The Art of Gold Digging

Ch.31- Wrong.

The group made their way back through the frozen streets, retracing their steps toward the inn where they'd encountered the terrified woman earlier.

Amy walked slightly behind the others, her mind racing. Zayd's words had troubled her deeply; the thought that tomorrow they would die if they did nothing to stop it turned in her mind constantly.

No matter how much she thought about it, she didn't get why so much was changing. Why were the chaos creatures congregating faster than they should? It made no damn sense.

She had such a bad feeling about all this… She needed to reach the Library and get out of this damn nightmare as soon as possible before anything went wrong. Forget following the plot, there was no time to lose.

Normally it would take them three days before entering the Library, but seeing the state of everything, she would have to speedrun it. Once they got some information about the apocalypse and that Crow obtained that one artifact, she was out of here.

As she continued walking with a head full of thoughts, Iris fell back, positioning herself right beside Amy. For several seconds, they walked in silence before Iris finally spoke.

"So, my weird little junior—"

Weird?

"—remind me again why we're going back to the crazy woman? Just to be clear on why we're walking toward the person who literally screams trouble."

Amy focused on the question, putting the usual 'I know everything' mask on her face.

"I used my ability," she responded after a beat, the lie coming easier than expected. "I know what to do next."

"Your ability," Iris repeated, her brow furrowing. "I'm still confused about that. First you mentioned foresight, then you started talking about your book showing you things." She gestured vaguely toward Amy's satchel. "Which is it? Because it sounds like you're describing two different things."

The question made Amy tense slightly.

Just like Libris and she had talked, having two abilities was a no-no; that petty stupid goddess would never allow that. However, if the ability wasn't directly hers, that wouldn't be a complete problem.

She had been pretty vague about her shared ability with Libris during the last conversation, and there was a chance this conversation would make it into the manga… She needed to watch her words right now.

"It resonates with my power," she replied carefully. "Without my book, I see multiple futures—threads of possibility—and I can choose which one I want to follow. But I only know the way to get there, not all the details along the path."

Iris studied her face, her brow furrowed in confusion. "So you're different from the Gaspards?"

From a few paces ahead, Zayd turned slightly, his amber eyes fixed on Amy with unexpected intensity. Though he didn't speak, his attention was unmistakable. He hadn't known about this aspect of her ability; as far as he knew, she only had simple foresight.

Surely revealing this information in front of him won't have future consequences…surely…

Amy tried to reassure herself by thinking that Zayd and his creepy uncle were clearly on bad terms, and that despite being with the tribe, he was still plotting against them.

"Similar in concept, different in execution," Amy said, avoiding Zayd's gaze.

"And the book?" Iris pressed, nodding toward Amy's satchel. "What's that about? You said it shows you things."

"It compensates for my abilities' limitations. I can't see very far into the future on my own, but with it..." She let the sentence hang, hoping the readers—if this appeared in the chapter—would fill in the blanks themselves. And hopefully, it would also shut down that one theory that put her as the mastermind behind everything, controlling people through the shadows.

Iris's eyes narrowed. "I still don't get it. So you have two abilities? Or is that just an artifact? The foresight and whatever your book does?"

The question hung in the air between them. Amy felt the weight of multiple gazes now—not just Iris and Zayd, but Ash and Lyra as well, who had slowed their pace to listen.

Before Amy could formulate a response, Crow's voice cut through the conversation.

"We're here."

They had arrived at the inn where they'd heard the woman's terrified screams earlier. The building looked no different than before—a three-story structure with frost-covered windows and a heavy wooden door firmly shut against the cold.

Crow approached the door cautiously, raising his hand to knock but pausing to glance back at Amy. His dark eyes held a questioning gaze.

What?

"..."

"..."

[I think he's asking for your input.]

Oh…

Amy simply shrugged; she had no idea what to do now. In the manga, the elderly woman had eventually let them in, but the circumstances had been different. They had had three whole days to convince her, and Lyra's healing magic, which also worked on broken minds. But now, they couldn't allow themselves that luxury.

"Hello?" Crow called, rapping his knuckles against the wooden surface. "We've returned. We need to speak with you."

Silence.

He knocked again, louder this time. "Please. We mean no harm. We need urgent aid."

From within came a muffled sound—not words, but something like a whimper or a sob.

"This is pointless," Ash muttered after another minute of silence. "She's clearly not going to answer."

Crow turned to Amy again. "You said we needed to visit her. Why?"

"I saw a hidden door to reach the Academy through my book, and then used my ability to know how to reach it. And, it's telling me that we need to come here first."

