Dungeon? This Tree? Why Don't You Join Me for Lunch? (Dungeon Core) Chapter 114: The Trial by Water

I didn’t even know how I ate the gruel and the nettle. Nick refused to look at the whole ti.

But that was not important. I was going to drown.

And if I didn’t drown, I was going to be pulled out and killed.

Would Nick, Nate, and Desmond care about then? Would they co to my rescue?

I stepped towards the water. We were near the river’s edge.

The refugees had placed a rune on the river’s bottom to make sure that no one could get away.

One demon looked at , shrugged, and stepped right in front of !

"You can kill us, if you can catch us!" He yelled, taking hold of my arm.

But I didn’t move from my spot.

"No," I knew what he was trying to do. I knew that he just wanted us to get away. To not have to brave the cold waters.

"I will do it alone," I knew that he was afraid. I was a Dark Nymph. I didn’t have a right to live.

The woodcutter who had taken thuselah’s life had given all the proof I needed of that.

I had done him no wrong. He had still braved the Scorching Ice Valley to get to . To try to take my life.

"I will go," Titan took off his cloak, heading towards the water.

"No!" I yelled, only to have a hand slapped to my mouth! My ember eyes looked at the man who was holding .

Nick.

Kind and gentle Nick.

Nick who always had a kind thing to say about my cooking.

I turned in his hold. Trying to plead with Desmond and Nate for help.

To plead with Aron for help.

They were there, their faces so as if carved from stone.

Amdis was gone.

Titan was going to float! The river was too turbulent! He wasn’t heavy enough!

"Sylvan," Nick began to whisper in my ear, a dagger pressed to my middle.

One with a blade so dull, that I was certain it couldn’t even cut through butter, let alone through my vest.

I bit him! Letting the taste of blood spur on!

I ran after Titan! I couldn’t let him sacrifice himself for ! He loved ! He always took my side, even when I had to work for it!

"No! Sylvan!" I heard as Desmond cursed.

A flutter of wings sounded sowhere near my right ear.

I didn’t care.

Titan’s back was right there, before . I lunged, taking hold of him. Trying to stop him from falling into the dangerous waters.

He turned towards . His eyes were soft. His smile was gentle.

For soone who had started their life as a terror and a half, he now looked the very picture of an angel.

Blonde, blue-eyed. All sharp edges softened by a light I wouldn’t have credited him with.

"Together," he whispered, lunging into the water.

I could have let go of him. Stayed on the grass. But I followed him in the water.

It was my idea. A stupid idea of trying to protect the world!

The world didn’t need just one person to protect it. I should have known better!

There would be heroes. There would be villains.

But I was not soone who was supposed to be the endga. I was just the Foodie Nymph.

Titan hugged as we fell into the water.

His lips sealed mine.

Titan was a boss mob. No human. He was immortal for as long as I lived. I was going to live for a very long ti.

Help Pan, who really needed to straighten his priorities. Help Telets, who had no right to rule, but was saddled with it anyway.

But then, as I felt the fairy dust enter the water, making us heavy like stones, the net falling over us so, as if Amdis wanted to get us out, I finally figured sothing out.

My husbands would never, ever, let go at it alone.

So... why did I do it?

Why did I try to be alone in all of this? Why did I ever think that I was enough for it all to end?

That the world needed a single Foodie Nymph to solve its problems?

My eyes blazed.

I was not the hero of the world’s story, but I was the hero of my own story, darn it!

Just like back then, at the beginning, when I thought about putting the tourists through hell.

Failing the crops, making it all end in a blaze...

Well, I could tear it all down! But I could create as well!

The Archdemons had people to combat them. And, hey, maybe it would be a good bonding opportunity for Telets and Solas to fight side by side.

Pan needed ! I could feel his pain.

And there I was, waiting for my lovers to save !

"Mother Nature,"

It was a spell I thought in my head. I knew that Hades didn’t owe anything. But... if one doesn’t let the son of the nymph who adopted his son help them, then who?

"Restore!"

I let my dungeon core status beco a thing of the past.

I let the Tree of mories bloom fully. Co back to life.

It had only a couple more years to its na.

The oldest remaining tree. The one tree to which I went after thuselah was chopped down.

I needed it.

"Take!"

It wasn’t just Hades I was evoking. Only death could pay for life. Sothing had to die in for this land to beco vibrant again.

"Give back!"

I felt my own lifespan shortened.

As the dead ca back not as zombies, but as the people who were missed and loved.

"And purify!"

And just like that, my immortality beca a thing of the past.

I hugged Titan. He began to swim to the surface.

The paradise I saw above the water gave a warm feeling.

I was 5,000 years old. Looked no older than a 30-year-old man.

One day, I would get white in my blonde curls. One day, I would die for my children.

But before then, Mordred and Mortir would go to their older brother.

And I... I was going to heal them all.

My three boys...

Who deserved the world but got a drake for a father.