Dawn- An age of Darkness
Chapter 287 - There’s No Point In Having Strength If You Can’t Make A Decision And Stick With It

"I-" I was conflicted. I really was.

What was the best thing? I didn't know.

What should I have done?

I didn't know.

"Maye promised him ten thousand gold," Viola spoke normally.

"Ten thousand!?" The son of the duke looked shaken. 

I was shaken too. When was I made that sort of promise?

But more importantly, wasn't this girl worried about her own safety?

The duke chuckled. "Very well. Pay him half and the rest of the half will be paid through the guild. We're a little short on cash you see."

The duke signaled one of his men and the guy brought me a bag of coins. Calling it a large bag would have been an understatement. 

It was more like a trunk than a bag. 

"But Viola-"

"It's okay," She smiled. "I'm sorry I couldn't provide more, but I hope you're happy with this reward. It was fun, traveling with you," She whispered. 

Just how was this girl selfish again? Wasn't she supposed to be selfish, arrogant, and a spoiled brat?

But-but she never did anything to make me feel that way. 

"Farewell Daarc," Viola walked on ahead towards her cousin. 

A soldier handed me the bag and he was about to lead me out. 

All of this was part of Alisa's plan but- 'If you turn back now- then what was the point of becoming strong?'

Didn't I set out to become stronger to escape destiny's misery? Then why was I backing out now? 

Why was I facing the door, instead of the duke?

'If I turn back now- will I able to look myself in the mirror?'

I closed my eyes and turned around. "Tell me one thing, my lord." My eyes were still closed. 

There was no going back.

"That being?"

"Just what do you plan to do with this and the rest of the two countries?" I glared solidly. 

I heard a sigh coming from my shoulder but I ignored that. 

The duke's smile had vanished and now he looked at me with indifferent eyes, almost as though he was looking into my soul, a very blank stare. It was almost as though there was no life in those eyes of his. 

But my glare didn't die out. I saw in those blue eyes of his- a red tint. Something was wrong here. 'He's not alive?'

"Perhaps a revolution you might say?" He raised one of his hands and the whole room got flooded with soldiers. The ones in the shadows all came out and from the looks of it, all had red eyes and fangs. 'Well-'

"Too late now I guess." I chuckled and used the ring to bring out the mystic blade. The soldiers maintained their distance. So they didn't like the holy attribute?

I already made up my mind and I already decided to do this, so there wasn't any point in holding back. I also imbued my weapon and clothes. 

"Sigh! Seriously! You couldn't just wait for half a day?" With an exaggerated sigh, Alisa jumped out of my shoulder.

"Hmm? It turned to a child?" The duke pondered, even his voice felt hollow now. 

Both Viola and her cousin were surprised and so were the soldiers. 

"Demigod of ice, pleasure to make your acquaintance." Alisa made a mocking vow with a grin, showing her teeth. 

Why did I get the feeling she was enjoying this?

"Then that would mean-" He next glared at me. 

My lips curled up a little. I guess now I had to follow her example. "Daarc Green. Duke of Helsing and Archduke of the Elven Empire." I pointed my sword at him and focused. "Meaning, you now have a four to one war. I suggest you surrender."

He was stunned for a second but he then smiled. "Too bad, my lord but you were too hasty. Nothing can harm me as long as I remain in this forest. Not even that sword."

Suddenly, my body felt drowsy. "Cover your nose!"

"Way, ahead of you."

My hand was already on my mouth and I brought out my handkerchief but Alisa had some sort of mist covering her whole body. It acted as an armor I guess?

But if there was some sort of drug in the air, how come, it didn't affect any one of them?

The princess and the lion guy were swirling though. I guess they were affected. 

I was kind of affected too. A bit drowsy but nothing I couldn't deal with. 

"Too bad-" Alisa grinned, evilly. "You were too hasty in telling us." She raised both of her arms and in a split second, the whole room filled with mist and in that time, she grabbed my arm and pulled me along with her. She also led me to the princess and I carried her. 

