Warning: This chapter contains (mild) gory descriptions. For those who are easily squeamish, you can skip the descriptions.
The carriage arrived to an abrupt stop, Hana stumbled and fell right into Xue's arms, whereas, Cecil had already expected this to happen, stabilising herself easily.
"Cor-corpses! Dark magic!" The driver exclaimed in fright, and he jumped off the carriage, scrambling away.
The horse neighed noisily, as if it was unsettled by whatever it saw.
"Get off!" Xue warned, jumping out of the carriage with Hana in his arms.
Cecil jumped out right after that, and the horse immediately rode off with the carriage. Cecil shielded herself from the dust the horse kicked up from the stone pavement. She lifted her head up as she observed the scene before her.
Xue and Hana stood beside her, with Hana still rather dazed from the abrupt circumstances.
"...was this what you meant when you said to expect something bad?"
"Yes."
"Wh-what's happening, Xue? Cecil?"
The once prosperous town was in an entire state of chaos. Street stalls crashed and scattered, building burning, the tumult of shouting and screaming breaking out everywhere. Black smoke rose from every direction, and civilians of all ages were scrambling around, desperate for a source of escape.
The courageous and braver ones wielded blunt weapons and everyday tools to fight back against the enemies.
Cecil heard a panicked yelp just in front of them.
It was a small boy, roughly around the age of nine, scuttling backwards on the ground. The shadowy figure in front of him trudged awkwardly, grabbing onto his leg and the small boy shouted in terror.
Cecil moved instinctively, the earth insignia on her palm lighting up. She curled her fingers, shifting forward as she shot her palms forward, and then into the air. Almost immediately, the ground below the shadowy figure trembled, and a stone pillar struck the figure away from the boy, making them release his leg, and another pillar shot up from the ground, hurling their body hurling through the air.
The small boy was overcome with fright and relief, fainting on the spot.
The figure landed right in front of the three of them, and Hana upon seeing it, shrieked in terror, staggering back. Xue supported her, observing the figure on the ground coldly.
A man, or to be more specific, a corpse laid in front of them. Its body was already decaying, along with its tattered clothes.
The corpse had a large cut on its abdomen, and its internal organs were already spilling out. One of its arms were mangled beyond comprehension. Its right leg was almost coming off, a thread of flesh still attached, if one gave it a simple tug, the leg would have come right off.
The corpse's mouth was hung wide open, as if its jaw has been dislocated and there were maggots wriggling inside its mouth. The eyeballs of the corpse has been gouged out, the remnants of dried blood still present on its face.
The gruesome sight and the repulsive scent was enough to make one vomit.
...and Hana did just that.
Xue held her hair up, looking at the corpse coldly once again. He gave the corpse a harsh kick, sending it flying.
A few maggots dropped onto the ground, and the intestines scattered about, laying across the stone pavement. A few drops of blood, which was already darkened, also splattered onto Cecil's school outfit.
Cecil covered her mouth, feeling queasy, looking at Xue who raised his eyebrows at her.
Great lord protagonist, I was holding it in earlier. You kicking the corpse out of anger because it made your beloved wife suffer...it just makes it worse.
Cecil squeezed her eyes shut, looking away from the dreadful corpse, hurrying forward to the boy. She carefully carried him into her arms, the screams of terrors piercing through the air.
"Urik! Urik, where are you?"
A woman in her forties was dashing about, her face pale as her hair was disheveled. A corpse growled, its state was almost as bad as the previous corpse.
The woman clutched the shovel in her hand, gritting her teeth as she whacked the corpse without mercy. The corpse's body twisted and it collapsed to the ground, however, instead of stopping, it crawled towards the woman with its twisted body.
The woman didn't pay attention to it, still hurrying around looking for her child. That was when she saw Cecil in the distance, carrying a child she was familiar with, tears sprung to her eyes and she sprinted towards Cecil, dropping the shovel.
"Urik? Urik! Oh thank god, thank you so much, young lady. Thank you for saving my son."
Cecil handed her son over carefully. The mother fretted over her unconscious son, and Cecil tried to quell her anxiety.
