Chapter 256: A Heavy Price
A couple of seconds later…
Liam's figure materialized in the graveyard. He looked slightly confused because he thought that he had 5 more seconds until respawning but he was already here?
"Fuck it. That's not important. What did I lose?"
He did not seem to be in the presence of any mob or any other random beast.
The graveyard was deserted and empty so he hurriedly opened his status screen to take a look at everything and gauge his losses.
However, the next instant… suddenly something hovered in front of him, before starting to fall to the ground.
Gudang! Liam's heart thumped loudly as he realized what it was and hurriedly reached forward to catch it in a hurry.
Luna's egg had appeared out of the inventory all on its own. It was about to fall down but luckily he reached forward and caught it before it was too late.
But that did not make him happy at all. Instead, he had a very bad feeling.
He watched the dark purple egg with a single white spot on it as it suddenly started to become paler. The white spot was growing and growing in size, very rapidly.
The egg was visibly thrumming, twitching in his hands.
Liam started panicking. He wanted to think that his death had perhaps done something, maybe act as a catalyst and speed up Luna's evolution process.
He wanted to hope that this was possibly a good thing that came out of his death. He held his breath, waiting for his hope to become true.
But, the next second, the egg that was rapidly becoming white suddenly stopped vibrating.
Its shell that had almost turned pure crystalline white now started becoming black, pitch-black in color.
If her shell was white in color, it meant that she was healthy and her evolution was progressing in the correct direction.
At least this is the rough understanding he had. Then what about the black color?
Liam still did not know what was happening, but he had a feeling that something was off. He felt a tinge of restlessness and uncertainty at the bottom of his heart.
He stared at the egg that was now almost half-black. It was no longer showing any signs of movement, with only the black color steadily spreading.
The egg that was previously full of life now looked lifeless and dead.
Just looking at it made his heartache. He couldn't even tell if the fox was still alive or not? What if something happened to her?
The tiny fox's cute smiling face appeared again and again in his mind. Was he never going to see her again?
He had just now died and probably lost his chance at the inheritance, but it did not hit him as hard as this.
Those were merely tools that he wanted in his arsenal to become more powerful. If he lost one, he could always get another.
But without realizing it, he had already become very attached to the fox. The ruthlessness in his eyes was now replaced with hurt and pain.
Liam felt terrible. He felt as if he had failed her. He had failed that innocent thing that kept circling him lovingly.
He never thought that dying once would cost him so much. It wasn't enough that he had already lost the perfect integrity of his soul, he had lost his spirit beast also…
"No. No. Not yet." Liam desperately held the egg, and tried to inject some mana into it, but it was useless. Nothing was going in.
He opened the map and looked at where he was, only to see that he was still in that damned border zone, nowhere near Yleka city or the royal city.
If he wanted to go back right now, he would surely be too late. He would be too late to help her and she would be dead.
But what else could he do?
Liam stared blankly at the egg in front of him. He didn't know what to do to help her. However, time and tide waited for no one.
The black color was still spreading quickly and it did not stop there. Suddenly, a small popping sound came out.
And confirming his worst fears, the egg in front of him rapidly started cracking. Through these cracks, a red-colored liquid seeped out.
"Bl… Blood?" He stammered, collecting the liquid as it pooled in his other hand.
He had lost her? Even after being born again, he was once again helpless and desperate?
He couldn't even protect a small thing that loved him unconditionally? Was he just destined to lose everyone he loved?
Then what the hell was everything for? Just what strength had he managed to gain so far?
He had nothing. He was no one. He could only watch helplessly, unable to do anything to help her. Failure was not a feeling that he was unfamiliar with, but this time it hurt so much more.
"Luna…" He mumbled, his voice hoarse. "I am sorry."
He rubbed the egg lovingly and closed his eyes, letting out a deep breath.
He was afraid to find out what he would see if the egg shell completely broke. Would the small fox inside be dead?
"Please be ok. Please be ok." Liam mumbled. The anger and fury that was surging within him just seconds ago had completely disappeared.
"If you are still alive, please hold on. I will somehow make this all fine. Just please hold on." He repeated in a pleading voice, hoping that the fox could hear him.
This was the plight of the weak. He could only uselessly hope like this and nothing more. He hadn't been strong enough to help her so now all he could do was simply wait.
Liam gritted his teeth as more blood spilled out of the egg. He did not even know where he had gone wrong and how he could have prevented this from happening.
How did everything turn out like this? Was this because he had underestimated the enemy? Who was this enemy?
How could Kouske possibly know that he was visiting this place today? Why was he here?
Liam did not know the answers to any of these questions but he knew one thing. It was because of this unknown enemy that he had lost today.
And he would keep losing more and more if he did not soon find out anything and everything about this person.
Thinking about this, he silently stood like a statue, holding the egg in his hand that was bleeding and breaking apart.
"No. Not yet." He resolutely clenched his fist, the blood collected in his hand dripping down onto the ground.
He then started haphazardly taking out all sorts of herbs from his inventory.
