Chapter 332: Chapter 331 - Who to leave behind?
For a heartbeat, silence reigned in the courtyard. The words of Cluckles still clung to the air, heavy as iron. Raven’s companions stood, ready to leap at the storm he had brought them.
One could hear drumrolls in the background (played by the squirrels who stood between the soldiers), and if one squinted, they would even see squirrels covered in war paint, ready to march.
But then, Alex raised his hand. His jaw was set, his lava-flecked fists trembling faintly.
"...Hold on. What about the demons?"
The words cut through the rising tension like a knife. Everyone turned.
Alex stepped forward, voice hard. "There are hundreds of them locked underground right now, waiting for us to deal with them. And Rufus and Jessy still aren’t back with the last batch. We can’t just leave."
The reminder hit like cold water.
Selena’s gaze lowered, calm but sharp. "If we abandon them here, the risk would be catastrophic."
Clara nodded gravely. "Last time, when we left, the city was attacked. If it happens again—"
"—Then the entire capital becomes a slaughterhouse," Lia finished for her.
Even Selena shook her head, her voice tense. "If we leave, and even one mistake happens down there... that’s hundreds of demons pouring into Velmoria’s heart. Nobody knows what would happen then."
The weight of his words settled deep into their bones.
Cluckles stirred faintly, but the pain finally took him.
His head lolled, his voice fading into unconsciousness.
Lia, already weaving her healing threads of green light, caught him gently. Her voice was steady, though her lips trembled. "He will live. But he needs time."
Raven’s crimson eyes lingered on the unconscious chicken.
It didn’t look like the chicken was gravely injured, but Raven knew better about the corruption element.
Once it enters your body—which it does the moment you get scratched or bitten by a corrupt—it wouldn’t leave unless a high-level healer heals it.
It was like rabies.
The problem was that they only had one healer, and although it was fine leaving Lia behind, Raven wouldn’t feel at ease unless she was with him.
He opened his mouth—only to stop as the sound of rushing air and crackling mana thundered across the courtyard.
Two figures descended from the sky.
Rufus landed first, the red-black plating of his nanoparticle suit hissing as it shifted, Iron Man sleek, its glow pulsing like molten veins.
Jessy surfed down beside him on a silver board of magnetic force, her hair whipping in the wind, her eyes scanning the courtyard.
They were here alone, which means they left the soldiers behind and rushed here because they knew they were late.
Raven stared at them for a while, not saying a word, before his voice came out flat. "You’re late."
Rufus stiffened but said nothing, his helmet sliding back to reveal a face that avoided everyone’s eyes.
"Why?" Raven asked again, sharper this time.
Jessy turned her head toward Rufus, one eyebrow raised. "You gonna tell them, or should I?"
Rufus’s jaw clenched. He looked away, his eyes burning with shame.
Jessy sighed, dragging her palm down her face. "Fine. He had to shit right before we moved to the last mission spot, so we were delayed."
The silence was deafening.
Graye blinked first, her armored chest heaving before she burst out laughing. "Wait—you mean we almost lost the schedule to a dump?!"
Siris snorted, her daggers twirling in her hands. "At least he didn’t bleed out of the wrong hole."
Selena pinched the bridge of her nose, muttering, "We’re doomed."
Even Raven, though his face remained stone, let a vein twitch faintly at his temple.
Omni’s voice hummed in Raven’s arm, delighted.
"HA! My guy held up the whole army ’cause nature called. Yo, that’s legendary. Write it on his grave—’Here lies Rufus, shitter of empires.’"
"Shut. Up," Rufus growled, glaring at the sword tattoo on Raven’s skin.
But the humor faded quickly, replaced by the heavy question Alex had raised.
The soldiers would arrive soon, bringing the last groups of chained demons into the palace square, then taking them to the prison where screams, snarls, and guttural laughter echoed.
However, things wouldn’t end with their mere arrival, as the real work begins after that.
They had to be sorted. Nibbles was the only one who could distinguish corrupted demons from disguised humans.
But that meant waiting—waiting while whatever the corrupt beasts were doing continued and the panther’s fate hung in the balance.
Clara exhaled slowly. "So... what do we do? Wait for Nibbles to finish pointing them out? Delay the move against the corrupt beasts?"
Graye almost jumped. "While the panther’s tortured alive?!"
Even Siris was frowning, not realizing how she, who used to only care about Raven, was now worrying about the panther, who was the newest member of the group.
Wait, no. It wasn’t even a member. It was a group pet.
The tension, on the other hand, remained.
"But if we leave now," Selena cut in sharply, "we risk the demons spilling into the city. Then we’ll lose everything before we even start."
The courtyard grew heavy again, torn between urgency and danger, loyalty and duty.
They couldn’t risk leaving anyone behind to guard this place, as Jake’s incident was a reminder of how perilous things could become in such cases.
They couldn’t decide what to do because of how unpredictable the demons were.
Yes, they had already killed ten of them, meaning not many demon generals must be left, and even summoning beings that could tear the space required a lot of sacrifices.