"Your son simply fainted from shock, don't worry."
Hana took out her handkerchief to wipe at her mouth, she also took out the canteen from her backpack, rinsing her mouth with it. Xue naturally assisted her.
"Thank you, Xue...what should we do...about this?" Hana asked, looking at Xue.
Cecil looked at Xue as well, while patting the mother who was crying.
"I can feel...three of "me" here," Xue stated, looking at Cecil. "Did you know?"
"Vaguely," Cecil nodded, her voice lukewarm. "It is your choice, Xue. Whether you want to forsake them and find your souls, or save them and find your souls."
There are two different things this time, compared to the original timeline.
Hana is here, and so am I. So now, what Xue decides...I will just follow.
Hana looked at Xue. "You...you won't help them?" She struggled out of his embrace. "Why?"
Xue sighed, looking at Hana before glancing back at Cecil. "When you said there would be benefits for stepping in, was it only for finding my souls?"
Cecil shook her head. "I can't explain, but, it is more than what you can expect."
Xue closed his eyes, "I'll do it."
Cecil smiled, "okay, Xue. You know where your souls are, you should lead the way."
"I'll stay here, I don't think I can see anymore of those...things," Hana volunteered to stay behind, turning green as she looked at the bloody corpse strewn about in the distance.
The maggots were still wiggling around, and the long string of rotting intestines on the ground didn't help either.
"The two of you should go, both of you are strong anyway!"
"Alright, Hana. You can stay here and protect them, and any more civilians we send here."
"Mhmm!" Hana nodded, smiling at the two civilians and the mother smiled back gratefully.
She placed her canteen on the ground, taking out her blue shawl from her backpack. She then drew a small amount of water from the canteen, drenching her shawl in it.
"I know you can handle it, Hana." Cecil encouraged with a smile and Hana beamed back.
Xue, who has seen Hana's skills in action several times, knew she was more than capable of getting rid of a few corpses.
"Be careful, Hana."
"I will!"
"Let's go." Xue headed towards the burning town, filled with screams and shrieks, unsheathing his spear.
Cecil followed after him, taking out her rock and holding a dagger in her other hand.
***
"How long do we have to keep this up for?!"
"Until the teachers and the principal can find the mastermind!"
"The academy is under attack as well, how would they have time to find the mastermind and defend at the same time?!"
"What about Kai?"
"Forget about asking him! He isn't as skilled as before!"
The students, both female and male from different divisions found themselves surrounded by corpses. The invasion came at the worst time, where everyone was having their term break.
The school's combat power was down by half, there was only so much they could do against an endless swarm of corpses. Moreover, most of the students who stayed behind were the freshmen and also the weaker ones, for the sake of training hard.
Most of them hasn't even unlocked their third gates.
They were further up into the woods, on the gravel path which leads to the academy in the mountains.
The students have been fighting for over thirty minutes, exhausted.
"It's another wave!"
"My elemental energy is running out! I...I can't keep this up for long!"
"It's the same for me..."
"Damn it! If only there were more of us, especially the stronger ones."
"They all went home..."
One of the female students suddenly screeched in terror. She had slipped and a corpse grabbed onto her arm, opening its mouth, its rotten teeth and flesh wanting to bite down.
The foul stench, along with the horrendous sight of a rotting corpse so close to her almost made her faint.
There was no one who could help her, since they were equally in trouble.
Suddenly, a rock whizzed past and pierced right through the corpse's head, the force causing its neck to twist horribly. The bits of flesh stuck to the rock and some of it fell onto the female student's sleeve.
A gust of wind blew by, the leaves of the trees rustling and the dozens of trees surrounding the student began to grow vines.
The vines shot out, coiling around the corpses, like a snake who has captured its prey. Thorns grew on the vines as well, penetrating corpses violently, and within seconds, the corpses were lifted into the air, strangled and helpless.
A beautiful raven-haired woman revealed herself as she walked out from the trees, vines curling around her arms and daggers. She wore an aloof and haughty expression on her face, and the students immediately recognised her.
"Cecil!"
"Cecil, you are back!"
