NOVEL NEXT Chapter 11: Reunited
[A/N: Sorry for not uploading yesterday! I had a bit of a headache... hehe... Anyway! Enjoy this chapter! Thank you grammerly-senpai for correcting everything I did wrong( I spent 10 mins accepting suggestions and no man should ever go through what I did.)]
___________________________________________________
Sunny and Nephis just finished listening to Cassie's nightmare about the headless statue.
Sunny gaped at two extremely large, luminescent crystals in the distance.
His eyes widened. "Are those…"
"Yes. Shards of two transcendent soul cores." Nephis answered quickly
Transcendent… two of them… Sunny and Nephis, however, focused their gaze on two menacing 'Scavengers'. Sunny felt cold sweat running down his spine.
"What the hell are those things?"
Nephis tilted her head. "Monsters, I guess."
Sunny and Nephis watched as the two monsters approached the carcass. The scavengers were visibly afraid of them, rushing to get out of the way. They both watched with anticipation as the monsters were about to take the transcendent soul shards.
All of a sudden, a blurry crab-like figure rushed past them, snatching the two soul shards with… tentacles?.. protruding out of another figure's body that was on top of it. The two monsters screeched loud enough that it could be heard by Sunny and Nephis, chasing after the scavenger and the figure that sat on top of it.
Nephis tried to focus on the 'dot' that stole the shards. "Is that a.. person? Like the one on top of the scavenger," Nephis asked with shock as the dot was getting chased by crabs. Sunny, who had better eyesight, had a pale frozen expression.
"HAHAHA! You dumbass monsters think you can take these babies from me?!" The figure laughed hysterically as two 3-meter crabs, along with a few dozen smaller, 2-meter crabs, tried to catch up to the crab that was running away."Catch me if you can, you obese crabs!" Despite the bravado, inwardly, the figure trembled. 'What the hell? Those look so scary!'
The chase was intense, the figure's crab moving with lightning speed, even outpacing the monsters. "Fuck. I think I pissed my pants a little," the figure muttered, their fear palpable.
Cassie, still reeling from her nightmare, recognized the voice. "T-That sounds familiar," she murmured, but her words went unheard as Sunny and Nephis were transfixed by the unfolding scene.
"Sunny, do you perhaps recognize that person?" Nephis asked, her voice tinged with admiration.
"I-It's A-A-A…" Sunny stammered, his lips trembling as he struggled to utter the name.
"Who is it?" Nephis pressed, her eyes widening with anticipation.
"It's Asher!" Sunny finally blurted out, his shock evident in his tone.
Nephis's eyes widened as she immediately looked at the dot again. Cassie asked what was happening, but both Sunny and Nephis didn't answer as they continued to stare at Asher. Sunny's jaw was practically on the ground as he thought, 'That crazy bastard's crab is fast! Almost as fast as Caster!' while Nephis thought something similar, 'How is this crab so fast compared to its friends?'
Asher looked at the monster crab and smirked. "I will be taking these!" As he said that, he got the two soul shards closer to him with the help of his tentacles, before breaking them. The soul essence seeped into Asher as he grinned at the stats.
[Soul Fragments: 38/1000]
"Fuck Yeah."
The monster let out a deafening shriek, realizing the shards were lost. "Those shards cost a fortune!" Sunny exclaimed, his frustration evident as he pounded his fist against the stone.
Nephis's lips curled into a knowing smile. "He is at the foot of the statue. Let's help him," she declared, determination shining in her eyes.
Sunny frowned as he cursed under his breath, "Why does he receive VIP treatment?! Neph almost beheaded me, thinking I was a nightmare creature when we first met in this godforsaken place! Why don't they suspect him to be a nightmare creature?" But then again, he already knew the answer. Sunny chuckled as he mumbled, "No nightmare creature is as crazy as that bastard."
Cassie simply fidgeted with her fingers as she asked in a confused tone, "What's happening? Sunny said that Asher is here. Where is he?"
Both of them looked at Cassie and began to blink.
