0034 – The Truth Before Her Eyes
0034 – The Truth Before Her Eyes
"Captain, is your stomach still so delicate? How many times has this been now?" His tone carried a teasing note, and compared to the last time they met, there was gradually hope in his eyes. "Hurry up and go in, this is a rare celebration feast!"
The last time Athena came here was during the day, but this time it was at night, yet inside the city still retained the appearance of daytime. However, when she approached the city wall and looked outside, it was still dark. The sky seemed to be split in half, with endless darkness outside while this side remained in daylight. This made it hard for her to determine whether it was currently day or night.
At this moment, this place felt like two different places, awkwardly stitched together.
Last time she was here, she deduced that the time here should be synchronized with her own time. If that's the case, it should be nighttime now. The old soldier beside her urged her to hurry back for tonight's celebration feast. Athena deeply looked at this eerie scene and eventually followed the old soldier back.
They arrived in front of a dilapidated house with its door open, and from afar, the sound of laughter and chatter could be heard. She walked in and quickly found her table with the help of the others. She saw familiar faces - the young mage, the female mercenary, and the swordsman...
When the swordsman appeared, Athena was surprised. Although she occasionally cared about whether the swordsman survived in the end, the scene of that day was vivid in her mind.
With injuries of that severity, the swordsman had no hope of surviving at all. Even when Athena held him up after falling from his horse, the major artery she inadvertently touched had stopped beating, and even when sent for treatment, this fact didn't change.
So, what was going on now? How?
Seeing her, everyone greeted her despite her confusion. The female mercenary held a bottle of beer and directly chugged it down. Then she opened another unopened bottle and handed it to Athena, gesturing to her.
The swordsman on the side persuaded, "Don't trouble the captain anymore. She just vomited from drinking, and went out to sober up."
Although that's what he said, both the young mage and him were actually looking forward to seeing Athena embarrassed. After all, the captain was usually hard to talk to, and it was rare for them to catch her off guard.
Athena held the beer in her hand but hesitated to drink. "How many monsters have we killed? If you can answer, then I'll drink."
They had killed too many monsters, and each person couldn't possibly know what the others were doing while killing monsters, so this question was almost impossible to answer.
Sure enough, the three fell silent.
"I'll answer. We killed a total of 468 Snowstorm Beasts..." Athena watched their expressions and intentionally left a part of her sentence, then looked at them to continue.
"681 Iron Beetles." This was the answer from the female mercenary.
Athena left a question to intentionally prompt them to speak, and how they interpreted it depended entirely on them.
Now it seemed that after they killed the Snowstorm Beasts, they went to kill the Iron Beetles together. This confirmed Athena's previous guess that the time on both sides was synchronized.
But the problem was she didn't participate in their siege of the Iron Beetles, yet the time she disappeared was filled in. This was also why everyone's attitude towards her was like this.
As if I was here after I left.
Athena picked up the beer and brought it to her lips, casually asking, "Is your wound healed?" The question was directed at the swordsman.
"Of course!"
Athena raised her eyebrows, feeling somewhat incredulous. The swordsman immediately took off his shirt, revealing his intact belly. It was as smooth as new, without a single trace of injury.
Not even a scar...
It couldn't be ruled out that there was something in Sun City for healing wounds, leaving no scars wasn't uncommon in this world.
Just as she was somewhat relaxed, she inadvertently glanced at the swordsman's belly again.
Judgment in progress... Mental strength insufficient... "Proactive Warrior" title amplification in progress... |
Judgement successful! Illusion nullified! |
"...?!"
As her mental strength increased, she could see more things that she couldn't see before.
The intact skin dispersed like thin mist, revealing only bones when she looked back at the belly.
Then the swordsman's entire body turned into a moving skeleton, and then everyone else... except for the young mage and the middle-aged man who previously commanded the battlefield, remained in human form.