Elements: The Ancient Tomb

Chapter 3: The Hunter

As soon as she saw Victor, she immediately waved her hand and slapped him in the face, causing him to fall. He hugged his face but didn't react with resistance. The woman shouted:

"You are the director here, right? I have to count your sins. You are responsible for my brother's death. Life for life, go and die. If you hadn't sent him there, he wouldn't have died so young."

The security guard immediately kept her from being rude and said:

"Hey, you're too crazy. I'll get you out of here."

Victor stood up, and whispered to reassure her:

"Calm down. I'm not the director here, OK? Tell me, what's your brother's name?"

Victor looked at the picture in her hand with himself in it, pointed at it, and said:

"That picture… why am I here?"

That girl who was struggling and screaming suddenly stopped after listening to that. She looked at the photo and was surprised, said:

"You… you were one of the crew members that went with my brother."

"What's your brother's name?"

"Andre."

Hearing the name "Andre", Victor asked:

"Where is he in the picture?"

She pointed to her brother in the picture. Seeing Andre's face, Victor suddenly remembered that he had been in contact with this person on a trip. The two of them were talking to each other very happily, like a pair of minds. I remembered Andre's final words:

"I hope this trip goes well. After this trip, we will have a great dinner together, and I'll introduce my only younger sister to you. what do you think about it, senior? Are you excited?"

Suddenly, his head jumped to another memory, a somewhat terrifying memory weirder and scarier- when the two of them were in the cave that was collapsing by vibration. Victor witnessed the moment the rocks on the top of the cave fell on Andre non-stop. He tried to struggle.

He couldn't get out because a big stone crushed his right leg. What he could do at that time was only cry out in despair:

"Victor, save my life. I don't want to die, don't leave me here. I want to be alive."

The last scene Victor saw was the scene where Andre was buried in the rocks. Victor knelt, with a stunned expression, eyes wide open with an indeterminate look, and a trembling mouth, enough to describe how he was shocked, and said:

"Oh no, Andre, everyone... I remember now."

Victor proved extremely awkward in front of Andre's younger sister. She asked:

"I am Andre's younger sister, Amber. Is it Mr. Helblinken? No way, why are you still alive? The media reported that the collapse of the cave killed everyone in the crew."

Victor tormented himself, unable to keep silent anymore, and said:

"I was the only one who survived the crash, somehow miraculously."

Amber looked at Victor with probing eyes, which made him a little confused and sweated. Suddenly she exclaimed:

"Andre always talks about you as a respectable, exemplary, kind, and a bit cold senior. He showed great admiration and love for you, he always stuck to you like a shadow."

"I remember. He often sticks with me to learn from experience and go out drinking to relieve stress. He's a funny guy who always knows how to make you laugh."

"Mr. Helblinken, you are still alive, which makes me very happy. Can you tell me what happened in the cave?"

Victor froze, his eyes averted, and his heart ached. Amber tried to convince:

"Please tell me. My brother had to die suddenly, right? Why did the cave collapse?"

"Sorry, but that's all I can remember. I can't remember anything else."

"What the hell? You're joking, aren't you?"

"I lost my memory after that cave collapse. I'm trying to recover my memories every day."

"You say that to hide from the truth, right?"

Susan came over and said:

"What are you saying? He lost his memory. How could he…"

"After the collapse of the cave, I was hit on the head by a rock, so all my memories were lost, I still wonder why I was able to survive, maybe…I was the one who indirectly caused it."- Victor interrupted Susan's words.

Those words were like an invisible knife piercing Susan's heart. She grabbed Victor's shirt and shouted:

"I don't understand what you mean..."- Amber said

"I remember the moment when Andre was crushed to death by the rocks. At that time, I did nothing and let him die."

"Oh, my God. Andre... So you left him to death, didn't you?"

"You shouldn't second-guess. It can't prove that he indirectly caused their deaths, maybe then it's too late to save his life so..." - Susan said.

Amber looked at Victor and said:

"Answer me, you could have saved his life at that moment, right?"

"Maybe..."

Amber gave Victor a very strong slap on the other cheek and said:

"Turns out you let him die like that. I was wrong about you. You were just a coward, a guy eager to live and afraid to die. You will be retribution."

Then she broke free from the guard's grip and turned to leave, tears still flowing. Suddenly, coming to the door, she stopped, took a few steps back, pointed her finger forward, and exclaimed:

"Monster...Don't, don't come near me."

People found it strange and immediately went over. Amber slipped and fell behind, so Victor quickly ran to help. He saw Amber's extremely panicked expression, and looked at what her hand was pointing at. There was nothing suspicious in front of her. Susan asked:

"Are you okay? What makes you so afraid?"

Amber suddenly calmed down, put down her hand, and said:

"Nothing. It's because I'm hallucinating."

Suddenly she noticed that the person behind her was Victor, so she pushed him away and said:

"Never come near me again, you asshole."

So Amber turned around and left. Victor was a bit sad. Susan encouraged him:

"It's okay. Wait until you remember everything, then talk to her. I believe you are not the person Amber said."

"Thank you. But I can't forgive myself yet. Hopefully, I will get my memory soon. So let's go inside."

