The Smiling Death-Chapter 310: Again something new

The sky had already darkened. In one corner of the forest, a fire was crackling, brightening the surrounding area.

Amon sat near the fire while eating meat.

"You really don’t want to eat?" he gazed at the hanging Vetaal on a nearby tree. Yup, he was hanging upside down like before.

"No, boy. I don’t need food to survive. I am already dead," Vetaal replied lazily.

Amon snorted faintly. "Damn. I really wonder what you are. Or rather... I wonder who sealed you here without killing you."

Vetaal’s lips curled into a faint, eerie smile. "I also wonder why she didn’t kill me. There must have been some reason. Hehe~"

Amon shook his head. "You laugh too easily, Vetaal. You were sealed here for five thousand years."

"I am simply grateful I can still speak. Also, most of my time passed here in deep slumber. So this does not matter much to me," Vetaal replied calmly.

Amon rubbed his chin. In a way, he had to agree that this corpse was actually fortunate. Being able to sleep for thousands of years.

If it were Amon who had been sealed here, then he didn’t know how he would have spent his time alone.

’Wait! I can’t even survive that long! I would have died before going outside.’ Amon shook his head and pushed those bad thoughts aside.

"Anyways. Tell me where we are going right now? What we are suppose to do...to get out of here?" Amon decided to ask about the most important thing.

"...I have to regain a small amount of my power. The place has... actually changed since I slept. I need to analyze more. For now, keep going in this direction. I feel like there is something... that might be helpful for us. I can’t tell it well since I don’t have my powers."

Amon frowned, but nodded. "Okay. I will believe in you for now. But, how are you going to regain your powers?"

"Of course! Through time and pure meditation. I need to meditate calmly. The mana in air is not pure....its more chaotic and something impure is mixed with it. Though it won’t enter your body if you meditate in right way. But it takes too much time for getting pure mana inside your body." He said with proud face.

’Now that I think about it... I haven’t meditated since I came to this island. Well, whatever..’

Amon nodded. He went silent.

After hearing Solarius’s surname, which was Aurethion, he actually thought about the current royal family. Selena Aurelian. His senior did have a similar name to Solarius.

But Vetaal dismissed it, saying surnames starting with "Aure" were many at that time. The chances of them being related to Solarius were too small. Still, there was a tiny bit of possibility.

Amon checked his wounds. They were recovering steadily, which was a good sign for him. He could move much better now.

He stared at the crackling fire.

After a long time, like nearly a month later. Amon had someone to talk with. It was only a month, yet it felt so long.

But the sad part was... it was a creepy-looking corpse whose background was suspicious. What being was he? That was unknown.

Still, Amon had to spend his time with this old man.

’Damn! It should have been a thousand-year-old beautiful woman who doesn’t age! Why is it an ugly corpse? My luck! How bad can it get?’ Amon was cursing his luck again.

"Amon, you look irritated. As if something very bad happened to you?" Vetaal asked with a big smile while dangling on the tree. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

"Tch! Nothing. Just bored of living in this forest."

"Tch. Nothing," Amon replied flatly. "Just bored of living in this forest."

"Ah," Vetaal hummed. "The impatience of youth."

"Don’t talk like you’re my grandfather," Amon argued.

"I am older than your entire recorded history." Vetaal had a smug smile on his face.

"...That doesn’t help." Amon scowled again.

Vetaal laughed softly.

"You humans," he said, "always seeking excitement. Yet when danger appears, you tremble."

"Not all of us," Amon replied.

"Oh?" Vetaal tilted his head upside down. "And which one are you?"

Amon smirked slightly. "The one who walks into danger knowingly. I am not afraid of danger. Nor death."

His face slowly turned into pure smugness, as if waiting for this chance to be narcissistic.

"Yes," Vetaal said. "I noticed." Setting aside Amon’s smug face, Vetaal was actually quite surprised when he heard how he survived here.

The young man was merely rank two. A Mana Initiate. Yet he survived.

Luck was not the only factor required to survive here.

They shared a brief silence. After a while, Amon stood up and stretched his arms.

"I’m sleeping up there as well," he said.

"Oh?" Vetaal’s empty eyes followed him.

Amon climbed the tree with steady movements. His body still ached, but he managed. He reached the same branch from which Vetaal was hanging and carefully positioned himself, sitting with his back against the trunk.

From here, the forest looked darker... deeper.

He glanced at Vetaal. "Don’t hang too close," Amon muttered. "You look creepy."

Vetaal’s lips twitched in annoyance, but he forced a smile. "Good night, boy."

"Yeah... good night."

Amon leaned back, closed his eyes, and soon drifted into sleep, the sound of crackling fire and distant night insects surrounding him.

---

The next morning.

Amon woke to faint sunlight filtering through the canopy. The fire had long died out.

He climbed down, stretched his stiff limbs, and glanced at Vetaal, who was still in same position.

"Let’s move," Amon said.

"Yes," Vetaal replied.

They resumed their journey. Vetaal on Amon’s back.

The forest looked slightly different in daylight. Amon paid close attention to his surroundings as they walked. Broken branches here and there. Trying to see any monster tracks. Changes in vegetation.

Something felt... different today.

Then Amon suddenly stopped. His eyes widened as he saw something new.

A few meters ahead, near a bush, something small hopped lightly across the ground.

"...What?" He blinked.

It was a rabbit. A normal rabbit.

Not a horned rabbit, the rank-zero monster species common in every forest. Just a regular, harmless rabbit.

It had soft fur, small ears, and no horns.

Amon’s heart skipped. "There are... normal animals here?" he murmured in disbelief.

Now his guess became true. When he saw those crows, he had thought that more animals might be here.

The rabbit twitched its nose and hopped again before disappearing into the bushes.

Amon stared at where it vanished.

"This forest... No... this specific area of the forest. It actually has normal animals," he whispered.