"Eh?"
.
.
.
They both forgot Cassie existed.
But before any explanation could be offered, they heard the sound of laboured breaths. Turning towards the source, they saw Asher lying on the stone, covered in sweat. "That was so scary!" he exclaimed, his triumph tainted by the pain he endured.
Sunny and Nephis stepped back a bit, seeing how fast he got up. What they didn't know was that Asher's muscles pained like hell due to the short duration of flight.
A shadow cast over Asher, who looked up and smiled warmly, still gasping for air. "Pleasant seeing you here, Neph."
Nephis smiled as she stood up from her crouched position. Sunny came over and snorted loudly while grabbing Asher's shoulders, "CAN YOU EVEN COMPREHEND HOW EXPENSIVE THOSE SHARDS WERE?!"
Asher, despite the pain, managed a wheezy laugh. "Is that the first thing you say after your dear friend almost got mauled by a bunch of obese crabs?" he retorted, accepting Sunny's offered hand.
As Asher rose to his feet, he winced, prompting Sunny to observe, "You looked messed up." He cast a quick glance at Asher's injuries, noting the dislocated shoulder and other assorted wounds. "But hey, at least you're still standing. That's gotta count for something, right?"
Meanwhile, Cassie approached with a bottle in hand, offering it to Asher. He accepted it graciously, giving her a dry smile. "Glad you're alive, Cass," he quipped, prompting a shy yet grateful response from the seer.
"T-Thank you"
Asher hummed in acknowledgement. That was when Sunny cut in, "What the hell did you even do to look this messed up? Though I doubt there is that much pain since most of the wounds have already begun to heal."
Asher scratched his head with his right hand, as he couldn't move his left, replying, "Well, I had some dealing with those carapaces and then shit just kept getting out of hand and this happened. I would have probably died 6 times over if not for my armor."
Sunny frowned as he also fought many scavengers, but he only fought one alone, and that left him with almost crushed ribs. If not for the puppeteer shroud, he would have had a hole in him. He couldn't imagine what it would be like to kill multiple of them alone.
Before Asher could answer, Nephis came over to Asher and put her hand over his dislocated shoulder. "What are you doing?" Asher inquired, although he was certain of what she was doing. Nephis looked at Asher and said in a tentative voice, "My aspect.. allows me to.. heal people…"
And before Asher could say anything, he felt a soothing flame mend his shoulder, though it was extremely slow. It was even healing his ribcage close to the shoulder. Nephis bit her lip due to her flaw, while she tried her best not to show it. She used a very small amount of her flames to better not show the pain she was feeling.
Asher tried to maintain a poker face, but Nephis's pained expression caused him to frown due to his flaw. "Nephis.. I think I can move it now. You can stop; you look a bit pale," Asher said. He knew that the Nephis before him didn't get used to the sensation of being burned alive yet. He could only imagine how much she was suffering.
"I'm fine..." Nephis began panting, "You still have other injuries. Let me heal them."
Asher firmly shook his head.
Nephis sighed as she left to cook the crab meat for Asher.
Sunny watched the healing in amazement, and he also got an idea of what Nephis's flaw was. Suddenly, a question clicked into his mind. "Wait. How many scavengers did you even kill?"
Asher chuckled awkwardly as he said in a somewhat low voice, "About 10..hehe."
Sunny looked at Asher with his jaw dropped, "WHAT!" Asher suddenly started shaking his hand dismissively, "WELL! That was technically! I only killed two myself."
Sunny raised his brow, his expression still shocked. That's when light particles began to form next to Asher. Then a scavenger became corporeal. "Meet Mr. Krab; this guy did most of the dirty work. I got him after only killing a single scavenger. He was missing half his body before I killed him. Now he is perfectly normal. Hehe…"
Sunny's eyes widened as he let out a sigh, "I didn't want to believe it. You actually got an echo! Lucky bastard!"
Nephis was a bit less expressive as she heard it as she was still tired from the pain she got using her flaw. "Good. Now we can travel faster than."
