The Nine Lords Of Order - Chapter 40

As Mars was climbing up from the fissure he could clearly see the countless cracks on the walls. Fortunately they did not collapse even after the fight ended. Once Mars got out he took a careful look outside and he noticed there were still a few demon beasts running around however they were not that strong.

Mars raised his arm until his fingertips were pointing towards the sky.

Crackle! Crackle!

Quickly absorbing a few lightning bolts, Mars tried to recover some of his energy. However this process of absorbing lightning bolts had a burden on his body. If his body was in top condition this burden would be nothing to him, however right now his body was weak and feeble. Mars immediately felt some of his injuries worsening. Specially the injury on his abdomen which continued to leak blood. Mars was not sure how much blood he had lost but he knew it was a lot.

Thinking recovering his energy was more important in order to survive this situation, Mars kept absorbing several more lightning bolts until his energies recovered around 30%.

Mars face was slightly paler and he was gasping for air. Taking a deep breath he slowly went back down into the fissure.

“Eanred, how is your sight? Can you see now?” Mars asked.

“My sight I can’t see. There is only darkness.” Eanred was not aware of what kind of damage the flash had caused on his eyes. However he hoped he would be able to see again soon.

“Alright, I’m coming for you. I think this is the best chance to get out from this place and search for a better hiding spot.” Mars slowly began to descend but he then heard Eanred’s voice from below.

“No need. Although I can’t see, I can climb up by myself”

“Are you sure? Let me help you out, ok?” Mars ignored him and kept going down.

“I can do it myself!” This time Eanred’s raised his voice. Mars could tell that his voice carried a hint of anger this time around. He clenched his fits while feeling guilty and silently waited for Eanred to climb up.

Crack!

The rocks on the walls were already loose after the battle against the snake. As Eanred was climbing up, a rock he grabbed suddenly came loose and he started to fall. Panicked Eanred tried to grab onto another piece of wall however this piece of wall was also loose and he fell once again. Because he couldn’t see, he easily lost his sense of direction and couldn’t take the most appropriate actions.

‘Damn!’ Mars who saw the situation turn for the worse from above quickly created a whip made of lightning with a swing from his arm and with same motion the whip quickly arrived before Eanred and Persian and coiled around them.

Pah! The whip tensed but it managed to save Eanred from the fall. Mars knew this whip was rather damaging towards his targets so he quickly pulled up with a lot of strength. Eanred and Persian were quickly brought to the surface and Mars proceeded to retract his whip. A few moments later he also climbed up and arrived to the surface.

Eanred just silently stood up without saying. Who knew what he was thinking.

Sighing Mars just walked to his side and grabbed his sleeve, then he carefully left the area. After almost an hour of searching Mars found a cave and decided to set up a camp there. Just as they were arriving Mars felt Ena suddenly move.

“Um?” Looking at her he saw how she sluggishly opened her eyes.

She then looked back at him and with a confused expression she asked, “Mars…? What happened earlier? Wait, you’re injured!?” When she realized Mars was wounded she woke up with a start and separated from Mars.

Mars was already a rank 3 expert, so even though he did not possess any skills which would aid his healing, his recovery abilities were still far greater than regular human beings. Under ideal circumstances the wounds wouldn’t take long before they started to heal. However Mars kept walking around and as some of his injuries closed, some others would soon open. Mars had already lost a lot of blood and his face was very pale.

Just as Ena was going to help him out she heard Mars voice.

“Let’s set camp first. We’ll have some time to rest now.” His voice sounded very weak, far weaker than when he was around the fissure. He felt like his eyelids weighted several tons and had trouble maintaining his eyes open.

After noticing the cave nearby Ena agreed. She also noticed Eanred was walking with his eyes closed and wondered what was wrong with him.

Soon, a bonfire lit up the dark cave.

Ena wanted to start patching Mars up, but he refused and walked towards Eanred who was sitting close to the bonfire. Once he was in front of him he said, “Let me see.”

Eanred knew what he was talking about so he slowly opened his eyes. He still couldn’t see a thing.

Mars was no doctor so he didn’t know how to describe his condition. He could tell his eyes were very red and his irises and pupils couldn’t be seen because something similar to a white fog was covering them. It also looked like the iris had melted into the sclera.

Feeling his eyes get irritated Eanred closed his eyelids once again. Biting his lips he asked, “How is it? Is it bad?”

“This” Mars did not know how to respond to this question. Although he was no doctor, he could clearly tell his situation was beyond terrible.

“That bad huh” But he did not have to listen to Mars’ answer to guess that his situation was bad. Clenching his fists, Eanred was soon lost in thoughts.

After a few minutes of silence Mars spoke again. “I’m sorry. If I had only listened, you would be fine…” After hesitating for a while he asked, “Do you blame me?”

Sighing, Eanred just shook his head. “I don’t blame you. It was my choice to come here with you.”

“But it was because of me that” Mars was talking but he was interrupted.

“We all make choices, alright. Coming here was my choice. Looking back was my choice. What happened to me was because of my choices. You said you would be able to deal with the dangers inside the valley, and so far you are still good. In fact, it’s me who has burdened you instead…” Eanred calmly said.

“But we only managed to escape safely because of luck! If more demon beasts had decided to attack us then we wouldn’t be alive! If I had listened to your warnings, then your eyes would be fine. It will take us a few days to get out from the valley and who knows what dangers we might encounter on our way out! We might even die on our way out! This this is my fault…”

Mars was starting to sound uncertain. He did not know if Eanred would be able to recover his eyesight. Eanred had tried to help him and had warned him so many times about the new dangers within the valley, but in the end he ignored those warnings and Eanred was harmed because of him.

Although Eanred did blame Mars at the beginning and he was still mad, but in the end it was his choice to follow him. He was his friend and had decided to help him.

Sighing he said, “Mars, as long as you admit your errors and mistakes then it’s all good as long as you make amends for them. Remember, to make a mistake is just an error of judgement, but of adhere to it when it’s discovered shows infirmity of character. Since you know you made a mistake then you just have to amend it. Furthermore, I know I will recover my eyesight in future, so you don’t have to worry too much about it. Since there are so many paths in this world, it’s only natural for there to be paths which specialize in healing. You just have to promise me that you will get me out of this place alright? I can tell you are very injured as well, but keep in mind that it’s not always you who pays for your mistakes, alright?” At the end of his sentences he even chuckled.

“Right! Right! There should be someone with a path which specializes in healing within the city.” In his confusion Mars had not thought things clearly. It was only at this moment he realised Eanred eyes could be healed. When he saw his eyes he had panicked and thought Eanred wouldn’t be able to continue his path as a warrior because of him.

Feeling as if a burden had been lifted from his chest Mars tense body relaxed a bit. Suddenly he lost balance and almost fell to the floor.

“Mars!” Ena quickly caught him and helped him lie down on the ground. She quickly began to apply some medicine on his wounds and started to patch his body with bandages in a skill manner.

Mars was so tired and needed some rest. He had already pushed himself past his limits and his body and mind couldn’t hold on much longer. Soon he lost consciousness…

…

There will be 2 chapters tomorrow!

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