As soon as he went inside, Susan said:

"Do you know? Amber's family lived in the countryside of Pennsylvania. Andre is the eldest son and the breadwinner of the family. When hearing the news of Andre's death, Amber's family was extremely miserable."

"Can you tell me more specifically?"

"Amber's mother was depressed, always crying for Andre's death until she was sick and unable to work in the field, her husband was old and weak, and when he heard the news, he was so shocked and fell seriously ill and died. The whole family fell into debt because of the loss of a pillar, even selling the land left by their ancestors couldn't help them pay all of the debt, so they had to mortgage many expensive jewelry and appliances to have money to survive."

"Really? They are so pitiful. I feel sorry for them."- Susan said then picked up the phone to call someone. After talking for a while, she said:

"Oh, I'm sorry. Now we have an urgent meeting, it will probably be over an hour."

"No problem. I can come back tomorrow. I still have to go back to do my job in an hour."

"Ok, see you tomorrow."

Victor went out the door after saying goodbye to Susan. After walking for a while, he could no longer see the tree near the building and wondered:

"Wow, I've seen a tree here since I was here, where did it disappear?"

Suddenly, he had a bad feeling in his heart, he quickly put on a mask and ran in the direction Amber had just gone. After running for a while, he saw everyone running around because of the appearance of a monster. He hid in one place, thinking:

"I knew it. "The Tree Monster". So this tree was him. Why did he attack this place? Could it be that he already knows my identity? So he's here to find me, isn't he?!"

Thedus appeared and said:

"No, he probably came here because of Handaz's instructions."

"Is it him again?"

"Handaz should be able to sense my aura and sent him here to find me…"

"Dammit!"

Suddenly, the monster grabbed a fallen man and hit him. Victor now had no mind to think anymore, so he pulled out his Elemental Card. Thedus asked:

"Hey, are you going to transform to save that guy?"

"No, I don't want to transform yet, but I can't let him attack indiscriminately like this. Don't worry, I have another choice."

Victor shouted: "Shooting Mode- Activate!" then shot lightning from the Elemental Card to "The Tree Monster". He saved this person's life. Being attacked by surprise, the monster calmly looked around as if he knew who the enemy was. He shouted so that Victor's side could hear:

"I know you are near, Thedus. Show up and fight me. My master told me to wait here because he could feel your aura here."

"Now I have to go back there and tell Susan and everyone to evacuate. Saving their life is in advance."- Victor thought, then hid behind the wall.

Suddenly Victor heard "Keeng!". He turned to look and saw Amber holding a stick to sneak attack the monster. He got mad, snatched the stick from her hand, and knocked her to the ground. Victor was surprised and thought:

"Oh my Goodness, why is she acting so foolishly? I thought she ran away a long time ago?"

Seeing the dire situation, he said to Thedus:

"Change of plans, I will fight him. I can't wait any longer. This time I will defeat him."

"There is no other way. Go there and crush him."

Victor stretched out his sleeve. He activated the yellow Element Scanner worn on his wrist. He took the Elemental Card and gestured to place it on the transformation device. The Scanner exclaimed: "Lightning", a beam of light surrounded him, turning him into "Yellow Lightning".

Amber showed no fear, and said to "The Tree Monster":

"Are you the henchman that was sent to kill me by him?"

"What are you saying? Whatever, I'll take your life."- "The Tree Monster" replied.

Before finishing speaking, he was slashed by Victor from behind with "Lightning Sword", allowing Amber to escape from the monster. "The Tree Monster" appeared to be in quite a bit of pain, but still laughed loudly and said:

"Finally, you showed up."

"Yeah, this time I will destroy you."

After a few minutes of fighting, Victor used a weapon to summon lightning from the sky to shoot directly at "The Tree Monster". "The Tree Monster" dodged the first time, but the second time he was hit, and fell. He immediately begged Victor to spare his life, but Victor said:

"I refuse your plea. Prepare to die."

Suddenly, a pile of tree roots emerged from the ground, clinging to Victor's body very tightly. It turned out that the monster had slipped the tree roots on his body into the hole below caused by Victor's lightning and then got up to grab him. He laughs gleefully.

"Ha ha ha, how smart I am. Take advantage of the hole you made to kick your ass. My roots deep in the ground will grow and when the buds come up, they will cling very tightly. Now, who should beg?"

Victor tried to stir but realized that the roots were getting tighter and tighter. He exclaimed:

"I didn't expect you to have this trick. It was a surprise. But a plea is not an option with me."

A strange phenomenon occurred when the monster was about to deliver the finishing blow. The roots of the trees on Victor's body suddenly had white molds emerging and drooping, no longer clinging to him. And the monster suddenly showed signs of withering, the foliage on his body also turned yellow and fell. he fell to his knees in weakness, trembled, and groaned:

"Oh my God, what happened to my body? Why all of a sudden…"

"What happened to him? He looks like a dead tree." - Victor was very surprised.

The monster immediately collected the roots from the ground, but as soon as he pulled them out, a stream of water shot up from below and hit him. Victor exclaimed:

"Water? How can it..."

Seeing the monster lying in pain, Victor took advantage of it to go to Amber and said:

"Look for a place to hide. It's dangerous here."

Because at that time, Victor used his real voice, Amber immediately recognized:

"This voice… No way, you are…"