Chapter 172: Chapter 172- Heartbeat
However, what she found out when she checked him made her completely shocked.
"How is he, Iseul?" Hyun-Jae asked worriedly when she noticed the change in the girl's expression.
"He is… Honestly, his condition is good… Impressively good. If anything, your heart is working far better than the last time I checked it, leader." She said as she put down the stethoscope. "Your body is far more efficient than before." She said.
"Oh, is that so?" Rising up, Talon buttoned up his shirt. "Well, I have gained a good amount of status points after killing that Kraken so I guess it does make sense."
Stretching and closing his hands, Talon felt the palpable increase in his power. Even though it wasn't as intense of a change as the ones before it, it was still great. "In any case, thank you for your help, as usual, Iseul," Talon said as he stood up.
"No problem. Just rest and drink water and you should be fine."
With that, Talon excused himself along with Hyun-Jae. "What are you going to do now?" He asked her as they walked away.
"I need some rest, my bones are hurting," Hyun-Jae replied with a light sigh. "I think I twisted my back when I was hit by one of the tentacles. It should heal after a night of sleep."
"Yeah, that's a good idea," Talon replied. "Well, see you later then."
With that, Talon finally reached his spot where he sat down with a very tired sigh. The pain from his injuries was still annoying him but he ignored it as he looked at Acrypha who had been silent the entire time.
He did notice how odd she was acting but he didn't ask her about it at first thinking that she was simply not in the mood. But, it dawned on him now that she was indeed acting bizarre at that moment.
"What's wrong, Acrypha?" He asked with a worried look on his face.
The latter looked down at him silently for a moment, her expression was stoic and emotionless but her eyes told a thousand tales.
Then, she slowly descended toward Talon before she put her hand against his forehead for a moment.
Talon watched her movements silently with a confused look on his face. He didn't understand what she was trying to do but he didn't stop her either way. A few seconds passed in silence before she pulled her hand away.
Then, out of nowhere, blood started leaking out of her mouth.
"*Cough*..." Then, she coughed a huge mouthful of blood as she fell to the ground.
"Acrypha!!" Talon quickly caught her before she hit the ground. "What's wrong?"
"Hah… Hah… I'm fine…" She replied as her face turned noticeably paler.
"You're clearly not! What happened? Why did you cough out blood?" He asked as he moved strands of her hair away from her face. Seeing Acrypha in such a state almost made his heart stop.
"It's really… Nothing… Just some soul damage…" She said with a tired tone.
"Soul damage? Where did you even get da…" At that moment, Talon's mind stopped for a second as his eyes widened.
He remembered what Acrypha said when they were still on the boat. It was a small detail that he ignored and yet had such a deep meaning behind it.
'She tried to resuscitate you but it didn't work at first…' He remembered how Acrypha told him that. He assumed that after Hyun-Jae failed a few times, it worked in the end. But, the fact that Acrypha didn't finish the sentence meant one thing… Hyun-Jae's attempts didn't work at all.
'Wait, so if it didn't work then…' Looking down at Acrypha.
"You revived me?" He asked in a wavering tone.
The woman smiled slightly as she nodded her head. "You got it way too fast. I didn't really revive you, I simply finished what that human girl started. That's why the soul damage wasn't too brutal." She replied.
"Isn't too brutal? You're literally coughing up blood! Are you really ok?" He asked as he touched her face carefully, his hand was subtly shaking from fear.
"I… will be fine… I won't die…"
Looking up at the young man, Acrypha smiled softly. Even through the immense pain she was feeling at that moment, she still felt warmth in her heart seeing how worried Talon was.
"Why… You could've died…"
"Is it better if I left you to die?"
"..."
"It's not that big of a deal. I knew my limits and your little girlfriend did most of the work. I simply helped channel the lightning energy throughout your body."
Talon opened and closed his mouth, unable to even say a word. The fact that Acrypha saved his life knowing that she would get immense pain from it and she didn't even hesitate just struck him hard.
Pursing his lips he bent his head down. "Thank you… I.. I really don't know what to say anymore…"
"Shhh, it's fine. Nothing happened, ok? I just need some rest and I will be fine." She replied as she slowly rose up and wiped her lips. "You have to sleep now."
"How can I sleep when you're in this state."
"I will recover in a few days, don't worry."
For some reason, Acrypha was adamant about her being fine even though she had told him countless times before how dangerous soul damage is. He even felt it before when he burnt himself using the Azure Flame and that was an extremely painful feeling. So, he could only imagine how brutal it was for her when she did something as important as saving his life.
"... Ok…" Sighing, Talon laid down on the mattress before he looked at Hyun-Jae. "What are you going to do now?"
"I want to meditate for a while. I need to stabilize my soul so that it can start healing."
The young man nodded his head faintly as he turned around and went completely silent. Even with how much she tried to assure him, he could only feel this slight unease in his heart.
'Why do I feel like she's hiding something from me?' As he thought about it for a while, his eyes slowly started closing as he drifted to sleep. His tired body refused to let him stay awake any longer.
Meanwhile, Acrypha watched him silently for a while before she shifted her gaze to look down. Her hand slowly lifted as she touched her chest.
'Dammit, I couldn't hide it all the way without being too suspicious. It would've been better if he didn't even know. Well, at least he won't have to worry anymore, if he knew that my soul wouldn't recover to how it was before, he would definitely blame himself for it.' She smiled wryly as she closed her eyes for a moment.
For some reason, even when she had suffered such a grave injury, she only felt delight at that moment. Seeing the young man in front of her alive and well, filled her with happiness like nothing else.
'If I go back, I would do it again in a heartbeat. I know he wanted me to value my life more. But, he doesn't understand that he is slowly becoming one of the reasons I even find value in it. It's really ironic. I changed a lot because of him.'
With that, Acrypha put her hand down as she exhaled a small breath. Then, she went completely quiet as she started meditating. With that, the night came down and the moon rose up in the sky, quickly vanishing as it went over the giant gate.
The darkness cast its terrifying shadows over the warehouse and the time slowly moved, ignoring the wishes of many for it to stop so that they could savor peace and chaos.
***
Far away from there, on an empty highway that moved through the vast plains of South Korea, multiple giant cars were moving at fast speed in a particular direction.
Inside one of the cars, a man was nervously driving as he kept looking to the side at a gorgeous woman. His face was as pale as a sheet of paper.
"Are you really sure about this, Young Miss?"
"About what?" The girl replied casually as she looked at the outside world through the window.
"About leaving the base without telling your father… We are really going to get in trouble if he knows." The man gulped a mouthful of saliva.
"Well, are you going to tell him?"
"O-Of course not."
"Good then. The problem is solved." She said as she started tapping the closed window rhythmically with a bored look on her face. "Ugh, how long is this trip going to take?"
"A few more hours, Young Miss. Seoul is too far away and most of the highways have been destroyed so we had to take a detour." The man replied.
"Tsk, so annoying. I cannot wait anymore!" Clenching her fist, she pulled it back as if she was about to punch the window.
"Please don't, Young Miss!! You're going to destroy the car!" The man panicked visibly when he saw that.
"... Tsk, fine. I'm going to sleep." Closing her eyes, the girl didn't speak anymore.
'It's finally time, I can finally see him. I can finally meet him again. After so many years… Would he remember me?'
A//N: Don't forget to support the book if you enjoyed reading 😀