"Why here?"

"I don't know." The lie came as smoothly as usual. "I don't know the details, only the destination."

"So the answer to our problems is in there?" Iris asked.

Amy nodded at her.

At this, Iris nodded back and stepped forward. "Let's not lose time, then. I've had enough of this." Without waiting for a response, she moved to the door, adjusting her stance.

"What are you—" Lyra began.

With a sudden burst of strength, Iris slammed her shoulder against the door. The wood splintered with a loud crack, and the door swung inward, hanging from a single hinge.

"Problem solved," she declared, dusting off her shoulder.

"Brute," Ash commented, approaching the door with a smile.

Iris smiled back, then made the motion of entering, but suddenly stopped dead in her tracks.

A wall of stench—so powerful that Amy, despite being several feet behind, physically recoiled, her hand flying to cover her nose and mouth. The odor was indescribable, a nauseating combination of decay, unwashed bodies, and something else... poop?

"What the actual fuck," Iris gagged, stepping back from the doorway.

Even Crow, typically stoic, grimaced at the smell. "Stay alert," he warned, drawing his sword as he cautiously approached the threshold.

Crow stepped through the doorway first, his sword held defensively before him. The others followed cautiously, with Ash, Lain, and Iris flanking him while Lyra and Zayd hung back. Amy entered last, fighting the urge to gag as the full force of the stench hit her.

The interior of the inn was barely recognizable. What had once probably been a common room was now a garbage dump filled with overturned furniture, broken glass, and—most disturbingly—piles of rotting food and human excrement scattered across the floor. The walls were covered in strange markings—frantic scribbles and symbols that seemed to have been drawn with charcoal, mud, and what looked like dried blood.

"By the gods," Lyra whispered, her hand covering her mouth and nose.

As their eyes adjusted to the dimness, they could make out a hunched figure in the far corner of the room. A woman sat rocking back and forth, her gray hair wild, her clothes torn and filthy. Her fingers worked frantically at something in her lap—papers or scraps of fabric, it was hard to tell in the low light.

Amy froze and felt a strong urge to vomit. With everything going on, she had forgotten how gross this part was in the original story.

Still, she ignored her discomfort and instead focused on the truly important part: the elderly woman. The only human being that had managed to survive the apocalypse.

Amy heard a collective gasp from her companions as recognition dawned on them one by one. Despite the woman's disheveled appearance, despite the madness that clearly gripped her. It was the same face that had once gazed down from the Academy's entrance ceremony that everyone in here recognized, and had inspired fear in all of them just a few hours ago.

"Wait... that can't be..." Ash's voice trailed off.

"Impossible," Lyra breathed, her eyes widening in disbelief.

Not the Gaspards, or the tribe of Onyx, or any of the most powerful ability users on the planet. Just her, she was somehow the only human being who survived the apocalypse. But it had cost her everything.

"Headmistress…?" Crow whispered, disbelief coloring his voice.

"Holy shit." Iris's mouth fell open. "Holy fucking shit. How is this even—?"

Zayd visibly paled. He stepped forward cautiously, his amber eyes studying the woman with astonishment. "This…" he said quietly. "I knew I recognized that voice before, but I never imagined..."

While everyone stared at her in stunned silence, the headmistress continued rocking, muttering unintelligibly to herself, seemingly unaware of their presence. The papers in her lap—Amy could now see they were torn pages covered in frantic scribbles and drawings—rustled as her dirty fingers moved across them.

After several moments of shocked stillness, Crow finally gathered himself and carefully approached, crouching down a few feet away from her. "Headmistress," he said gently, his voice still unsteady. "It's Crow Thorne."

Elyndra's movements paused momentarily, her head tilting slightly as though listening. But then she resumed her rocking with renewed vigor, her muttering growing louder though no more comprehensible.

"Headmistress," Crow tried again, his voice firmer despite the shock still evident on his face. "We need to reach the Library below the Academy. I think you could help us."

The woman's head snapped up suddenly, her eyes wide and bloodshot. "NO!" she shrieked, her voice cracking. Then she clutched the papers to her chest protectively. "Leave, leave, leave, leave, LEAVE!"

Crow recoiled slightly, exchanging troubled glances with the others as the old woman continued screaming. They all still looked shell-shocked, struggling to reconcile the powerful, dignified headmistress they knew with this broken figure before them.

Eventually he turned to Lyra, then after some pondering he went instead to Amy. "Can you use your ability? See if there's a way to reach her?"

Amy grimaced.

She knew this was coming.

