Chapter 482: Solenne’s Guilt
Bang! Bang!
"Ahhh! Ahhh!"
"Watch out!"
In the middle of the endless desert, a deadly battle was going on. The ground was shaking vehemently, while sand and dust rose into the night sky.
The pale moonlight cast shadows over the group, making the battlefield appear even more desolate and terrifying.
"Dammit! When is this going to stop?" a young man spat angrily, his voice filled with frustration.
"Who cares? As long as we manage to leave the desert, this nightmare will be over."
"Stop talking. Let’s return to the tent and finish this quickly."
After pushing the Bone Crushing Wyrms back, the group of three dusted off their bodies and dragged their exhausted selves back to the camp.
Around the camp, humans were patrolling the surroundings with heightened vigilance, their weapons firmly gripped in their hands.
Among the patrolling humans was a young woman with a massive axe resting on her shoulder.
She was Kiera.
Her hair was disheveled, cracks appeared on her armor, and her face was filled with exhaustion.
Each of her steps was heavy like lead, leaving faint footprints in the loose sand beneath her feet.
Although she loved fighting, today she had been fighting nonstop.
She had consumed so many potions that she had completely lost count.
"Huh..."
She exhaled deeply through her nose as she dragged her feet forward, trying to ease the fatigue weighing down her body.
As one of the few members of the Crimson Arc Guild who was still uninjured, securing their surroundings fell upon her shoulders.
Despite her exhaustion, she did not complain.
Raising her head, she saw the party that had gone out returning to the camp.
"How is it?" she asked, her voice dry from constant shouting throughout the battle.
"We managed to repel the Bone Crushing Wyrms, but I think they will return again," the Vanguard responded in a tired voice, his breathing uneven.
"That’s enough. At least this will provide a moment of respite."
"Thank you for your hard work. Go and rest."
Kiera and every member of the Crimson Arc Guild were thankful to the Twins Party.
Without them, their losses would have been so great that the guild might have collapsed entirely.
With a nod, the party departed toward their tent to rest, their weary bodies longing for even a brief moment of sleep.
Inside one of the tents, Solenne sat on a leather skin mat, her breathing uneven and noticeably heavier than usual.
Her two weapons rested gently on her lap as she tried to regulate her breathing and recover the stamina.
Dry blood was splattered across her face, with several cuts visible along her arms and legs.
She was only mentally exhausted. Even so, that did not reduce the dagger stabbing into her heart.
Even though she closed her eyes, the scenes of the members of her guild dying on the battlefield replayed repeatedly inside her mind, refusing to disappear no matter how hard she tried to suppress them.
She bit her lips hard, and her fists clenched tightly with her nails digging deeply into her flesh.
Blood dripped down.
Yet, she seemed not to have felt anything at all. Her heart was burning with hatred, anger, guilt, and self blame toward everything that had happened today.
’Am I wrong to have trusted Thoren?’
’Should I have stayed back in Mantis Town and slowly grinded our way forward?’
The more she thought about it, the more she blamed herself, and her emotions spiraled completely out of control as countless regrets filled her heart.
’When I became their Guild Master... I promised to lead everyone to the Third Floor...’
’But now... I’ve led them all to their deaths.’
’I’m such a failure...’
’If I had been stronger...’
’If I had trained harder...’
’Many people wouldn’t have died today.’
’I wouldn’t have depended on an outsider to fight my battle.’
’If I were stronger, I could have easily ended the battle and confronted the Horn Lizard King myself...’
Bang! Bang!
She slammed both fists against the ground repeatedly, each impact carrying all the frustration, grief, and hatred buried deep within her heart.
She desperately wanted an outlet because the pain inside her mind had become almost unbearable.
She inhaled and exhaled continuously, trying to calm herself, yet every breath only made her chest feel heavier than before.
Tears hung at the corners of her eyes, refusing to fall as she stubbornly held them back.
She wanted to leave the tent and rush toward Horn Lizard Town to confront the Horn Lizard King immediately.
She wanted to kill him with her own hands.
She wanted him to suffer the same pain her guild members had endured.
But when her eyes fell upon the figure lying on the ground a couple of feet away from her, she managed to suppress the impulse with great difficulty.
It was Riven.
After narrowly escaping death, his injuries were so severe that he had fainted from blood loss before they could even retreat from the battlefield.
Even after being fed numerous Healing Potions and Blood Recovery Potions, he had yet to wake up.
His face remained pale and his breathing was weak. His chest rose and fell slowly, making every breath seem incredibly fragile.
Looking at him, Solenne’s expression became even more painful.
The more she stared at the unconscious Riven, the more the anger, hatred, and guilt inside her blazed uncontrollably like a wildfire consuming everything in its path.
He had followed her without hesitation.
Yet because of those decisions, he was now lying unconscious before her, hovering between life and death.
’If I had been stronger...’
’If I had been wiser...’
’Perhaps none of this would have happened.’
She gripped her weapons tightly and slowly rose to her feet. Her fingers tightened around the hilts until her knuckles turned pale.
’I must avenge them.’
’I can’t allow their deaths to go in vain.’
’Even if I have to die...’
’I will make sure to avenge each and every one of them.’
She gritted her teeth and made the vow silently within her heart, her eyes burning with unwavering determination that refused to be extinguished.