"Huh", Andrew didn't expect to be pulled back and at that by Joshua who seemed friendly. If there was someone who could perform such an act, he believed it to be George and hence wasn't guarded against Joshua, they were after all in the forest and there was an unwritten rule to leave grudges outside the forest and to watch the back of each other when they were in the forest. But instead of watching each other's back, he ended up being betrayed by one of his group members.

After being pulled back by Joshua, Joshua didn't look behind as he just kept running at full speed to escape from the mosquitoes chasing them. Andrew was getting tired and strained after all the running which has indeed tensed his muscles, thus was tired.

He watched the back of Joshua with a depreciating smile while he thought, 'Guess I wasn't wrong in having that feeling. I was betrayed at the end and even on the day of my birthday once again, but guess it all ends now', he didn't forget to drink from his gourd even at this moment, it seemed cool as at this moment like he didn't hold any grudge against Joshua's actions.

While running, Joshua held the sound of Andrew falling, but didn't turn to look behind and just surged forward in order to be rid of the encampment of the mosquitoes who were hot on their trail. 'Sorry kid that you have to die this way. But I have a whole life to live ahead of me. You knew how dangerous the task was and was still adamant about joining us, so you just had to die as a sacrifice. Yes, that's it, you were a necessary sacrifice in order for us to complete the task. You shouldn't be angry, you don't even have the right to be angry', Joshua said inwardly in order to justify his actions and he even nodded his head in agreement with his crazy train of thought while picking up more speed.

It seems his necessary sacrifice did throw off the pursuit of the mosquitoes as they all stopped trailing him, but he couldn't find any sign of Michael or George ahead anymore, seems like they have left him way far behind and he doesn't seem to have a glimpse of their shadows or their tracks, it would likely be close to impossible to get to where they were now. Joshua starts running while his thoughts start running wild about the probability of him coming face to face with strong beasts who roamed the forest or if he were to get into their fights unknowingly, as there were beasts who lived underground who could kill any beast or human without knowing where the attack came from.

Joshua continues running at full speed without pause and all of a sudden while running, a hand comes out of nowhere and grabs hold of him, pulling him with such great strength and speed that he couldn't even gather his energy to resist. There weren't any words as the hands which pulled him kept on running with him and after a while, they let go of him.

It was at this moment that he was able to identify whose hands had held him. It was George who had pulled him close and he was with Michael at this moment, Joshua was finally able to calm down cause he couldn't resist the force behind the hands formerly and thought that he was going to die even after what he just did in order to save his own life. "Hmm, where is Andrew?", Michael couldn't help to ask with a very concerned voice as he notices that Andrew was nowhere to be found. "He mus...st be behind", Joshua answers nervously. "You don't need to lie, you know", George smiles devilishly at this moment as he says.

"Huh, what do you mean?", Joshua asks in fear shifting backwards a little bit. "Stop lying. Which part of that don't you understand?", George says with a frown on his face. All of a sudden, the smile that he had previously come back as he said, "We both saw what you did back there and we were shocked about your action to be sincere, but the most cunning and crafty ones are the ones who get to stay alive out here in this world, and after all, Andrew is useless from this point onwards. He has been crippled after all, and being alive won't do him any good, so he was a necessary sacrifice as he did help in us throwing those nuisances off our trail". George turns towards Michael before asking still keeping the scary smile on his face, "Ain't I right, brother? And shouldn't you drop all the concerned act?".

Joshua was shocked by this turn of events, cause he believed that if they found out about his actions, he could get killed. This was the first time he has seen George speak with such a devilish grin on his face and this scared him a lot. This was after all not the George he used to know or maybe perhaps he didn't know him very well. He turned towards Michael to see if he would be shocked just like he was about the new behaviour of George and towards the question directed to him but Michael betrayed everything he thought about him after hearing his reply to the question which was directed to him.

"Of course, he has gone way past he was supposed to. He had started being a threat to me in the village and I thought about ending his life multiple times but he grew to be way more powerful in just a few years hence I gave up on him. His being crippled couldn't be a piece of much better news for me. I tolerated all his attitudes so that he would continue feeling filial to me and won't escape my grasp and authority. I even expected to sacrifice him to the rats when we got there, but they were all killed before we got there and I thought I wouldn't get the chance to kill him and didn't just want to waste his worthless life. Him being sacrificed to throw those beasts off track is the best thing he could have done for us", says Michael with a deranged expression.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Joshua couldn't help taking a step back on those words, 'Was this the Michael loved by everyone in the village? Is this the same Michael who was praised to be selfless, brave and gentle?'. A lot of questions couldn't help going through his head at this point and he was sure that he would have been sacrificed if necessary to achieve their goal since Andrew whom he had treated better than anyone in the village could be seen as a threat to him.