Raven knew that the demons wouldn’t be able to use that move again. But living in this plot and talking to people had made Raven realize one should never think that everything would be alright just because you believe so.
Raven gritted his teeth as he found himself in a situation where he had to leave someone behind. Again.
It was then that his eyes caught sight of Graye, who was staring in the direction Cluckles had come from.
She was one of those who wanted to save the panther the most, as it was her buddy, like Nibbles was Alex’s.
But to Raven, she was the strongest member of his group, who couldn’t be killed unless you knew her weakness, which not even the other team members knew of.
Graye noticed his gaze and turned to him, her head tilted. "What’s wrong?"
Raven didn’t say anything, but Graye somehow understood his intentions, and her eyes went wide. "Y-You aren’t planning on leaving me behind, right?"
Raven knew that she wanted to fight for the panther, but there was no one other than her who could stay here and protect the capital.
One of them—either Raven or Graye—had to stay, and Raven didn’t want to send the team to the corrupt zone alone, as he was sure that whenever the protagonist is away from the group, tragedy happens.
That was one of the cons of having a group.
So, Raven nodded at Graye. "Yes. You will stay here and protect the capital."
"N-No!" Graye raised her voice, going against his words for the first time. "I don’t wanna!"
Raven remained silent for a second before he sighed. "I’ll give you a hug if you stay behind—"
"No! I’m not falling for that again!" Graye huffed, her brows creasing. "You haven’t even given me the reward from the last time—"
Before she could complete her words, Raven would move, and the next thing Graye knew was warmth. Raven hugged her curvaceous body, his arms coiled around her waist.
For a few seconds, Graye stood frozen, her eyes blinking like the tube light about to expire.
"A-Ah, Raven?" She finally mustered enough of her voice to squeak out those words.
"Hm?" Still hugging her, now tighter, as he wanted to enjoy the hug, Raven raised a brow. "What’s wrong?"
The others, especially Clara and Lia, giggled at the scene, as the wildest girl they had seen seemed so tame now.
It was as if she were a rabbit in a wolf’s paw.
"W-What’s happening right now?" She muttered, unable to hear or see anything that was not Raven.
Her world was blank right now.
Raven, on the other hand, merely chuckled. "I thought you wanted your last reward. Did you not?"
"Uh, no—I mean, yes, but," she stuttered, but then her voice turned sharp and hushed. "This is too sudden!"
"So... should I stop?" Raven asked, almost pulling away, but Graye quickly hugged him back, pushing her face against his chest.
"N-No..." She whispered back, making Raven chuckle as his hand slithered upward on her back, sending a shiver down her spine as her body tensed.
"W-What’s this feeling?" She muttered, feeling new to all this, as despite pretending to be quite forward about all of this, she was a virgin girl with no experience with boys.
After all, she had pretended to be a boy her whole life, wanting to fight more and more people.
This was the first time she felt that being a girl was better, but the way her heart hammered against her ribs almost scared her.
It was then—
A laugh broke the air.
It started as a deep rumble, then rolled higher, booming across the courtyard like thunder. Confident. Commanding. Mocking and divine all at once.
The laugh didn’t just echo—it bounced off the palace walls, the marble floor, and the poor squirrel still holding a tiny war drum.
It was the kind of laugh that sounded like a man who’d just discovered the meaning of life... and immediately forgotten it again.
Then—BANG!
The ground split like it had been waiting for this exact cue, a geyser of light and flower petals erupting into the courtyard.
Out of it spun an old man in golden-white robes stitched with hearts, doves, and something suspiciously resembling a pair of buttocks.
His beard was long, his eyebrows longer, and his grin so wide it could’ve been painted on.
"MY BOY!" Crisaius roared, arms flung wide like he was embracing not just Raven but the entire world. "At last! You have touched the first fruit of the garden called romance!"
He landed lightly—no, dramatically—in front of Raven and Graye, staff planting itself into the cracked stone as if it were a divine spear.
The petals settled around him, glowing faintly, and the air actually smelled like cinnamon rolls.
Crisaius clasped his hands, eyes sparkling as he leaned close to Raven. "Do you feel it? The fluttering? The trembling? That, my sweet disaster child, is not fear of demons—IT IS LOVE!"
Clara was doubled over, giggling so hard she nearly fell. Lia tried to hide her face behind her sleeve, but her shoulders shook.
Alex just stood there blinking, lava fists forgotten, utterly blindsided by the spectacle.
Rufus muttered, "...what the actual fuck," under his breath, while Jessy facepalmed so hard it echoed.
Yet, somehow... the heavy tension in the courtyard cracked.
Crisaius twirled his staff, pointed dramatically at the sky, and declared, "Fear not, children! For where there is doubt, there is also desire! Where there is corruption, there is also connection! And where there is a hug—" his grin split wider, teeth flashing like a mad prophet, "—there is ALWAYS HOPE!"
The old man’s voice thundered across the courtyard like a messiah had truly arrived, and although he was ridiculous enough to make a squirrel salute with its tiny war paint, the air lightened.
Raven’s temple vein pulsed harder than ever while Omni whistled low. "Oh boy. Here comes drama wrapped in a god complex."