The Beginning After The End Chapter 349

My mana arrow hit the clod of dirt in the center, causing it to explode in a cloud of sand. The arrow continued along its path to the golem that had just released it, hitting him in the right temple. Although part of the golem's head collapsed, apparently it wasn't enough to count as a kill, as the animated pile of earth and rocks shuffled aside, preparing for another attack.

At the same time, a second golem appeared, rising from the ground as if it were melting backwards. He had a huge stone ax pointed at my head. I let out a snort.

“Clubs of dirt and blunt axes? I trained with a Spear, Hornfels,” I said lightly as I dodged a clumsy blow from the axe-wielding golem.

The ax came up in a side cut aimed at my hip, but I rolled it back over my shoulder. Reinforcing my bow with mana, I pulled the golem's leg out from under it, then placed two gleaming arrows against my elven bowstring before rising to my feet again. Splitting the mana arrows with my finger, I launched them in slightly different trajectories so that one pierced the chest of the ax-wielding golem while the second hit the clod thrower in the throat.

"Nice shot, Ellie!" My new friend Camellia yelled.

I gave the young elf a toothy smile, then squealed in surprise as the ground beneath me turned to mud. As I dropped to my knees, three more golems rose from the ground and faced me.

I threw myself into the mud to avoid a crushing blow from a stone fist. The ground hardened again, trapping half of me in the rocky cave floor. I spat out a lot of mud.

“Eww,” I moaned, trying to adjust my position but completely stuck.

“Don't forget, I also trained with a Spear, you skinny overconfident one,” Hornfels said jovially.

Soft footsteps darted towards me. "It's all right?" Camellia asked.

Hornfels let out a low chuckle and the stone turned to sand, releasing me. “She will be fine. Don't flatter her, girl. The girl already has a big enough head.”

I got out of the sand hole and cleaned myself up. "I don't have a big head!"

Someone snorted sarcastically, and I turned to see two familiar figures walking towards us.

“Jasmine! Emily!" I yelled excitedly. "Did you come to see how amazing I was?"

“No, not arrogant at all…” Camellia joked. I playfully shoved her shoulder and she nudged me in the ribs, then jumped out before I could catch her back.

“I just needed to make sure this one wasn't getting in trouble,” Jasmine said, nodding at Camellia.

The serious adventurer hasn't changed much since I was a kid. I liked all the Twin Horns, but secretly I was a little scared of Jasmine. When Helen, Durden and Angela Rose were originally brought to the sanctuary, Jasmine hadn't come with them. Camellia had told me all about how Jasmine saved her, so I was glad she was back.

“Actually, we were looking for Hornfels,” Emily interrupted. "Helen suggested that we also do some training time."

Unlike Jasmine, Emily had changed a lot in a very short period of time. There was a hardened tone to her that she definitely hadn't had before, and sometimes I'd notice her go a little hollow and cold. She cut her hair off after it was burned in an explosion, but at least her eyebrows were growing again.

I was so happy when she arrived with the Twin Horns and Gideon. We weren't best friends or anything, but Emily was always nice to me, and she even made a custom bow back then that took advantage of my pure mana techniques.

She was a total genius, so it wasn't exactly surprising that she'd found a way to survive. She and Gideon were captured by the Alacryans and forced to work for them, but the Twin Horns helped to save them. Or did they help save Jasmine? I was still a little confused by the details.

She was almost as upset as I was to learn that my bow was destroyed. Unfortunately, we didn't have any of the tools or resources she needed to make another one at the sanctuary, so I got stuck using a training bow.

It was still great to have them both back. And seeing more familiar faces had been good for Mom too. She started to come back to life a little bit when she realized that many of our friends were still alive out there, just waiting for help.

“I'm almost done with Princess Leywin anyway,” Hornfels sneered, making Camellia laugh.

"Hey!" I said indignantly.

“Another princess? Just what we needed…” Jasmine said, and she looked so serious I couldn't tell if she was joking or not.

“Don't mind her,” Camellia said, wrinkling her nose. "She's just not very good at expressing herself."

Jasmine raised an eyebrow at the elf girl. "Careful, Chata."

Then I thought of Albold, who wanted to know the truth more than anything. Don't he and the rest of the survivors deserve to know the truth? I asked myself.

Wrapping my forearms around my knees, I curled up and wished, not for the last time, that Arthur or Tessia were there with me.

Chapter end