Hello!
Thank you for those people who always wait for my updates. 💞💞💕💕❣
And to the ones who asked for me to mend their broken hearts after the last chap I updated, I can't guarantee this could mend them. Hehheheheheh. ✌
Still, I hope you like this chap!
Xoxo,
mongjiiii~
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"Gusion."
He heard Hanabi's voice say through the earpiece in his armor.
Gusion could not really understand how it worked, but their Venom armors could somehow allow them to communicate in long distances and it had been so useful throughout their missions.
Just like now, when Gusion and Angela were surveying around the woods while Harley and Hanabi were in a different location, Grock doing the same thing in his own way; jumping from one tree to another.
"Yes?" He answered.
"We found it. The orcs' camp."
"Where are you?"
"Approximately a couple of kilometers northeast from where we started."
"We're coming." Gusion responded, glancing at Angela who understood immediately.
Without any delay, Gusion sprinted to the said direction, the Venom armor forming into full head gear and armor as he ran, topping up his speed while helping him save his energy.
Angela was following right behind him, flying in the air in her bee wings made by her own specialized armor.
Gusion could not help but be amazed by the venom, whatever creature it was.
The five of them knew it was an evolved parasite of some kind, although they still hadn't figured out what it needed from their own body. But it gave them more convenience.
It must've knew Angela's weakness was legwork, that was why it gave her a bee's wings to cover up what she lacked and made her faster without much use of her mechanical legs.
Gusion, on the other hand, was good on close combats so it would cover up his whole body and face with armor harder than stone or metal whenever he would be in a fight, and it also gave him another weapon he could use up close; a scorpion's venomous stinger.
They spotted Hanabi and Harley a few minutes later, hiding behind a couple of large trees before a clearing.
Grock had climbed over a tree's trunk and was surveying from a high perspective.
Gusion and Angela joined them and peered through the trunk.
Ahead were almost forty orcs, brandishing weapons, fighting and unloading supplies.
Just what they needed.
"Alright, we don't need to engage in a fight when not necessary. Just take anything we need. We'll meet here in five." Gusion explained once again.
"Let's go in pairs, one take supplies while the other be the lookout." he suggested and looked up at Grock. "You stay guard and go be the distraction whenever necessary."
Grock nodded, knowing all too well his size wouldn't do much good on stealth missions.
Gusion's gaze accidentally met Hanabi's, and he was suddenly reminded of what almost happened the other night.
Both of them looked away at the same time and took the opposite directions, their other two teammates following each of them cluelessly.
Gusion followed closely as Angela flew towards one of the guarding orcs and silently knocked it down with her stinger.
They wasted no time and ducked inside one of the tents as Angela stood guard outside.
He looked around for food when a familiar whif of scent hit his sense of smell.
He immediately panicked when he recognized it, his primary goal temporarily forgotten as he started looking around, trying to convince himself it was impossible.
He sat down at the bunk and realized the smell came from the fabric over it.
His nervousness skyrocketed the moment he saw the familiar looking dress draped over one of the chairs; a pair of black corset and a skirt that he had seen too many times to mistake it from another.
"Guinevere." He muttered, marching out of the tent, his original goal fading out of his mind.
"Did you find something?" Angela asked when he came at the entrance, but he continued walking along and looking around frantically.
"Gusion, what are you doing?! We have to be careful as to not be seen!" Angela reminded in a low voice as she followed after him, careful not to be seen by the orcs in the middle of the clearing.
"Just a moment, Angela." He muttered, his gaze busy scanning the abyssal creatures ahead and peering inside empty tents for a sight of a lady with brown curls.
"You gotta be careful opening those tents, Gusion!" She warned.
But Gusion's head was filled with images of Guinevere being bloody and bruised as she was tortured horribly by orcs and demons for him to calm down and spare time to carefully open the tents.
He could not forgive himself if he would see her in a horrible state.
Just thinking about it was making every part of him tremble in anger.
"An intruder is around!" A loud, thick voice suddenly yelled.
Angela gripped Gusion's armored arm, making him look at her over his shoulder.
She looked anxious and panicked.
"Anyone could feel your presence from a mile away! You need to calm down!" Angela scolded.
But before he could take it into consideration, a group of orcs who came running around because of the warning came right in front of them.
All of them froze, onvluding Gusion wjo realized how bad he screwed up.
He hastily thpught of how to get out of the situation.
"INTRUDER!" The leading orc yelled and everyone started scrambling towards their direction.
"Let's go!" Gusion snapped at Angela and went to the direction with lesser enemies.
Angela flew up and away, Gusion blinking after her.
They were almost out of the camp borders when they were blocked by a demon with molten scythes in its arms.
Gusion backed away as soon as he felt the dominating energy that was coming from that particular demon.
He knew he was no normal demon like the others around.
This one was flaming with power as it stood right in his way.
"Gusion!" Angela yelled and flew back to his direction.
"No! Angela, fly away!" He yelled, but Angela came right over him. "I said go!"
"I'm not leaving the captain!" She said stubbornly, flying just a little over his side.
Gusion backed away and looked around, his eyes darting for a possible escape route.
He clenched his teeth in frustration as orcs and demons came from different directions, irritated at himself for being tricked.
