Rise of the Eromancer

Chapter 266 A Man of Tragedy

"I told you to get close to the boy."

"I did."

"So, why are you here?"

Back in the Surface, Joseph Hayden was once again talking to Hannah in his office; his large frame, barely even fitting at his desk as he was slightly hunched on his chair,

"Why are you here instead of going with them to the Underworld, then?" Joseph's voice did not seem friendly at all. As a matter of fact, it was devoid of any sort of welcoming presence as he just stared down at his daughter; smoke almost coming out of his nose as he seethed in anger… or perhaps disappointment.

"Because I don't like it down there," Hannah, however, just shrugged, "And I already got close to him, if you want me to become closer, then that will take some time."

"Time…?" Joseph's eyebrows began to lower, "The boy is inserting his penis left to right into women he just met seconds ago, and you are telling me you can't even do that? He had sex with a cat, a cat!"

"You said that I don't need to fuck him!"

"Why not!?" Joseph raised his voice and slammed his desk, causing a loud ripple to blast through the entire room, "What is wrong with him!? The man is an idol, he owns a city where people worship him, a man who triumphed over tragedy, and most importantly, he is more handsome than the gods! What else could you want!?"

"You know what's wrong with him," Hannah shook her head, "If it was any other blood flowing through his veins, then I would have no problems making friends with him, he's a cool dude… but his tragedy will never be over, Father."

"Hm."

"You said it yourself, Father — The Fates will always lead him to where he should be. That is the deal you've—"

"You shouldn't be here. You should be there," Joseph then just sighed in disappointment as he shook his head, "I thought for sure you would be joining them in the Underworld, that was the plan — and now the plan is going completely off the course."

"Well, that's not my fault. Is it?"

"No, it was my fault for trusting this to you," Joseph's tone finally lightened up as he leaned away from the desk, "Dan."

"Yes, Sir?" Joseph's assistant appeared out of thin air beside him.

"Contact Margaret," Joseph shook his head, "Tell her it's important."

"Margaret is in the Underworld, Sir."

"Exactly. Contact her."

"Margaret..?" Hannah forced out a chuckle, "You're entrusting this mission to Margaret?"

"Why not? The most beautiful out of all my children, she can be quite unruly like you — but she always follows orders."

"She's a fucking slut who has already been ran down by thousands of men."

"That tends to happen when you have lived as long as her, and we're all sluts of fate, my child…" Joseph scoffed as he turned his chair around to look at the moon,

"...The only question is how much."

***

Back in the Underworld, the situation was instantly turning for the worse as the roc was now flying directly toward their ship.

"We're all going to die!"

Dominique was not the only one who was thinking that, almost all of the crew of the ship and Commander Olga's soldiers were thinking it too. One would get somewhat desensitized when one was surrounded by strong individuals, but that was not the case at all on the ship — a lot of them were not even at the level of Dominique at all.

If the roc hits their ship, they die. If they kill the roc, they die.

"Tch. This is getting ztupid."

Talia could no longer her herself as she immediately stretched her arms to the side as she readied to attack the colossal bird that was about to smash through their ship — but before she could actually do anything, they all saw the roc's head tilt up as Rhys pulled its beak with the threads, causing it to once again just soar in the air.

"Haha!" Ayesha could not help but let out a chuckle as she saw that, "The recruit truly is something else! Go, Rhys! Fuck that bird's balls!"

"...Calm down." And while everyone on the ship had all sorts of different reactions, Rhys was just trying his best to calm the roc down. It was, however, having a different effect.

"Kill. Destroy!"

"Tch…" Rhys could really only just click his tongue as he heard the roc's primal words. There was no use talking to it. Rhys then once again tugged on the threads, causing the roc to just shift from its path,

"...Well then."

Rhys let out a long and very deep breath as he turned to look at the ship, which was now quite a distance away. He lied, there was no way he could actually move through the shadows at this point — the only thing he could really do was lead the roc away as far as possible.

"You and I…" Rhys then whispered, "...I guess we are going into an advent—!!!"

And before Rhys could finish his words, the bird just suddenly started flying down…

…straight down into the water.

"What are you doing?" Rhys tried to pull on the threads again, but the eagle just shrugged it off and continued to fly down, "If you plan to get rid of me through the impact of hitting the water, that is not going to work — both of us could die."

But alas, the roc was no longer listening at all as it just continued to dive down. Rhys once again looked at the ship, and since it was already quite a distance away, the chance of it actually toppling if the roc hit the water was slim, but it wasn't zero.

"No choice," Rhys whispered out; still extremely calm despite the situation.

And so, Rhys just once again took a heavy breath… before leaping from the roc's head, and then just pulling himself closer again and smashing his feet right to it. It wasn't strong enough to actually wound the roc, but it was enough to cause it to slightly slow down due to the shock of being hit…

…but alas, even that was too late as it was still moving toward the water.

"No… no," Katarina was watching everything; her hands clasped together and covering her mouth as she saw the eagle slightly struggle. But then, in the end, it ultimately just violently fell into the water along with Rhys, "No!"

"Captain!" Commander Olga also screamed as she looked at the bridge, "Turn the fucking boat around!"

"Rhys!" Katarina then quickly took off her jacket as she ran to the back of the ship.

"Fuck this," Ayesha also ran, quickly passing by Katarina and pushing her back, "I'll get the recruit, you stay here in case we need to heal him!"

Katarina did not really say anything, she just glanced at Ayesha's eyes and nodded, "Please… bring him back."

"You don't need to tell me," Ayesha continued to run, reaching the back of the ship in no time at all. She was about to dive without any hesitation, but Commander Olga suddenly appeared in front of her, "I will punch you if you—"

Commander Olga, however, did not seem to care for her at all as she just jumped into the water—no, she ran down the walls of the ship and then on top of the water. Ayesha did not really bother thinking about why she would risk her life for Rhys and just also jumped and dived into the water; causing the ship to shake from the ripple she created as she started to swim.

She did not care at all that she might be attracting the sea creatures below, and it did not matter — they are not really known to eat anything that was not at least 10 meters from the surface.

As for Olga, she was just running across the surface of the water — something, however, caused her and Ayesha to stop; with Olga practically just plopping down into the water as she stopped running.

How could they both not stop, when the eagle that was practically twice the size of their ship suddenly disappeared… when some sort of sea monster emerged from below and completely swallowed it in just one swoop?

"Recruit…" Ayesha's eyes could not help but just widen as she saw the colossal sea monster just slowly return to the water.

"No…" As for Olga, her face was almost twisted as her whispers soon became screams, "No… no… Rhys…

…Rhys!"

The ship stayed idle where Rhys and the roc disappeared for a few hours, with Ayesha diving back and forth into the water to try and find where Rhys could be even at the risk of attracting monsters. Katarina also did the same, but Ayesha just quickly incapacitated her as it was dangerous for her to do so.

Dominique also created some sort of binoculars that would allow them to see through the water, but they could not even find any trace of the colossal eagle, let alone Rhys. The orange ocean was empty, they couldn't even see where the mountain-sized sea creature that swallowed the roc was.

Rhys Wilder…

…all of a sudden was just… gone.

***

"Hkah…"

Days later, somewhere in the Underworld, Rhys found himself waking up by the sound of his own gasps. And almost immediately, he grabbed his neck as he felt something tight wrapping it…

…a chain.

He could not even focus, however, as he felt a pain in his leg; specifically, his right thigh where his mechanical limb is supposed to be connected to…

…but it was gone.