Ghoul Evolution

Chapter 24: Awkward talk

In the end, it was decided that Kim Ahreum would stay behind near the river and prepare whatever tools and materials were needed for the boat. Meanwhile, Oliver, Korre, and Theo would go retrieve the trunk of an oak tree.

He had asked Goldie to follow along too, but he had been too lazy and decided to complete his nap there.

They had been walking for around half an hour already, but the journey had been surprisingly awkward as nobody seemed too eager to talk.

Eventually, Oliver cleared his throat and tried to start some small talk.

"Ahem... so how far away are these oak trees?"

Theo immediately made a childish pout, the first genuinely childish thing Oliver had seen him do since meeting him.

"About an hour away, I think."

He then let out a dramatic sigh and continued in the same tone.

"Honestly, I wish we could just use these trees and be done with it."

Oliver couldn’t agree any more.

Unfortunately, they had been surrounded by pear trees, and according to Ahreum, while the wood could maybe be used for paddles, it wouldn’t make a particularly good boat.

"Haah..." Oliver sighed. "I still think it would’ve been better to just go around the river. One of the places where I first saw the river, it was completely calm, and I’m pretty sure there weren’t any beasts around either."

Korre nodded at his words.

"I know."

Her answer came so quickly that Oliver looked at her.

For a few moments, she remained silent but then she smiled faintly.

"But Ahreum looks strangely nostalgic right now."

"Nostalgic?"

"Mm."

Korre nodded again as she looked at him.

"It’s hard to explain."

"She looks happy...and sad at the same time."

Oliver blinked as that sounded exhausting.

"I think she needs this."

Oliver stared at Korre for a few moments, then he looked back in the direction they had come from and then at the seemingly endless distance they still had to walk.

He sighed internally as he wondered why they were wasting so much time over something that, in his opinion, wasn’t even that important. Still, he was the newest member of the group, and he had already been outvoted. freewёbnoνel.com

’Let’s just hope all this doesn’t waste too much time.’

Of course, he could always leave and go back to traveling alone. But was that really a good idea?

In all the documentaries he had watched about the Spirit Realm, one thing had always remained constant. No matter who was speaking—survivors, researchers, or explorers—they all said the same thing.

’Nobody survived alone for long.’

Sooner or later, everyone needed companions.

’In just a week or so, they already care so much about this Ahreum that they are willing to waste so much time and energy on her?’

As Oliver walked, his gaze drifted toward the horizon where the sun was already beginning to set. Seeing the darkening sky reminded him of something that had been bothering him since he arrived.

’Maybe they know something.’

He looked toward Theo and Korre.

"You guys did see the four moons in the sky, right?"

Both of them nodded immediately and then Theo’s eyes widened slightly.

"Don’t tell me..."

He looked strangely hopeful as he continued,

"Do you actually know why that is?"

"Where are we...Is this place in the spirit realm?"

Seeing that expression, Oliver suddenly felt a little guilty as he didn’t have any answers, still, he wasn’t completely empty-handed.

"Well, I don’t know why there are only four moons."

Theo’s shoulders visibly dropped as he said that.

"But this morning I went inside a cave and found a mural. Like... some sort of ancient wall painting."

Now even Korre looked interested as she came closer to the duo.

"A mural?"

Oliver nodded as he continued,

"It showed a man drowning in a sea...he went deeper and deeper and deeper and kept drowning, I thought he would die. But somehow, he survived and when he rose to surface...he was on the shore of an island."

"An island?", asked Korre.

Oliver nodded and continued and both Theo and Korre fell silent again.

"And above him in the sky there were five moons in the sky. Four were the same as the ones here, but the last one was a black moon with cyan rings."

That immediately made the two exchange glances.

"Five moons..." Theo murmured.

Oliver nodded.

"Yeah."

For some reason, neither Theo nor Korre replied immediately as they both began thinking.

At the end, they couldn’t really figure anything out. After discussing it for a few more minutes, the conversation gradually died down and the group continued walking.

Then suddenly, Theo’s expression changed as he looked towards a tree some distance away. His eyes narrowed for a moment before he whispered,

"There are some beasts hidden in that tree and they’re planning to attack us."

Oliver immediately looked towards the tree confused as to him, the tree looked completely normal.

’Really?’

He looked back at Theo whose face remained completely serious and there wasn’t even a hint of uncertainty in his expression.

Before Oliver could question him, Korre leaned closer and whispered,

"He’s never wrong about these things."

Her tone was calm, but there was complete confidence in her words.

It turned out Theo had been completely right.

The moment they got close enough to the tree, three giant dragonfly-like beasts suddenly burst out from between the branches and attacked.

The dragonflies were mainly green in color, with faint crimson markings running across their bodies like thin streaks of paint. Their wings were completely transparent and almost invisible.

They moved incredibly fast and had Oliver been alone, he would’ve probably been caught off guard but unfortunately for the beasts, the group had already been expecting an ambush.

The moment the dragonflies emerged from the tree, everyone reacted and Oliver immediately summoned the Viperlash Whip into his hand.

Earlier, he had looked down on the weapon and thought it was inferior to his spear in almost every way. However, after his fight against the giant wasp, he had been forced to admit that the whip was far more useful than he had given it credit for.

Also, it was kind of the only weapon he had right now.

The dragonflies had closed the distance in an instant, one headed straight for Theo, another targeted Korre and the third rushed toward Oliver himself. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓

The creature’s wings buzzed loudly as it shot through the air and without hesitation, Oliver swung the Viperlash. The beast hadn’t anticipated such a swift response and so it couldn’t dodge in time.

’Let’s do something different this time.’

The moment the dragonfly rushed closer toward him, Oliver activated his Firecraft and summoned flames into his hand and the fire quickly spread across the length of the Viperlash Whip, turning it into a burning weapon.

The beast tried to pull away, but the flames had already caught onto its body. Oliver focused and pushed more essence into the fire. The moment the flames reached their target, they suddenly expanded, spreading across the creature’s entire body.

The dragonfly let out a shrill screech and frantically beat its wings, but it couldn’t shake the flames off. Within seconds, its movements became sluggish before it finally fell from the sky, its body crashing onto the ground.

[Aether Beast: Razorwing slain]

[Grade: Tarnished | Rank: Feral]

’Hell yeah.’

On the other side, Korre had already finished her own battle.

For the first time, Oliver got to properly witness the vine ability she had mentioned earlier. The moment the dragonfly approached her, thick vines erupted from the earth as though they had been waiting beneath the soil all along. They shot upward with terrifying speed and wrapped around the beast before it could react.

The dragonfly struggled a lot, but it didn’t matter as the vines tightened around it and the beast was crushed to death.

Finally, there was Theo.

To Oliver’s surprise, the young boy didn’t seem to use any special ability whatsoever. Instead, he just summoned a sword. The dragonfly lunged at him but he simply parried it with his own strike.

Then, in one smooth motion, Theo moved his sword in a beautiful arc and the blade pierced straight through the beast.

The entire movement was clean, precise, and strangely beautiful and for a brief moment, Oliver almost forgot that Theo was only thirteen years old.