So I have a family gathering today so I figured I would post one now as I would be really busy later and I will be busy for the next two days... so 2 day break woot woot

Chapter 16: The journey into the Cursed Grounds

Volume 2 Chapter 3

We all wake up and of course I was the last of the men as Shiro woke up early and kept working on materializing blades outside.

This woke Paul up and he decided to go outside and peek on females taking their morning jogs, baths at the river, or in the spa.

Anastasia woke up due to the shattering blades and decided to go outside and sharpen her blades next to Shiro.

Brooke was also woken up by the shattering blades and decided to read the books she got from the magic shop in her room until everyone was ready to go on the wagon.

Ares was awake by now and went outside to watch Shiro and Anastasia, they didn't mind as she was quiet and had a nice smile on her face but she also tested the strength of Shiros blades as she worked on her skills.

Dia was up drinking more alcohol as if all the alcohol she drank yesterday didn't exist, it surprises me that she isn't fat.

After I walked out of the room everyone stopped doing what they were doing and grouped up so we could have breakfast, as apparently everyone was waiting on me.

We had some Barthuma(Cow) soup with some Gin-Sura(Vulture) mixed in and the spices from plants made it test even better.

After we finished we got the wagon ready and set out.

As all of us were in the wagon heading towards the Cursed Grounds of the Bathalli Hills I was asked a question by Brooke in the form of Sign language

"So Gabriel tell us about your life before you came here, What did you do before you vanished Earth and appeared here?" Brooke motioned

BEGIN MY STORY

I had a loving Mother who died 2 years ago and a Grandfather who died 3 years ago, I told them that my father walked out on me when I was a boy.

So I was alone, I found comfort at my school as I was the second best student in my College, the first was a beautiful girl named Lucy she had straight long blonde hair that covered the right side of her face, bright blue eyes that sparked in the light, no blemishes anywhere I could see, her lips were rosy red, she had a really nice looking chest but was modest about it as she always covered her cleavage and belly button, she wore slacks or skirts with black stockings that covered her Barbie like legs, and cute shoes or heels that covered her feet, I would say they were beautiful feet but I never saw them bare, and she looked to be around 19.

I was a student in a local university, I was in my second year and my Major was Criminal Justice. I had one teacher I really respected he was also the Dean of the school and the most respected throughout the school his name was Professor M. Asamaki.

I also worked two jobs. in my first job I was a security guard and had mostly patrol shifts around a facility run by the corporation I was hired by, but I also had the position of watching the front entrance which was a big steel gate that was always locked so I often messed around.

My second job was working undercover in many different agencies to find employees who had become corrupt, and deliver them to justice where they would be judged and dealt with by the courts.

In college Lucy was my rival in everything as we both were in Criminal Justice we took classes together and training together, and she was always the best her test scores were better even though I studied more.

She always beat me in spars, even though I was stronger and I even worked harder than her and trained my reflexes for longer than her.

She beat me in every race whether it was sprints or marathons, even though I took bigger steps that covered more ground or could run longer than her.

I was better than her in tactics but that was the only thing I could beat her at.

I was never really sure of the emotions I felt for her however since we were in the same classes for two years I learned the emotions really well.

We almost had classes together for two whole years, It was after the first year that I realized that the first emotion I felt towards her was jealousy, it wasn't respect or admiration but jealousy, I prided myself in being the best and here I was always in second place.

6 months after I learned I was jealous of her, envious of always being the best, spiteful of always being talked about by the Professor that I respected the most my emotion began to change, the jealousy had turned into hatred and anger towards her, I often fantasized about releasing my wrath on her, hurting her or worse, in a way I was lusting after her.

A month before I disappeared she was expelled from college for cheating, and all I could think of was serves you right, you were never better than me all you did was cheat.

But soon it began to eat at me that she may have always been better than me, and Two days after her expulsion I became lazy and arrogant as I no longer had a rival it was all too easy being the best wasn't all it was cracked up to be, There was no point if there was no challenge.

A week after her expulsion I had become a different person I was obsessed with becoming better the greed for knowledge couldn't be satisfied it was as if there was a black hole in me that couldn't be filled I became consumed with her leaving while being better than me, like I wasn't really the best, it was as if she was still here.

Another emotion appeared soon after she had been expelled two weeks before my disappearance I was able to figure this one out, it was loneliness even though I wanted to be the best and be respected throughout the whole college she always stood in the way and once she was gone all of my motivation disappeared without her I didn't want to be the best what point was there in being in the college if I couldn't be with her. I learned that I truly loved her even if she didn't see me the same way but I was too blinded by my own thirst for power and standing to see it.