They rushed towards her and Cecil suddenly narrowed her eyes, reacting quickly as she threw the dagger. The blade of the dagger changed its form into a thick vine, filled with menacing thorns as it pierced through a corpse stumbling its way to another student.
Cecil extended the vines from her arm, touching the tree and the tree grew another vine, coiling it around the same corpse she attacked.
She recalled her dagger, gripping it firmly and she breathed out. "Missed one, there's too many of them to keep track."
"Cecil, do you need us--"
"Head into the town, save the civilians and send them to the border of the town, where Hana is."
The students looked at one another, nodding decisively as one of them took charge, commanding the group.
"Half of us will help the civilians and Hana, the other half, head back to the academy--"
"Not the academy," Cecil warned, she knew that there was where the source of the attack came from. "I'm afraid you'll only risk your lives if you head back there, do what you can for the civilians and the town."
Cecil breathed in, "Also remember, these are corpses, not human. You have to use brute force, they are being controlled by dark magic, you can't treat them like an actual human being."
The students murmured in understanding.
"Those low on elemental energy, recuperate first, we will change our formations once the other group starts to run low." The same student took command of the group.
Cecil nodded, agreeing with their plan. "Good plan. Now, go ahead, we'll handle things from here."
"We?"
"Not here either." A new voice spoke, stepping out from the trees as well.
A corpse was impaled by his spear and Xue slammed it onto the ground, and stomping on the corpse without mercy. He removed his spear, trying to get rid of the remains of the corpse on his treasured spear as he flicked it several times.
Everyone immediately scattered upon seeing Xue, and Cecil withdrew, the vines disappearing as the corpses dropped to the ground, dark red blood staining the ground, grass. There was also bits and pieces of flesh strewn about, along with internal organs.
The stench of stale blood and rotten flesh filled the air.
Cecil grimaced, flicking her daggers to clean it, just like Xue.
"Are the souls at the academy instead?"
Xue looked at Cecil, not speaking for a moment.
Xue: "You can feel the presence of the souls more than me."
Kai: "Yeah, I definitely can. It's...calling from the...academy. And it was like you said, three of them."
Cecil noticed the glazed look in Xue's eyes, tilting her head, and a thought occurred to her.
"Are you talking...to Kai?"
Xue nodded, indifferent. "He is able to feel the presence of the souls more than me. I can only sense how many there are within this area, but not their location."
Cecil was surprised by this newfound information. In the novel, Xue never conversed with his other souls, and he never listened to them either.
He simply travelled around the world, encountered cannon fodder villains and lots of suffering; mostly due to saving Hana, and found souls along the way. After that, he simply had to defeat the big bad villain.
So...this is how Xue managed to find the souls somehow. I was wondering why he was having difficulty finding it at the start...then suddenly, he could find the souls quickly further into the story.
It had to do with the more souls he absorbed, it seems like they were closer to the core of his soul, thus, they could sense the presence better?
If I followed the author's logic, it seems to be that way.
[ Congratulations, this is the fourth plothole of the story, and you have unexpectedly fixed it!
Optional mission #4 : The alters of the protagonist.
Objective completed!
Reward : 20 points
Remaining points : 4130 points ]
Cecil raised her eyebrows, shocked. "AI500, what was the objective?"
[ Figure out the reason behind Xue's progress in finding the souls. ]
"I see."
Cecil looked at Xue, assuming that Xue was already setting off. She found Xue still remaining in the same spot, staring at her.
"...what is it?"
"He says hi." Xue stated and Cecil understood instantly.
"Oh, it's Kai?" Cecil asked, and she smiled gently at Xue as she waved at him. "Hi Kai."
However, both of them knew that the smile and wave wasn't directed to Xue.
This realisation made Xue frown unhappily.
Xue: "Now, would you shut up?"
Kai: "...you want me to shut up about telling you where the souls are?"
Xue: "..."
Xue: "Shut up about everything else other than the souls."
Kai grinned in victory.
***
《 start 》
You are not smiling and waving to me.
You are smiling and waving to "me".
I do not like it.
And I do not want to know why I don't like it.
《 stop 》