would be a period of dry rations.
It's not that I think it's cruel, it's just that I feel a little sorry for it.
Ultimately, the cause of this whole thing was myself. If I hadn't come to this city, it wouldn't have been in chaos when the Demon King attacked.
Because of her, this stranger died. And this person was kind; he would neutralize himself to avoid harming others, and would even use his own flesh and blood to keep them from starving for a period of time.
Lori looked away; right now, she should make the person in front of her feel better.
Fortunately, he had some basic medical supplies with him, and there was a priest nearby. So at least one person could be saved.
The ground began to shake. After bandaging the girl's wounds, Lori simply covered her with a blanket. Fortunately, the blanket was clean and unstained.
"How is she?" Karl turned to look at Lori, and seeing her somewhat sad expression, he was having trouble figuring out whether the elf was still alive.
"Fortunately, I should say I'm glad I wasn't seriously injured," Lori said softly. She had only helped with some basic bandaging of the external wounds; she couldn't do anything about the internal injuries caused by the impact.
However, internal injuries aren't a major problem for monsters. Unlike humans, monsters don't require much attention to internal injuries; their magic power can heal them. As long as the core isn't damaged, there shouldn't be any major issues.
“We can’t stay here too long.” Carl looked at her, then fell silent.
Because he realized he couldn't answer the questions she would definitely ask next.
"Where are we going next?" The question came as expected. Lori didn't look at him, but instead held the elf's hand with her fingers intertwined, hoping that this would help the still unconscious elf have a good dream.
"I don't know." After thinking for half a minute, Karl still answered truthfully, "I don't know where we can go."
It's truly a helpless situation; the world is so vast, yet it's difficult to find a place to belong. Now, he's carrying a demonic species that the church has already targeted, which means that it's best for them to stay here and face their inevitable death—that's the greatest act of kindness they can show to others.
“Is that so?” Lori wasn’t surprised and nodded with her eyes lowered.
This surprised Karl a bit, because Lori looked truly pitiful. Despite still looking like a child, she had a sorrowful expression on her face. She was currently clutching a complete stranger, hoping to give her a good dream; this was a beautiful elf, but Lori was in no way inferior to her in appearance.
It seemed to have some effect; the elf, still unconscious, revealed a helpless smile, and her whole body slowly relaxed. However, Lori's entire body was trembling slightly, and her hand holding the elf's hand was shaking.
A person who is terrified is comforting a person who is at ease, telling her not to be afraid. This subconscious action may be because she hopes that someone will hold her hand at this moment and give her a moment of peace.
But no one had the right to come up and rub her head so she could cry her heart out, her forehead pressed against her back, and then say something like "it's okay." Carl just leaned against the doorway, watching, feeling the blood seeping from the wound on his chest.
That monster was actually capable of using divine magic. He was wounded by the Sword of Truth, an attack that could penetrate any defense and would inevitably leave a wound upon impact. At the same time, holy magic would linger around the wound, preventing corruption and making it difficult for the target to heal.
The wound was particularly tricky; although not a large one, Karl had been bleeding steadily since the beginning. It was a difficult situation, and there was no time to give himself further treatment. He couldn't very well bandage Lori in front of her; it would worry her.
If it were just half a day ago, he could have said comforting words like "I can protect you" or "Everything will be alright." At least he wouldn't have left her helpless for so long.
But now, he felt he was no longer qualified to say such things. He was incapable of protecting her, and if she held onto the wrong expectations of him because of this, she would one day suffer even greater despair.
Should we live in the present or consider the future? I don't know, but Carl always subconsciously planned for the child's future; you could say he believed the child had a future.
“We need to find a way to leave this city.” Carlton paused. “Do you know what the situation is like out there?”
"I heard the roar of monsters, and there are many, many monsters coming this way."
"Yes, the monsters are still being held back by the garrison, who are currently fighting the Demon King. Even the Church doesn't have time to worry about our whereabouts right now," Karl said, looking at Lori. "I don't know if that guy Ark will still be able to take us away, so we need to find a carriage first. Then we'll prepare two corpses for food. I'll try my best to fight our way through the monsters to the Spirit Forest, where..."
“No, you can’t get there alive.” Lori shook her head, crying. “You stay in this safe zone! I’ll die here quietly. My being alive is a mistake, and I don’t want to make any more mistakes.”
"Sorry, it's a bit selfish. But I don't want you to die." Karl slowly walked over, smiling as he patted her head. "Listen to me one last time. You still can't use your powers, but I won't be able to take care of you after I die. At least while I'm alive, I'll protect you."
In the end, he couldn't resist and impulsively went to comfort the child who didn't deserve it. But what's done is done, so there's no point in regretting it, just like how he braved so much resistance to take her away from their city to survive. Because if he regretted it, everything he had done before would be negated. Karl was terrified of regretting it, because in that instant, everything he had would be negated.
"What are you doing here?" A voice came from the doorway. He turned his head and looked at Ark standing there.