I reevaluated all of the emotions I felt towards her and myself, Pride was the most foolish one, as it was a rule that should be taught to everyone, never underestimate anyone as it puts you in a bad place and there will always be someone better than you right now but with enough perseverance and hard work you can beat them someday.

The jealousy I felt for her was the same I didn't care that she was better I just wanted to be acknowledged, I wanted her to truly see me as I had been seriously trying since the beginning.

The rage I felt was only directed at her because she ignored my efforts as if I wasn't even good enough to be paid attention to.

The lust I felt for her was normal as she was a beautiful girl and I formed a bond with her in my head that we were the best and as such it wasn't wrong if we ended up being together.

Laziness wasn't unforeseen as I lost the person who challenged me to do better.

My greediness and unending thirst was also obvious as I became obsessed with trying to better myself I stopped seeing everyone as a possible source of information I only saw them as obstacles to surpass.

So after she was expelled I went to my teacher to plead for her case but they said they had proof of her cheating and breaking the rules and it wasn't possible to do anything about her expulsion so I decided to take time off to track her down and say my goodbyes as we didn't get to say our farewells.

I finally figured out where she was, and I was on my way to see her when I was taken by the black liquid.

END STORY

I look around and see everyone looking at me with different eyes, there was sympathy mixed with empathy and a little bit of contempt.

"Don't look at me like that it's not weird for me to have felt those kinds of feelings." I said to them

"I just didn't think you were the type to fall in love since you seem so stuck up when you're acting like a commander." Anastasia says while laughing

"Shut up Ana, anyone would fall in love after being so close to them for close to 2 years." I said annoyed

Meanwhile Ares and Brooke have a clear frown on their face like they were just beaten down by the cold.

"Whats wrong with you two, did my story bore you? " I asked Ares and Brooke

Brooke's face gets red and she shakes her head and motions her hands "no it's just that I didn't think you had anyone you liked back home, it's even possible we will never go home so I felt bad for you." Brooke has a sad expression while she motioned her hands

"Don't worry about it Brooke I will find a way home for us and I am sure it will work out." I said trying to reassure her

"How long do you think it will take before you can go home?" Ares says with a worried expression

"At least a year, damn a year on earth would have passed if we just sit around her for a year. The disappearances started close to three months ago too, I don't want to be here for any longer than a year though." I said looking at the others

"Umm are you referring to the first heroes who appeared here?" Ares says in a curious tone

"Yeah its probably been 3 months and 5 days since the disappearances started on our planet." I said with a calm voice.

"That's not possible, the first generation of heroes first appeared here 6 years ago." Ares said with a worried expression again

"Now that's not possible, up until 4 days ago when we were first summoned it had only been three weeks unless this worlds time difference is a lot faster than in our world" Paul says

"T-t-that's not p-possible, brother and sister have only been gone 3-4 months!" Shiro shouts at Ares

"Shiro your brother and sister were taken too? but that would mean they didn't make it since you are here... I am so sorry Shiro" Anastasia said while bringing Shiro in to hug him and nearly suffocated him with those huge marshmallows...

"Shiro why don't you tell us a story about what happened before you came here?" I ask

"There's no time we are at the Bathalli hills." Paul said

"Really that was kind of fast, we didn't come across even one Goblin camp... It's kind of weird." I said

"Well lets search for the last two villagers on foot, since the wagon won't do well off the road, and make our way to Gathri." I say

"We would cover more ground if we split into teams." Anastasia says trying to distance herself from the drunkard Dia

"Yeah sure I feel like the best teams would be Myself, Dia, Brooke, and Shiro." I said trying to separate any distractions from either side

Dia and Paul had become drinking buddies on the wagon and she didn't fuss over his flirting so they grew quite close, of course they were both drinking so the atmosphere was light.

Shiro frowned because he wasn't with Anastasia, Ares frowned because she wasn't with me, Paul frowned because he wasn't with Dia, Anastasia frowned too because she didn't want to be with Paul. Dia had no apparent expression as she kept drinking, Brooke and myself were the only ones who didn't dislike the team setup.

My team took a route to the right to search around a large tree, when I say large it was about 10 times smaller than the tree from the avatir movie or whatever it was called with the blue natives that had sex with their hair or something...

Paul's team went to the left to search around a steep hill surrounded by mountains

We decided on them going because they are fitter than the people in my party and will be able to maneuver faster in that terrain rather than flat ground like us as my group isn't exactly fit.

