Chapter 42: Chapter 42: Washing up the mess Once they were done, Rhian pulled the core out of the monster’s chest cavity.
The moment it left the body, a thick squelch echoed through the area. He held it up, covered from the neck down in green, slimy blood. His gloves were soaked.
His hair clung to his forehead. He looked more like a monster than the one they just killed.
He turned to Ash, deadpan. "I’m still taking your bed."
Ash gave him an exaggerated shrug and a grin. "Well, it didn’t blow up. So technically—"
"You’re disgusting," Aras cut in, his voice flat. "We should find a lake or a stream. Wash the blood off. This thing stinks. If there are more monsters nearby, we’ll draw them like flies."
Ash rolled his eyes. "Isn’t that what we want? More monsters, more cores? Let them come."
Rhian stepped closer, his arms still dripping with green gore. He smiled innocently as he stretched both arms out toward Ash’s perfectly clean shoulder.
Ash backed up immediately, eyes narrowing. "Don’t you dare—"
"No, Ash," Rhian said, keeping pace with him. "We’re hunting the monsters. Not the other way around."
He patted Ash on the back, leaving a wide smear of green across the back of his shirt.
Ash gagged like he’d been stabbed. "You’re sick! You’re an animal!"
Rhian just smirked, wiping his hands together. "Thanks for the bed, by the way."
Even Aras looked amused, shaking his head faintly. Nia snorted and started walking ahead, already scanning the treeline. "Let’s go before this idiot gives me another reason to toss him over a cliff."
Rhian jogged to catch up, still grinning, the faint ache in his muscles dulled by the satisfaction of the kill, the core, and the look on Ash’s face.
Now all they needed was water.
As they searched for a water source, weaving through the tall grass and stepping over broken roots, Rhian took it upon himself to be the loudest person in the group for once.
Normally, that role belonged to Ash, who filled silence with noise like it was a full-time job. But this time, Rhian made sure no one forgot what he had done.
"I just want to remind you all," he said, voice carrying through the trees, "that I’m covered in this crap because I jumped on a monster the size of a bus. With blades. From the face. While everyone else stood on the ground like sensible people."
Ash groaned. "You’ve said this, like, four times now."
"Yeah," Rhian said, raising both slime-soaked hands, "but did you smell me the fourth time?"
He walked beside Nia, keeping pace. She didn’t respond, just kept her eyes forward, stepping over branches and broken terrain like she was used to walking in armor.
"What? I thought you liked picking me up," Rhian said, leaning toward her.
Nia took another step away, but her lip twitched.
"Up, up," Rhian added, raising his arms toward her with mock innocence, voice pitched like a child asking to be carried.
She finally looked at him with a straight face. "Say that again, and I’m dropping you in the water head-first."
He grinned. "You say that like it’s a punishment."
Ash, walking behind them, just sighed and covered his face. "Why is he like this now?"
Nia turned her head slightly, not breaking stride, and pointed straight at Ash. "This is your fault."
Ash blinked. "Me?"
"You’re contagious."
Ash looked genuinely offended. "I’m a gift."
"You’re a disease," Nia said.
Rhian snorted, dragging a bit of his sleeve across his cheek, which just made the smear of blood worse.
"I really hope this water’s clean," he muttered.
"We all do," Aras added from the back, voice dry. "Especially whoever has to walk next to you."
Iris kept quiet, keeping to herself as the group moved. She didn’t comment on Rhian’s jokes, didn’t add to the banter.
Just walked with them, her eyes scanning the forest like she was still waiting for something to jump out.
Luckily, they found a source of water. A lake, wide and still, surrounded by thick trees. The kind of place that looked peaceful but carried just enough silence to make Rhian suspicious.
Honestly, he was the only one who needed a proper bath.
Aras hadn’t gotten dirty in the fight. Gravity did the work for him. The only time he even touched the monsters was when pulling out the cores, and even then he’d been methodical. Iris was the same. Efficient, clean, in and out.
Ash had gunk on his feet, mostly from the mess he caused with his stomping spree. He was grumbling about how the stuff was stuck in the grooves of his boots.
Nia had some green blood on her arms and face, from punching through legs and hacking with her sword. But she wasn’t soaked in it.
Rhian, on the other hand, looked like he’d bathed in the queen’s insides. His shirt clung to him like slime-soaked bandages, and he left green footprints with every step.
When they reached the water’s edge, the group paused, deciding who’d go first.
Aras and Iris didn’t wait. They crouched by the rocks, rinsing their hands without a word.
Ash stepped in just far enough to clean his boots and ankles, then walked out like it was a five-star foot spa.
Nia washed her arms and face, dragging her fingers through the blood on her jaw. She didn’t linger. Once done, she shook the water off her hands and walked over to a rock under the trees to dry off.
That left Rhian.
He walked up to the water, alone, stepping carefully. He glanced around one last time before crouching, his fingers already tugging at the hem of his ruined shirt.
’I swear, if something pops out now, I’m gonna throw myself in and disappear.’
He could hear the others talking a little farther back.
Rhian sighed and knelt at the edge, rinsing his hands first. The green blood was caked on, dried into his cuts. The water stung a little, but it was manageable.
He pulled off his shirt and wrung it out, watching the slime drip in slow strands. The smell was worse than he expected. Like wet mold mixed with something sour.
He splashed water on his chest and neck, wiping at the mess stuck to his skin. It didn’t come off easy.
This was going to take a while.