The Walker Of Voids
Chapter 86 The Monarch Of The Autumn Forest [2]

Weeks passed in the blink of an eye. Everything seemed to go by so quickly, as for the first time since having entered the dungeon, Lloyd actually felt like he was having fun with everyone.

They all knew that they were getting infinitely closer to the boss's lair, so they made as much of their time together matter.

Around the 4th week mark, Lloyd had his void walk, yet despite everything that had happened last time, he was in the void; nothing of real interest happened... Well, except for what happened when he entered the void.

***

"Holy mother of shits..." Lloyd muttered as he stood in what looked like a complete wasteland.

Looking around for a moment, he saw a floating castle in the distance, and after looking at it, the position of the sun, as well as the faint aura around him, everything clicked in his mind...

"Wait, did I do this?" Lloyd asked himself, yet the answer to that question was obvious.

"Can't believe that I did all this for basically just lightning control..." Lloyd sighed before turning around and walking the other way.

While he could have activated [Shadow Wings] and flown to the castle, his instincts told him that he wasn't ready for whatever it stored, making him turn to other locations for easy targets.

6 hours went by pretty quickly, and in the end, Lloyd had fought nothing but cannon fodder, something he should have probably expected since he had taken to coward's route rather than going for the castle straight away.

"I feel Felix would really make fun of me if he ever found out about this... Good thing none of them know that I'm a void walker." Lloyd shrugged with a sly smile as he killed his last lightning wolf before being transported out of the void.

***

While it had confused Lloyd slightly when he found himself in the void 2 weeks later than he had expected, it almost made sense to him in the end.

One week had passed in the outside world since his void walk, and 3 weeks and 2 days had passed in the dungeon despite dungeon days being a little over double the size of the outside world's time.

Of course, the only question to be asked in a situation like this would be, 'What would happen if I am in space.'

While Lloyd would have loved to know the answer to that question, he simply had absolutely no idea. How was time measured in space? Most humans measured time in seconds, while other species used things like rels or something else that Lloyd couldn't remember.

'You'd think that the united races would replace a common unit of measure, but I guess not. Reminds me of that thing from a couple millennia ago where continents would fight over the internet over which measurement system was better.

It got really bad when the British tried to fuse the two together.' Lloyd chuckled before reading the book in his hand that he had borrowed from Tina.

It was one of the only 6 off days he had throughout the 1 and a half months he had been in the dungeon, which was basically the equivalent of three earth months.

"Oh, what the f... Really!? A cliff hanger! I went through so much suspence for a cliff hanger?! Are you crazy?!" Lloyd slammed the book down onto his table and quickly left his room in order to eat in the canteen for once.

"Oh? You're finally leaving your room?" Felix tapped Lloyd on the shoulder, yet instead of replying, Lloyd only grunted.

"You see me every day for a minimum of 20 hours. I am quite literally outside more than I am inside..." Lloyd snarled.

"It was a joke, man. Don't wake it too seriously." Felix laughed while slapping Lloyd on the back before asking-

"You going to the canteen?"

"Wow... Such intelligence. How did you figure out my destination without me even telling you? Does your race have some kind of psychic ability?" Lloyd asked in an almost dead voice and a deadpan expression.

"How was I supposed to know. You might have been going to Veronica's room. You, too, have been hanging out a little too much recently. Hey, you can tell me anything, bro! If you two are... You know..."

"Really?" Lloyd asked, his voice changing slightly as he turned his face away from Felix as if he was trying to hide his blush.

"Yes, bro! You can tell me anything. I will never tell a soul." Felix smiled widely while leaning in slightly so Lloyd could whisper in his ear.

"Anything?" Lloyd asked.

"Yes! Anything."

"Okay..." Lloyd leaned in slightly before whispering-

"Knock Knock."

"..."

"..."

"Who's there..." Felix answered with a slightly nervous expression.

"Mr. Mindyur"

"Mr. Mindyur who?"

"Mr. Mind your own business... Anyway, go harass someone who isn't me, please. Thanks." Lloyd thanked him before increasing his walking speed and entering the canteen before Felix could return to his senses.

When he entered the tent, Lloyd couldn't help but narrow his eyes at the fact that it was pitch black...

