Huu…
Exhaling a long breath, Ileya restrained the turbulent killing intent surging within her.
“You don’t need to thank me. I didn’t come here specifically to help you.”
Ileya’s voice was cold and indifferent.
“If you have time, you’d better take better care of your sister.”
“Ugh…” Holly, her forehead bruised with obvious blue and purple marks, got up and stared blankly after Ileya’s departing figure.
Although she still seemed as arrogant as ever…
Why did it feel like her attitude towards me had become noticeably colder just now?
Did I… do something to upset her?
But now was definitely not the time to ponder such things.
Thinking this, Holly gritted her teeth against the pain that seemed to strike every part of her body and hurried toward the inner room of the apothecary—the room where her sister was.
…
In the front hall of the apothecary, such a heinous murder had taken place.
Normally, there should have been some guards gathered here, but now… probably because Doug the Knight, who had just “stood up for justice,” had spoken out, no guard dared to come and bring bad luck upon themselves.
Only a few scattered civilians lingered outside, watching the scene.
But after seeing the old apothecary’s body slashed into several pieces at a slant, they panicked and fled, unwilling to pay more attention.
Meanwhile, Reliel was leaning against the overturned counter, her brow slightly furrowed.
Her mood was far from good.
Not just because her paired sword was broken… but because of what the broken blade symbolized.
She… was still too weak.
If she hadn’t just extended the blade to block the attack but instead had dodged swiftly…
Would she have been sliced in half along with her sword?
Just like the old apothecary lying on the ground now?
Her right hand instinctively gripped the hilt of her broken sword…
But if it were Ileya… she definitely could have easily blocked that strike, right?
The girl’s mind replayed the words Ileya had whispered in her ear earlier.
【Did you see that? This is the difference between the strong and the weak…】
【Do you want to become… a strong one like me?】
“Strong…” Reliel muttered to herself.
Life in the mercenary company was comfortable. Although the other female members were not particularly fond of her, she knew…
What mattered were her caring father and Bena. That was enough for Reliel.
But… if she kept living such a comfortable life, helping to manage the venue, patrolling the surrounding area, and so on…
She would never receive effective training, and could never grow stronger through those tasks!
Just as this thought crossed her mind, footsteps sounded from the side rear door.
Turning her head, she saw the Lady standing calmly by the door, watching her.
“What are you thinking about?”
The Lady asked.
Reliel opened her mouth but only sighed, shaking her head.
Still so reluctant to talk…
Ileya didn’t mind and simply looked ahead.
Above the old apothecary’s corpse, the soul of that long-faced woman still drifted.
And the old apothecary’s soul had clearly been completely swallowed by her.
This made her form slightly more solid than before…
However, although she seemed more powerful now, after exacting revenge on the old apothecary…
She appeared more dazed than before.
Her entire soul stood frozen in place, still wearing that grotesque expression but doing nothing.
It was unclear whether she had no reason to act or was immobilized while digesting the other’s soul…
But those details didn’t matter…
Ileya reached into the side pouch at her waist and pulled out a scroll.
But just as she was about to open it, her movement suddenly halted…
Because facing this slightly stronger soul ahead, she felt her wrist beginning to burn faintly!
“Hmm?”
Looking down at her wrist instinctively, she saw that the spot was indeed the tattoo-like “Key to the Land of the Dead.”
Holding a tentative hope, Ileya pointed her finger at the female ghost ahead…
Huu—!
“Eh?”
The next second, not only Ileya froze in shock, but even Reliel sitting nearby widened her eyes.
Because before Ileya, a circle of black holes appeared out of thin air!
And the moment this black hole formed, the dazed soul of the long-faced woman was sucked inside… even the old apothecary’s corpse…
Was drawn in together.
Only a pool of scarlet blood remained on the ground.
Huu! As Ileya withdrew her outstretched finger, curling her hand into a fist… the black hole in front of her disappeared!
Her pupils constricted sharply, and Reliel instinctively stood up, staring at Ileya—whose eyes were equally full of shock.
The Lady also came back to her senses.
The soul and corpse… were both sealed within the Kingdom of the Dead?!
She checked briefly, and her internal mana had not been reduced much… nor did she feel anything unusual.
So the Key to the Land of the Dead could be used like this?
Though eager to immediately enter the Kingdom of the Dead to see for herself, Reliel was still standing by her side.
She was unsure whether she would suddenly vanish or just faint.
So it was better to…
Vzzz!!
The next second, almost without warning, Ileya suddenly froze in place!
From her perspective, the space around her twisted in varying degrees…
Gurgle… at this moment, the air before her, the sky above, the earth beneath…
Everything in this world seemed to transform into countless eyes.
They appeared to observe Ileya from different angles.
Some fragmented and chaotic words crawled out from these eyes, like bats trying to crawl into her mind…
“Eh?!”
She instinctively took two steps back, her eyes losing almost all their light at this moment…
【Gah—!!】
But at that very moment, the familiar yet strange cawing rang out again!
Hoo hoo hoo!!
A Black-purple Crow seemed to fly in from the edge of the sky, or rather… it seemed to emerge from within her own eyes.
After the crow cawed twice, the gazes observing her seemed to lessen, though not disappear entirely.
They appeared to hide in the shadows of houses, behind clouds, slipping into cracks in the ground.
They hadn’t left, still waiting for their chance.
“What… the hell…” But because those gazes hid away, Ileya’s previously blank mind instantly cleared, regaining her ability to think.
Yet it was not a good thing, because the fear and pressure made it nearly impossible to think normally…
What are those?
Those gazes… what are they?
And what have they been saying?
Completely… incomprehensible. It felt like her head was about to explode…
How… could she escape them…
“Hey!”
“Hey!! Are you alright!?”
Huu… Just as Ileya was lost in these thoughts, a familiar voice suddenly sounded beside her.
And the gazes hiding away all vanished without a trace the instant the voice appeared.
At that moment, Ileya felt her mind and body truly return to her control.
Turning her head, she saw Veil’s small face, a bit worried but cute… clear yet foolish.
At the same time… the Black-purple Crow was perched on the Goddess Young Lady’s shoulder, tilting its head and looking at her.
【Caw…】
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.