The Rise Of Calamity

"That bitch!" She slammed her fist onto the ground while an image of me flashed in her mind, making her gnash her teeth even more than she was originally.

"If you are calling Lilith a bitch, I think you should reconsider your words..." A chilling voice made the hairs on June's neck stand up.

After looking back, June finally realized the origin of the voice.

"River?" June muttered in confusion

"I know you might be confused, and while I don't like Lilith all that much I have to say, if she really went out alone to save those people, she truly has guts" River smiles

"There is a fine line between suicidal and guts" June sneered.

Hearing this, river smiled while sighing softly "I'm not trying to say that her actions weren't stupid and reckless, but you have to recognize the kind of bravery you need to have to go out alone against an enemy you know captured several Platinum tier individuals. While people like you might call it suicidal, others might call it the peak of bravery. It just depends how you see it"

"What are you getting at" June snorted at the long explanation. Clearly, her mind was a little too small to comprehend any of these things.

"You are being narrow-minded. While I am not saying any of you are in the right, I can confidently say that both of you are in the wrong." River nodded slightly after seeing June listening intently with furrowed brows.

"Lilith came out of nowhere and demanded a high price while using methods you did not like. She hurt your pride by saying she is worth more than you. Due to your childish attitude, you decided to create the plan of going to the forest without her while also not informing us that she did not know that you had come to talk to us about the plan." River paused for a second to give June's mind time to think about what she had said so far, but instead, someone from the side interrupted.

"And due to that, you not only pissed off the only person who can take us to the abducted members of the Pheonix and Lighting dragon guilds. The thing you did was not only lose us that but was also dangerous for us. Lilith is intelligent and with her, we could have made a good plan that would lead to minimal casualties in the process while also giving us an efficient method to get there." Sandra pointed out from the side with a solemn expression.

"Not only that..." Raquaz's voice sounded from behind June.

"The way Lilith asserted the fact that you two would be getting 50% told me something very important about her... She is prideful and at the same time, intelligent. Even though she is significantly weaker than most of us, I still felt like she knew that she could do the mission without our help" He finally looked down at June's face before smiling and crouching down.

Currently, June had small teardrops threatening to drop at any second while pouting as everyone told her off.

"Don't worry" Raquaz patted her head lightly before continuing "You are still young. Young people make mistakes all the time, the stupid thing to do is not learn from them while you are so young. After Lilith comes back, I want you to go up to her and apologize, okay?" He tilted his head with a warm smile.

Everyone looked at this with slightly widened eyes, yet they did not take a second glance as they were slightly used to this. In their party, Raquaz would be considered the holy paladin type who would always fight for good, show forgiveness and prioritize the safety of others before his, especially when it came to his friends and family.

As he patted June's head, teardrops started to slowly fall down her soft red cheeks before finally leaving her face and dropping onto the dry soil under her.

Immediately, flashes of memories of her father and mother showed up in her mind. Eventually, the image stopped on her father's face, making her see the silhouette of her father around Raquaz before a certain string of words finally entered her ears.

"It's not your fault... It's okay" He cupped her face and muttered "look at me"

She slowly lifted her eyes up to his eyes, yet instead of Raquaz's eyes, she saw her father's eyes.

They weren't scornful like they usually were, nor were they filled with disdain. They were soft and warm.

"Everything will be okay... Don't let a single mistake define you" Raquaz smiled

Tears immediately started to overflow from her eyes as she jumped in the embrace of her 'father'. The embrace was warm and something she hadn't felt in a very long time, ever since she awakened her affinity...

As everyone looked at this scene, many had complicated expressions as some of them felt guilty for causing this while others felt a sense of heartache at seeing her hug raquaz like a child.

Sandra, Raquaz's wife, looked at this scene with eyes filled with warmth before joining and hugging the crying girl tightly. Sandra quickly unloosened June's twin tails before starting to run her fingers through her silky brown hair. Her eternal instincts were almost screaming at her to give this child the warmth of a mother, even though she was not one yet.

"It's going to be okay... Learn from your mistake... I am proud of you." Words that June would have never thought she would hear from such a motherly voice entered her ears, making her sob even harder than she was before until eventually succumbing to exhaustion and falling into a warm and deep slumber.

***

At my location in front of the Wyvern's corpse.

I slowly pointed the dark blue flame towards the corpse of the wyvern yet after thinking for a few more seconds, I chose to not burn the corpse yet.

'I really want to drain it of blood... If only someone with the blood branch of darkness magic was here. Man, if only the darkness element was as easy to comprehend as all the other elements' I sighed.

'I could try to put the corpse into my storage space... but at the same time, I would need multiple storage rings to do that...' I frowned deeply as I used my mind-influx to its full capacity.

Since everything in my body had been given a dramatic power boost, I was able to use things like Mind-influx to a much higher level.