NOVEL NEXT Chapter 81: Celeste's Explosion
The last Shambler, the one that had cornered Garrett, seemed to realize it was outnumbered. It abandoned its attack and turned to flee, moving with surprising speed back toward the tree line.
"Let it go," Damion said. "We don't need to chase it into the dark."
Everyone stood still for a moment, weapons ready, waiting to see if more threats would emerge from the darkness.
But the forest had gone quiet again, as if the violence had scared off everything else in the area.
"Is everyone alright?" Lydia asked, already moving to check on each person.
Lucas took stock of himself. His hands were scratched from the splinters, and his shoulder ached where he'd hit the ground, but nothing serious. "I'm fine."
"Same here," Garrett said. "That was... intense."
"We need to be more careful with our watch rotations," Zacard said, examining his spear for damage. "Those things got way too close before we noticed them."
"Agreed," Damion said. "From now on, watchers stay on opposite sides of camp, and we keep weapons within arm's reach while sleeping."
Lucas nodded, but his attention was drawn to Celeste. She was standing perfectly still, staring at the frozen remains of the lead Shambler. Her hands trembled slightly.
"Celeste, you ok?" he said , approaching her.
She turned to him. "You could have died," she said flatly.
"But I didn't..."
"You could have died." She repeated. "That thing was going to kill you, and you just... you just jumped in front of it without thinking!"
"I was protecting you," Lucas said, confused by her reaction.
"I don't need protecting!" Celeste's hands clenched into fists. "I had a spell ready! But you..you always do this! You always put yourself in danger like your life doesn't matter!"
"First, you forced yourself to breakthrough to Copper Rank in order for us to stand a chance against Veronica then you did it again in your fight against Victor and now, you do it again here!"
The rest of the group had gone quiet, clearly uncomfortable with the direction this conversation was taking.
"Celeste, calm down..."
"Don't tell me to calm down!" Her voice cracked. "Do you have any idea what it's like? Watching you throw yourself into danger over and over? That day at the festival, when the Legion attacked."
"I know I might not have shown it but I was so worried about you. When your core was on the verge of exploding, I was very very worried. At one point, Lucas, I honestly thought you were dead."
Tears were streaming down her face now, though her expression remained fierce. "I tried. I tried so hard to be rational about it. To tell myself you can take care of yourself. To not be... clingy. Possessive. All the things my mother warned me not to be."
She stepped closer to him, jabbing a finger into his chest. "But I can't do it anymore. I can't watch you almost die and pretend I'm fine with it. So from now on, you don't get to play hero without me."
"You don't get to decide your life is worth less than anyone elses. And you definitely don't get to die before we're married, because I will drag you back from the afterlife myself if I have to!"
Lucas stood frozen, unsure how to respond to this outburst.
"I love you, you idiot," she whispered to herself so softly, only she herself could hear. "Even if you don't love me back yet."
She turned and walked back to her bedroll, laying down with her back to the group.
The silence that followed was deafening.
Finally, Garrett cleared his throat. "So... should we talk about that, or...?"
"No," Lucas, Damion, Zacard, and Lydia all said simultaneously.
"Right. Got it. We're not talking about it."
Lucas ran a hand through his hair, his mind reeling. This was... complicated. More complicated than he'd anticipated.
The rest of the watch passed in tense silence.
When dawn finally broke, or rather, when the fungal glow shifted to indicate morning, the group began breaking camp with mechanical efficiency.
Nobody mentioned the previous night's emotional outburst, though Lucas caught Lydia giving him sympathetic looks.
Celeste was back to her usual composed self, as if the breakdown had never happened. She packed her bedroll with precise movements, her face a mask of polite neutrality.
"We should discuss today's plan," Damion said, gathering everyone around the dying fire. "We've got good points from yesterday's hunting, but we could improve our standing with a bigger score."
Zacard nodded, pulling out his map. "There's a known nest of Crystal Spiders about an hour northeast. Their webs are worth twenty points per intact strand, and the egg sacs are worth fifty each."
"Crystal Spiders?" Garrett asked nervously. "Those sound... dangerous."
"They're mid-tier threats," Lydia confirmed. "Venomous, but not aggressive unless you threaten their nest directly. The trick is harvesting without triggering a swarm response."
Lucas studied the map, noting the location Zacard indicated. It was deeper into the forest than they'd ventured so far, but still well within the middle regions. Safe enough, theoretically.
"What about splitting up?" Celeste suggested. "We could cover more ground in pairs. One team hits the spider nest, another searches for herb clusters. I saw some Moonpetal blooms near the stream, those are worth fifteen points each."
"Splitting up increases risk," Damion said. "Especially after last night."
"We'll stay within shouting distance," Celeste said. "And we all have emergency talismans. The exam is half over. We need to maximize our efficiency if we want top marks."
Lucas could see the logic in her argument but he didn't like the idea of separating.
"What if we compromise? How about wo teams of three. One group handles the spiders and the other one focuses on gathering herbs and other resources. We stay within earshot and regroup at noon to share findings."
Damion considered this. "That could work. Zacard, Garrett, and I will take the spider nest. Lucas, Celeste, and Lydia, you handle resource gathering."