He didn't believe one bit that if they had a choice they would hesitate to kill him in order to save themselves. But he had after all been with Michael and George for a long while now and hadn't seen this side of them, it was all new to him at this moment and was also thankful he was not as exceptional as Andrew if not he would have been killed a long time ago.

"You don't have to worry, since the mosquitoes have lost track of us, we should be safe but we should change our location just in case any of them is able to follow up on our movements", George says while patting Joshua. Joshua is scared out of his wits at this moment and fears that any action they made could lead to his death. He couldn't trust anyone around him, forgetting that he was someone like them after all.

"You should take it easy and try to be calm. We won't do anything to hurt you", Michael says while walking toward Joshua, he pauses until he was by the side of Joshua and whispers into his ear, "After all you are weak and you are as powerless as a dead beast in my eyes. If you try anything funny, you will be killed without so much as a struggle and your death doesn't need to be as a sacrifice".

Joshua was in shock at the manner in which he was defined and his world was in shambles right now. He could only grit his teeth and let it go, after all, Michael was right in his definition of him.

He could be killed without much of a struggle, he didn't notice the look on the face of Michael when he gave up any notion of retaliation, it was the look a predator gives to a prey he is toying with. He just ran after them and tried his possible best to keep up with their speed.

Now, we are all caught up with the happenings.

"Yes we should be far away now", George replies. "We should take another route towards the herb", says Michael. "Are we still going back there? What if...", Joshua wasn't able to complete his statement as he was cut short by Michael, "There is no whats or ifs at this point. My decision is final, or do you want to try going out of the forest on your own".

"No, that's not what I meant. I....", he was not able to complete his statement once again before being cut off once again, "Then let's get going", says Michael.

Having no choice, he ran along with them once again as they headed towards where the elephant king herb could be found, taking another route. Their journey was uneventful as they didn't encounter any beasts on this new route they took which was weird in a way after all they have been seeing beasts of different kinds, fighting or doing other kinds of stuff since they entered the forest this time and all of a sudden, they all seemed to have vanished.

But it was a good thing for them though as they got to the place without any difficulties in their path. On getting to the place, it was devoid of any beasts and even the corpse of the beasts seen here before have gone without a trace, not even their bones left behind. But the herb was still there intact but the reverberations from it seems to have gotten louder and could be heard without having to listen closely to it.

"Huh, what's wrong?", Joshua couldn't help asking. "The herb has already gotten matured formerly, but it seems like absorbing blood and corpses of powerful beasts would increase its effectiveness. No wonder the rat kings haven't eaten it for a long while and were still in wait, they must have grasped this new development and wanted it at its best. And since this time around, the corpses were much and from powerful beasts and corpses, the effectiveness is getting better", George explained even in shock after a while of studying the situation.

This was the first time he was seeing such development in any herb. These herbs that help in increasing realms sure were weird in their way. "Well then, guess we should try increasing its effectiveness more before harvesting it", says Michael suddenly. "Huh, how?", Joshua couldn't help but ask.

"Well, of course", Michael suddenly appears behind Joshua while saying, "By killing you".

"Huh", Joshua was in shock at such a revelation but he couldn't do anything before he notices his head was spinning and he could see the grass and clouds interchanging in his view. His head fell flat on the floor and he could see his body still standing straight and erect without his head in its usual place. He wanted to say something but nothing could come out of his mouth at this moment. Before all life left his eyes, he saw Michael walking up to his body and dragging it towards the herb.

(Author's note - Damn, this chapter did take a lot of my thinking capacity and it just had to be fucking long also. Although I had plans of how the chapter was going to be in my head, putting it in words became difficult at a certain point. Almost changed the storyline halfway as various options popped into my head but I held strong and delivered what was expected of me. Sigh, writing sure is hard, kudos to all authors out there. You entertain us all and inspire us who are upcoming. Thanks for all you do)