Chapter 61: Creeping Anxiety

Tarnak’s severed head rolled on the wooden floor for a few moments until it stopped face-to-face with Rion.Rion stared at the relieved smile that was still stretching across his face and left the place.

His squad members looked at him with a worried expression, but they didn’t follow behind him because they could finally understand his worries.

For the past month, they had been training without a stop, and during that time, various thoughts popped into their heads.

Thoughts such as:

’Rion is worrying too much.’

’How dangerous could it be? We aren’t even stepping within the forest.’

’Why is he so hellbent on awakening all of our auras?’

And many other similar thoughts.

However, today they finally understood the deadly nature of the purple fog forest.

No one discussed it as if it were a taboo; however, that wasn’t because they didn’t know about it, but because they feared it.

They had lost so much to the forest that every mention of it clawed at the old wounds and the memories of the ones they had lost.

"We have to train," Yuura, who was the laziest out of all of them, said sombrely.

The others nodded, all of them whispered, "May you reach the celestia..." and left the place with dark yet determined expressions.

***

Rion sat at the edge of the cliff and stared at the dreadful purple fog forest.

Whenever he tried to let his mind rest, the image of Tarnak’s smiling head flashed before him.

Till now, Rion had lived a decently peaceful life with his loved ones while enjoying the mystics of his new world.

He did go through a few tough situations.

He even had to fight his way to his current rank of sub-squad leader.

But he had never seen the loss of any human life.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before mumbling in a desperate tone, "Was there really no way to save him?"

He fell silent as if waiting for someone to answer him.

The silence stretched for a few seconds, and he mumbled in a voice much desperate than before, "Father..."

Suddenly, Haden’s voice resounded in his head.


<There wasn’t.>

Rion lowered his head and forced out darkly, "You could have saved him..."

<Yes, I could, but if I had done that, he would have lost something more precious than his life.>

"What could be more precious than a person’s life?!" He barked.

<If I had saved him, he would have lost his pride as a warrior. He would have been ashamed. Because of him, the strongest warrior, I would’ve moved just to kill something that isn’t even worth a moment for me.>

He turned silent for a few moments and asked, "Couldn’t you save him without letting him notice you?"

<I could. I can even save everyone who dies there...>

"Then, why didn’t you?"

<Because within a few decades or maybe a century, no one would see the forest as a threat, and we would no longer have warriors like Tarnak, who are ready to forsake themselves for their comrades.>

Rion tried to listen with a focused mind, but the dark fog of what he had just witnessed had shaken him to the core.

He already knew how strong Kareths were; he had fought one after all, and the only reason he was still alive was that he couldn’t die.

The kareth were unkillable without aura and azrath weapons, but unlike rion, they lacked a sane mind — if he could be considered to have one — and the insane adaptability.

He let out a heavy sigh and rubbed his face.

"There has to be a way to cure them, right?"

<There is no cure.>

He frowned and stammered, "H-how is that possible? Every poison has a cure, so why won’t there be a cure to this?"

<That is where you are wrong.>

"Huh? What do you mean?"

<The purple fog is not a poison; instead, it’s growth... untamed growth without a limit.>

Rion’s frown deepened, and he mumbled, "Growth?"

<The purple fog changes the cursed’s body into one that has no humane limit. But at the same time, it enhances the being’s absolute desire to such a level that it breaks their mind.>

His lips parted to question further, but he had nothing to ask.

The answer was clear; there was nothing he could do to save anyone from the fog.

Suddenly, a thought appeared in his mind, and he voiced, "Can’t we control it?"

<You are not the first one to think of that.>

"So... did anyone manage to do it?" He asked and hoped to hear the words that would allow him to lower his worry.

Haden understood his thoughts, but as a father, he decided to lie.

"No."

His hopes went up in the smoke, and he mumbled darkly, "What if I lose my friends to the fog? Shouldn’t I have a way to save them as their squad leader?"

Seeing that the anxiety of losing his friends had begun to eat at his sanity, Haden confronted.

<Son...>

Just as those words reached Rion’s ears, his mumbling stopped, and he pushed all of his focus on Haden’s words.

<Worrying about the future would steal the present, and fuming over the past would crumble the future.>

<The only thing you should do is live the present while doing your best to prepare for whatever comes your way.>

Rion nodded and took a deep breath.

After assimilating with the Immortal Body skill, he had decided to live in the present instead of worrying about the future, which would be much longer for him.

But over the years, with each new connection he made, his thoughts wavered.

He didn’t want to lose anyone, and that was the reason for the instability of his mind.

He had decided to find a way to keep them alive for as long as he could, but the fear of losing them before he could even do so was much heavier than he had expected.

His head began to clear, and he mumbled, "Thanks for helping me clear my head, Father."

<... I am just doing what a parent should.>