Xiao and Owen have been running for a while already.
The gremlin sound of the Goblin was hot chasing their trail, although they can't see it, Xiao believe if they slow down even for once, they will get surrounded by the Goblin in a sec.
"Hah....hah....hah...."
Owen was panting harder than Xiao. The two arrows that stuck behind his back do not make any easier for him as he continues to bleed out while running.
(Owen won't last long at this rate, we need to get the Goblin out of our tail as soon as possible.)
Xiao was already working on finding a route that will shake off their chaser. He then saw an open space beside the road they were on, which will lead them down the hill, but the road was a steep slope that they need to slide down.
Seeing as there's no other choice, Xiao asked Owen to brace himself. Together, they jump to the steep slope without hesitation.
"Hang on tight!" Xiao shouted as he tries all his might to balance himself while sliding down. Owen follows behind, also biting his teeth to not lose focus on his footing.
The end of the steep slope has them tumble down to a grassy field, Xiao and Owen quickly hold their breath to be quiet as possible. At the same time, the horde of Goblin passes through them at the upper road, not noticing that their prey was already off the road.
Finally, the footsteps and the sound of those children-like laughter has gone further and further away from them, leaving only the sound of birds chirping and the wind blowing in the air.
"We should be okay, for now." Xiao lets out a sigh of relieve, but when he turned to look at Owen, who's complexation has turned pale from the blood loss, he begins to panic.
"Shit! Shit! Shit!"
Xiao goes behind Owen and looks at his back, thanks to the armour he was wearing, it stops the arrow from going too deep. Still, blood has been gushing out from there, which slowly paints the grassy floor to vibrant red.
"....boot...my boots...."
Owen endured the pain and pointed Xiao his boot. Xiao understands his meaning and immediately took it off, inside it hides a small roll of bandage.
"How the hell did you stuff this thing inside your boot? But no matter, it freaking saves your life here."
Xiao pulls out the arrow and immediately apply the bandage on the injuries part.
(Although I've done the emergency treatment, he lost too many bloods, I gonna need a bottle of Red potion to keep him alive.)
In the world of Aora, Red potion was the primary choice to cure almost anything. Its effect varies depending on its grade. The common grade red potion can be bought anywhere with a reasonably affordable price. On the other hand, only the rich can afford the rare grade Red potion, which its effect works like wonder.
(Damn it! All my stuff was left at the spot where we got ambush. There are four bottles of common grade potion in my bag, but I can't just leave Owen here to grab my stuff, plus, walking back there would risk reencountering those Goblins.)
Xiao worked his brain to full capacity to think their next move. While he was cracking his brain, Owen was at the verge of losing conscious because of the blood loss.
"L-let's get you out of here."
Seeing as there's no other choice, Xiao decided to carry Owen on his back and walk back to the spot they got ambush. Xiao's plan was to bring Owen up until someplace near the location, and he alone would rush in there, grab his stuff and get out of there.
It's a reckless plan, but it's the best Xiao can come up for now, plus, he didn't need to worry about the risk of dying.
Xiao took off Owen's armour to reduce his weight, he then places Owen at his back and starts walking. Owen was too tired of giving any response, so he just let Xiao do whatever he wants.
"....I get it now..."
On the way back to the ambush spot, Owen, who was staying quiet for a while, suddenly spoke up.
"Stop talking, focusing on staying alive now." Xiao shot him down as he wants Owen to conserve as much strength as possible.
"....You don't understand, we are doom from the beginning...." Owen ignores Xiao and continues on.
"What the hell are you going about?"
"The real purpose of platoon 37th. We're meant to die here." Owen replied in despair.
Xiao was confused by what Owen has just said, he thought Owen was speaking nonsense and tries to call him off, but Owen continues on.
"Criminal who the judge failed to give death sentence, or unwanted child from any noble family, the higher up round those misfit into this platoon."
"What the hell?! Wait. That means what other platoon called our platoon by "The dead man troupe", it was not referring to our platoon strength, but literally mean that we're just a bunch of clown waiting to be sent to die?!"
Xiao shouted in rage as he stated what he has understood from Owen. Though Owen did not respond, that enough has convinced Xiao that everything he assumes was right, that this was not a mission at all. It was an ending that the higher up has planned for them, to die in duty.
Now that Xiao rethinks from the day he first joined this platoon, they never received any combat training, minus the sparring session. It was literally peer bullying session. They've never held a real weapon until now.
All they've done was running around like an idiot for their daily drill.
(So it was all a lie, the redemption, the service to the empire, they just want me dead because my existence is a nuisance to them in too many ways. Even the one who bought to this world was already dead, maybe they want to kill me off so the murder case of Lars would be close with my death.)