'Did my night vision stop working or something?' Lloyd asked himself while taking another step forward.

However, this time he felt a mana signature under his foot, making him looked own with a raised brow.

'A Rune?' Lloyd scratched his cheek before stepping away from the rune and looking up again.

He could finally see again, yet despite knowing that his eyes were working properly, he could not help but widen them as he looked at the display before him.

"Happy birthday!" Tina's voice entered his ears, yet Lloyd felt like his whole body had frozen in place for some reason.

Confetti fell on him from every direction as the entire team slowly appeared one by one.

"Wait? Is this for me?" Lloyd asked, slightly confused by what was happening, but after a moment of thought, a smile tugged at the corner of his lips.

"Yep. I know you were a little down because you couldn't celebrate your birthday with your family, so I did the next best thing." Tina smiled, a scene that made a warm and fuzzy feeling radiate from where his heart would have been.

"Thanks..." Lloyd muttered before pulling Tina into a hug, yet due to her being a lot short than Lloyd, she found her face forcefully buried in his chest. However, instead of moving away or struggling in embarrassment, she simply smiled and returned the hug.

Taking a step back from the smiling girl before him, Lloyd took a moment to look around.

The once bland, almost prison-like, canteen was filled with decorations. Balloons floated at the top of the tent, while several 'happy birthday' signs hung upon the walls.

Glitter could be seen covering half the tent while a surprisingly well-made cake with 17 protruded from the cake.

Sitting down at the end of the table, Lloyd could not help but think back to all the things that had happened over the month and a half. He remembered sitting in the exact same place he was right now, arguing with a once anger-prone Lachlan, who was probably just stressed.

"Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Lloyd... Happy birthday to you!" They all sang as they circled around Lloyd, some of them singing with more excitement than others, yet Lloyd felt like they all meant it.

"Blow the candles and make a wish." Tina clapped excitedly, while Lloyd simply smiled and did as she told him.

'I don't really believe in this wishing crap, but I guess there is no harm done in me wishing for something." Lloyd scratched the back of his head before blowing out the candles.

'I wish we all get out of this alive.' Lloyd thought

The rest of the night felt a little fuzzy. No one drank, but for some reason, it felt like a weird and seizure-inducing dream.

"It's hard to believe that you went from barely being able to fight against a mid-stage first commandment to fighting early-stage first commandments in less than 7 weeks," Lachlan remarked before taking a bite out of the cake.

"Well, Lloyd and Tina have been working extremely hard recently. Tina also broke through to the late stage of the Topaz seal recently." Rex pointed out while also taking a bite from his cake.

"Well, I couldn't have done it without you idiots." Lloyd chuckled.

"Lloyd is literally the only person I know who compliments and insults us in the same sentence. We are your elders! Respect us!" Felix pointed his fork at Lloyd.

"Felix. Don't think I forgot about how you beat me up the first time we met. When I reach the second commandment, you can say bye bye to ever bullying me again." Lloyd chuckled.

"Hey! I thought we were cool now!" Felix went slightly pale.

"We are... Until I reach the second commandment. Then I'm going to beat your ass." Lloyd grinned while everyone laughed at the two's antics.

While everyone had grown closer over the last month and a half, the friendship between Lloyd and Felix was by far the most dramatic.

While they both started off despising one another, they grew closer over time.

They both began hanging out and sparring a little more than they usually did, and despite Lloyd's schedule making such a thing close to impossible, they still found the time in the day to do so.

They both knew they both had secrets the other didn't know, but it didn't matter. Not to them, anyway.

However, Lloyd's friendship with Tina was a lot stronger than everyone else's. Lloyd couldn't explain it, but it was as if something had clicked the moment they spoke to each other.

"Tina." Lloyd called to get her attention.

"What?" She asked.

"Thanks for th party." Lloyd smiled while Tina turned beet red.

"S-Sure. No problem. You would have done the same for me." She mumbled while twirling her hair around her finger.

"We have to give Tina credit. She really opened up over the last few months. Old her would have tried to do this all on her own, but this time she actually asked us for help." Hime complimented.

Seeing Tina becoming redder by the second, Lloyd raised his cup of juice and spoke-

"To Tina!"