"Why are we running?" I whispered.

"We don't know where the hostages are. If they kill them-"

"But we can just take the duke hostage!" My whispers were very vigorous.

Alisa grimaced. "That's a body double you moron. Do you seriously think the duke of this whole place would sit pretty like that while a threat to his life was here? And didn't you notice? They're all vampires."

I guess that was right. I did feel like something was off. 

Wait, vampires?

I really wanted to bang my head against a wall. Just how dumb was I? Red eyes, fangs, bat wings! Oh, man!

I nodded at Alisa's word and followed her, with the princess in my arms. I did grimace slightly though. 

This girl was surprisingly light. And she was passed out. 

But I didn't have enough strength because of that drowsiness. And carrying her with one hand was way, way hard. Even with my increased strength from imbuing my clothes. And more importantly, I couldn't carry a weapon anymore, so I was defenseless.

We got out of the room and to the corridor but- "Now what!?"

There were soldiers behind us but there was a lot of nothing in front of us. After all, we're so frigging up in the castle!

And this was just a terrace with no way down or anything in particular. And most of the branches were up not, down!

"Jump I guess?"

"Huh? You're kidding me?"

"Yes, but no." She grabbed my hand. 

I had a very bad nostalgic feeling. Not only was this jump going to be higher than last time, this time I didn't have a half-dead elf to carry my ass in case I broke in. 

She still jumped though and pulled me along with her. 

AAHAHHRHHHH

'I'm going to live, right?' 

Yeah, I had my doubts.

***

We were falling. 

Yup. Definitely falling and this place was high like there were literal clouds here and there. 

So yeah, I didn't have much hope for living. 

How could I be so calm?

I'd already accepted my fate. And I was in the middle of falling asleep. If this adrenaline rush didn't happen, I'd have surely fallen asleep. Those guys had used some rather powerful drug!

The nearest branch was a long way down and it was thick plus it was at least ten jumps away, definitely not feasible for living: living to tell the tale after hitting it that is.

Alisa grabbed on to me while also making a dome of ice over her head. "This should work!"

Was physics really dead in this world? Because no matter how I didn't see how a dome of ice would work as a parachute.

But the dome broke down and we were getting closer and closer to the ground. 

"Oops." Nope, physics was not dead. 

But we sure were going to be. 

"Use your magic to imbue yourself, I'll stabilize you, and then let's grab  the tree!" Alisa was screaming rather loud but my eyes were kind of in the middle of closing. 

We were still falling. This was a long, long-ass fall. And grab the tree?

How? The nearest branch was still at least ten seconds down it was about ten meters thick! And my brain wasn't working. 

At this velocity, we'd just die.  And not to mention all the not so massive twigs were out of our reach too.

But I focused anyway, not that it mattered. 

  "Wha- aaaaha!" And now this girl woke and started to shriek, grabbing me too tight.

Maybe dying wasn't so bad. 

Her screams did do a good job as an alarm clock though. 

Anyway, I was fully imbued and my whole body was a lot stronger right now, but this definitely wasn't enough to survive. 

"On three." Alisa grabbed me even tighter. I was being squeezed alive from both sides. "One!" 

Weren't we counting!?

She formed an ice slide beneath our feet and slid us toward a large twig. 

We were about to be crushed. There was no doubt in my mind.

My breathing was very not calm. Well, at least I was now fully awake. 

But I tried my best to form a ball of fluffy healing ball in the place of impact while Alisa created snow. 

And a second later- SLAM!

It didn't hurt. Nope, not one bit. I only broke one rib and a pinky and maybe my nose. 

All was cool and definitely didn't hurt. I just wanted to scream a bit. Definitely, it didn't hurt, okay? 

We were still only halfway down. 'How frigging tall is this tree?'

With my best guess, no less than three kilometers.