Chapter 339: A Team of Eccentrics

Celia squatted on the ground and finally flipped over the bone representing Ansu.

Yet, the face of the bone was completely blank.

“?”

It took her a few seconds to realize what it meant. Blank meant that his fate was unpredictable; the future refused to provide an answer.

“I... I can't divine your future, Ansu.”

Celia looked up, her dark-red eyes filled with deep, lingering anxiety.

Ansu thought to himself that, in a way... this divination was actually quite accurate.

“Well, it looks like I won't die then.” He smiled, reaching out to help Celia up from the ground. “See? Even divination magic can't calculate my end. Doesn't that prove the future is full of endless possibilities?”

He was telling the truth; this had always been his deepest realization.

Often, a seemingly insignificant choice could turn the tide of events and change everything.

Ansu softened his voice and continued to comfort her, “That ‘Death’ you divined probably isn't a big deal either. Don't worry yourself sick over it.”

Celia's emotions finally calmed down a little.

Ansu took her hand, sat down on a relatively clean boulder, and smiled as he patted his shoulder.

Quiet and obedient, Celia rested her head against his shoulder.

He could feel her warm, steady breath on his shoulder, and the wind around them seemed to grow gentler.

“No matter what hardships lie ahead, we'll face them together.”

“Mm...”

Having silently acted as a third wheel for a while, Altina-Crow soundlessly opened and closed her beak before flapping her wings and taking flight to continue patrolling the area.

Ansu's gaze fell upon the blood-shrouded horizon in the distance as he continued, “We must keep going south until we find the source of the Crimson Plague and locate that heart. No matter what... we are already near the end. There's no turning back.”

He fell silent for a moment after speaking, but the person on his shoulder made no movement whatsoever.

So he looked down at her.

Her dark-red eyes stared blankly at some unknown point in the distance, as if her soul had drifted off to somewhere far, far away.

“Celia... did you hear what I said?”

There was no response.

Ansu wrapped his arm around her shoulder and gently nudged her.

Celia remained lost in her thoughts, showing no reaction at all...

And so, Ansu leaned down and gently pressed a kiss to her forehead. His lips met her pale, cool skin, lingering for a moment before drawing back.

But now, even this trick didn't work... Celia remained as listless and detached as before.

“Alright then...”

Ansu sighed helplessly in his heart, giving up on trying to wake her.

...

After resting for a bit, Ansu gathered everyone together.

While it was called a meeting, he knew in his heart that its real purpose was to see just how mad everyone had become...

Danielle was the first to speak.

With her hand resting on the hilt of her sword, Danielle stared intently at her husband with bloodshot eyes. “I suspect a demon has possessed Sean. He's been pretending this entire time...!”

“But in truth, he wants to kill us and eat us at every moment! Ansu! We must restrain him as soon as possible, or something terrible will happen later on our journey!”

Sean turned to Ansu almost at the exact same time, his body trembling slightly with agitation. “Elder Ansu! Please, save my wife! She's been acting extremely strange this entire way!”

“Danielle is never like this normally! She has been possessed by a demon. We must use weapons blessed with Holy Light divine arts to pin her limbs to the wall! Only then can we completely exorcise it...”

The two of them argued back and forth, completely at odds, bickering right in front of Ansu.

Ansu: “...”

He felt that this couple was completely incapable of normal communication.

He turned to look at Elder Matthew, who was standing to the side, and asked, “Elder Matthew, how are you feeling right now? Do you have any thoughts on our current predicament?”

With an inexplicable excitement, Elder Matthew countered, “Hermit, why are you being so indecisive?”

Ansu was taken aback. “Huh?”

Elder Matthew pointed at Danielle and Sean, his voice suddenly rising. “Why not just kill these two? Just give the word, and I will strike immediately!”

“...Why would we kill them?”

“Everyone must die!” Suppressing some intense emotion, Elder Matthew explained solemnly to Ansu, “If we had struck first and wiped out all of humanity in the South, we wouldn't be in this predicament today!”

Ansu: “Elder Matthew, you're being a bit too extreme...”

So if there are no humans, there are no problems, huh?

Elder Matthew's breathing grew rapid, as if he were explaining a concept he had brewed for a long time and fully formed in his mind. “Hermit, I have finally figured out the path our cult should take in the future! I know how to lead magic into the future!”

Ansu fell silent for a moment. “Mm... go on.”

Elder Matthew immediately declared, “Kill!!”

“Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!”

Elder Matthew repeated the word four times, each one heavier and more emphatic than the last.

Then, his gaze suddenly snapped to Danielle and Sean, his tone filled with natural, matter-of-fact contempt:

“We mages wield the most fundamental power in the world. We should naturally stand at the pinnacle of all living beings. So why must we sit on equal footing with these ants? Why should we exhaust ourselves for their safety?”

“Hermit! We need to create a world where only mages exist!”

“And right now is the best opportunity in thousands of years! The perfect time to slaughter all these maggots and ants!”

Before his voice could even fade, Danielle and Sean drew their swords in unison.

The couple, who had been on guard and cursing each other just moments ago, reached a bizarre, unspoken agreement at this very second.

“The demon is in him!” Danielle said, pointing at Elder Matthew.

“Kill him!” Sean responded coldly.

Ansu: “...”

The three of them clashed in a chaotic brawl. Sword light, magic, and divine arts flew everywhere, sending gravel and dust scattering in all directions.

Standing outside the fray, Ansu silently watched the demon hunter couple gup on Elder Matthew. He curled his lip. “Well, I suppose that's why you two are married...”

Altina had changed back into her human form at some point.

Standing beside Ansu, she stared at the chaotic scene in front of them and shook her head blankly.

“There are... no normal humans left.”

The two of them simultaneously turned their gazes toward... Vera, the only one present who hadn't made an eccentric remark yet.

The young girl sat quietly on a stone, her head bowed, muttering something under her breath.

Ansu and Altina took two steps closer and finally caught her words.

“If I kill everyone... Brother will be mine forever... Hehehe...”

“Tonight... I'll poison them tonight...”

Altina silently looked at Ansu.

With an expressionless face, Ansu reached out with both hands, pinched Vera's cheeks, and began to pinch and pull them ruthlessly.

“If you act up again, I'm teleporting you back home, and I'll never take you on an adventure with me again!”

Vera instantly snapped out of it.

“Wuuu, nooo—!”

Ansu let go and turned to Altina. “Keep an eye on her for me.”

Altina let out a slow sigh and suddenly said, “I think... you should keep a closer eye on Celia. She seems to be the one with the most severe symptoms here.”

Ansu instinctively looked toward the withered tree nearby.

Miss Witch was squatting on the ground again, surrounded by a circle of divination bones. She was muttering to herself like someone possessed, her movements mechanical and repetitive as she flipped the bones.

With every bone she flipped, she would mutter:

“Death.”

“Blank...”

“Death.”

“Blank...”

It was as if she were repeatedly confirming the answer to the same question with fate.

“Still...” Altina observed for a moment, feeling slightly relieved. “Miss Celia doesn't seem to be very aggressive. She's just a bit obsessive, and hasn't shown any behavior as extreme as those three.”

“That's because you haven't interacted with her enough.” Ansu shook his head. “Once Celia truly goes dark, I'm afraid...”

—I'm afraid no one will make it out alive.

...