Ughhh. This looked like the kind of thing that was very painful and taxing... But there were no other options…

"I can," she said reluctantly.

Amy closed her eyes, focusing her thoughts, searching for the threads of possibility that would lead them to her—

Uh…?

Something was wrong. As she reached for the thread that would show her how to convince the headmistress to help them, she found... nothing. The paths simply weren't there. Not impossible to reach like others… It literally just did not exist.

Amy's eyes snapped open, confusion evident on her face.

"What is it?" Crow asked, noting her expression.

"I can't see a path," she admitted, her voice low enough that only Crow could hear. "There's no future where we convince her to help us reach the Academy."

Crow's brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

Maybe I'm asking the wrong question…?

Amy thought quickly, adjusting her strategy.

She closed her eyes again, this time focusing on a different question: how to obtain the mark or amulet in the manga to reach the side entrance of the Academy? She remembered vaguely that Crow had received something from the headmistress—not willingly given, but somehow acquired.

When she opened her eyes again, she spoke with more confidence. Her ability was working, just like usual.

That was weird…

"We need an amulet she has. It has a mark that will help us get through a teleporter directly into the Academy."

"And how do we get it?" Crow asked skeptically, eyeing the clearly unstable woman.

"We just need to…talk to her…?" Amy said, surprising herself with the simplicity of the answer. "Only for a few minutes. The rest will happen naturally…"

Iris furrowed her brows. "That's it? Just... talk to the crazy— I mean, to the…" her voice trailed off as she stared at what looked like the headmistress with a complicated expression.

"…" Amy did not reply. She herself was very confused about all this…

Ash made a disgusted sound, wrinkling his nose at the stench. "Well, you all have fun. I'm going to explore, search for information, and stuff outside where I can actually breathe… And think…"

"I'll join you," Lyra added quickly, giving one last look at the headmistress before backing toward the door. "...I need fresh air…and I also need to think…."

Ash and Lyra retreated. Zayd, who was trying to mask his disgust, also followed them silently when he looked like he was at his limit, leaving Amy, Crow, and Lain with the muttering headmistress. Crow turned back to Elyndra, uncertainty crossing his features before he steeled himself and continued.

"Headmistress," he began again, his voice gentle but persistent. "We understand you're afraid. But, something terrible has happened—is happening. We need to reach the Academy urgently or we will all die. Please."

The headmistress continued rocking, but her muttering quieted slightly as though she were listening.

"Headmistress," Crow tried again, his voice gentle but firm. "Please. Look at me."

Elyndra continued rocking, clutching her papers to her chest. Her bloodshot eyes darted wildly around the room, never quite focusing on anyone.

"The Library," Crow persisted. "We need to find the Library beneath the Academy. Can you help us?"

At the mention of the Library, the woman's rocking intensified. "No, no, no," she muttered. "Leave, leave, leave, leave, leave…"

Amy shifted uncomfortably, watching Crow's increasingly frustrated attempts to communicate with the broken woman. Would talking really get them somewhere…? Had her ability malfunctioned or something?

As Crow continued trying to talk with the woman, Lain had moved closer to the walls, studying the frantic scribbles with silent intensity. Her silver eyes narrowed as she traced the patterns with her gaze.

"Crow," she called softly. "...these markings..."

Crow, with a sigh, reluctantly turned away from the headmistress, moving to join Lain at the wall. Amy followed, relieved to step away from the rocking woman; it was very uncomfortable seeing her that way.

The wall was covered in chaotic drawings—illustrations interspersed with weird-looking writing. Most were incomprehensible, but as Amy looked closer, certain patterns became apparent. One drawing appeared repeatedly: a massive figure of a woman descending from the sky, with dark liquid coming from her eyes and touching tiny stick figures below. Wherever the liquid touched, the figures transformed into what looked like ash.

"Look at this. Days marked. One through three." Crow's finger stopped at the third mark, where the drawing showed the massive figure completely engulfing the planet. "Three days until... whatever is happening."

"And this," Lain pointed to a separate drawing nearby—a crude map with a distinctive X marked beneath a structure that could only be the Academy. Beside it were symbols that resembled a clock or calendar. "...timing is important..."

Crow studied the drawing intently, his brow furrowed in concentration. "The Library... it's only accessible now. Three days before the end." He turned to Amy. "That's what you meant about not waiting. The window is closing."

Huh…?

"Not exactly…" Amy replied instinctively, though in truth, she hadn't known this specific detail. Her urgency had been based on the chaos creatures' unexpected numbers.

