BXBX NOVEL Chapter 98: Herlem
Herlem returned to his pavilion with his two followers. As soon as they were alone, he gnashed their teeth against each other in rage. Like a madman, he slammed his fist on the table, bringing it to the floor.
“How did his corpse appear here?!” Herlem bellowed, veins bulging on his face.
“The stream doesn’t end here,” One of the other two muttered, and Herlem felt the urge to punch him in the face.
“Thank you for stating the obvious!” Herlem huffed, breathing out nothing but wrath. “We need to find the two parts. Where is that bastard?”
That bastard should be here by now, but he was gone for some reason. Herlem didn’t feel the spiritual energy of the cog in the funeral so that only mean that the dwarf’s corpse was looted.
‘But who could have looted it?’ Herlem wondered. ‘Can there be someone else who knows that the items were possessed?’
It must be that group with the ship. They were the only suspect, so there was no one else who can know about it. Can it be that the fool he sent was killed and looted already by the outsiders?
“We need to find the other parts. Let’s go ahead and rush the Master about the dungeon exploration.” Herlem decided, and the two fools nodded. Herlem sighed.
He liked Gwain, which he drowned in the stream, but that guy wanted to tell the dwarves about the items being possessed. This would foil Herlem’s plan as the Souls Mechanic.
That’s right; he was the Souls Mechanic the moment he obtained the parts. As for the fools next to him, he was only possessing them to make use of them.
‘Gather people, come back, and assemble the key!’
The voice repeated in his head. ‘Gather people!’ It demanded, and Herlem felt the urge to go outside now. It couldn’t be explained with logic because he was a new person.
Herlem knew this was a treasure. Even if the voice drove him insane, it also promised a single thing. To live as an immortal, inside the machines they so dearly loved, as the Souls Mechanic!
This was the dream of the dwarves since the beginning of time. Herlem’s will became one with the Souls Mechanic’s for this single desire.
Knock. Knock, knock. Knock.
‘Hm?’ Herlem turned toward the door of the pavilion. Herlem nodded at one of the other two, and the dwarf opened the door to reveal a figure.
“Hello, honest gentlemen. I found something lying on the ground. Can it be yours?”
Herlem noticed that the speaker was one of the three human visitors. It was the blond guy accompanying the guy with the headband. Herlem hated how good this guy looked.
“What is it?” Herlem asked with an uneasy frown. The youth gave a smile and took out something from his pocket, wrapped in a piece of black fabric. It was a familiar chord with traces of spiritual power.
Herlem’s eyes widened, as did the eyes of the others. Before any of them could say anything, the youth continued speaking.
“What? It’s not yours?” The blond guy frowned. “Fine, I guess I’ll give it to the Master.” The youth said before walking away from their pavilion.
“Stop right there!” The two dwarves shouted and ran after him. Herlem, however, sensed that something was odd.
“Stop, fools!” Herlem shouted, but he felt as his voice was silenced. Then, suddenly, he noticed the darkness that was surrounding him. As he tried to run away, the door closed with a bang.
“Not so fast.” Someone appeared from behind the wall out of thin air. It was the guy with the headband, but it was gray now instead of black. “Let’s have a little chat.”
“What do you want, human?” Herlem backed away, but the darkness creeped him out.
“I want the item that possesses you.” The headband guy revealed with a grin showing off his sharp teeth. Herlem felt his body turn cold.
‘I was found out! How? Who is this person?’
No one should know about the Souls Mechanic possessing people. He shouldn’t be found out, but this person seemed to know of the item he had.
“As I expected, you were the one to find the missing item.” Herlem grinned crazily. “Don’t expect that my inheritance ends here! Even if this puppet falls, another will rise!”
“Yeah, sure.” The guy with the headband nodded. “It’s annoying that Lex asked me not to kill you, but I guess this kindness is also why I need to help her.”
“What are you…”
“Nothing. Die, parasite.”
The darkness exploded around Herlem, isolating him from the world. Even though he was the Souls Mechanic, an entity who survived for centuries, yet he never felt so creeped out by someone else.
***
On the other side, Sergio stopped running while panting. He was back in his pavilion, closely followed by the two dwarves. Yuxi gave him a thumbs up in encouragement.
“Without your arrows, I would have never managed to outrun them,” Sergio said and gave her a thumbs-up back. “Well, close your nose.”
Sergio took out two vials from his pouch and poured them at the entrance. As he did so, he made sure to close his nose with a mask he used to treat poisonous herbs.
He walked back and waited for the dwarves to arrive, and they did as Sergio expected. They breathed in the sleeping potion he created earlier, but they were fully awake.
“I guess possessed people are more resilient.” Sergio was surprised that they were still awake. After all, the potion he made was equivalent to a sedative.
The dwarves, however, weren’t fully sober. They stumbled clumsily toward the two, but they were still capable of fighting.
‘I’ll protect you.’ Yuxi stepped forward with her bow and stood in front of Sergio. As he saw how brave she was, Sergio was again convinced she was a good person.
‘Why does boss mistrust her?’ Sergio wondered. ‘I never felt like he doesn’t trust me since the time we met. With others, however, it feels like he’s incapable of trust as a whole.’