Chapter 476: Drowned In Red

The building shook, and the walls were starting to get unstable from the sheer amount of energy blasts. Blood was everywhere: on the floor, the ceiling, and all over the walls, as if someone had painted it on.

You had to watch your step, or else you might step on the remains of what used to be a human, or rather, a mushroom human. Lilith was breathing heavily in a pool of blood and bodies.

Most of the seats had been destroyed to the point that you had no idea what they used to be, or broken, without any way of holding a human.

Blood flowed into his eyes as he wiped it away, walking over to the stage, where Harvey rested, but when he got there, he was met by the harsh truth.

The boy was already dead.

He clenched his fists tight as blood continued to flow from his hands... but now he wasn’t sure who it belonged to, if it was from one of the mushroom men or himself.

’What the hell am I going to tell Elise...’ The girl loved her brother more than money, which, in their family, was a big deal. She had strongly opposed him coming on the expedition, but in the end he had come even without her wanting to... and it seemed he should have listened to her.

He knew both of them, or rather, had known Harvey since he was a child. He was a year younger than them, so he had grown with them, and while he hadn’t gotten as close to him as he had gotten with his sister, he couldn’t say the boy didn’t have a special place in his heart.

...

Raising his hands, he started taking off the ropes that held him, watching as his body just fell to the ground, hollow, without any life inside of it. ’How much death am I going to see... until we find an exit and get out? How many will die?’

Turning around, he saw Aether finally get to his feet, still clenching his shoulder; he looked out of breath as he limped his way to him.

"Everything fine?" Lilith asked, examining the Forgotten’s exhausted state.

Aether chuckled through it. "I’m fine; it’s not the first time I have had to endure a massive amount of pain... what about you... Are you fine?" He said, glancing between him and Harvey’s dead body.

Lilith hesitated but nodded. "I’m good, just a bit shocked... How many do you think have died so far?"

Aether tilted his head; he had never thought about how many had exactly fallen. He knew that the answer was probably quite high because of the graveyard, but if he had to say an exact answer, he had no idea. "I mean, a lot." He said, scratching the back of his head with his other hand.

Freedom nodded as he walked past him towards the exit. "Stay here; I’ll find us some resources, and then we’ll take off." And before Aether could even argue with him, maybe try to convince him to let him come with him, or at least also search but in a different direction, he had already left.

"Well, I guess it’s not that bad, since I also have some things to deal with." He said, sitting down on the stage.

Summoning Inky, but what emerged from his shoulder wasn’t the same bird as before; rather, it was an actual raven, a bit smaller than the size of a full-grown one but bigger than before.

...

...

[Raven of the Desperate] - A beast born from the Egg of the Harbinger of Death. Despite being born as a Reader-ranked creature, it possesses the potential to grow alongside its owner and eventually reach its ultimate power.

Category - Entity

Class - Seeker

Knowledge rank - Beast

Growth - 0/500

Abilities - [Perception],[Passing Wind],[Form Change].

"I’m happy that you evolved or whatever, but couldn’t you have chosen a better time?" The bird tilted his head before screaming in his face.

He sighed, looking at its new abilities. "Three? Didn’t expect that, though I don’t know how good that is. After all, it can have a limited number of abilities, and the stronger ones will probably come later."

[Perception]-The ability to see perceived things better, to identify things from the past more easily, and learn things faster. Your ability to see and understand things is vastly improved.

"So what does it even help you with?" He turned towards the bird. "Will you see lakes and rivers faster or something?" He chuckled as the bird seemed to get mad at him, stomping on his shoulder.

[Passing Wind]- Birds are creatures that spend a lot of time flying, but doing so wastes a lot of energy; this ability makes it so that less essence is needed and used whenever manifested.

... ’Alright, I have to say, that one I like a lot. It solves some problems. And it’s just very convenient. Now, last one.’

[Form Change]-This ability allows the user to change its own form into one from the past and back if needed.

Aether tilted his head. "So what, can you go back to your small self?" Aether asked, looking at Inky, as the bird suddenly began changing form. It was a very weird view, how its bones were regressing and getting smaller, but still interesting.

"Wow, that’s cool." He said, looking at Inky’s first small baby form.

...

...

"Still no talking ability, which means I will still have to teach you when I have the energy and mood to do so."

...

...

He waited quite a lot inside the building, not doing much outside, just playing with the bird. But in the end, Lilith finally arrived, gesturing that they were leaving... but strange enough, he had nothing with him.

And weirdest of all, he also seemed to be covered in more blood than he had been before, which was hard to tell since he was covered before..., but now he was drowned in red.

Aether sighed as he followed him outside, where a surprise was waiting for him.