About two minutes after we split up my team ran into a bit of trouble, though it wasn't a problem with the way Brooke handled the situation.

We found a group of 12 Filtss attacking a Giant centipede, Shiro had gotten in range and materialized 1 blade with a really sharp tip that got wider as the blade stretched.

He dropped the blade out of the sky aiming for the centipedes head however it moved its head with remarkable speed, I don't know how it knew maybe it was luck but the blade missed its head but went straight through the middle of a Filts(Filts), it squirmed around but died within 3 seconds.

The Filtss who noticed the blade that entered their comrade looked around searching for the assailants. With quick speed one Filts was moving fast towards Shiro and he materialized a blade so thin the Filts couldn't see it from the front and ran its head through the blade, from the side anyone could have seen the blade but while looking in the direction of the blade it almost seemed invisible.

I joined the fight by using my soul corruption on the giant centipede and it works easily, I cast soul link which links my body with this giant centipede and I began leeching its mana from it, and instead of fighting the way the centipede was I just body slammed into the ground and began rolling left and right I ended up crushing 2 of the Filtss while the other hid under anything they could find whether it was between trees or holes in the ground

Three of the Filtss tried to climb up high to escape the rampage going on below, they only got halfway up the tree before knives entered their heads, I looked in Dias direction and she lifts the bottle up to her lips and begins chugging again... shes insane

Shiro had made a blade and broke it apart so it was nothing but shards of a blade and sent it straight into a hole however since it isn't liquid it wouldn't flow through the hole it would hit and wall and be done, so we aren't sure if he killed anything. He repeated this technique in a trees crevice however this time we heard a shriek and blood splattered out of the crevice in the tree.

We aren't even sure if he killed a Filts maybe he killed a squirrel or a raccoon or something.

3 snakes came out from the cracks in the tree behind me and lunged at my giant body but my scales are too thick so they didnt penetrate and so I roll on the ground and crush two more however one survived and tried to run, but When I was on my back I saw a blade being materialized in the sky it was about normal size and it came down fast like a meteor and goes straight through the snake in an instant.

I use soul devastation and leave the body, the Giant centipede started twitching but did nothing but shake and when Brooke saw the blur leave its body she pointed her hand towards it and right before casting a spell Shiro stopped her and signaled he wanted to do it.

The centipede still twitching but began moving its head around searching for enemies, it didn't notice the giant blade being constructed over head, by the time a minute passed it had regained complete control over its body but the blade above its head was already finished and it dropped out of the sky like Garen's sword, when the sword hit the ground it left a wide hole in the ground but separated the centipede in half.

We ran into 2 more giant centipedes, which were killed by Shiro and Brooke.

22 Filts(snakes) 12 of which were killed by shiro, 5 by dia, 3 by me, and 2 by Brooke.

"Achhooo, ah I think someones talking about me" I said

"Bless you" Shiro said

2 minutes later we ran into 4 giant butterflies

4 giant butterflies which were annoying as they flew quickly overhead and released mist that affected our state of mind and it ranged from paralyzing, drowsiness, hallucinations, rage, calmness, fear, and the funny thing is none of it was poisonous, Dia had used a status heal that removed any negative effects from the mist.

I took over one of their bodies and made it release its mist on the other two but I guess they were immune as they didn't act any different, I attacked one by flying into it and trying to bite it but I have no teeth or fangs just saliva that acts as acid however it didn't deal enough damage and I felt like a fool, dia threw 2 throwing knives and killed 2 Shiro dropped one blade and killed another I left the body and Shiro killed the last one.

2 giant bees that were really passive as they didn't attack us but they did notice us and kept their distance, they continued on pollinating flowers until a plant tried to eat one of the giant bees, the bee flapped its wings one time really fast and a sonic wave appeared and tore the plant apart and to make matters worse for the plant the bees needle grew really long and punctured the roots of where the plant was and then the needle went back to its original length covered in blood, apparently the flower was actually a beast that lay hidden underground and attacks when it captures its prey... how unfortunate it found a bee and not a butterfly or some other insect.

Lastly we even found a rhinoceros with 3 giant horns coming out its head its tail was long and had spikes all over the tail, 4 long tentacle like spikes came out of its back and were really long, this Rhino seemed like it could control the tentacles on its back.

It noticed us and beamed its yellow eyes at us, we stared back, after 3 seconds of a deadlock stare it shook its head, raised its body and roared.

{GRrrrrrrrrrrrawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr}

Comment if it pleases you, I appreciate any and all feedback and I hope you enjoyed.

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