Chapter 266 (2/2)

E the rest

The next person to come up to me was the warrior who had looted the dead shi+eld-wielder He shot me a somber slare that I had given him as he approached, he sat down a few feet away and asked, “So how many teammates did you lose?”

“None,” I replied curtly “I came here alone”

The man’s jaw visibly slackened “You’re a solo ascender?”

I remained silent

“My na toward uess I’m a quasi-solo ascender now too, since my teammate died”

I didn’t take it and Trider eventually took back his hand with an unco solo makes you a bit cautious but that’s okay Anyway, I came here to see if you’d like a partner for the rest of this ascent I’ out in the next crossroad so if you want to—”

“I refuse,” I cut in

“What? Oh, are you worried about splitting accolades? If that’s the case, I think it’d be fair to separate and individually keep accolades from beasts we kill ourselves and split an even fifty-fifty for beasts we have to kill together”

“No thank you,” I answered without ee of frustration in his voice

Annoyed by his insistence, I lashed back with a cold tone “The word ‘honorable’ has noto a man who plunders his own teammate’s body for equipment”

Trider flinched back, eyes wide in surprise and confusion “You’re…joking, right? Taking valuable equipment back home to the ascender’s blood is what Warren would’ve wanted”

Suddenly, it felt like I had been the one to make thethe conversation slightly “That’s not what I ht to leave his body out in the open to decay or be eaten by those carallians”

“Oh, you must be from Sehz-Clar” Trider chuckled “No offense but notions like that are why people from your do soldiers in the place of their death is an honor, especially within the Relictois teased, feigning disgust

However, his joke was a cold splash to ue back that I didn’t know, but it only seenorance as nance

“Ito ht hat I told the swordser”

Trider rauess an acco accepted into Vechor I’m from Etril so we’d be on the opposite side of the continent once we get out”

“Seeh I had no clue where I would end up once I left this dung—Relictombs After a brief pause, I spoke hesitantly “If I can ask you a few questions as ho are those three ascenders over there?”

Trider looked to where I was pointing “I wanted to ask you the sa with the swordsman striker I’m not sure who they are but if you look at the accolades they have, it’s obvious they’re not your norirl wields Warren and I had joined this convergence zone only two days ago, but supposedly, those three have been here for over a week now It’s no wonder that they’re in such bad shape”

‘Man, this guy talks a lot,’ Regis groused

It works in our favor though, I sent back

“Anyway, I’ll let you get back to your training The offer still stands, unless you’ve already accepted the offer froy,” he said with a hint of disappointifted caster and pretty to boot”

After Trider walked back to his s until a few hours had passed The ca ready to go as if there was an agreement established beforehand Froroup of thirteen excludingaway the sweat onwith Sylvie’s stone Taegen, Caera, and the swordsroup of three—soon followed after Daria gaveme to follow her, but when I didn’t, her thin brows furrowed and she whipped her head away

The only other person to travel by hie behind the rest who travelled in pairs behind the two groups of three that led this excursion

Our pace was that of a constant sprint as we tried to cover astoo much ht’ve been possible for me to keep a nonstop pace toward the exit out of this zone but for everyone else, the few hours of rest was crucial if ere to fight another wave

As we ran in a line formation tohere the power source had been, I could feel the stress build aroup

When the sky actually turned red, the Alacryans’ tensions culminated into explosions of mana as each one of them immediately readied for a battle

I decided to keep toeither Trider or Daria, but Trider stuck by me when the sky shi+fted, maybe for protection or maybe to prove himself to me

The red sun—supposedly the power source of this zone—stood high above us, but it was closer this tith flowed through my lis, expecting to see a horde offrom the distance

That wasn’t the case

The carallians rose fro themselves out of the cracked dense dirt with their red claws all around us Ian their preemptive attacks, but I couldn’t help but stare at the claws sprouting froround

It wasn’t just me The rest of the ascenders froze when the first carallianwith the rest of its brethren were twice the size of the previous wave of carallians—standing at about ten feet high—and had an extra pair of ar by the look on everyone’s faces, it was obvious that this wasn’t normal