"I see… Then our situation is even more pressing than I—"

Crow furrowed his brows as he noticed Lain freeze at his side. The girl's silver eyes fixed on something in one of the papers. A symbol made with blood.

[Amy.]

Mmm?

Amy looked towards her satchel with her head tilted to the side.

She waited for Libris to continue, but the voice in her head fell silent.

She prompted with a slight tap to her satchel for the book to continue talking.

[...Never mind,] it finally said with that robotic voice of its.

Amy frowned, wanting to press, but right now it really wasn't the moment. Instead, she shifted her attention back to Crow and Lain.

They were both staring at a symbol seemingly made with blood.

Amy saw how Crow's expression shifted to a scowl in an instant, darkening as he turned towards the headmistress and his eyes glowed slightly; probably activating his third ability—Soul Sight.

Right after, his eyes widened in shock. "Get back!" he shouted, drawing Bloodedge in one fluid motion. "It's not her!"

Amy barely had time to process his words as Elyndra suddenly let out an inhuman shriek. Her form rippled and distorted, skin splitting to reveal glistening black ichor beneath. What had appeared to be the headmistress's arms elongated into blade-like appendages, and her mouth stretched impossibly wide, filled with needle-like teeth.

The creature lunged deliberately toward Amy, moving with unnatural speed.

Miraculously, Amy's hand flew up instinctively. Then a golden barrier materialized between her and the creature, one significantly stronger and more defined than her previous attempts in training.

The blood mimic slammed against the barrier, breaking it quite easily. Yet still, its movements were partially stopped. It was only a single second, but still enough for Lain to get between the two, frost erupting from her hands as she sent a wave of ice shards toward the creature. Simultaneously, Crow darted forward, Bloodedge slicing towards its head.

Lain's ice pierced the creature, momentarily immobilizing it, while Crow's blade cleaved through its neck. Black ichor sprayed across the floor as the blood mimic collapsed, its form already beginning to dissolve into a puddle of darkness.

Amy stumbled backward, her hands trembling as shock overtook her. Her mind raced, trying to comprehend what she'd just witnessed.

It took her a few seconds for her thoughts to begin flowing properly. And when they did, it was like a tsunami.

What the fuck is going on!?

Blood mimics. Here, in this future nightmare.

It didn't make sense. Nothing made sense.

This was the future, the Blood Emperor had been defeated by now—long before these events. By the time the Devourer arrived, the Blood Emperor faction should have been completely eradicated.

So how...?

An ominous, terrifying thought began to form in Amy's mind, but before it could fully crystallize, Crow's voice cut through her spiraling mind.

"There's an illusion here," he said, his eyes still glowing. He approached the far wall, hand outstretched. "Something hidden."

His fingers seemed to catch on invisible fabric, and with a swift motion, he tore away what appeared to be empty air. The illusion shattered like glass, revealing a hidden alcove behind.

The stench that followed was overwhelming—no longer just the general filth of the room, but the unmistakable odor of death and decay.

Curled in the alcove was a body.

Not a blood mimic, not a chaos creature, but a human corpse in an advanced state of decomposition. Despite the deterioration, enough remained to identify the corpse as the real Headmistress Elyndra. Her body was contorted in death, limbs bent at unnatural angles. Deep gashes carved across her torso and throat showed how she had died—violently, painfully. The only thing left intact was her face.

Amy stared at the grotesque corpse, her body freezing on the spot. Her vision narrowed to a tunnel. The sounds became muffled and distant. Her chest gradually tightened, each breath growing shallower than the last. A slight tremor began in her fingers, gradually spreading up her arms.

Somewhere beyond the roaring in her ears, Crow and Lain were speaking, their voices coming to her as if underwater.

"...blood mimic," Crow was saying, his voice tense. "Advanced."

Lain's quiet voice responded, "...must have been here for days..."

Amy's breathing quickened further as her eyes traveled to the organs on the ground. The trembling in her limbs intensified. Cold sweat broke out across her forehead and back, making her shirt cling uncomfortably to her skin.

"...watching the Academy," Lain's voice filtered through. "...knew we would come..."

A strange detachment settled over Amy, as though she were floating outside her body, watching herself from a distance. The sensation only heightened her panic.

This isn't real. This can't be real.

"...means they knew about the Library access..."

Amy's mouth went dry. A tingling sensation spread from her fingertips up her arms and across her face.

"...must be a trap..." Crow's voice faded in and out.

Through the fog, Amy suddenly felt a gentle but firm pressure on her shoulder. Lain's cool hand anchored her, the unexpected physical contact cutting through her spiraling thoughts.

