Chapter 558: Sudden change |
"Are you alright?" Emily asked as she walked over with Shasha and Kamesh.
"Yeah. Just some old injuries acting up. Nothing to worry about." Durden wiped the blood from his lips and smiled. Adam looked at him and complained, his eyes becoming misty, "Big brother, why did you attack? Weren't they already leaving?"
Durden smiled and ruffled Adam's hair. "Haha, I couldn't bear to let all of them leave alive. Also, my injuries are no longer serious. So, stop worrying about me too much." Saying this, he leaned down and whispered in his ear, "Also, don't cry or these guys will look down on you."
Hearing this, Adam's youthful face turned red. He sniffed and asked, with an embarrassed expression, "Hmph! Who's crying?!" "Haha, no one, no one." Durden laughed before his gaze swept over Emily and others. "What about you all? You alright?" He asked. Then he noticed the unconscious Max and frowned. "And what's the matter with that guy? Was he injured? No… it doesn't seem like it. Hm? Don't tell me he was the cause of the commotion a while ago?" As he spoke, his eyes flashed with surprise, as though he noticed something.
Emily's expression turned grave when she saw him show an interest in Max and immediately stood in front of him. "He is fine. You don't have to worry about him. If there is nothing more, please leave."
Sensing the hostility in her tone, Adam and Jasmine frowned in displeasure, "Watch your tone! If it wasn't for us, you would be rotting corpses by now."
Emily paused for a moment before she shook her head, "We're very thankful for your help and if there is a chance, I'll repay you. But even if you hadn't come, we wouldn't have died, at least not all of us." Speaking until here, Emily looked at the duo coldly, "Besides, he is the one who saved us, not you two. So, watch your tones as well."
"You're ungrateful…" Adam's face flushed red in anger but before he could lash out, Durden stopped him and laughed, "Why are you guys bickering over nothing? We are all friends here." He then gave Emily a deep glance before calmly saying, "You don't have to worry. I have no ill intention towards any of you. I was just curious. If you really want us to leave, we'll leave, no problem. But If I'm not wrong, you guys are heading toward the capital city, right? If yes, then it would be better if we travel together. That way, we can take care of each other."
Emily hesitated when she heard this. Seeing this, Durden's expression was the same, but Adam and Jasmine became angry. Their big brother clearly wanted to help them, but she was hesitating as though they weren't good people.
Emily nodded at her before she looked at Durden and said, "Alright. But we have to wait until he wakes up. If you are in a hurry, you can go ahead without us."
"It's alright. We also need to rest for a while," Durden said before glancing around. "But we should find another place. The chances are high the demons would return if they find reinforcements. They are known to be vengeful."
"Okay." Emily nodded. Then, the group left the place.
…
After what seemed to be a very long time, Max regained his senses. Just then, the system's voice sounded.
[Congratulations, host. Your mana core has been upgraded to the peak four-star level.]
'That's great…' However, before he could be happy about it, the system's voice sounded once again. This time, it was very feeble, barely audible. [Host, I've a bad piece of news… the system has used up almost all its energy… and will fall into a dormant state. But worry not… this is a blessing in disguise for you.]
Boom!
When Max heard this, he felt an explosion go off in his head and his mind blanked out.
"How? How did this happen?" He asked in disbelief.
However, the system didn't answer. "How… Arrgghhhh!!" Just as he wanted to ask again, an overwhelming pain flooded his senses that made him let out a heart wrenching scream. In the next moment, he lost consciousness once again.
…
Emily and the group had taken refuge in a barren valley a few hundred miles away from the place they encountered Marsh and horned demons.
Emily was sitting crossed legged, cultivating with two mana stones in her hands. Beside her lay Max, unconscious. Suddenly, she heard him mutter. "How? How did this happen?"
Hearing this, she opened her eyes. When she saw his face had turned pale, and his body was shaking, she frowned, 'Is he having a nightmare?'
Just as she was thinking of waking him, his eyes shot open, his twitching body stilled before he let out a loud scream.
"Arrgghhhh!!"
Emily panicked when she saw this. But before she could do anything, he fainted, blood flowing out from his seven orifices.
"MAX… what happened?" She lost her composer and tears welled up in her eyes. Hurriedly, she lifted his head and put it on her lap before she took out a few healing pills and fed them to him.
As the pills dissolved in his body, his bleeding slowly stopped, but his complexion didn't improve. Worried, she tried using her mana sense to check if anything was wrong, but was shocked to discover her mana was unable to penetrate his body.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Just then, Shasha, Kamesh, Durden and others arrived, and asked, "What happened? What was that cry?"
Taking a breath, Emily recovered her composer and calmly said, "Nothing. He woke up for a brief moment and must have cried out due to pain. You guys go and rest."
After everyone went away, she fell into deep thought while gazing at Max's pale face.