Novel Full 185 The Plague
After clearing the obstructing vermin from their path, he kept Xiaodan close as they leapt together from the infested building, rolling over onto the neighboring rooftop.
As an assassin, he was as light as a feather in his landing, but Xiaodan immediately collapsed onto the ground, struggling to pick himself back up.
The others that had made it to the roof of what looked to be an abandoned shopping mall came over, checking on the two, though their concerns lied with Xiaodan, who was covered in deeply-etched bites.
“…Is he okay?” Korain asked.
“Doesn’t look so hot,” Yeong-Un noted.
Eunji hurriedly came over, dropping onto her knees as she immediately invoked magecraft of rejuvenating elements onto Xiaodan.
“…It’ll be alright,” Eunji assured him.
Xiaodan managed to move himself enough to sit down on his rear, wincing as he breathed heavily, sweating profusely to an unnatural degree.
“How’re you feeling?” He asked, knelt besides the silver-haired young man.
Catching his breath for a moment, though never seeming to steady it, Xiaodan responded, “…Feels like I’ve got a fever.”
“I see…”
–
While Eunji focused on recovering the wounds on Xiaodan’s body, it seemed at least for the moment, the group had met a reprieve from the endless swarm of unnatural rodents.
“Look at all of ’em…Disgusting freaks,” Yeong-Un stood on the edge of the roof, looking down at the streets that were filled with the black sea made up of vermin.
“How are we supposed to get to the Tower now?” Sol asked.
Korain was sat near the edge, “…We’ll probably have to hop building to building, that or make a helluva run for it.”
“I don’t like the sounds of either of those…” Sol mumbled..
While overlooking the city that seemed to be crawling with the endless rodents now, something caught the eye of Sol, who was watching both with caution and fear.
“…Err, guys…” Sol said.
“What is it?” Yeong-Un looked with him.
Sol gulped, “It looks like we aren’t the only prey of those things…”
As they looked down where the amber-eyed spearman was watching, they all realized what he meant: down below, even the demons that marched through the streets were instantly ravaged by the vermin.
It was a disgusting process–the rodents scaled the entirety of their prey’s body, leaving only a skeleton after just moments of the consumption beginning.
“…Holy shit…” Yeong-Un said under his breath.
He felt it, and they all seemed to feel it–what could’ve been if they weren’t lucky enough to escape the ill-occupied building.
While the others were questioning how they would be able to move forward with the streets plagued by the vermin, he was pulled aside by Ma-Ri.
“What’s up?…” He looked at the woman.
“Jeong-Hui, the Tower opens tomorrow,” Ma-Ri told him.
“Yeah? I know that–why’re you telling me that?” He asked.
“–“
While Ma-Ri looked at him silently, he began to feel a lump form in his throat, getting some inkling of where this conversation was headed.
The clue to what Ma-Ri was pulling him aside for was the state of Xiaodan himself; Eunji had cast her healing magic on the young man, and though the bite marks seemed to close, he was still suffering an intense fever.
[Time until Tower opens: 17 hours, 20 minutes, and 4 seconds]
He checked the time to distract himself for a moment before Ma-Ri finally laid the truth out–
“We need to consider…leaving Xiaodan behind,” Ma-Ri told him quietly.
“What?”
Hearing something so outlandish fall from the pragmatic woman’s lips, he couldn’t hide the anger that laced his singular worded response.
“I’m simply taking into consideration what gives us all our best chances of making it to the Tower. You’ve seen what the streets are like down there,” Ma-Ri clarified.
Even then, he could hear what the streets were like–the constant scurrying of the millions of rats, storming the width of the abandoned intersections.
Even still, he felt his blood running hot with such a suggestion.
“…Xiaodan is part of “all of us”, Ma-Ri…Did you forget that?” He said quietly yet sharply.
Ma-Ri looked at him with her eyes of frost, “It seems I was mistaken.”
“Huh?”
“I thought…we would be able to see eye-to-eye on what was best for our group,” Ma-Ri told him.
“Yeah, you’re definitely wrong if you think I’d agree to something like that,” he told her sharply.
“I was merely raising a possibility. If you’re so opposed to it…We can try and make due, but…” Ma-Ri glanced back towards the hardly conscious Xiaodan before looking at him again, “…Should he slow us down, we’ll have to cut him off.”
“–“
He couldn’t find a proper response in himself. Anything that would fall from his lips would surely be only insults or enraged words.
“Ma-Ri,” he finally said.
“–“
“Dae-Seong would never have considered something like this. He would’ve been thinking about a strategy in which we all make it out,” he told her.
