Chapter 117: A Long, Long Journey
The path of light slowly closed behind them, sealing off the darkness and corruption of the Godfall Land.
But as they drew closer to the edge, the blackness, which had been suppressed, began to stir, as if it had a life of its own. It churned and boiled, and a massive wave of thick, black mud crashed against the light of Org, so powerful that it even dimmed its sun-like brilliance.
BOOM—!
Light and darkness clashed. A twisted black tide danced and writhed, trying to break through the barrier of light and drag its escaped prey back into the abyss.
Seeing this, Rhodes quickly hid his arm. The miasma... it had been dormant, but his own presence had stirred it, had activated it. The filth, the darkness, the cold... it was trying to return to its source. And he was that source.
He had been the one to be swallowed whole by the black mud, and now he was its wellspring.
Serie's face paled, and she instinctively grabbed his sleeve.
"Don't worry," he said, and with his other hand, which was now behaving very badly, he took her own. He now held the power of not one, but two gods. The return of Org had given him the authority of the Goddess. The two equal powers could easily deal with the black mud.
His eyes narrowed. He unleashed the power of Org, and a clear, ringing sound echoed as a massive wave of holy energy beat back the black tide.
With the power of Org, they quickly escaped the influence of the Godfall Land. Behind them, the black tide, having lost its target, churned in vain, then slowly receded, returning to the darkness from which it had come.
Serie looked back at the light-swallowing forbidden zone, a sense of lingering fear still in her heart, and let out a long sigh of relief. "Are you alright?" she asked, a note of concern in her voice. "That was dangerous."
He didn't answer right away. He just walked over to her and, with a flick of his finger, bopped her on the forehead.
"Ow!"
She rubbed her forehead and glared at him. How dare he hit me!? The audacity! She was about to retaliate, but his next words stopped her.
"You knew how dangerous it was, and you still went in?"
Now that they were safe, it was time to give this reckless elven miss a piece of his mind.
"I had to. It was the only place I hadn't looked. And besides, I knew you were here," she said, with a proud, 'I-told-you-so' look on her face.
He didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "What do you take me for? Even I didn't dare to stay in that place! And it's not like I could just conceal my presence like Org."
"But it all turned out alright, didn't it? By the way, is Org okay?"
"It's fine. It just used a bit of its power," he said, and gave the holy sword at his waist a reassuring pat. The elven miss didn't seem to have learned her lesson, but he didn't press the matter. In the end, she had risked her life for him. He had no right to scold her.
"But if you weren't in the Godfall Land, then where were you? I couldn't find a single trace of you on the continent, though I heard plenty of stories." The tale of Rhodes, the god-slayer, had now spread throughout the land. The wielder of the three holy swords, the legend who had wiped out the demon army with a single blow, the mythical hero who had accomplished the impossible... every race had heard of his exploits, and had even included her in the stories. And because of him, when a demon or a magical beast was now slain, it would turn to dust, leaving no trace. They no longer had to worry about disposing of the corpses.
He had no intention of hiding the truth from her. With the power of Org, he could slowly wear away the taint. It was time to tell her. "Serie, there's something I have to tell you," he said, pausing for a moment to find the right words. "These thirty years... I wasn't intentionally hiding. In the final battle, my body... was completely corroded by that darkness," he said, gesturing to the black void of the Godfall Land.
She froze, her golden eyes fixed on his face. She reached out and placed a hand on his chest, her whole body leaning into him, trying to sense him, to feel him. She could feel the warmth, the vitality... it was just as she remembered. But that... that was wrong. Thirty years had passed. His body should have aged, like Norne's. But he was still so young, his face unchanged. And as she looked closer, she could feel a faint, subtle aura of "newness" about him.
"Corroded..." her voice dropped to a whisper, a tremor of fear in it. "So... what are you now?"
"Don't worry, it's all been taken care of," he said calmly. "To survive, to see you again... I had to undergo a 'reincarnation'. I abandoned my tainted body and, using the authority over life, I created a new one. And then I spent thirty years just... getting used to it. That's why I haven't aged a day."
He intentionally left out the great price he had paid, and the possibility of eternal life that it had brought. That would be a surprise for her, in the future.
She processed the information, her elven mind direct and pure. And after a moment of shock, a wave of joy washed over her, drowning out all of her worries. "So that means... we can continue our adventure!" she said excitedly, grabbing his arm, a pure, genuine smile on her face. "For decades, even longer!"
In the grand scale of her long life, a few decades was just a fleeting moment. But to have that moment with her dearest friend once more... it was enough to fill her with a profound sense of contentment.
"Yes," he said with a smile, intentionally emphasizing the next words, though he knew the elven miss wouldn't catch the hidden meaning. "We can continue. It will be a long, long journey. And this time, you can lead the way."
(End of chapter)
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