Did they somehow know that mimicking Guinevere's scent and dress would distract him and lure him in?
Cause if they did, he would commend them for coming up with such a very effective way.
"INTRUDER!" Another voice yelled from the other side of the camp, making all of them turn to its direction.
A few more abyssal creatures scrambled around that direction, and a few second later, Hanabi came in sight.
"Let's go!" She called at their direction, Grock landing right at the ground and crashing the orcs that came in his way, giving Hanabi a headstart.
Gusion saw Angela spread her arms and she started glowing.
It was what she does whenever she was about to use her Heartguard, and Gusion immediately got ready to attack.
The moment he felt a warm air enveloping his body, he immediately threw his blade towards the certain demon's direction, knowing Angela would be making him invincible for a certain period of time.
His blade hit the fire demon in the chest, and he wasted no second to advance and attacked him again with his multiplying blades, hitting other orcs in the process as their attacks merely bounced off an invisible shield around his armor.
But his attack merely staggered the fire demon back, giving them a chance to run away while Angela was casting her magic strings towards the enemies after them, slowing them down drastically.
"Let's go, Grock!" He called as he sprinted past him.
Grock threw a bunch of orcs with one swing of his arm and knocked off another bunch with his tail before following after Gusion.
They were almost out of the camp when he saw Harley casting his ring of fire around a female demon with pink hair and dark violet skin who lunged at his direction and slashed him with her claws.
Gusion swerved and turned to help him.
"Gela, go to Harley!" He ordered.
Immediately, the warm air that served as a shield disappeared from around him as Angela teleported over Harley and gave him the same shield.
The she-demon's attack turned useless towards Harley, and Gusion sprinted towards their direction to get them out of there before Angela's shield would run out.
"SELENA!" A familiar voice suddenly yelled, making Gusion abruptly stop in his tracks and looked around.
There, coming from the opposite direction as him, was a lady with dark wavy hair running towards the she-demon while Harley and Angela were teaming up to fight against her.
Gusion stood and watched as that particular lady leaped a great distance towards them, her pink dress that looked like large lotus petals flopping down as she landed and sent both Harley and Angela in the air, stunning them both and giving a chance for the she-demon to attack again.
The scene alone was enough to make Gusion's gut wrench in dread, but it went worse the moment the lady's eyes fell on him and she froze.
The chaos around them suddenly went insignificant, the running orcs and demons trying to catch them blurring away as Gusion's mind focused on those familiar green eyes that was currently staring back at him.
Even Hanabi's cursing as she ran past him to help Harley and Angela sounded indistinct and distant as Gusion's feet felt like they were glued to the ground, unable to move and his mind suddenly going blank.
He could recognize those eyes among a crowd of a hundred people.
All at once, a hundred questions popped out of Gusion's mind that he started becoming dizzy.
And as if to make things worse, a blond boy whose sight was enough to ignite the fire inside Gusion's chest came running from the same direction as her.
Gusion sprinted towards his direction, determined to do what he failed to do before; put an end to that boy's life.
But then Grock came running towards the opposite direction, grabbing him by the waist as they met.
"NO, LET ME GO!" He exclaimed, struggling to escape his hold.
"SHUT UP, GUSION! THINK STRAIGHT!" Hanabi yelled after him.
Gusion watched with gritted teeth as Harley threw his hat on a safe direction, casted his ring of fire around the she-demon before teleporting to where his hat was.
"No. NO!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. Dread and fear flooded in his chest as he saw how Angela's Heartguard spell ended the same moment Harley teleported, leaving her at the midst of the enemy as the rest of them retreated.
They had reached the border of the camp with big orcs and demons after them when the four of them momentarily stopped.
"We have to get Angela!" he yelled and was about to blink to her direction when their way was blocked by their pursuers, and Angela disappeared behind a tall group of demons that came to capture her.
"Grock, what are you doing? We have to go back!" He ordered when Grock started running away, a look of pain in his face.
Hanabi, who was at the tail of their group, casted her Higanbana spell on their pursuers.
Instantly, demon flower grew out of the ground and trapped almost a dozen orcs in place, giving them a chance to escape as she threw her petal blade and it bounced from one enemy to another in just a single throw.
They only stopped when they were certain no more orc or demon was following them, and only then did the truth dawned on them.
They had just left one of their members behind.
Gusion fell on the ground, propping his elbows on his knees as he gripped his hair, the shame and the guilt slowly dawning on him.
Hanabi fell on her knees in front of him and grabbed him by the collar.
He saw the tears forming in her eyes as she made him look up and shook him.
"WHY THE HELL DID YOU JUST STAND THERE?!" She exclaimed, pain dripping in her voice.
All Gusion could do was look down in shame.
He could not dare meet any of their gazes and see disappointment in them, so he stared at the ground and let his hair fall over his eyes.
Hanabi's grip around his collar loosened as she hung her head low and started crying.
Gusion felt like his chest was being clenched and his head was being bombarded with thoughts he could not manage to register.
He wished the ground would just crack open and swallow him whole.
And he wished that would be enough to compensate for the recklessness he'd done.
They sat there, with only Hanabi's sobs filling the silent forest, as four hearts cried the same cry until the sun went down and the moon came up to weep with them.