I'm getting stupid while trying to come up with this chapter, tehee. As usual, please point out whether there's wrong grammar or something.
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While waiting for the Astral Crew to finish their task on getting rid of the roots that spawned across the Stargazer Navalia, Tingyun laid her emerald eyes on the Wise King who had already stopped using his vault. The gruesome sight of deer was truly not meant for her stomach to handle, but she merely forced her head to look away and focus her gaze at him.
"King Gilgamesh, I know it's not my place to ask this question but may I ask?"
"Permission granted, speak."
"While I agreed to the proposal you proposed on getting rid of that Ambrosial Deer, why didn't you just kill it instead of changing your mind—letting Benefactors do the task of taking out the roots instead?"
Faced with questions that contradict his words, Gilgamesh merely let out a soft hum. His head shifted towards her, ignoring the regenerating deer on the ground.
"Indeed, while I did say on taking out the deer and ultimately backing down my words, leaving the matters to the Astral Crews. What I am doing is merely stopping from interfering their fate— this battle was theirs alone to finish. In the eyes of fate, we are merely a bystander, devoid from fate's plan."
Indeed, the king's eye is beyond what any being could hope to achieve, his eyes, Sha Naqba Imuru: The Omniscient and Omnipotent Star, was a type of eyes that could freely see fate— or even the worlds. Though it remains sealed by his own accord, it was still an eye that could travel beyond the horizons.
"Fate's plan? I… don't understand. Did our presence alter their fates?"
Tingyun's eyes turned to look at the night glittering artificial sky. Truth to be told, she hardly understands anything that clearly transcends the boundary of common sense, but she still hopes to understand it— to understand what this king is spouting about.
"In a sense, yes. To be precise, my presence alone already altered your fate and the universe. Such, I refrain from doing unnecessary things that could lead to finality. After all, even with my strength—I would be helpless against that thing."
Tingyun still couldn't understand the cryptic message he said, perhaps because she's just an ordinary salary fox, roaming across the Star System, delivering supplies. But what took her attention was her 'fate' the king mentioned.
"My fate… what does it look like, king Gilgamesh?"
"I refused." Gilgamesh firmly replied, it was instantaneous, leaving no room for argument.
"So suddenly?!" Tingyun let out an exasperated shout at the king's response.
I mean, everyone is eager to know their fate. She, a foxian lady, being able to live thousands, or perhaps ten thousand years, is more excited about what lies beyond. Alas, the Wise King not only refused to answer her question, but even left no argument. So, she reluctantly dropped the topic and glanced at the deer who was already back to its peak.
"King Gilgamesh, it seems the abundance blessing is truly miraculous. Even with your attacks, it still came back anew, sigh…" Tingyun snapped her fan and began flapping it to Gilgamesh, even without Gilgamesh's order, she still knows how to pleased him.
Gilgamesh stared at the deer, who returned its gaze at him. The Wise king broke away their stares and suddenly looked in a certain direction, then his thin lips curled up.
"Ho, it seems this toy is nearing its end. They already broke two-thirds of the roots emerging from the ground and one last stop, and they will be able to overcome this obstacle solely for them."
"Did you see something, King Gilgamesh?"
Tingyun chimed in, looking at where Gilgamesh was staring and found her gaze couldn't reach the other side. With a disappointed look, she was about to withdraw her gaze when suddenly a dark green binocular dropped from above.
"This is?"
"A type of lean that mongrels like to use during their scouting, with that eyesight of yours, I doubt you could see something miles away."
Tingyun curiously placed the binocular between her eyes and indeed, and she was able to see from miles away where the Astral Crew was preparing to set up a type of… mirrors? Huh, was this also a new type of technology that Luofu prepared? Wow, it's even more useful, it even uses light to bounce its trails to destroy multiple roots!
"Has your curiosity now been fulfilled, Tingyun?" Gilgamesh asked softly, his crimson gaze stared at her, who seemed to be acting like a child—or perhaps in the eyes of him, Tingyun was indeed a child.
Tingyun let go of the binocular and a sense of satisfaction morphed into her face before nodding at the king. With that, the binocular turned into a golden moth of lights before it disappeared from the void.
"Now that they finally took out the connection between the Ambrosial Arbor and that deer, it's only a matter of time until they'll arrive here." His gaze held with amusement, until it finally landed at the deer again.
"Now I think about it, You, despite being a foxian, I haven't seen you fooling around, brandishing your weapon to the enemy."
"Please don't think highly of me, King Gilgamesh. I'm just an ordinary Fox, there's no way I would be able to fight."
Tingyun immediately denied Gilgamesh's, whether the foxian race has their advantages or not, it all comes down, she was just trying to live peacefully, avoiding anything that can threaten her life.
"Ho? What's with that self-deprecating? Do you honestly believe you're no fighter?"
"It's not self-deprecating, rather it's just how reality works. My body is simply too thin to be a fighter and even if I have a body comparable to that of Madam Yukong, I'm still not gonna put myself in the front line."
She helplessly answered, shaking her head and Gilgamesh simply laughed at her answer. Truly, he found her amusing. After a while, Gilgamesh finally stopped laughing and the multiple footsteps echoed behind them, without turning around his voice bloomed.
"Well done, mongrels. It seems you've finally completed what I ordered for you."
"King Gilgamesh, this bow is amazing! Can I have it please!" March was the first one to replied back, her eyes practically gleaming like a star while holding the golden bow.
"Granted. Enough about that, now that you finally took down the root that connected to the Ambrosial Arbor and that deer, I trust you'll handle this matter to your hands."