Ma-Ri seemed hurt by those words, though she hardly showed it through her cold exterior as she turned away.
“…I’m not Dae-Seong. Unfortunately…I’m weaker, less sharp, but…I can at least make decisions he couldn’t,” Ma-Ri told him, “…Gangcheori was left to me. I’ll see that Gangcheori makes it to the Tower, no matter what.”
“If it comes to it, then, I’ll be responsible for Xiaodan,” he told her.
Ma-Ri seemed hesitant to agree to that, “…You’re invaluable to Gangcheori, Jeong-Hui, you can’t–”
“You can’t assign value to comrades,” he told her sternly.
“I have to when it comes between diverging paths. When I have to make a choice, these are the things I must evaluate. If I’m the one who has to decide, then I can’t be biased, Jeong-Hui. I have to look at things objectively; what value one has to the group, their impact with the others, their relationship,” Ma-Ri explained, “Somebody that is not only sick, but a recent addition to the group…The choice is clear there.”
“…Fine, then.”
“–“
“I get it. I do. But, I still feel like…I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I gave it everything I had to survive only to give up what makes me human,” he said.
“Jeong-Hui,” Ma-Ri looked at him.
“Yeah?”
“Thank you,” Ma-Ri said, “–I didn’t come to you with my mind made up. The opposite, in fact. With your perspective…I think I have a better understanding of things. Perhaps this is the path that Dae-Seong envisioned.”
“–I think so, too. Dae-Seong was…kind.”
“He was…” Ma-Ri agreed with a hint of sadness in her icy eyes, “…But he had the strength to back up his beliefs.”
He didn’t hold ill-will towards Ma-Ri herself, but more at the unfairness of the situation presented to them.
…I know that it’s probably the safer choice, and Ma-Ri is just the one who has to make impossibly difficult decisions like this, but…why does it have to be like this in the first place? We’re one day out…why does it have to come to something like this? He questioned.
With that, he walked away, ending the conversation as he went to Xiaodan’s side, who was laying flat on the roof.
Eunji was kneeling by the silver-haired, sickly young man’s side, comforting him with a worried, regretful expression.
“How is he?” He asked.
Eunji shook her head, “…I healed his wounds, but his fever isn’t settling–it keeps getting higher…”
Hearing that made his stomach stink with a certain dread as he looked down at Xiaodan, who was unconscious yet breathing heavily with his lips parted, exuding sweat rapidly.
“It’ll be alright, bud…” He assured Xiaodan, patting his head.
Looking over at Eunji, he could tell the meek girl felt responsible for being unable to alleviate the sudden sickness that the Chinese youth was experiencing.
“This isn’t on you, Eunji. You did amazing–there’s not a bite on him,” he said.
“Still…He’s–”
“He’s got a chance now, thanks to you,” he told her.
Eunji seemed close to contesting his kind words, but stopped herself and nodded quietly with tears lining her eyes.
–
In the distance, the Tower stuck out like an iridescent beacon; always there and standing, untouched by the crimson horizon. He looked at it, knowing that to get there, an arduous march would have to be launched.
“How’s the kid holding up?”
The ivory armor worn by the stalwart, one-armed man chimed as he stepped over, placing his question with a concerned furrow of his white eyebrows.
Eunji tried to respond, but looked as if she’d cry if her lips parted.
Noticing that regretful expression held by the white mage, he answered the question in her place, “The wounds he suffered are gone, but it seems like those rats left him with some sort of sickness.”
“If that’s the case, shouldn’t we…you know…keep our distance?”
The question was hesitantly asked by Sol, who had quietly shuffled over.
He didn’t consider that angle, looking at Eunji, who finally spoke up.
“…It’s not like that,” Eunji said quietly.
“Hm?” Korain looked down at her.
“It behaves like a disease, but it’s more like…a curse was left in his body. Over and over…I can’t undo it. It was placed repeatedly…” Eunji explained.
While Xiaodan certainly seemed to be in a sorry state, it didn’t look as if he were out for the count, but the wg Eunji behaved seemed to paint the contrary.
The few that had gathered around to comfort the sickly adolescent watched silently for a moment, listening to the uneven breaths that puffed out from Xiaodan’s parted lips.
“Eunji…How bad is this sickness?” Sol asked.
Such a question was made even more dire by the wheezing that accompanied Xiaodan’s ragged breathing.
“…I could feel it when I touched it with my own mana…” Eunji said quietly.
“‘It’?” He repeated.
“It’s eating him from the inside–I…I did my best to keep it at bay, but it’s no use…” Eunji said as she hid her face in her hands with tears falling, “…I tried, but…Xiaodan is…Xiaodan is…going to die…!”