The Castle

Chapter Thirteen: The Castle

Ston watched Benign, wondering if the warrior had gone crazy. Protector of the realms typically were expected to typically perform senseless acts of self-sacrifice, but witnessing it first hand still surprised him.

"I will be fine." Benign said to Vargel and to answer Ston's questioning stare. He knew it was a lie. He knew they knew that too.

He had lost his mind back in war to do that but it took a good amount of senselessness to merge self sacrificing with bravery, and sneak into enemy's quarters frequently.

His skin burnt and he hissed in pain. It wasn't too bad. The Dark Miasma felt like highly salted water touching a gash. He had swam in sea with open wounds before. "I will be fine." He said more confidently than the first time.

Closing his eyes to avoid the miasma contacting his eyes, he trudged in. He groaned as the heavy air engulfed him and he felt his skin about to peel off.

He increased his steps but it only made the miasma clash with his body more angrily, and his legs began to waver.

[Injury Sustained....]

[-25 and counting...]

"Shut up." He murmured with breaking lips. The air tasted like rotten bodies and sulphur, a mixture he didn't think he'd ever taste at once.

[-35 and counting...]

Benign reached his hand towards the door so he'd open it the moment he'd feel it. He heard the elf men go further back which indicated the miasma was still spreading.

"Concentrate... on only... me..." he coughed as the forbidden air entered his lungs.

He held his breath and kept enduring the harsh burns till his right hand hit a hard surface.

Immediately, he twisted the door knob and used all his remaining strength to push the gate open.

He finally made meaning of the words he'd been hearing from Vargel. "Benign! Stop! You are badly hurt and I doubt I can heal that!"

He focused on one part of the door and pushed it all the way to the end. He fell on his knees when he was stopped by a wall. The pain was stopping, and his regeneration began to catch up with the burns.

"Benign! You! It... stopped..."

Hearing Vargel, Benign let out a big exhale and freed the forbidden air in his lungs. The pain racking through his body was nothing compared to the satisfaction he felt.

It was always a thing of pride to protect his unit and once again, there was no casualty. Except him, which barely mattered.

[You should really work on your saviour complex. Or suicidal complex. I don't know which one it is.]

Benign's mood changed, he waited for his lips to heal before retorting. "You are not one to talk. How did you help me through any of this other than reminding me of my reducing health points?"

He checked the health points and they hadn't gone below 800 yet. He had lost 90 points in only a short while.

[If I, your system, had all the answers, I'd not look for experienced soldiers from different parts of the universe to help solve my problems. I'd just guide a child to it.]

Benign stayed quiet, then sighed.

The system just said he searched through universes for those who made up Legal Systemists, which meant he really wasn't the only one.

The soldier wondered if their experiences and trials would all be the same, since their goal was. How many are they? What would happen if any of them failed their mission?

But most importantly, what would happen if they met each other?

Benign could already imagine what he'd do if he found a fellow Legal Systemist. Easy. Avoid them as much as he could. As Legal said, they were just as capable as he was.

If they had stay longer than he had, they'd

This was a new environment and in his current state, he'd been disadvantaged twice. He had no idea how lucky the others had been with their skills, so they might be better.

Benign stopped his thinking and checked his wounds, they were all gone. It had taken a while for his level 5 Regeneration to catch up to level 6 Dark Miasma burns.

"Not bad."

[Now, go on ahead and finish your mission.]

Benign rolled his eyes. He held unto the doorknob to force his legs to stand. Before he could fully stand, he felt someone pull him up.

"Thanks, Ston." He faced him and the elf looked both confused, annoyed and impressed.

"You rushed in there because of your regeneration, right? A perk of being a protector of the realms, right?" he asked.

Benign agreed like always. "There's a lot of useful perks, so I can handle a little bit of everything. I told you that if I said the plan, you wouldn't like it. At least, it worked."

"And that's all we'd thank the Lady Gaia for. Imagine if it didn't." Vargel scolded. "Please, let's know it first, so I wouldn't die of a heart attack before the actual danger."

Benign nodded, while noting how Vargel reminded him of his overly concerned late grandmother. "Let's get in then."

Ston pushed the other part of the door back and he did it more easily than Benign did. Benign wondered if he could check the elf's strength in a status.

"There's nothing here." Vargel informed.

Benign turned to the empty dark hall. There was nothing?

He stopped himself from reacting and first, strolled into the hall. Nothing popped up still, and the ground below them seemed to be soft. "What the hell is this?!"

Vargel jolted on hearing him shout. He touched the walls inside the gate and they felt wet. He looked around the dark hall and nothing was interesting. Just a dark wet hall.

"I can't even begin to wonder how the water got in, just like I can't explain how the light came on." He looked back at the illuminated cave.

The place was more mysterious than it had been when he came last times. It excited him, but it also scared him since it had near death experiences.

"I asked you a question, Legal." Benign seethed. "Where's the Blade of Centuries or whatever you spoke about?"