Chapter 124: Bruce
Space buckled and warped within Bruce's consciousness; the very concept of time ceased to exist. There was no sound, no light—only the sickening, weightless sensation of an endless plunge into the abyss.
After an eternity of falling, a violent impact jolted his spine.
Bruce snapped his eyes open. He was surrounded by ancient, unfamiliar trees. The air was thick with the scent of damp earth and aggressive vegetation.
It was quiet. Too quiet.
"Nick!"
Bruce scrambled to his feet, howling the name into the depths of the woods. Only his own hollow echo returned, mocking him from the shadows.
"Nick! You bastard! Answer me!"
Bruce's voice grew louder, laced with a tremor he couldn't suppress. It rippled through the clearing, searching for a reply that never came. The noisy, chaotic voice that always filled the silence—the one that babbled after every disaster and let out that specific, idiotic laugh—was gone.
Bruce stood alone, his dog-ears drooping helplessly against his skull. He understood now. Nick was gone. Truly, utterly gone.
He began to wander aimlessly through the forest, the dry leaves and twigs crunching beneath his paws like the breaking of brittle bones. He didn't know how long he walked, or where he was headed. Finally, Bruce slumped against the trunk of a massive oak.
He didn't think. He didn't act. He simply stared into the void of the trees.
After a long time, a memory flickered. Bruce reached into the leather pouch at his waist, his claws fumbling until they found a cold piece of metal.
He pulled out a badge.
It was a standard Iron Rank adventurer's badge, engraved with the simple sword-and-shield insignia of the Guild. He remembered the day Nick had received it. The idiot had held it toward the sun as if it were a holy relic, bragging to every drunk in the tavern that he was now a "Great Adventurer known across the Continent."
Later, that same idiot had shoved the badge into Bruce's hands, claiming he was "too clumsy" and "worried about losing something so precious."
Bruce stared at the badge. Then, using his claws, he began to dig a hole in the dirt beneath the tree.
One stroke. Then another.
His movements were steady, rhythmic. Soon, a shallow pit sat before him. Bruce placed the Iron Rank badge inside with a gentleness that bordered on reverence. He began to push the dirt back in, burying the only proof that his friend had ever existed.
"Hey, old man. What are you doing?"
A high-pitched, youthful voice cut through the silence. Bruce didn't stop. He continued to smooth the dirt, patting the small mound flat.
A sharp, though weak, pain struck his shin. It was more of a nudge than a kick—a reminder of the living world. Bruce looked up.
Standing there was a filth-covered child. The boy had his hands on his hips, looking at Bruce with an expression of unearned righteousness.
"Old man! It's rude to ignore people!"
Bruce stared at the child, his voice a flat, unmoving calm. "I am burying the greatest adventurer this world has ever known."
The boy's eyes sparkled at the word. Ignoring the dirt, he crouched down beside the Kobold, using his small, grime-stained hands to help pat the mound.
"An adventurer? Old man, what's an adventurer? It sounds amazing!"
Bruce looked at the tiny pile of earth. He remained silent for a long moment before speaking.
"An adventurer... is a hopeless breed of idiot."
"They are the kind of fools who will challenge a monster ten times their strength for the sake of a few copper coins."
"They spend their lives formulating 'flawless' plans that inevitably end in disaster," Bruce said, his voice steady, as if recounting a fairy tale that didn't belong to him. "They can eat the foulest black bread as if it were a banquet. They can roar with laughter over a cup of sour ale while bragging about battles they barely survived. They are the sort of lunatics who would trust their back to a partner who is just as much of a disaster as they are. They share their last scrap of meat and dream of a future that is forever out of reach..."
Bruce's voice hitched and then failed.
A single, scalding drop of liquid slid from his eye, vanishing into the fur of his paw. The boy tilted his head, unable to understand why the dog-man had suddenly gone quiet. He stood up, wiping the mud onto his tattered trousers.
"I have to go, old man. If I'm out too late, I won't have a place to sleep."
The child turned and sprinted into the woods. Bruce remained by the grave until the sun dipped below the horizon and the first stars began to pierce the twilight.
He stood up. He decided to find some meat. Nick... Nick always loved roasted meat.
Bruce followed a trail out of the forest until a small village emerged in the distance. Thin plumes of smoke rose into the cooling air—the scent of human life.
As he entered the village, he saw a familiar figure being physically tossed out of a doorway. It was the boy from the woods.
"You brat! How many times do I have to tell you?!" a man roared from the doorway. "If I catch you sleeping in my chicken coop again, I'll break your legs!"
The boy scrambled up. He didn't cry. He simply stuck his tongue out at the house and sat by the roadside, hugging his knees. Bruce watched him for a moment, let out a sigh, and walked over.
"Get up. I'm taking you to get some meat."
The boy's head snapped up. His eyes, bright even in the dark, were filled with pure, trembling disbelief.
