Chapter 71: Monster

"Aria... my little monster,"

It was her teacher's voice. Again.

The voice she used to love, the warmth in his tone that she used to listen on a daily basis.

It was Zehell's voice.

But why did he spew out those hurtful words?

She? A monster?

Why would her teacher tell her that?

..In such a tone of voice?

Monster.

No.

'I hate it.'

Aria hated that nickname.

'I hate it. I hate it. I hate it.'

She kept repeating inside her head.

"Aria, you will never be able to escape. Your sins, your deeds, the things you did to-"

Denial.

She did not want to believe it the words she was hearing.

'STOP IT!'

'Stop.. calling me a monster. I'm not a monster. I'm not. I'm...'

'I don't want to hear anything.'

Just like that time, she closed her mind off.

Sealed the cursed, dangerous thoughts and crossed it off her mind.

Forgot everything.

Left it behind as she continued to progress.

Like that time.

For the sake of herself.

It had to be done.

It was the right thing to do.. right?

_______

"ARIA, PULL MY HAND!" A loud shout echoed through the space, making Aria instantly jolt up after snapping out of her temporary trance.

She became confused. A dreadful feeling spread across her body, wondering what had happened.

She thought that she had reached her goal. Her last memory before she fell asleep was that she was safe. She crossed.

"Why..? I thought I already made it," Aria mumbled, but there was no time to brood upon that any longer.

In desperation, she immediately grabbed onto Elgin's right arm. His left arm was supported by Yan.

Elgin pulled her up and got her to sit down on the gate.

Since the gate had a staircase that wasn't composed of the destroyed bricks, all of them were able to stand on the steps without falling.

Of course, that also meant that the void would cover everything.

It was a bizarre scene.

They were sitting and standing on some steps, with a gate in front of them.

If they dared to look back, all that they would find was the endless void. The bricks, the room, everything had collapsed.

Only the void that connected their current position and the previous gate remained.

"The bricks kept collapsing. The one you landed on, it collapsed and you continued to fall. I had to pull you up by hand because the vine was so disruptive," Elgin explained, showing his blood-stained hands.

It was particularly gruesome because of the amount of blood, but it was actually just a couple of wounds that weren't fatal.

"I'm so sorry. I couldn't think straight," Aria apologized, massaging her temples.

"Haah.. haah. You are.. damned crazy. Turns out you can freeze too, huh? Tell that before you suddenly do it. We almost didn't make it," Elgin shrugged as he composed and regulated his breathing pattern, his heart still beating fast as ever after all the heart exercise he was put through.

"...I'm sorry. I'm really sorry," Aria shook his head, clearing her mind up. "I was reminded of something. Maybe it's the cluster's effects. I got too close to it.. perhaps that made me affected by an unknown substance," Aria pursed her lips, making up an excuse right on the spot to hide her pain.

Her head was still ringing. It was a huge mess inside.

She was utterly confused.

Her mind told her to investigate. To find out what happened. What she had forgotten. It all seemed so strange to her.

That there was a set of memories that she did not remember going through.

However, her heart was shut off. The overwhelming emotions that she went through forced her to push away those memories and stay unknowing of it.

What were the contents?

Her teacher, what did it have to do with all this?

She had seen her teacher appear inside her mind multiple times. With vivid sensations and not just a part of her imaginations.

Something was clearly suspicious.

Something that she wasn't supposed to find out.

Her heart..

'Kill him.' she thought internally.

That was the words Zehell said. She did not know who it was directed to, but judging by the situation, it should be her.

By the addresses. By the fact that Zehell called her a monster right after that.

"Teacher.." Aria mumbled out of reflex. Her voice contained waves of sadness and melancholy.

"Did you say something?" Elgin questioned, raising a brow at Aria's depressive state. "Are you sure you're okay? You've been out of it ever since.. We defeated the monster. We can take another short rest here to sort your mind out. We don't have a healer.. We should've brought one from the start. If we did.. perhaps that time.." Elgin found himself unable to continue his words.

It was obvious what he implied.

Ha-young's departure from her team.

Not to mention, the void that elapsed all over reminded them even more.

Not even her carcass was able to remain.

Everything collapsed, so naturally her very little remnants would be gone as well.

She was not able to die with an intact corpse, nor was she retrieved after her death.

The situation grew to become awkward.

"I thought that there would be no fatal casualties.. because we are all strong people. But.. I didn't expect that-" Reina got choked up in her own words. "That.. someone would have to lose their life,"

"...What was done, has been done. It can't be reverted. All we can do now is to survive this dungeon and go back to the outer realm. Then, we will go to Ha-young's family's residence and apologize with sincerity. That's the best thing we can do," Elgin replied, taking in the matter and weighing the situations.

"I understand. It's just shocking to think about,"

"We are all humans. Our lives are fleeting. When we swore to the Hunter pledge, we knew that our lives would be wagered. That silly girl.. Losing her was an unfortunate incident, but we are Hunters. We can't dwell on this forever," Elgin continued his speech.

Elgin's principles were dead set. He was the most battle-oriented within the team members apart from Aria, who was able to separate her emotions at once.

The man must be affected as well. His behavior proved the fact that he cared. Of course, he would care.

He just had to stay strong because he was the leader. If the leader was affected, how would the others fare? Of course, not much better than him. They would be influenced as well.

To hide this, Elgin built up his mentality.

To Aria, it was more of a logical approach.

Mortality and fertility.

The unending cycle. A life was a life. As precious as it is, one shouldn't waste their life on eternally minding upon another.

"So? Are we going to rest, or continue right now?" Elgin questioned, shrugging harshly to distract himself from the eerie incidents.

Aria took a deep breath in. She still had slight tinglings inside her head, but it was getting better. As she progressed through the gates, her condition would definitely improve bit by bit.

"We will continue. I am fine, it was just a slight.. slip of mine," Aria defended herself.

"Then, let us go right now," Elgin stood up. "Reina and me, we will fight alongside you two. This dungeon isn't only just a test at this point. To honor.. Ha-young, we must do our best. No half-hearted efforts here. No more casualties,"

Aria nodded, gesturing for the gate to be opened.

Elgin walked forward with shallow steps, the others following behind him closely.

The atmosphere was tense.

This stage presented them with the cluster, which was a relatively tough monster to beat with how much manpower it took. One person wouldn't have been enough to take that thing down.

Thus, what would be next?

What would be even stronger than the cluster?

To be placed at a higher stage?

Would it be the boss?

The one they had to beat, the one which would grant them freedom?

Aria took a few deep breaths in and out as she calmed her nerves.

'It's alright. Everything will surely be fine. This is the last fight. After this, I'm going to..'

Aria could not finish her sentence.

Where was she going to?

With whom?

The [Golden Insignia]'s base, the house she had known for a while, or the team she currently was fighting alongside with? [Lichte]'s space?

Where should she stand?

Obviously, she couldn't leave like nothing just happened.

Shaking her head, she averted her thoughts and put all her attention on the gate, which was slowly being opened.

All her unnecessary and distracting thoughts were repelled as she was hit with a cold gust of strong wind, which made them taken aback.

Since there were no pillars of support behind them, they had to continue and push through before they get blown away.

"...We made it,"

"Did we make it?"