She then came closer to Asher as she said with a smile, trying her best attempt to quip, "Nicknaming your echo sure is childish..."
Sunny laughed as he heard Nephis say that.
They both glanced at Asher, who was on the verge of tears! "I-I simply w-wanted to name my companion."
Sunny chuckled awkwardly as he tried to console Asher while Nephis took a tactical retreat to cook the crabs.
Sunny scoffed as he cursed in his head, 'How the hell is he still so good-looking when he is covered in dirt and blood! It pisses me off!'
.
.
.
Asher greedily gulped the water while Nephis was cooking some crab meat. "Anyway! Does anyone know where we are?" Asher asked, simply trying to start a conversation due to the awkward silence. "Somewhere not discovered yet." Nephis stated matter-of-factly. Asher nodded without looking at Nephis, staring intently at Sunny.
Sunny grimaced as he asked, "Why the fuck are you staring at me like that?" Asher smiled as he said, "You look like you know something." Sunny sighed as he looked west, "We are in some place called The Forgotten Shore. It-It was written in the description of my weapon."
Asher nodded with a smile, "Good job. You are an honest guy, Sunny. I also got the same description on my sword." He said as he summoned an azure blade. Sunny smiled as he nodded his head, "Of course! I am the most honest man in the two worlds!" he paused as he glanced at Asher. "WAIT! How do you have the same weapon as me!" He shouted as he saw the blade in Asher's hand.
Asher looked at Sunny and gave him an 'Are you retarded?' look as he said, "Well, I killed one of those obese carbs, of course!" he then narrowed his eyes as he added in a teasing tone, "and didn't you say that you want to ask me questions till I eat."
Sunny's face turned to a frown as he was going to retort; however, Nephis intervened. She handed Asher a giant crab leg while saying, "Then eat up. We have a lot to discuss."
Asher nodded with a smile before taking a bite out of the crab meat. As soon as he did, Nephis hurriedly asked, "Did you get any armor-type memory?" Asher shook his head as he looked at Nephis properly. His eyes widened.
"Woaaaah."
Asher knew that Nephis didn't have armor at this point in time and wore a thin garment made of seaweed as a substitute. What he didn't expect, however, was the unexpected peaks of her chest.
Asher knew that Changing Star's lower half was big, as he quite literally felt them on his face when she crashed down on him. Her chest, however, was always covered with a dobok, so he hasn't had the good fortune to actually assess their size.
"Definitely a D-Cup or higher..." he mumbled as he ogled at them. Nephis, noticing Asher's gaze, quickly covered her breasts with a hue of pink washing over her face. She hissed with narrowed eyes, "I understand why you and Sunny are friends now." She paused and said with a grimace.
"You both are perverted degenerates."
Asher frowned while Sunny got unexpectedly offended, "I am not a pervert! I just.. said and did some things…"
Nephis threw him a glance to show her disgust.
Asher, meanwhile, said with a warm smile, "Well, it's not my fault that you look so beautiful!"
.
.
.
.
A few seconds went by.
.
.
.
.
.
Nephis simply stared at Asher with a blank face before her entire face turned beet-red.
"*coughs* You are definitely very bold." She tried to say in a dignified manner but her face was flushed. Cassie giggled as she heard the conversation while Sunny came near Asher before punching him on the head.
"You are not helping our cause, you know," Sunny said with a bit of pink on his cheeks. Asher didn't mind the punch as he looked at Sunny with a deadpan expression.
Sunny frowned as Asher got up and began walking towards the edge.
Sunny's eyes widened as he caught Asher's gesture while Nephis's pupils dilated.
"What the fuck are you doing, bastard!?"
Asher looked at Sunny with tears in his eyes, "I-I want to kill myself!" he said as he tried to walk off the edge. Nephis sprang into action and grabbed Asher's vesture from behind.
"Kill me! Kill me!" Asher cried as he struggled against the two sleepers.
"I didn't want to speak my mind!"