Let's Take a Break

Del and his team set up a camp near a riverbank on Duliare Hill. He had washed himself using the water from the river. He changed his clothes to a new one since the old one was all stained with blood. He also didn't want to attract predators when he slept.

He was sitting down near the campfire while looking at his tablet. The map on his tablet showed that the predicted area where the person that he was going to rescue was five miles north of his location.

After that, he grabbed his status plate to check whether he had leveled up or not from killing a mystical creature. In theory, he should level up a lot since killing one was practically impossible according to Cassandra, and yet, Del managed to kill it.

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[Del Moore] [Level: 52]

Strength: 123

Agility: 120

Vitality: 120

Aptitude: 92

Perception: 109

Skills: Language Understanding | Firearm Comprehension LVL.45 | Marksmanship LVL.48 | Flame Manipulation LVL.10 | Field Manipulation LVL.9 | Demolition Expert LVL.11

Magical Energy: 19136/19136

Health Point: 62400/62400

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"Damn, this is quite a lot," he thought.

It meant two things. First, Del was getting stronger, but that wasn't the main point of leveling up for him. The main prospect of leveling up for Del was the ability to upgrade his tech level. If he had leveled up to level 50, he could upgrade his weapon to 90s weaponry.

He opened his tablet. Several unread notifications showed up. All of them were Pidma informing him of his new tech level. He had several new features on his system as well. Most of them were his system upgrade.

[Tech Level Has Leveled Up]

[Automated Targeting Has Been Added]

[Remote Targeting Has Been Added]

[Advanced Weapon Customization Has Been Unlocked]

[Advanced Weapon Upgrade Has Been Unlocked]

"Nice, very nice," Del giggled.

"Why are you giggling?" Cole asked.

"Well, if you ask me, it's because I have an upgrade, other than that, it's just usual," Del said.

"How much time that we have left by the way?" Cole nodded.

[30:02:09]

"Thirty hours, huh? Well, I think we should have enough time for sleeping. Still, looking for people being executed would be challenging, especially since Westwend Valley holds some religious sentiment," Cole said.

"What do you mean?" Del asked.

"The execution ground was called "Valley of Death" for a reason. Westwend Valley is also known as the place that eats people. Most of the time, the people that are executed here or going in here won't return alive unless they were blessed," Cole said.

"I think I can see the truth of that sentiment," Del said.

"Well, I think all of them are bullshits though. Because, for the most part, the people that entered from the west, like us, often die. The "blessed" people were the people that entered this valley from the east which is guarded by the Elbanian soldiers," Cole said.

"I see, it makes sense, you can reinforce some beliefs by doing that," Del said.

"Yeah, anyway, what would you think will happen later?" Cole asked.

"Don't ask me, I'm not a fortune teller, I can't guess what would happen next," Del said.

"Haha, I know," Cole said.

They spent the rest of the night quietly. Del spent the night quietly browsing through the upgrade that he got and Cole spent the rest of the night sleeping near the campfire. Little did they know, the other side of the hill wasn't that quiet.

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"Prisoner, keep moving!" The soldier pushed Anna to walk barefooted.

Since the carriage wasn't able to move through the rough terrain, everyone was forced on foot or on horse to go to the execution ground. Eric was walking right beside of her, mocking her.

Did she feel disgraced? Yes, she did. She acted though, but she couldn't keep that up for long. She used to be respected by those soldiers who were pushing her, but now, they didn't even differentiate her from animal.

When she was too tired to move, the soldiers didn't even hesitate to whip her feet to make her move. When the soldiers ate, they told Anna to eat the grass on the ground like some kettle. At first, Anna was sure as hell she wasn't going to eat the grasses like those soldiers told him to, but her stomach got the better of her. She eventually ate the grasses and she threw it up immediately. The grass was poisonous.

As a result, she marched towards the execution ground with horrible stomachache that could only be described as knives stabbing her own innards. The soldiers didn't even give a fuck. If Anna couldn't move, they would tie her up to a horse and drag her along. If not for her own healing spell, she couldn't have survived.

She kept walking and walking with one thousands plan to kill Eric in the most gruesome way. It wouldn't give her the satisfaction, but it was all that she could do. She really wondered what his brother was doing in heaven, he was probably having a dinner with her parents or something.

"How does it feel, have to walk barefooted to your own death?" Eric said.

"Fuck you!' Anna said.

"It must feel unreal to walk into your own death, isn't it? You're going to be covered in pitch and burned alive, a pretty horrifying way to death, isn't it?" Eric said.

"I really can't believe it, where is your humanity? Why are you turning insane?" Anna said.

"You will create mutiny in our party and it's my job as the leader of the party to solve any problem," Eric said, proudly knowing that he was killing his own friend.

Anna didn't even start a mutiny in the heroes party. She was only keep asking what would happen if his brother was still around. She only said that she might be able to work more effectively with her brother instead of working alone due to Del's basic medical knowledge.

She did hold a grudge against the king or any of her friend in general for voting to banish his brother out of the party. But now, he really wanted to kill them all, no matter how innocent they proved to be. All of them voted that she was guilty as charged for absolutely no reason. It was simply unacceptable.

"Eric, just… why?" Anna said.

"Why? Why are you keep asking why? It's clear that my action has its own reasonings. We threw your brother out because he was an inability and we agreed that you were guilty because you killed one of my friends," Eric said.

"Eric, do you even realize that you're being played?" Anna asked him back.

"Shut up!" Eric kicked Anna to the ground and the rope that was tied to Anna dragged her on the ground before she struggled to stand up on her own. Eric just laughed as the horse dragged Anna and made her bleed.

Anna held the bleeding firmly with her hand. She cast her healing spell, but she forgot that it wouldn't work because of her magical restrain collar, "Damn," Anna held her wound firmly, "the healing spell doesn't work."

"Why did you forget that we put that collar on you? Hahahaha," Eric laughed.

Anna sighed as he continued walking down the sharp gravel road. Her feet were bleeding badly ever since she began walking. Eric kept smiling as he kept looking at Anna's suffering. Eric was insane, and Anna knew it.

"Eric, you're sick, power has corrupted you so much," Anna said.

"Shut up, I use my power sparingly and when I need it. You are a disgrace to us all, just like your brother. You should be ashamed of yourself, Anna. Nobody is useful in your family. Your brother is weak and you're nothing but a little bitch and a betrayer," Eric said.

"And you're one hell of a delusional teenager with his own little kingdom!" Anna shouted.

"I'm not delusional!" Eric kicked her again.

Anna was all thrown on the ground again as the horse dragged her along on the ground again. She bleed again from the wound that she got from the sharp stones on the road. Anna desperately stood up from the ground again, "Del will kill you if he founds you!" Anna shouted.

"Listen here, you little…, Del is dead. HE IS DEAD. WHY ARE YOU KEEP SAYING DEL, DEL, AND DEL! That name disgusts me!" Eric shouted.

"He is alive and I know it!" Anna shouted.

"Shut up!" Eric punched Anna in the face.

Anna held her bleeding nose. She cried. Eric laughed again. For Eric, he really felt superior for wounding Anna and keep his dominant role over Anna. Little did he know, he was really playing with his own life. Sooner or later, his action would result in severe consequences for Elbanian, Heroes Party, and himself.