Published at 21st of March 2023 4:32 pm

Chapter 386 Plague Of Regret

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“Comet,” Cassian said.

“Those sparkling flames! Every moment, they burn away the space they touch, contracting and contracting and contracting it! Just by existing for long enough, it’ll continue shrinking space until the world collapses! It’s the ultimate manifestation of Entropy! A hallmark of the end!” Comet laughed.

“Comer!” Cassian yelled.

It seemed the attention of the maddened, girly-boyish figure was acquired as they tilted their head with a smile, “Hm?”

“I can’t handle him while holding back. If I start trying, I’ll kill him. Then all of this would’ve been for nothing—a concept more evil than murder: wasted effort,” Cassian said calmly, “So, you handle him.”

“Do I haveeeeeee to?” Comet accentuated their words almost in a pout.

“Think about it. Right now, whatever that form is, it’s only the infancy of something greater. Perhaps an egg, incubating through the heat of battle–if we don’t put an end to this little game now, things are going to get even more out of hand than they already have,” Cassian explained.

Comet sighed, “Fiiiiiiiine.”

Once the lollipop-sucking figure set their sights on taking action, they warped through the sky with seamless mastery, crossing the boundary of chaotic flames between themselves and the raging Dragonheart instantly.

“Across the world with you, Emilio Dragonheart,” Comet looked up at him, speaking with the lollipop in their mouth.

There was no resisting what came next; spatial forces ripped him from the ground he stood as he was flung through a blurred flash.

Whatever it was, the authority manifested through direct contact with the hand of Comet seemed to usher in the riptides of the universe itself; a force that tore away the transcendent transformation that had enveloped the Dragonheart, freeing him from the bestial rage.

It was disorientating, but fast, not taking more than a couple seconds before—he crashed.

“I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you—!” He yelled to the beyond.

Repeating those words, he nearly reawakened the daunting path of his system before–his head unexpectedly smacked against a rock-solid branch upon his high-speed descent, knocking him unconscious.

Unable to perceive what had happened, he found himself laying upon colossal leaves that were large and heavy enough to support his own weight.

“Nnn…”

Rubbing his head, he sat up, looking around as he sat on a leaf the size of a cottage, finding there to be countless trees of such colossal height and girth all around him. The scenery around him seemed familiar; not something he’d seen with his own eyes, but had read, described in books he had studied carefully.

The humidity and colorful scenery of overgrown foliage and insects that crawled on logs, possessing sizes comparable to humans, led him to one conclusion.

‘Trees bigger than any buildings…A jungle full of monstrous insects…Am I in…the wildlands of Ennage? The Continent of Demons?’ He guessed.

The sun beaded down through the ceiling of giant leaves, cascading down its orange rays as he picked himself up. Glancing over, he saw a millipede with countless, crimson legs and a bright-yellow exoskeleton ascending one of the trees, possessing a size that surpassed even anacondas in length.

‘…I arrived here after that one–”Comet”, I think, touched me. They seemed to have some sort of teleportation ability. It’s their fault…She died because of them. Once I find my way back, I’ll kill them, if it’s the last thing I do. But, if this really is the Continent of Demons, they sent me across the world just like that. I have to get back…but how?’ He questioned.

Whatever the case, there was no denying he was in the situation that he was in, leading him to hop down from the giant leaf as he landed on the floor of the oversized jungle. The atmosphere of it was unlike anything he experienced in Milligarde or Vasmoria; the aroma of sweet plants and the scent of nature was strong.

The chirping of critters all around filled a subtle ambience, never allowing him to feel alone as he began walking through the unknown jungle.

Passing by the trees of bright-orangish-red bark, he looked up, finding some to bear leaves that had unique shades of banana-yellow, or even some that were pinkish with a bubblegum-like smell oozing from them.

‘This is bad. Even if I know I’m in Ennage…it’s the largest continent in the world. Even worse, the wildlands make up two-thirds of the continent–for all I know, I can be stuck in a jungle the size of Milligarde itself,’ he thought.