Inside the village's only tavern, the oil lamps were dim, unable to chase the shadows from the corners. The boy was currently tearing into a massive, greasy slab of roasted pork with the ferocity of a starving hamster. His cheeks were bulging, his face slick with fat.
"Old man!" the boy garbled through a mouthful of meat. "This! This is the best thing I've ever eaten!"
Bruce said nothing. He simply pushed his own untouched plate toward the child. When the boy finally finished, he let out a thunderous burp and looked at Bruce with sparkling curiosity.
"Old man, are you an adventurer too?"
Bruce nodded.
"Then... was that 'Greatest Adventurer' you talked about... were they your partner?"
"Yes. My partner was the greatest adventurer in the world."
The boy puffed out his chest, slapping his heart with a greasy hand. "Then I'm going to be a Great Adventurer too! Even greater than your partner!"
That sentence—that specific, idiotic look of confidence—synchronized perfectly with a ghost from Bruce's memory. Bruce looked at the child and, for the first time, a genuine smile touched his muzzle. He reached out and ruffled the boy's messy hair.
"Remember this, kid."
"Not everyone can become a Great Adventurer. But a Great Adventurer can come from anywhere."
When the meal ended, Bruce pressed his remaining coppers into the boy's hand. He ordered one final portion of meat to go and stepped out into the night.
Back in the forest, Bruce placed the warm meat before the small mound of dirt.
"Nick... I met a brat today who reminded me of you."
"He says he wants to be a Great Adventurer. Ridiculous, isn't it? Haha... hahahaha..."
Bruce's laughter grew faint, trailing off into the rustle of the leaves. He leaned his back against the oak and fell into a heavy, dreamless sleep.
The next morning, an earth-shaking roar jolted Bruce awake.
He lunged to his feet. In the distance, a Tier 1 Mabeast—an Earth-Cleaving Bear the size of a small cottage—was charging toward the village, its eyes burning a manic red.
Bruce's first instinct was to turn and run. The fate of this village meant nothing to him. The fate of this world meant nothing to him. Nick was gone; the threads of his reality had already snapped.
But a image flashed in his mind: a filthy boy eating roasted meat and shouting a dream to the heavens.
"Damn it all!"
Bruce cursed under his breath and took off, sprinting toward the village.
When he arrived, the settlement was a theater of carnage. A sturdy-looking villager tried to stand his ground with a pitchfork, only to be swatted away by a paw the size of a shield. The man hit the ground and didn't move.
The bear scanned the scattering crowd and locked onto a target.
The boy.
The villagers scrambled past the child, no one stopping to pull him away. The boy tripped over a stone, falling hard. He looked back to see the bear's unhinged jaw, ropes of saliva dripping from its fangs. He squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the end.
The pain didn't come.
A blur of fur lunged from the side. Before the bear's paw could descend, Bruce tackled the beast, his claws sinking into its throat with a desperate,蠻不講理 (unreasonable) ferocity.
The bear roared in agony, its other set of claws raking across Bruce's back. Bruce didn't flinch. He let the steel-like talons tear deep furrows into his flesh, blood dyeing his fur crimson. He poured every ounce of his Od into his arms and twisted the beast's head.
CRACK.
The sound of the neck snapping echoed through the village. The Earth-Cleaving Bear slumped into the dirt, kicking up a cloud of dust.
In that heartbeat, Bruce felt it.
A gargantuan, irresistible force began to pull at his soul—the exact same sensation he had felt before Nick vanished. The World was self-correcting. He looked down to see his paws turning translucent, dissolving into motes of silver light.
The boy scrambled up, staring at Bruce's fading form with horror and confusion.
"Old man! Old man, what's happening to you?!"
Bruce felt his consciousness drifting away from this world. Even his voice began to sound like a fading echo.
"I have to go now."
The boy began to cry, stumbling toward Bruce. "Old man! My name is Nick! What's your name?! Where can I find you?!"
Nick.
The name hit Bruce like a physical blow. He stood frozen.
So that's how it is.
The beginning... started right here.
Bruce laughed. He laughed until tears pricked his eyes, a deep, soul-felt realization washing over him. He looked at young Nick with a gaze of absolute clarity.
"I'm just a passing adventurer."
Bruce's voice was as light as the wind. He wanted to tell the boy never to become an adventurer—that it was a path that led only to ruin. But then he remembered Nick's first smile when they formed their party, and the way he had looked at the sun.
He raised his fading hand and pointed at the boy under the morning light.
"Kid... if you want to find me... then become the greatest adventurer the world has ever seen."
As the words faded, Bruce's form shattered into a million points of light, vanishing into the dawn.
Young Nick stood alone in the silence, tears still wet on his face. He squeezed his fists shut, staring at the empty air before him, and screamed with everything he had:
"I WILL BECOME THE GREATEST ADVENTURER IN THE WORLD!"
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