Xiao gripped his fist hard in rage. Although he never trusted anything from the people at the higher up, getting toyed around by them, while unable to do anything really pissed Xiao off.
To be more precise, Xiao was mad on himself, how powerless and weak he is to allow someone to control his life.
But then he smiles, because no one except Lars, knows about his undying ability. Otherwise, they won't merely throw Xiao into this platoon. They might lock him up in a dungeon or perform inhuman experiment instead.
"Too bad, even I can't kill myself, who are you to sent me dead," Xiao talk to himself, smirking as he knew that they lack any information about him.
"....how could you, father...I trusted you..."
On the other hand, Owen has fallen into despair as he murmured about something while nearly losing consciousness.
Noticing thing is looking worse with Owen, Xiao tries to raise his spirit.
"Ev-even so! That doesn't mean that I'll just let you die here, we're getting out of here alive, you hear me?!"
As anger fuels his body with energy, Xiao takes bigger steps and walks faster towards their destination.
"....thanks...you really....are you a good...person..."
Seeing how Xiao is trying his best to save him, Owen thank Xiao, before finally falls unconscious.
"Hey, hey! Wake up! Shit! Don't you die on me!"
With Owen's sudden silence, Xiao falls into panic as he kept shouting at Owen, shaking his back a few times to wake him up. But Owen remain silence with his eyes shut.
"Dammit!"
Xiao walked even faster and took even wider steps. His leg and entire muscle were already screaming in pain, but he ignored the feedback.
Xiao's mind was so focused on that one thing that he subconsciously says it out loud.
"You're not going to die."
Xiao kept repeating the same words over and over again, it was as if he got possess by a demon.
Xiao suddenly exhibited such behaviour because of the memories that were flashing out in his mind.
His family's death and being the sole survivor ended with him getting a murderer charges after that.
Lars' death left him all alone in this foreign world, and once again, he was charged by the crime he did not commit.
These past events left Xiao with bizarre behaviour. Whenever someone he knew is about to die in front of him, he will risk everything, so much as trading his own life if it means to save them.
After walking for a while, Xiao stumbles upon a strange-looking stone pillar. Xiao quickly uses his Gamer Eyes to analyze the object to determine whether it's a threat or harmless.
(Hey, this is a....a teleport pillar?)
Xiao walks towards the teleport pillar. He saw a stone slab in front of it. The stone slab was engraved with the characters "Latini Plain, Bharu Village".
Xiao instantly felt hopeful as it means this teleport pillar will send them to somewhere near Julian Empire. Since they will send to a place nearby a village, Owen can finally get the help he needs.
Xiao wastes no time analyzing the teleport pillar's activation process with his Gamer Eyes.
After the analysis, he realized that this pillar's energy fuel was already low. Sending one more person will be its limit.
Having no doubt at all, Xiao immediately put Owen down and shove him into the magic circle draw around the pillar.
Owen had opened his eyes by the time Xiao was done activating the teleportation process.
"....Xiao?" Owen looked around in a daze as lights begin shines around him while confused about what Xiao was doing.
Xiao shows relieve when Owen awakes, he then gives a warm smile to Owen as he speaks:
"You gonna be okay, Owen. Hold on to your dream, to be the strongest swordsman of the whole empire, survive and see it through, because I believe in you, your stupid yet earnest training, it will repay you one day."
The light around Owen was getting brighter and brighter as it consumes him. Before Owen even has the chance to respond, Xiao let go his hand from the stone slab, concluding the process.
"Let's meet one day again. Until then, take care."
As Xiao finish his parting words, Owen slowly disappears within the light, and the light slowly dies down. Owen got successfully teleport to another place.
Xiao tries to activate the teleport stone slab again, but it did not give any response. So now, it was just an ordinary stone slab with written characters engraved on it.
"Although I've already known the result, I still hope some miracle happens. Stupid me, Hahaha!"
With Owen gone, Xiao laughs out loud as he instantly fell to the ground, finally feeling the feedback from his body that he ignored the whole time.
Xiao can feel his muscle got torn apart so badly that he cannot lift up his arm now.
But even with the pain and fatigue, plus, the fact that he's still stuck in this dangerous place, Xiao never felt such an immense satisfaction before.
Xiao tried all he can muster to save a life, although he can't witness how the ending will be, he firmly believes that Owen will survive.
"This could be the best part of the worst part of today." Xiao laughs as he lay on the ground relaxingly.
But what Xiao doesn't know was that the real crisis of that day was only just about to begin.