Drawing his sword from its sheath, he used it to cut the tall grass that attempted to obscure his path, swiping through the low-hanging vines as well as he periodically saw what looked like monkeys swinging from trees. The humid air was accompanied by light rainfall, though the rain itself befell the jungle with a lukewarm temperature, providing only little reprieve from the heat. It was a far cry from the cold season that Milligarde was experiencing; Ennage was amidst the peak of summer itself.

‘I have to find my way back. It’ll be easier said than done. It’s one thing to read about it, but these wildlands definitely seem unforgiving,’ He thought.

There were large stretches of mud and quicksand that he had to avoid, sometimes using branches to swing across or jumping over. Due to not being well researched enough in the species of insects that inhabited the wildlands of Ennage, he was careful around insects as well, avoiding them as he kept his distance from emerald-shaded beetles, massive hornets, and even terrifying arachnids.

‘The more colorful, the more dangerous,’ he thought.

As he continued forth, stumbling into a clearing free from bushes taller than himself, the branches above him rustled about before something crashed down in front of him.

‘Already?’ He thought tiredly.

Landing in front of him was a gorilla that stood twice his height, leaning on its knuckles that each were the size of his torso; its fur was golden and its eyes were a beady, red shade, just like the horns that protruded from its skull.

Jumping up-and-down from the branches above were monkeys of much smaller size, possessing tiny horns of their own as they squealed and called out, spectating from high up.

‘A horned gorilla? A devil ape? Either way, it’s picking a fight with me–I happen to be in a bad mood, unfortunately,’ he thought.

If it wasn’t confirmation enough yet, now he was certain he was in the infamous Continent of Demons.

“RAAAAGH–!”

The gorilla roared as it beat its chest, producing echoing thumps as it used its boulder-like fists to hit its own torso, challenging him as the apes that watched above from the trees surrounding the clearing seemed to cheer in excitement of the coming duel.

“You picked a bad time.”

Without any hesitation, he cocked his fist back as his knuckles were imbued with a swirl of wind around it that stifled the noises of the monkeys and brought the horned gorilla to a pause.

As he slammed his fist forward, opting not to even make direct contact with the horned gorilla’s torso, he used the monstrous wind pressure of the punch to blow the burly ape back; the shock wave parted the foliage, launching the gorilla far into the unseen depths of the jungle.

Leaving the section in front of where he thrust his fist carved up and steaming, he looked up at the horned monkeys that sat on the trees, holding his fist up, “Any of you want to bother me?”

“That’s what I thought,” he sighed.

It was only after repelling the apes that he looked up towards the foreign sky above him, finding tears welling up again as recent, repressed memories finally came to light, causing him to slump down.

“…Mother…” He said quietly as tears trailed down his cheeks.

It was no different than if he were a child; the loss of a parent, one so fundamental to the man he was today, was a loss that left a spot in his heart vacant. Left alone and stranded, he had nothing but his own thoughts as he sat there in the faraway jungle, constantly remembering in vivid detail the taking of his own loved one’s life.

Though rationally he knew it was the work of the enemy, in his mind, fresh in grief and abundant in despair, he blamed himself relentlessly–thinking again and again of endless scenarios where it didn’t need to happen.

“If only I listened”, or “If I reacted fast enough”–these thoughts plagued his mind as he slumped against the tree, holding a heart of lead in his chest.

Lost in his own thoughts, sinking into self pity and lamentation, he sat there for hours and hours, allowing night to arrive before the humid, light rainfall picked up into a full shower, pouring down.

The dirt around him loosened into mud with the continuous downpour, leaving him soaked as his blonde-and-black tufts of hair became drenched, hanging down as rain ran slick down his skin.

‘It feels like I’m never free. This perpetual loop of tragedy and violence that seems to follow me everywhere I go. Is it impossible for me? Is it impossible to just…be happy?’ He questioned.

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