Clyde appeared a moment later in Hammer's private room. More precisely in front of the portal in his room. A portal that he usually used to enter and leave the Ruin aside from the one in the center of town.
Nobody would have thought that Clyde would emerge from that portal from a domain of a Celestial. Especially after he defeated a Celestial in a huge battle that devastated her domain.
Clyde's clothes and armor were now tattered and torn in several places. The armor was actually quite strong but not strong enough to withstand the pressure of the fight he had just now. All the things that were created here would not be strong enough to deal with the power of Celestials.
Despite the pathetic state of his armor and clothes, Clyde's body did not sustain any major injuries. He only suffered from burns on several parts of his body, which caused some discomfort. However, apart from that, there were no significant injuries.
Clyde grinned in the quiet room. Thinking back on the accomplishments he had achieved a while ago. He managed to defeat the Celestial before even using all the Points he had saved up. That meant he could still be stronger than them.
And it's not that Clyde can't kill Goddess Pele, he could have chosen to kill her but what she has to offer is far more valuable in the long run than if Clyde killed her right away.
He managed to get his hands on the Oath of a Celestial. He felt a strange power enter his body after hearing the Oath spoken by Goddess Pele. The notification that he received from his power of system also said that he already had power over the Goddess.
This is a great start. He didn't know what to do with this new power but having this Oath would come in handy in the future.
Clyde came out of Hammer's room with a delighted heart. He removed the smile from his lips so as not to get the weirder looks from everyone who saw him walking around in damaged clothes.
All the Hammer's men who were doing their jobs turned their heads when they saw Clyde coming out of their master's room. Their reactions were the same; they were dumbstruck, staring at Clyde with wide eyes and mouths.
"Where's Hammer?" Clyde asked.
It took them a few seconds to utter an answer. In the end, one of them mentioned the whereabouts of the master blacksmith.
"H-he is in the treatment room. The news about uhh... your party who just returned from the expedition came and he immediately went there."
Clyde nodded curtly. Then he immediately went to another place, the infirmary. Clyde knew that right now there were a lot of stares on his back. There must be so many questions on their minds by now but Clyde wasn't going to bother explaining them to them.
He walked while getting weird stares from all the residents of Sivagadh Fortress. Clyde feel uncomfortable with the stares so he immediately increased his walking speed. Until finally he arrived at the infirmary where his other party members were.
As he opened the door and stepped into the room, all eyes immediately turned toward him. Their expressions revealed a mixture of disbelief and astonishment as if witnessing a dream come true. Most of them were lying down, nursing their injuries, except of course Hammer who remained standing.
Even when Clyde came inside, took off his shirt, and took a white shirt that patients usually wear, no one spoke.
Since no one spoke, he finally decided to speak first.
"Yes, I'm fine."
Clyde sat in one of the remaining seats. He looked at them all; finally, after he said something the consciousness returned to their faces.
"Clydes!" Hammer shouted. "They say you fought a Celestial!"
Clyde gave a curt nod.
"How are you still alive?" Hammer asked again, this time even more hysterical.
Clyde decides he will not say that he has defeated a Celestial, the Goddess Pele, and got an Oath from her. That could be his advantage because only he and the Goddess know about that.
"Somehow, I managed to escape from her." Clyde held up the necklace which had now lost its pendant. "Thanks to this, I was able to get here."
Hammer realized what he was holding. Inside his heart, he felt very relieved and happy because he felt he had played an important role in Clyde's safety.
Unlike Hammer who wasn't there and felt and saw what was happening, the ten party members stared at Clyde still in shock and disbelief.
Because they know how strong the Celestials Clyde fought and how the Celestials forced them to submit with just her words. Yet Clyde was able to come back here with only minor injuries and clothes torn. It felt like something impossible for them.
"You... how did you escape from her?" Samuel asked.
"I can't tell you in detail. My body was just struggling with all its might to keep me alive and amid that difficulty, I can't remember everything," Clyde replied.
"I guess... it makes sense," Samuel said.
Samuel could only imagine the predicament Clyde was in. He could never imagine the true power of a Celestial let alone fight with them head-on. Yet Clyde did and he even came back with only a minor injury.
"So, what happened to those Celestials, Clyde?" he asked again. The others looked at him curiously.
"She tried to chase me but I think I managed to give her enough distraction. She must be pretty pissed right now," Clyde replied. He tried to put on a deadpan and tired face so they would be quick to believe him.
They all fell silent after hearing his answer. They looked at each other, but didn't know what to say. Because the appearance of Clyde here alone was enough to shock them. They thought Clyde had died sacrificing for them.
Not long after, James came and he also showed the same bewilderment. Clyde said that he needed immediate treatment so that the shock would break.
James said that this room was full so he treated Clyde in another room. Hammer left with him.
The room was quiet again after Clyde left. They are still trying to digest what happened.
"How is he still alive?" Leyan asked with a frown. "You all feel the power of that Goddess. We almost died just by hearing her words."
"Why don't you sound happy that Clyde made it back?" Lola asked while looking at Leyan.
Leyan turned and looked at her. "What are you talking about? I'm just asking. I'm sure you're thinking the same thing."
Lola fell silent. She also thought about how Clyde could come back in such good condition. But Lola was more worried about his real state than the reasons why he could be okay. Lola felt nobody here was interested in that.
"What's important now is that he looks fine, right?" Wiley said. Then he relaxed his body again on the bed. "We'd better worry about ourselves. I didn't know the mental attack of a Celestial was that powerful. You guys aren't afraid of something wrong with your insanity after all that?"
What Wiley said actually made a lot of sense. So they chose to focus on their treatment now instead of thinking about Clyde.
But even so, they couldn't completely shake off the thought of Clyde. Especially Samuel.
He lay down on his bed, letting James healing power that had been compressed into an infusion channeled into his body. However, Samuel's mind remained on Clyde. Somehow, he felt that there was something else going on besides the 'distraction' that he managed to do to get away from the Celestial.
But Samuel doubted that Clyde would say much more than he had told them earlier. It's just the way he is, he always seems to keep more things to himself than telling others.
Samuel wondered why he did that.
~~~
Hammer was silent while James was treating Clyde. James said that Clyde was not seriously injured.
He said that with a frown and eyes that stared at every burn on Clyde's body full of disbelief. But no matter how far he searched or asked, Clyde's answer was the same so he gave up and left the two of them to attend to Samuel and the others in the next room.
Hammer approached Clyde's bed after James had left.
"What happened to you?" Hammer looked so curious that his eyes seemed to light up.
"I wouldn't give a different answer to you, Ham," Clyde replied. Hammer looked disappointed. "But, I have something for you. Take it from my right trouser pocket."
Hammer immediately went and reached into the right pocket of Clyde's pants which were almost shredded. And then he found it. It was a red pebble, the color of which looked like the color of molten metal.
"What is this?" Hammer asked.
"I took it from Goddess Pele's domain. You said you could create something like Samuel's amulet if I brought you the essence of a domain, right?"
~~~
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