It was obvious everything was about to end.
After so long, Michelle was still the same. She did not plan to tell Benjamin much. Benjamin did not know why Michelle saved him, who she really was, and what she was actually capable of.
He only knew that Michelle was once a holy knight who became a mage. The holy knights would not just accept any woman, but she made them accept her; the holy knights would not allow anyone to retire, but she did it.
Michelle probably had a lot of stories, but if she did not want to share it, there was nothing Benjamin could do.
However, there was no explanation for this, but he felt that upon seeing Michelle this time, she seemed different from before. It was not just her increase in mental energy, he could feel that Michelle’s sharp, gloomy aura was gone, and it was easy to talk to her now.
But this did not make Benjamin feel safe, it made him feel that something was wrong instead.
Who knew what happened in the ruins that was left behind by the "Soul’s Fire".
"Let’s stop for a while, the horses are tired, I’ll feed them something." Suddenly, Michelle spoke.
Benjamin was stunned for a while, but took a hold of the reins and stopped the carriage.
He did not have any skill of riding. But the previous Benjamin seemed to have learned how to ride a horse before as the System managed to dig out that part of the memory. Under the guidance of the System, even though he did not know how to make the carriage turn, he could still manage to stop it.
After stopping, Michelle took out some grains and water, and went down to feed the horses.
Benjamin turned behind and gazed towards the capital.
The road they took to come here was empty and looked desolate under the afternoon. In his sight, the capital was just a tiny white block. It was too far to see if there was any troops chasing them.
Right now, Michelle’s plan to spread the "plague" and escape the capital was still successful. Other than the holy knights who were behaving strangely, everything was going according to plan. Blending into the crowd, leaving the capital, stealing a horse carriage, and go as far away as possible... No accidents have occurred.
This made Benjamin feel calm, but he still had tiny pangs of anxiety.
Could ... the Church have given up pursuing them?
If it was really like this, he would no longer need to feel anxious. What he was afraid of was that the Church had more tricks up their sleeves, and all of this was just a period of calm before the storm.
Was it really like this?
He never thought that his ability to jinx something would be activated right there.
After Michelle fed the horses, she leaned onto the floor again to listen for sounds of galloping horses. The moment she put her ears on the floor, her calm demeanor vanished.
She seemed to have discovered something strange, after ten seconds, she immediately stood up, jumped back onto the carriage and lifted to whip to start the carriage.
The horses that were still eating had no choice but to start moving, dragging the carriage along. Benjamin hurriedly grabbed the handle to prevent himself from losing balance from the sudden burst of speed.
The change happened really unexpectedly. The wheels on the carriage started turning rapidly and colliding with the uneven surface of the ground, creating a loud noise and kicking up all of the dust.
"What’s wrong?" Benjamin regained his consciousness and shouted.
"They caught up!" Michelle did not look at him, but continued the whipping and maintained her eyes on the road. "Even though they aren’t near, but that sound was the sound of the horses of Cleaners, and not just a squad. That kind of sound, I would never be mistaken!"
Damn...
Benjamin drew breath.
Cleaners.
How long has he not heard this word?
Even if he and Michelle had worked together to wipe out a squad of them before; even though Michelle’s mental energy has vastly expanded, and her power has increased... but up until now, the Cleaners were not just simple opponents, and the damage to his mental state was a problem as well.
Plus, Michelle said that there was not just one squad!
Two squads, minus the element of surprise from the terrain, once they get caught, they would most likely have no chance of survival.
Thinking of this, Benjamin opened his mouth and shouted again: "How far are they away from us?"
"A few kilometers." Michelle looked extremely serious like never before, "Based on the sound of the horse’ movement, their direction is correct ---- they are rushing towards us!"
Hearing this, Benjamin could feel his heart sink.
This is bad...
But they have been very careful all this while, how did the Church manage to find traces of them? How did they know that they exited through the north gate?
But what has happened has already happened, there was no point to think about it anymore.
How could he have the ability to think about whether the rift expanded when he is about to lose his life?
At that moment, Benjamin made a decision.
He wanted to fight them head on!
Right when he was ready to enter his dimension of consciousness to father water elemental energy for magic, Michelle suddenly opened her mouth and shouted, interrupting his action.
"Benjamin Lithur!" Her flat expression looked rather fierce, "Do you want to live?"
"Nonsense! Of course I want to live." Benjamin replied without hesitation.
But, Michelle turned around and stared at him, like a demon that just crawled out from the depths of Hell: "Rid yourself of that decision! You won’t survive!"
Benjamin was stunned.
The wind whistled in his ears.
"As long as you are still a mage, and as long as the Church still exists, they will haunt you forever!" Michelle said this while clenching her teeth, "They will sniff you out from your scent, forced you to exhaustion, then pounce on you and use their sharp teeth to snap your throat. They will look at you while you struggle and bleed to the last drop of blood, they will make the rats drink your brain fluid and dice you into mash. At last, no matter how much agony and pain there are in your screams, they will grab you by your throat and torture you until your soul becomes twisted and trapped in the abyss of vengeance."
Michelle’s mad expression could be seen by Benjamin clearly, all the veins popped out in her eyeballs.
He opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but his throat felt like it was stuck with a fiery stone. He could not say anything.
"Benjamin Lithur! Do you want to live?" Michelle repeated this over and over, her voice becoming hysterical.
"I….." Benjamin opened his mouth, his voice shuddered a while, following that, he shouted with all his might, "I’m still not done living!"
Michelle stared at him. Suddenly, she took a deep breath, her face full of emotion and hatred turned back into a sudden calm.
Her change in expressions was sudden but forced, which made her look strange after becoming calm again. No matter how the carriage shook, it could not shake her "calmness".
She was as still as a corpse.
She opened her mouth, with words colder than the first time she spoke when they met. The words that came out sounded like it was an emotionless robot:
"If you don’t want to die, think of a way, do your best to survive."
Benajmin was stunned.
Before he could react or think, Michelle turned around and spoke coldly. He did not know why she said all these.
"If you live, go to Ferelden, look for a person named Morris. He is my teacher."
What, what did she mean?
Benjamin felt something was off.
As the horse carriage sped, the scenery at both sides were a blur. Benjamin, who was in middle, felt like he was in a tunnel that travelled through time, experiencing changes he could never have expected.
Michelle... what happened to her?
Before he could ask anything, Michelle, who sat next to him, looked at him coldly. Then, she used her mysterious power, stretched out her hand, and pushed Benjamin off the horse carriage.