My Overpowered Bunny Girls

Chapter 55: The Long walk back

The road to Ashwick stretched ahead, dirt packed hard by years of wagon wheels and Climber boots. The afternoon sun was setting behind the distant hills, painting the sky gold and amber. It should have been a beautiful sight to behold but Nathan barely noticed it.

Behind them, the Tower of Ash loomed against the horizon, a black spire wreathed in perpetual smoke, its crimson mana veins pulsing with the same steady rhythm as when he’d first laid eyes on it. The Tower didn’t care that they’d failed. It would still be there tomorrow, and the day after, waiting for another party strong enough to finish what they’d started.

Nathan walked at the front. His borrowed bow was stored, but he could still feel the ache in his arms, the phantom strain of that final [Focus Shot] on Floor 9. His summon mark throbbed, a dull, insistent pulse beneath his skin. Mirko’s presence was faint and distant.

Kuro sat on his shoulder in bunny form, a small black weight. She hadn’t spoken since the extraction. Nathan could feel her through the link... steady, watchful, processing. She’d been the last summon standing. The only one who hadn’t shattered or Severely wounded. He didn’t know if that made it better or worse.

Behind him, the others walked in silence.

Garrett dragged his mace in the dirt. He could have stored it, but he held onto it, the head carving a shallow furrow behind him, as if he needed the physical weight to match the weight on his shoulders. His summon mark flickered faintly, Red’s crimson light reduced to a guttering ember.

Dillon hadn’t sheathed his katana. He carried it loosely, blade catching the dying sunlight, his eyes fixed on his own mark. The Cloud Serpent’s usual static was completely absent. His hand trembled slightly—not from exhaustion, but from the hollow ache of a bond stretched to breaking.

Elise walked at the rear. Frost Golem dismissed. Staff gripped tighter than usual. Her expression was composed as usual but Nathan had learned to read the small signs. The tension in her jaw. The way her eyes stayed fixed ahead. She was hurting as much as the rest. She just processed it differently.

No one spoke. There was nothing to say yet.

---

Marta saw them coming from her doorway.

She was hauling a sack of potatoes when she spotted the party trudging up the village’s main road. She stopped. Her eyes were old and sharp as she looked the them, the eyes of a woman who’d watched Climbers come and go for thirty years, swept over them once. The absent bow. Garrett’s dragging mace. Dillon’s unsheathed katana. The missing Frost Golem’s cold presence. The one bunny on Nathan’s shoulder, silent and still.

She set down the sack.

When they reached the inn, she didn’t ask what happened. She didn’t offer sympathy or empty reassurance. She just pushed the door open and stepped aside.

"Stew’s on the stove," she said. "Rooms are still yours. Take your time."

Her voice was gruff, practical, without pity. It was exactly what they needed. freёwebnovel.com

The party filed inside. The three boys took the larger room they’d shared the night before—three beds, a window facing the hills. Elise paused at the door to her single room, hand resting on the frame. She glanced back at Nathan.

"I..." Nathan started.

"We’ll talk later," Elise said quietly. Not cold. Not dismissive. Just tired.

Then she was gone, the door clicking shut.

Nathan stood in the hallway alone. The inn creaked softly around him, old wood settling, the distant crackle of the common room hearth.

Kuro shifted to humanoid form beside him. Silent. A ripple of shadow. She stood tall and lean, short black hair falling to her face, white war paint tracing her cheekbones. Her dark eyes studied him.

’They are hurting,’ she observed.

"So am I."

’I know.’

---

The common room was empty when Nathan descended the stairs. Marta had left a pot of stew simmering on the stove in the kitchen, its warmth filling the room with the smell of meat and root vegetables.

Nathan sat at one of the wooden tables and activated the communication crystal Helena had given them. It pulsed with pale blue light, and after a moment, her voice came through crisp, professional, then immediately concerned.

"Nathan. You’re calling early. What happened?"

"We failed."

A beat of silence. When she spoke again, her tone was gentler. "Tell me everything."

He did. The heat. The venom. The Crawlers on Floor 6, and Garrett’s slowed movements after the bite. The collapsing platform on Floor 7, and Red shattering into crimson light as it saved its master. The vertical vent on Floor 8, and Dillon’s Cloud Serpent taking the shrapnel meant for him. Floor 9—the Elite Magma Centipedes, their terrifying coordination, Mirko’s [Impenetrable Fortress] cracking under the third strike. The green light of her forced recall. Her voice cutting out mid-sentence.

He told her about them extracting with escape crystals and now facing the tower’s the seven-day penalty. He was honest. No excuses. No minimizations. Just the facts.

When he finished, a long pause. Then Helena’s voice came through, quiet but steady.

"Everyone alive?"

Nathan blinked. "Yes."

"Then you didn’t fail." Another pause. "You survived. That’s a different thing entirely. In this like if work, true failure is when you don’t come back. You came back. All of you. Your summons are recovering, not dead. That’s not failure, Nathan. That’s experience."

Nathan didn’t respond. He wasn’t sure he agreed. But he listened.

"Valerie will want to debrief you in person. Take the day. Rest. Come back to the capital tomorrow. We’ll figure out the next steps together."

"Understood."

"And Nathan?" Her voice softened... not the liaison, but the teacher who’d watched him summon a bunny in front of a laughing crowd. "The first loss is always the hardest. It doesn’t mean you’re not ready. It means you’re still learning. Don’t forget that."

The crystal dimmed. Nathan sat in the quiet common room, staring at the low fire.

---

The afternoon passed slowly. Nathan moved through the inn like a ghost, checking on each party member in turn.

He found Garrett sitting on the edge of his bed, still in climbing gear, mace propped against the wall. His summon mark pulsed faintly—a dull red glow, weak but stable. He didn’t look up when Nathan entered.

"He saved my life," Garrett said quietly. "I fell. The lava was right there. He caught me. Hauled me up with his horn. And then—" His voice cracked. He didn’t finish.

Nathan sat beside him. Neither spoke. There was nothing to say. Red was shattered, not dead. He’d be back. But that didn’t make the silence easier. freewebnσvel.cѳm

"He’ll recover," Nathan said finally. "Seven days. Maybe sooner if Valerie has resources."

"I know." Garrett’s voice was hoarse. "I just keep hearing the sound he made. He didn’t even hesitate. He just moved."

"That’s what summons do. They protect us."

"Yeah." Garrett finally looked up. His eyes were red, but his voice was steady. "Yeah, they do."