Chapter 84
Chapter 84
Oliver fell asleep soon. By the time he woke up, he found that Sienna was sleeping soundly in his embrace while leaning on his shoulder.
It was already dawn.
Oliver quietly and carefully raised Sienna’s head, not wanting to wake her up. Unfortunately, even with his ever-so-gentle movement, the woman woke up and gawked at him.
“You can sleep for a while. We’re not leaving now, anyway. I’ll go out to have a look,” cooed Oliver with a grin.
Even so, Sienna stretched out her hand and tugged at his arm. “Oliver, what if we can’t go back?”
After thinking for a while, Oliver answered, “I’ve made all the necessary arrangements back at home. I’ve left enough money for your parents, my parents, and my sister to spend for the rest of their lives, and my company also has enough cash reserves. It won’t matter if we can’t go back. I’ll stand by you!”
Sienna’s eyes suddenly reddened with tears! She got all choked up all of a sudden. “Thank you, Oliver… You’re so kind to me. But I just… I just…”
“Hush!” Oliver held her hand tightly. “Whether the Blood Malediction is true or not, since you already have it on your back, and I, too, have it on mine, we’ll stick together no matter what happens.”
“Right! We’ll stick together no matter what!” Sienna took Oliver’s hand and put it on her cheek.
At that very moment, she could not care less even if the sky were to crumble.
As Oliver exited the tent, he found the scene outside truly sad to behold.
Isaac’s body might have been located and placed together with the rest, but even his remains looked miserable.
Dozens of bodies of the Great Wolf were dragged aside and piled up like a hill.
There was another dead bodyguard whose body seemed even more grisly than Isaac’s. Sitting on a boulder was a bodyguard with a broken arm, gazing at the mountain beyond the horizon in a daze.
The other one with a broken leg was resting in the tent. Fortunately, he had stopped bleeding. As that was not a place suitable to conduct surgery, all he received was basic medication and treatment to stop the bleeding. Resigning himself to fate was the only thing he could do.
By the fire, Gunther was having a discussion with Gabriel. The minute Oliver stepped outside, Gunther waved at him.
“Come here, Oliver.”
After Oliver came over and sat on the boulder across, Gunther went on, “Oliver, there are two injured people now. We’re suffering from heavy casualties, so are we going to advance or retreat? Can you give us some advice?”
Oliver thought for a while and replied, “It’ll be difficult to turn back, and it’ll cost us at least another few more days to go back and forth like that. Perhaps… Mr. Fox, you could get a person to escort those two injured comrades, and I’ll send them out of Enchanting Fog, where they’ll drive themselves back for recuperation. After that, we’ll advance. What do you say, Mr. Fox?”
Gunther turned to exchange gazes with Louis. The latter took the hint.
At that point, they were left with only three unharmed bodyguards. Should they dispatch one to escort the two wounded members, they would be left with only two bodyguards, and that meant their own
protection would take a hit.
Oliver’s manpower was untouched for the time being. Even so, the pair of bodyguards were still way stronger than their
group.
Gunther turned around again, pondered for a moment, and agreed, “We’ll do as you say, Oliver. I’ll appoint one person to send those two wounded men out of Enchanting Fog, and we’ll continue ahead afterward!” NôvelDrama.Org owns all © content.
That would make sense, for his cough had been worsening for days. If he went through the trouble to head back, there was no telling if he could even make the trip there once more. He had no more time to waste,
The instant they came to a decision, Oliver hesitated no further. Louis arranged for one of his men to piggyback the bodyguard with a broken leg while the one with a broken arm supported himself with a walking cane. The group of people was tethered to one another with a rope. Oliver then took the lead into Enchanting Fog as they set off.
Following the green path in his mind, Oliver effortlessly maneuvered through Enchanting Fog without any hiccups. After they left Enchanting Fog, it was only some walking distance left between them and where they had parked the car. Oliver dropped them a precaution or two before stepping back inside Enchanting Fog.
There was no need for them to come back once they hit the road, and it was
also unnecessary for reinforcements.
On the other side of Enchanting Fog, Sienna and Hailey were both anxious. Only when Oliver came out of Enchanting Fog safe and sound did the ladies feel relieved.
