Since almost all the cadets were holding a whisperscript, they got the message from Aurora clearly.
However, it just made them grumble. Even after a few minutes, some still didn’t get up. No one was looking forward to the home of the hollow ones, and if they were given a choice, they wouldn’t even be here.
After over twenty minutes passed, Princess Aurora spoke into her whisperscript again.
"Listen up everyone. Currently, we are just a few days from reaching the city. As planned, this is where we are going to split up. The different parties should quietly surround the territory but try to avoid the main roads. Keep an eye out for the walls in case of archers, and once you find an entrance into the city, be on high alert. If you can, try to avoid confrontations unless you find the red bridge monster."
The grumbling and murmuring did not cease, and if anything, it grew louder.
Then, Aurora added, "Party leaders, coordinate with your various parties. We’ll set out in ten minutes."
The different parties began huddling up to check their maps and finalize their plans on their movements going forward.
As for Cedric’s party, they were grouped amongst Aurora’s party. But at the moment, the party stood in a circle surrounding Cedric and all of them had their bonds in their weapon forms except for Cedric and Leon.
Cedric rubbed the back of his neck, and stared at nothing in particular, before returning his gaze to the party members who were all looking at him with wide bloodshot eyes.
"Uhm..." A few seconds passed, then he let out a long sigh.
"I’m really bad at giving speeches. So I’m just going to say... I don’t know what will happen when we finally get to that city. However, after everything we’ve been through together, I do know that you guys aren’t dominants that can be taken down easily. You’ve all worked really hard, so no matter what..."
He paused.
Earlier today, he had a thought and decided to ask gamer privileges about it. That thought was...
Can chrysalis be used on the same person twice?
He knew a bit about how chrysalis worked, so he decided to find out more from Gamer Privileges.
Cedric’s eyes flicked to a screen that was hovering at his side.
[Chrysalis grants Resurrective immortality. The gamer is not immune to death, but he cannot stay dead because his life force is anchored to his authority over life and death. As long as there is negative karma points, whenever the gamer dies, rather than go to the afterlife, their soul returns to the anchor until it’s been called back.]
[However, this is not the same for others. When a character dies, their soul goes to the afterlife. It isn’t designed to move back and forth. And so, after the first time, the soul is bound to fray.]
Cedric sighed and looked at both Evelyn and Audrey briefly, before looking back to the others. Then he continued even more seriously. "...Try to stay alive." His eyes looked away and his voice grew sheepish. "I don’t want to lose any of you."
Suddenly, Evelyn smiled and slung an arm around him like a sister would. "Don’t worry about us. We aren’t that easy to kill."
"Yeah!" Dion exclaimed, raising his hand that held a bottle of alcohol.
Celeste nodded frantically when Cedric looked at her, while Audrey just offered a faint smile, then nodded.
Cedric smiled and nodded. "Good."
Meanwhile, Uriel, who stood beside Leon, covered one eye with her hand as she activated her bonded ability. The massive silhouette of an eye visible only to her and Leon appeared in the sky, stretching over the entire region.
Not long after, Princess Aurora, who had been chatting with a few of her party members, suddenly approached Cedric’s party. When she looked toward Leon, he pointed to Uriel then muttered, "She’s working on it."
Everyone waited patiently for her. A few other members of Aurora’s party also joined; Xavier came first, then Roben and Alicia also gathered around the group.
Eventually, Uriel lifted her head and said, "I need a whisper-globe."
Aurora looked back at June, her bond, who had already moved up beside her. June immediately took out a whisper-globe, pulled up the map, and handed them to Uriel.
Uriel began drawing a curved line with her finger. "If we head northwest, we’ll find a breach in the city walls. There’s a few of the hollow ones on that wall, so we’ll need a way to get past them." She paused and looked around at her own party, then at Aurora’s.
Alicia then raised a hand. "I think I can take care of that."
Uriel looked at her, then nodded.
Since there was very little detail recorded on the map, she just pointed to the empty space beyond the gate. "When we pass the walls into the city, we need to move discreetly towards this area. There’s a temple over here." She circled a spot. "That temple leads to a vast subterranean complex. There, we’ll find a Red Bridge Monster."
She looked away and extended the whisper-globe back to June.
Roben, a handsome boy with green hair and green eyes, asked in a polite voice, "Angel of light, how many hollow ones are in that temple guarding the red bridge monster?"
Uriel looked at him and replied, "Two hundred and eighty-nine."
Roben’s eyes widened. But it was not just him; everyone who heard that paled.
Aurora turned to look at the eighty-three people left of her party. Some of them had minor injuries, while some looked prepared and were staring off into the distance with grim expressions. She looked away and sighed. "We’ve got our work cut out for us then."
A few seconds passed, then she raised her whisper-script to her mouth and announced.
"Listen up everyone. The ten minutes are up, so let’s begin heading out."
Upon hearing that, the cadets all got set, and at first, their hushed noises echoed in the marshland.
Then Aurora added, "Good luck everyone."
They were really going to need it.
...Group by group, the cadets then began to quietly set out in different directions towards the home of the hollow ones.