Chapter 1562: Accusatory

Eccar remained frozen in a dazed state, unable to tear his eyes away from the two crushed pilgrims. The old man, however, recovered his composure faster than everyone else.

As the leader of the group, he forced himself to think beyond the shock and grief that had taken hold of the others.

"We should move their bodies and give them a proper burial," the old man said. He then turned toward Eccar. "Can you please move the boulders?"

The old man’s voice finally reached Eccar. He slowly raised his head and looked at him.

For the first time, Eccar noticed that the man no longer looked as kind and patient as before. He did not shout at Eccar or blame him like some of the others had and his words remained calm and respectful.

But Eccar could see the disappointment in his eyes. That quiet disappointment struck Eccar harder than any angry accusation could have, Eccar realized.

Eccar swallowed hard as the feeling settled heavily in his chest. His stomach twisted and his breathing became unsteady. He lowered his gaze for a moment before finally nodding.

He had no words to defend himself. At the very least, this was something he could still do for them.

Eccar stepped toward the collapsed stones and extended his Earth Magic. The ground beneath the boulders responded to his command as the earth trembled and moved around the fallen rocks.

Instead of simply lifting the stones with brute force, he carefully raised them one by one with pillars of earth and controlled them away from the bodies.

Dust spilled from the cracks as the heavy boulders floated up before Eccar pushed them aside and lowered them safely onto the ground.

Then he saw what had been beneath them.

The two bodies had suffered terrible injuries. The weight of the stones had crushed them beyond any possibility of survival. Their clothes were torn and covered in dust and blood while their bodies lay unnaturally beneath the rubble. Their eyes were still open.

Eccar stared at those eyes.

He knew they were only lifeless eyes, but his guilt made him see something else in them. To him, they looked as though the two dead pilgrims were silently accusing him.

They seem to say: "Why did you do this?"

The thought struck him so clearly that Eccar almost looked away.

He forced himself to keep staring. He had caused their deaths. No matter how accidental it had been, no matter how strange the stone wall had behaved, his fist had started the collapse. His strength had killed them.

Around him, the other pilgrims remained silent. They did not need to say anything. Their expressions were enough.

Their eyes followed Eccar as he worked, and the accusation in those looks felt even sharper than the dead men’s empty stares. Some of them looked at him with grief while others looked at him with anger and disappointment.

Eccar could feel all of it pressing against him.

His emotions grew heavier with every passing second. Deep disappointment filled his chest, followed by sadness and a crushing sense of guilt.

He had entered this Trial believing that protecting these people was his purpose. He had fought monsters for them and protected them inside the temple. But just when he finally tried to create a path for them, he had killed two of the very people he had sworn to protect.

Eccar clenched his fists as he tried to suppress the emotions threatening to overwhelm him.

He wanted to tell himself that it had been an accident and wanted to believe that he could not have known the wall would collapse like that. But none of those thoughts could change what had happened.

The pilgrims carefully carried the two bodies toward a quiet corner of the tunnel.

They chose a patch of earth away from the main path and began preparing a simple grave.

Eccar helped without saying anything. He used his Earth Magic to dig the ground and shape the soil into two narrow graves. The others lowered the bodies into them with as much care as they could manage.

They covered the bodies with earth afterward. No elaborate ceremony followed. They had no proper tools and no place to gather the materials needed for a formal burial.

Instead, they built two simple mounds of earth and placed several pieces of stone beside them to mark the graves.

The old man then selected two larger stones and positioned them at the head of each grave. The crude markers stood quietly in the dim tunnel, serving as the only signs that two people had been buried there.

The pilgrims gathered around the graves in silence. Some bowed their heads while others continued crying.

The old man eventually stepped forward and spoke in a calm voice.

"Parting in this world is not eternal. One day, we will meet them again."

His words offered comfort to some of the pilgrims. A few nodded while quietly wiping away their tears. Others closed their eyes and prayed for the dead.

Most of them, however, remained deeply saddened.

Eccar felt no comfort at all. He stood slightly apart from the others and stared at the two simple graves.

The old man’s words could not reach him because Eccar knew the truth. The two pilgrims did not simply die because of some unavoidable disaster. His own actions had caused their deaths.

Even though never intended to hurt them, he could not erase the image of the boulders falling through the air or the moment their bodies disappeared beneath them.

"We must continue our journey. The way is open now, so we can continue," the old man finally said.

He turned away from the graves and began leading the group forward.

The other pilgrims followed him without another word.

Eccar walked among them in silence, his expression heavy and his thoughts trapped on the two people they had just buried.

No one spoke as they passed through the newly opened passage. Their footsteps echoed through the underground tunnel while the simple graves slowly disappeared behind them.

Eventually, they reached the stone wall Eccar had destroyed earlier.

The broken remains of the barrier now formed a rough opening into another passage. One by one, the pilgrims carefully stepped over the scattered stones and entered the stone tunnel beyond.

Eccar followed them.

He glanced back once at the darkness behind them before continuing forward in silence.

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