Chapter 123: Nick
Nick and Bruce lay flat in the undergrowth, as still as statues. The scent of damp earth crawled into their nostrils, and tiny insects scurried across Nick's back. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore, his body squirming in the tall grass.
"Bruce, I can't feel my legs. They're completely numb."
Bruce's voice drifted from beside him, heavy with exhaustion. "So... do we leave now?"
Nick rejected the idea instantly. "A deal's a deal! A qualified adventurer must possess the patience of a saint!"
Bruce went silent, choosing to conserve his remaining Od.
Just then, Nick felt something sharp poke his waist. Thinking it was Bruce's elbow, he nudged back. "Quit it, I'm trying to focus."
The texture was wrong. It was hard, cold, and entirely un-furry.
"Gah?"
A bizarre, dry sound erupted between them. Nick and Bruce froze, their necks turning with the mechanical stiffness of a rusted hinge. A "wild" skeleton had somehow crawled into the same thicket and was lying right between them. It had either caught the scent of living flesh or simply found the bush to be an excellent spot for a nap.
The skeleton tilted its skull, opened its jaw, and took a hearty bite out of Nick's forearm.
CRUNCH.
"AAAAUGH!" Nick jerked his arm back, the entire thicket shaking violently as leaves rustled and branches snapped.
In the clearing, the skeletal legion stopped as one. Over a hundred pairs of empty sockets swiveled toward the bushes. Standing atop a rock, the Sovereign—Kaito—gazed toward their hiding spot.
The next second, Kaito's bony hand swept downward.
A hundred skeletons lunged forward, charging toward the thicket with terrifying speed.
"NIGERUNDAYO! (RUN!)"
Nick barely finished the scream before Bruce was already a blurred streak of fur. The two tumbled out of the bushes and sprinted into the lightless forest. The wild skeleton that had bitten Nick stood there dazed, seemingly unable to process the chaos it had triggered. A moment later, the skeletal army trampled over it, reducing the creature to a pile of white dust.
Nick glanced back as he ran. "Unbelievable! They don't even spare their own kind!"
"That wasn't its kind!" Bruce roared back, not slowing down.
A bone arrow hissed past Bruce's ear, embedding itself into a tree trunk ahead, the fletching still vibrating. Nick missed a step, tripping over a gnarled root and plunging forward. Bruce didn't hesitate; he seized Nick by the collar, hauling him back to his feet in one fluid motion and dragging him onward.
The rhythmic clack-clack of pursuing bones never faded, hanging doggedly at their heels. They ran until their lungs burned, eventually tumbling down a steep embankment in the darkness. It was enough to finally lose the pursuit.
Drenched in mud, with twigs and rotting leaves matted in their hair and clothes, they crawled out of the forest like wretched ghosts.
They fled back to Bone Village.
The settlement was eerily quiet; most of the residents had already fled. They stumbled into the local tavern. The proprietor was idly wiping a mug, his expression drained and listless. Nick collapsed at a table, shouting with the last of his breath:
"Barkeeper! Two of your largest steaks! And a massive flagon of ale!"
The man didn't look up. He continued his slow, methodical wiping as if the room were empty. Nick shouted again. "Hey! Boss!"
Still nothing. Bruce frowned, stepped forward, and slammed a paw onto the counter.
THUD! THUD!
The barkeeper jumped as if a ghost had appeared, his eyes wide and vacant as they settled on the duo. "Ah? Travelers? When... when did you walk in?"
Bruce stared into the man's hollow eyes. Realization struck him like a physical blow. Their presence in this world was eroding. Bit by bit, their existence was being scrubbed from reality. Soon, they would be phantoms that no one could see or touch—a forgotten dream, a gust of wind in an empty street.
After a silent, tasteless meal, the two walked through the empty streets. The setting sun stretched their shadows into long, thin needles.
"Nick, let's give up."
Bruce stopped and turned, looking at Nick with a desperate intensity. "While there are still people who can see us... while we can still taste the meat... let's just find a corner and settle down. Killing the Sovereign... it's impossible. we can't even get within ten paces of him. Maybe 'Great Adventurers' was just a story for better men than us."
Nick looked at Bruce. The usual goofy grin was gone. He was silent for so long that Bruce thought he had finally broken.
"Bruce," Nick said. "Some things aren't worth doing because you see hope. You do them... and then the hope appears." Nick's face slowly returned to that familiar, slightly idiotic smile. "A very powerful guy once told me: not everyone can be a Great Adventurer, but a Great Adventurer can come from anywhere."
Bruce stared at him, unable to find a retort. Nick was usually a walking disaster, but in moments like this, his words carried the weight of a Holy Command.
"One more time," Bruce sighed. "The last time."
They returned to the Bone Forest. This time, destiny seemed to offer them a window.
The skeleton army was busy in a clearing, functioning like a construction crew. Kaito was standing near a massive oak tree that had been hacked halfway through, issuing silent commands. A single skeleton was laboring away at the trunk.
Nick saw the tree begin to teeter and a light flared in his eyes. "Bruce! Look! A gift from the Spirits!"
He snatched up a rock the size of his fist and hurled it with every ounce of his strength. The stone traced a perfect arc, striking the notch in the trunk with a sharp crack. That tiny, external force was enough to shift the tree's center of gravity.
The ancient oak groaned, beginning a slow, terminal descent—aimed directly at the Sovereign.
The woodcutting skeleton didn't understand. It looked up at the falling canopy in a daze. Kaito, however, whipped his head around the instant the wood began to splinter. He bolted forward, narrowly escaping the lethal impact.
BOOM!
The massive trunk slammed into the earth, shaking the entire forest floor. It landed squarely on the woodcutting skeleton, pinning it beneath tons of timber.
At the exact moment of impact, Nick felt a gargantuan, irresistible force seize his soul. Because he was a variable from a different timeline and had directly interfered with a fundamental unit of this reality, the World was now self-correcting the error.
The edges of Nick's body began to turn translucent, shimmering like a fading painting. A jagged, ink-black rift tore open in the space beside him, acting like a void-gate that began to pull him inward with a frantic, howling hunger.
Bruce had no idea what was happening. He lunged forward, grabbing Nick's left hand just as it began to dissolve into motes of light.
"It's okay, Nick! I've got you! I'll find a way! Just hold on!" Bruce shrieked, his voice breaking into sobs as he pulled with all his might.
Nick looked at Bruce, the light in his eyes fading fast. "Bruce... next time... when we meet again..."
His voice became a stuttering, broken static, as if the signal were being cut.
"We're... we're still gonna be... best friends for ten thousand years..."
Bruce nodded frantically, his tears soaking the grass. But the hand he held lost its physical mass. His fingers closed on nothing.
Nick's entire body became a hollow outline of light before being sucked into the dark rift. The gap in space began to shrink, sealing the wound in reality.
The world suddenly went silent.
Bruce stared at the closing crack in the air. He didn't hesitate. With one final, desperate howl, he leaped forward, diving into the darkness that had swallowed his best friend.
☆☆☆
-> 20 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you