World's Last Hope-Chapter 103: A Step Forward

"Sure, what is it?" he asked as he glanced in her direction.

"I know that it may not be the time to speak about it," Olivia spoke as she observed their surroundings.

"But I feel like I will not be able to fight at my best if I can’t focus because of my thoughts."

Eric raised an eyebrow. ’This sounds serious. Should I be worried?’ he wondered.

He decided to let Olivia say what she wanted to—it wasn’t wise to interrupt her.

It seemed that she was hesitating for a moment. "You love Aria, right?"

Eric was puzzled by the sudden question. "Yeah, I do," he answered shortly after.

"What is the reason?"

’What is the reason?’ he repeated her question in his head. There were a lot of reasons. For instance, the first time he saw her, he had immediately fallen for her... No, he may have fallen for her, but was it just because he was attached to her? There was a time when he began to feel genuine affection toward her.

It had happened when they were locked in that tower, where an entity capable of reading people’s thoughts had come along. Aria could have knocked him out cold because he was close to speaking out and exposing their presence. But instead, she decided to embrace him.

"Because she showed me that I am human. She showed me that I also deserve love," he answered firmly.

Olivia smiled faintly at his words, then poked his forehead with her finger.

"What was that for?" he cried, irritated.

"I just want to thank you for showing me that I too deserve love," she responded as she took a step forward, leaving him bewildered.

’She too deserves love? Didn’t she just repeat the reason that I love Aria?’

A second later, his eyes widened in realization.

’Wait... she couldn’t... Is that her way of confessing to me? She likes me?’ he asked himself as he stared at her back in shock.

’Or... maybe she’s just saying that to get it off her chest? She knows that I am with Aria, so she doesn’t plan to try and get between us?’

It was an unfamiliar feeling for Eric, for someone to confess their feelings to him knowing that they had no chance.

He wanted to call out to her, but in the end, he decided there was no point in doing so. She had admitted that she liked him and took a step forward. There was no need to bring up the topic again.

He could guess how she felt at the moment, but it also wasn’t his place to do so. She had made her choice—all that was left was to respect it and move on.

Of course, it wasn’t as if he had fully grasped that Olivia had romantic feelings toward him yet, but considering that her feelings must have been much more complicated than his own, it wasn’t his place to meddle.

With a sigh, he stepped forward. ’Feelings sure are complicated... At least, I hope she finds somebody else to make her happy.’

*****

Olivia’s heart was beating wildly—she had just indirectly told Eric that she liked him.

She had spent some time thinking when she was alone about what she was going to do with her feelings, and in the end, she decided to give up on Eric. He had already found someone that he liked, so it was going to be cruel if she tried to get in the middle of that.

But she also didn’t want to keep her feelings bottled up forever, so she confessed to him, even if she didn’t have the intention of going out with him anymore.

Now, after so many sleepless nights, she was able to take a breather. She, of course, regretted her choice a bit, but her friendship with Aria came first.

And Eric had helped her overcome her trauma by helping her take the first step forward.

Now, she had to walk the rest of the way alone—she wasn’t going to be tied up by her past anymore.

Her thoughts were interrupted as her gaze fell upon about a dozen cocoons lying on the ground.

They were surrounded by what appeared to be a hundred spiders.

"You see them too, right?" Eric asked as he appeared at her side.

It seemed that he had gotten her message and decided not to talk about the matter. He was quick to figure things like that out. She was thankful for that fact.

"Yeah, I could blow them out with my—"

"No," Eric cut her off.

"There aren’t that many, so we aren’t going to have a hard time getting rid of them. As such, I suggest a different approach," he spoke as he shifted his gaze to the Masters behind them.

"We attack all while you don’t interfere. It will be a good idea to work on our teamwork now while the stakes are still low."

"Sure, if that is what you wish for," she spoke as she sat on a nearby stone and put one leg over the other.

The Masters behind them stopped with confusion on their faces.

Before they could ask any questions, Eric spoke.

"Before us are spiders. We will take the chance to work on our teamwork while we still can. Grandmaster Olivia will oversee the whole process."

He summoned his sword as his eyes shined crimson.

"Arm yourselves—we’re going for a hunt."

Feelings were one thing, but currently, the whole city depended on them, so their mission came first before all else. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

*****

The spiders were looking after the cocoons, and some of them were already beginning to hatch. If left alone, their numbers would soon increase, and in time, it could become a disaster.

But they weren’t going to let that happen.

The surroundings seemed to dim as a lighting suddenly hit one of the spiders, creating a large hole in its body.

The four Masters, alongside Eric, were running toward their target.

It was going to be a slaughter.