Gabriel and Gunther were also put at ease just as well. It seemed that Oliver had not passed through Enchanting Fog coincidentally. He might have succeeded the first time by sheer luck, but he could not have been blessed the same on each and every occasion. They reckoned that the only explanation for it was that Oliver had to have thoroughly figured out the secret of Enchanting Fog.
As long as they did not face more dangers down the road, Enchanting Fog would be the very last of their concern upon returning.
Still, Gunther suddenly realized that no matter who among them was to be in trouble, nothing must ever happen to Oliver. Otherwise, even if he found a way to cure his terminal illness, he would find no way out of Enchanting Fog alone.
On top of that, no one would think that there was no more danger ahead. Having seen the receding Great Wolf and Eye Sculpture that scared the Great Wolf away, they somehow felt that more dreadful uncertainties must be awaiting them.
“Let’s have breakfast.” It was Jack who made breakfast, and he was the only lackey Louis had left.
Their breakfast only consisted of canned meat and dehydrated vegetables, so the food was anything but tasty. Then again, it was a nutritious meal.
After breakfast, Louis and Jack packed their baggage. Except for guns, ammunition, and food, they left, the rest of Isaac’s and the other four bodyguards’ belongings behind.
Louis, Jack, Wayne, and Simon shared the weight of the ammunition while Sienna and Oliver also carried dozens of handgun rounds.
Oliver was better than Louis at shooting, so the group was fine with him keeping more handgun bullets at his disposal.
After digging a hole to bury Isaac and the dead bodyguards, they went on their way. At that point, Oliver was in charge of leading the team, and he did not try to shirk responsibility. Besides, the others also thought that he was the most suitable
one.
Alas, not a road was in sight. Before their eyes were swamps, grasslands, jungles, and rivers. It might not seem far to the naked eye, but making their way across would definitely prove otherwise.
Luckily, it was daytime but not nighttime. They could keep their fears in check with the surroundings as clear as day. They could see clearly what was in front of them and up to the mountain in the distance. There was not a sign whatsoever of those fierce Great Wolf ahead. Even so, the whole scene was eerily serene.
Be that as it might, the more Oliver walked, the more surprised he became. The rest might not have realized it, but he, for one, knew that from the beginning of their journey, he had stumbled upon too many plants that could not even be found in the outside world of Enchanting Hallow.
He could not put a name to those plants, but his eyes could do the job and identify them in his stead. It turned out that many of them were fairly potent medicinal herbs, and some of them were highly toxic.
It took them more than two hours just to cover around 2 miles. To say that it was a tough journey would be an understatement.
After walking through the grassland of more than one mile, they arrived at a river that appeared to span around 33 feet” wide.
The water was green and tranquil, and the depth of the river could not be seen.
Oliver picked up a pebble and threw it in the middle of the river. With a plop, there was a splash, causing a few ripples before vanishing.
Not an ounce of impurity or the like was present in that river.
It was then that Louis sneaked a peek at Hailey. “Ms. Fox, can you swim? The river water… shouldn’t be too deep. I’ll test the depth first.”
“Hold on!”
Qliver’s voice rang out of the blue. Louis turned to look at the former, waiting to hear what he had to say.
Oliver pondered for a while, bent down to pick up a dead branch from the ground, and then threw it into the river.
The dead branch fell onto the surface of the river, swayed for a bit, and then sunk deep into the river, disappearing. altogether..
Louis had not the slightest idea what Oliver was implying. However, on that note, Oliver’s visage took a drastic change.
“Do any of you have paper?” Oliver turned and asked everyone.
“I do.” Hailey fished out a tissue from her satchel.
Oliver tossed the tissue into the river. The tissue danced with the wind and eventually landed on the surface of the river, touching the water, and then sinking into it.
Sienna was astonished. “This river is so strange!”
. On the heels of that, Oliver tore a small hole in his coat, pulled some velvets out of it, and then bent down to put them on
the surface of the river.
The velvets descended the air for a while under everyone’s gazes and fell onto the river.
As soon as the velvets touched the water, the river devoured the velvets in the blink of an eye. It was as though the water had actually swallowed the velvets.
Right at that juncture, the crowd finally came to realize that not even velvets could stay afloat on that river.
Gabriel then blurted out in shock, “The Alpar River?”