As Gilgamesh finished speaking, Gongsho suddenly raised his hand and nervously looked at the king.
"Excuse me, sire Gilgamesh, it's just… the root we took, while we indeed took away the connection between the abominations, the Ambrosial Arbor still remains to exist."
"There's no way to take that thing away from Xianzhou luofu." Gongsho finished speaking, his eyes glued to the king, awaiting for his response.
"Hm. I see, well, nevertheless, you've done well. It doesn't matter whether the Ambrosial Arbor continues to exist or not, what matters is the Astral Crew cleaning this mess. But, such trivial matters like this are not worth their full attention, don't you agree?"
"Hehehe, you know us well, King Gilgamesh! Indeed, us Astral Crew face many dangerous threats, this is nothing but dessert for us to dig in!" March puffs her chest, wearing a smug look as he looks at Gilgamesh.
"That… What do you mean by 'we'? I only faced like 2 dangerous threats throughout my existence! Don't drag me with you." Caelus said with disdain, then shook his head as if he heard such nonsense.
"Don't ruin the fun, Caelus. Of course there's 'we' in the sentence, after all, we are family thus we— I MUST drag you with me." March smirks at him, nudging him a little through her shoulder.
"You're a demon! Sigh… forget it. Now what?" Caus looked up and stared at the deer before them with an interested gaze.
"I think Gilgamesh wants us to finish the job on killing this deer. What do you think?"
"What do I think? Well, since master Gongsho already explained that this deer already has no connection to that tree, how about we roast it?" Caelus said, licking his lips.
"Roast it? You… is your head okay?" March groaned at his response.
"How about a bet then?"
"A bet?" Caelus looked at March, eyebrow raising.
"Yeah— our bet is whoever deals the last hit gets to drink Himeko's coffee." March wore a smug look as she looked at Caelus' horrified face.
"What a crazy idea!" Caelus muttered to himself before flashing a confident grin.
"No take backs."
"No take backs."
Both flash their grin to each other before laughing. While across them was Welt, though he was thinking about the plan, he was also listening to their bickering.
"Those two… their enthusiasm is truly offchart." Welt smiled weary at them before focusing his gaze at the king.
"King Gilgamesh—"
"No need. I trust your capabilities, I have no need to worry about the aftermath. I'll leave this to your hands to handle this situation and once we are done, I'll be tagging along from now on."
"Also, those mongrels. Keep your eyes on them, they are already rushing towards their doom."
"'Those'...?" Welt followed his gaze and to his dismay, March and Caelus already rushed towards the deer with a grin on their face.
"March, Caelus?!" His eyes widened as March pulled the bowstring, it neither created a blue-pink ice arrow, rather a light gathered to her fingers, forming an arrow before it hurled straight to the deer's body. Penetrating one of its legs.
"-!!!!"
It roared loudly, brandishing its antler everywhere before locking its gaze towards March. With its furious gaze, it rushed towards her, ready to kill this girl. But.
"Clank!"
Caelus interpreted its way, blocking the antler with the golden sword Gilgamesh had given to him. Though it was light as a feather, its sharpness was no joke, but it wasn't enough to damage this ferocious beast.
"Hoorahh! Parry this!" Caelus pushed the deer away from him, before gripping the handle with so much force, the golden energy started to gather and eventually coated the sword.
With the flick of his hand, an energy slash traveled towards the deer who was still at the middle of its stumble. Leaving a great wound, across its body. With a smirk, Caelus positioned the sword, covering half of his face like a regal knight.
The deer immediately gets back to its feet, steadying itself. It stomped its legs and tried to summon something but, no matter how many times it stomped its legs, nothing sprouted out. It confusingly looked back and saw its battery still active. Just as it stomped again, a barrage of arrows of light fell from the sky. It rains down towards the deer with relentless, blood gushing out, hole after hole and broken antler hanging its head.
It couldn't bother its wounds, its focus remained on that battery who failed to generate energy for him.
"Thinking about your daddy?" Caelus placed the sword on the ground like a knight and grin.
"Well, how should we say this… yes, I cut off the connection between your daddy and you."
"Jeez, you shouldn't talk to a deer like that. Have some sympathy, will you?" March slapped Caelus' shoulder, though her face betrayed her words.
The deer finally focused its attention towards the duo, it couldn't understand human speech, nor it could understand its situation. But at this moment, in this place and this arena, it gained its awareness. Those two in front of him, they were mocking them.
"!!!!!"
It shrieked so loud, wind generated amidst its cries. Its feet planted towards and dash towards them, despite this miserable state, its stamina still near limitless but alas, a deer is still a deer, no matter how ferocious nor beastly they were, in front of the hunter; they're still a prey.
"Something Slash!" Caelus roared, it blitzed towards the incoming deer. A thin line passed through its body, and before the deer could make another move, an arrow struck its head.
"Bullseye." March whispered, as her hand finally left the bowstring.
The deer cut in half, it fell down to the ground with a loud thud before disappearing into the withered leaves. Welt stared dumbfounded before sighing helplessly. Sometimes he forgot, they're not kids anymore.
"Victory!"
"As expected, stand low and stay humble, deer. You're not worthy opponents."
March and Caelus exclaimed loudly, as footsteps dropped behind them. They looked back and saw Tingyun getting down from Gilgamesh's body.
"Well done, mongrels. Excellent fight." He nodded proudly, as Tingyun clapped her hand in awe.
"Just as King Gilgamesh said, you two are really powerful allies!"
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it's bad, repetitive, limited words, and yet, will you stay and support this uneducated mongrel?
Ps: Jingliu and Gilgamesh be couple or sumthing