"To Tina!" Everyone exclaimed while raising their cups.

Hours went by quickly, and before they all knew it, sunrise had come again, and they were all ready to depart.

"You know, I'm surprised that you guys haven't drunken yourselves to death yet." Lloyd smiled while remembering how Zack and his friends would drink till they blacked out.

"Yeah, it's against military code to drink inside dungeons. We were taught that anything can happen in a dungeon at any time, so we should always be ready for a fight if it comes out way." Hime explained.

"Makes sense." Lloyd nodded before the team fell into silence, yet rather than it being awkward like it usually would have been, this one was comforting.

They all trusted each other with their lives, and while some of them held secrets of their own that they might not want to share with the group, there was no doubt in any of their minds that every single one of them would take a bullet for the other.

After a while of walking, Lloyd and Felix found themselves at the back of the group, making Lloyd quickly think of one of the things that he had never had the chance to ask about.

"Hey, Felix..."

"What?" Felix tilted his head.

"The first time Hime talked about you, she said something about a problem you had which made you take on this insane training regiment that you make me go through every day... You don't have to answer, but-"

"Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you about that, huh... Well, I don't really care that much. I didn't trust you at the start, so I didn't want to tell you, but I guess that you are now my friend, you might as well know..." Felix chuckled before continuing.

"You see, my race, the tachimos race, as you might already know, has the racial ability to move extremely quickly. A toddler could crawl at a couple dozen miles an hour. Our skin is more tolerant to wind friction. And most important of all, our minds are perspectives are naturally faster than most if not all other races." Felix explained before a frown appeared on his face.

"I was born with a genetic defect that made my mind half as fast as all the others of my species, and while that made me think a lot faster than most other races, it became harder and harder for me to use my abilities without hurting myself the older I grew...

So, instead of wallowing in what I couldn't have, I chose to train from the age of seven. Every day I dedicated my mind and body to giving myself intelligence to counter my slower thinking and reflexes to counter the fact that I can't see things as slowly as others of my race.

Of course, no matter how strong or how much I trained, other Tachimos didn't see me as one of them. Can you imagine being just abnormal enough to not be accepted by your own race, yet being too different from other races to be accepted by them?" Felix asked with a sad smile.

"But it's okay now..."

"Hm?" Lloyd raised a brow.

"Because I have you guys now... Ugh... I knew that sounded cheesy as it came out of my mouth." Felix stuck his tongue out in disgust while Lloyd simply chuckled beside him.

Yet, it was killing Lloyd. To not be able to tell anyone about who you truly are, despite loving them from the depths of his heart.

After hanging out with all of them for so long, Lloyd finally understood why comradery was stronger than friendship...

'What was the saying again? Know a friend for your whole life, and you can trust them till they break a promise... Fight alongside a friend, and you've made an ally for life...' Lloyd inwardly thought with a sad smile.

Hime was always uptight, yet she would show a soft side every now and then. It was almost like she was the caring mother of the group... Strict, but she did it for your own good.

Felix almost reminded Lloyd of Zack. They are hard to get along with at first, but when you break the outer shell, you get a brother that you can never let go of.

Lachlan almost felt like the group's dad. He lost his position as the leader, yet he matured and got over it quickly. Even without the title of leader, he might have become a better leader than he could have ever been.

Tina was naive and shy, yet she was the hardest worker Lloyd knew to date. She had a drive to her that would have made most gasp in awe. She was amazing in every way, and in Lloyd's perspective, she almost felt like the little sister he never had.

'Gotta make sure my little sister doesn't ever hear of what I just thought.' Lloyd inwardly thought.

Rex made Lloyd feel comfortable wherever he was, while Roderick felt like an older brother to Lloyd. Lloyd could always ask for his advice, and it helped that they were both quite intelligent.

Veronica though...

'I guess she supportive. She helps me out every time I have an off day so I guess that's-'

"Guys..." A voice snapped Lloyd out of his thought process, and when he looked forward.

"Is that what I think it is," Rex asked with a shocked expression.

"OH SHIT! WE FOUND IT!" Lloyd exclaimed with excitement.

"WE FOUND THE BOSS'S LAIR!"