"Amy," Lain said, her voice low but clear.

Amy snapped through her shock, and instantly took a step back.

"I'm—I'm okay," she managed, though her voice sounded thin and unconvincing even to her own ears.

Lain studied her face for a moment longer, then gave a small nod, though her hand remained on Amy's shoulder.

"Take your time," she said simply, before turning back to Crow, who had been watching them in silence with an expression of discomfort on his face.

After a beat, he approached Amy too, tapped her other shoulder rather awkwardly, then turned back towards the corpse once again. Then he took something from it—an amulet. "We need to get away from here, now. This whole place is compromised."

After examining it closely, he moved toward the door, his hand remained on Bloodedge's hilt, ready to draw the blade again at the slightest provocation.

"There could be other dangers," he continued, glancing back at Amy and Lain. "Whoever set this thing up is playing with us. They are overconfident; that gives us an advantage… Still, our immediate concern isn't them, but the Library. For now, we will still focus on that."

Amy nodded, straightening her posture, although her limbs still felt weak and disconnected. Her mind was racing, trying to reconcile what she was seeing with what she knew—or thought she knew—about the timeline.

Blood mimics shouldn't be here. None of this aligned with the future she had expected. The only way for them to be here is if someone brought them here.

And despite wanting to run away from reality, she knew who it had been.

Crow also seemed to know, going by the subtle bite of his lip. And so did Lain.

It was the person who had led them here all along. The same one who wouldn't—shouldn't appear at least until Act 3 and definitely absolutely couldn't be here, in this nightmare, but obviously was…

It was Crow's father.

In the manga, he was just your average cliché crazy semi-villain doing things for the good of the world. The most terrifying of individuals.

With the exception of the murder, he was pretty much just like Amy's father, someone who had convinced himself of his own lies.

Amy stood frozen, her mind racing as the horrifying implications settled in. The corpse of Headmistress Elyndra, the blood mimic impersonating her—none of this matched the original timeline she knew.

This wasn't just a minor deviation anymore. The plot was completely derailed.

In the original manga, Elyndra had been traumatized but alive. The Blood Emperor and his mimics should have been long defeated by now. Crow's father wasn't meant to appear until much later. And the fucking chaos creatures weren't gathering so damn fast.

Everything was wrong. So utterly, catastrophically wrong.

He's here already. Why? How?

Amy pressed her fingers against her temples, trying to suppress the trembling that still coursed through her body. Her breath came in shallow gasps as she tried to realign her understanding of this world.

If Crow's father was already active in this timeline, manipulating events from the shadows... what else had changed? What other traps awaited them? The thought made her stomach lurch.

Why did everyone fucking suddenly change?

"This doesn't make sense," she whispered to herself.

Crow turned to her, his brow furrowed with confusion. "What do you mean?"

"…nothing."

"..." Crow's eyes were still fixed on her for a few more seconds before he finally turned.

He led the way toward the door, his sword still drawn, every muscle tense as they navigated through the squalor of the desecrated inn. Amy followed close behind, her breathing still uneven but more controlled. The ice wielder meanwhile, brought up the rear, her silver eyes constantly scanning for any additional threats that might lurk in the shadows.

Just as they were about to step outside, a figure suddenly appeared in the doorway, blocking their exit. Amy flinched backward, colliding with Lain, who steadied her with a firm hand.

"Guys! We need to—" The figure began, his words tumbling out urgently.

Before he could finish, Crow's blade was at his throat, the edge pressing just firmly enough to dimple the skin without drawing blood.

"Crow, what the hell?!" he exclaimed, not daring to move.

Amy watched as Crow's third eye—the mark of his Soul Sight ability—flickered to life, that amber glow spreading across his iris as he stared intently at the possible impostor. The tension in the doorway was palpable as Crow scrutinized every inch of his form, searching for any sign of deception or unnatural distortion.

After several excruciating seconds, the glow faded from Crow's eyes, and he slowly lowered his blade.

"It's him," he confirmed, his voice tight.

"Of course it's me!" Ash snapped, rubbing at his throat where the sword had pressed. "What is wrong with you?"

"The Headmistress was a blood mimic," Lain explained quietly, her typically soft voice louder now. "We found her real body inside."

Ash's anger immediately dissolved, replaced by shock. "Blood mimics? Here? But—"

"No time," Crow interrupted, sheathing his blade. "What were you going to tell us?"

"Right." Ash's expression shifted back to urgency. "Chaos creatures. Hundreds of them, converging on this location from all directions— We need to move, now."

What?

"What?"