This time, instead of being expressionless, he had a haggard face with blood flowing from his eyes and ears. This guy, who had always looked so calm and collected, looked like he had fallen off a cliff and all his bones were broken.
However, Karl's attention was not on his wound. Although the wound was indeed starting to rot, he carried the Black Flower and could rely on the witchcraft potion to sustain himself for a while.
But when he looked at the three of them, he suddenly laughed. A smile appeared on his desperate face, so strange that it was hard to know where to begin.
Just when Karl thought the guy was in despair and didn't want to think of a solution, he saw someone appear behind him. It was a man he had never seen before, holding an unconscious fox spirit girl, and wearing that familiar armor.
“Deedri?” Karl recognized her as the mercenary who was going to work in the city and was slightly surprised. She carried a strange, slender scythe and the Dragon Fang Greatsword on her back. Her armor had been badly beaten up; the steam system had malfunctioned, so she had to take off her helmet to catch her breath.
Why is she here?
Deedley shrugged. She just felt a little guilty for taking too many benefits from the little spider, so when the little spider escaped with the two of them and ran into Ark, she rejoined the team she had just left.
Ark seemed quite pleased about this; it was a rare sight indeed that this guy actually laughed normally.
The seemingly hopeless situation was reversed the moment he entered, a fact that applies to everyone. Had they not met, this might have been a death sentence for all of them. But luck brought them together, and in that instant, they rebuilt the broken path leading to the future.
When the elf awoke, he was already in the local church.
She felt it was a bit chaotic because one person kept bothering her.
“First, I just contacted Benny through the telepathic connection. We will be separated temporarily because the church has requested her assistance in fighting the crisis in this city.” Ark said to the person who could still stand, “So she is temporarily unable to leave. The original plan was to meet here and leave together, but now the plan has changed. We will go first, and she will come to the Forest of All Spirits to find us after she has dealt with the trouble. Then we will meet and head to the Land of the Dead together.”
His ears twitched, and he turned to look at the awakened elf, greeting him.
"Where am I?" The elf felt the pain in his body and roughly guessed what was going on.
“You were saved by that girl.” Ark pointed to Lori, who was helping to tidy up the carriage. “To be honest, I don’t know much about you except that you are Chuli. You probably know the same thing except that I am a businessman.”
"What about my friends? The ones who were with me back then?" The elf regretted asking the question as soon as it was asked, since he didn't know those guys and could roughly guess how things had ended. No one was safe now; it was highly likely that those guys had all disappeared from this world forever.
“I’m sorry, I can’t answer that.” Ark avoided the question. “Although it’s difficult for you, you need to make a judgment. You have two choices: stay here and we’ll keep your weapons in reserve; or go to the local safe zone to help defend against the approaching monster tide.”
The elf nodded; this straightforward way of speaking wasn't bad.
"The other thing is an invitation. Interested in joining my team? I don't have enough cash to hire anyone right now, but luckily I have some valuable items." Ark looked at the assembled wagons; the only loss was the one he'd taken with him. Ideally, he'd take three wagons this time, unloading all the cargo and carrying only animal hides, food, medicine, and other necessary supplies. He did have some gold coins, but he couldn't use them as leverage because he needed to consider the next round of restocking.
Suddenly, my mind cleared up, and everything seemed so wonderful. Just moments before, I was worried about the whole team being wiped out, but the moment Spider-Man joined, I felt like we could rebuild. Just like when I met Benny, the future seemed bright.
"Where are you going?" She didn't answer first, but instead looked at him while resting her head on her hand.
“Lingsen, although I know some elves, I haven’t been there for a while. It would be best if someone could guide us.” Ark looked at the elf and said, “I will be in charge of supplying us in the meantime. The guy over there is a priest, and he can use his status to get us some things.”
"Huh? Going home?"
Is it difficult?
“No, not at all.” The elf looked at the monsters in the distance: “Are you planning to break through those monsters?”
Yak smiled and nodded.
"Who isn't a monster?" he said. "No problem."
Gray and Dark stood on the carriage, watching the people who were still busy, seemingly with no intention of helping.
These two cats had already given up on being guardians and only considered protecting the coffin as their purpose in life, so they had been resting well while the carriage was here. They were arguably the best-behaved members of the group right now.
Lady is in that coffin now; she's sleeping soundly and it seems best not to disturb her.
Little White was sleeping in another coffin. Little Spider hadn't had time to tell what was going on on its side, and no one paid much attention to why there was an extra white fox.
In short, this place will soon be irrelevant to them. The elves and Ark reached an agreement, and everyone boarded their respective carriages. Meanwhile, any remaining mobile combatants climbed onto the roofs. Steam billowed from the pipes, and the three steam-powered carriages began to move.
Ark held a long sword in each hand, something he'd kept at the bottom of a box. As weapons, he found them quite handy.
He looked at the monster in front of him and listened to the noisy horns behind him, but he didn't find it noisy; instead, he felt a sense of sudden enlightenment and surprise.
At least this time they won't disappear.
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