Black Online-Chapter 131: Normal Thing To Do
"A way out... How?"
Della asked curiously.
With a smile, Fang Raon pulled out his Enchanted Compass from his inventory, and its needle was pointing towards Snowberry Village.
"The village is over in the northeast. I’d say let’s just follow that and see where it leads us."
He said, gave it to Della, and said, "Why don’t you take care of that?" and then started carrying her towards the northeast.
Since she couldn’t carry it by ordinary means, the compass was just lying on top of her stomach, and Della pouted.
It felt like she was used as a table.
"I hate this... Not being able to move..."
Della whispered.
"...I know how you feel."
Fang Raon whispered.
But he spoke it so quietly that even she couldn’t hear him, and she turned her eyes at him with a puzzled look.
"Did you say something?"
"...Nothing important. Let’s just keep going."
Fang Raon said with a wry smile.
As they just kept walking down a hallway of icy walls, he noticed that Della was shuddering quite a bit.
"Are you cold?"
"...Y-Yeah."
Fang Raon quickly unequipped his winter clothes and put them over her to warm her up.
"Y-You’re now getting cold... Y-you’re the only one that can still fight, so... I-It would be better if you were in the b-best p-possible condition."
Della said, her teeth clattering from the cold.
"It is already night, and the temperature will just keep dropping. If you don’t wear anything, you’ll be dead in minutes."
Fang Raon said.
She had her own winter clothes in her inventory, but she couldn’t get them from there, as she couldn’t even move her arms.
"M-Maybe we can start a fire somewhere... And wait for me to get better?"
Della suggested.
"The fire will be way too visible, and if Rickard finds us, we will both be dead. Our best bet is to leave this place as soon as possible."
Fang Raon said.
"...Then we both might die of cold."
Della said.
"..."
Fang Raon looked at her face and saw that her cheeks were already turning red, and her lips were starting to crack from the bitter cold.
"...How’s your health?"
"It’s dropping."
Della said, and then looked at him and asked, "What about yours?" and Fang Raon glanced at his health.
[-1 HP]
[-1 HP]
It was slowly dropping.
"Dropping."
Fang Raon said with a sigh.
He, unfortunately, didn’t have any healing potions left, as he hadn’t stocked up lately, and during his training with Rock, he had to use all of them.
The healing potions were expensive, and since he was in need of money for his real-life self, he was becoming more reserved about where he was spending his money.
Thus, that caused him to not buy any healing potions just yet.
’You always need to have healing potions with you, Fang Raon, you absolute moron.’
He thought to himself, and if he weren’t carrying Della, he’d be slapping the shit out of himself for being so dumb.
They followed the direction that the compass showed them and kept walking northeast, but soon enough, they came across a wall.
A tall icy wall.
The compass was pointing through it.
"I expected as much—that it wouldn’t lead us straight to the village, but it is somewhere behind this wall. We need to go now either to the right or left and hope that the real exit is close."
Fang Raon said.
In that moment, he didn’t hear Della say anything and looked down to see her about to sleep with her eyes closing.
"Don’t sleep!"
He pinched her cheek, and her eyes widened open, and she looked at him with a tired look.
"It’s cold... My health is in the red..."
"I guess we have no choice."
Fang Raon looked around, found a small chamber within the quarry that was mostly blocked off, and brought her there.
He put her down on the ground, made sure that she was warm, and then built a quick campfire.
During his time on the 15th floor, he realized the importance of always having firewood and some matchsticks with you.
If you get stuck somewhere during the night, you’ll need those things, or you’ll certainly die.
Fang Raon scratched the matchstick across its box, saw the small flame catch, and held it up to the small pile of firewood.
It quickly caught, casting an orange glow around the small area.
"Is it better?"
Fang Raon asked and moved Della closer to the fire, and she let out a weak "yeah," feeling the warmth seep into her cold limbs.
"I-I thought... You didn’t want to do a campfire... Because it can notify Rickard of our... whereabouts?"
Della asked weakly.
"It looked like we got no other choice than to do that. All of this is worthless if you die, so I couldn’t think of anything else."
Fang Raon said.
"...Why are you trying so hard to save me? Sorry if I am blunt, but... I don’t think you’re that loyal to my guild... Just yet... You just came here...
"...Is it because of my grandfather...?"
She asked.
"I don’t have any complex reason. You’re my guild master, so this feels like a normal thing to do."
Fang Raon said.
Della looked at him strangely.
She thought that he was strange because players usually were quite selfish. They only cared about their own survival.
She didn’t really blame them.
Dying in Black Online was harsh. You would lose everything you worked hard for and wasted so much time on.
If you wanted to continue playing Black Online after death, it was very expensive.
She thought that he might be trying to win some brownie points with her, but it really didn’t feel like that.
He was simply doing this because it felt normal to him—a guild member’s duty was to protect their guild master and fellow members, even in death.
"I am sorry if I am being blunt, but you sure chose a shitty place to build your guild at. Couldn’t you have done it somewhere warmer?"
Fang Raon asked with a wry smile.
He felt like his toes were about to fall off.
"M-My health has stopped dropping, but it won’t start recovering unless I get out of the cold... This campfire isn’t enough... I think..."
Della’s cheeks turned pink.
It wasn’t of coldness anymore, but shyness, and she then looked at him with a serious look and opened her mouth.
"Skin-to-skin contact... Will warm me up faster."
