NOVEL NEXT B2 | Chapter 23 - Questions
Cassandra
Year 820 | Month 5 | Day 8
I wake up feeling groggy, only to blink and get up in an instant after realizing that someone else is nearby. But my wariness only turns to surprise when I spot a certain invader sitting nearby while patting Thrix 2’s head.
Huh? What’s Leo doing here?
“I see you’re finally awake,” Leo says, not taking his eyes off of Thrix 2. “You were gone so long that you missed the meeting with your father.” He finally looks at me amidst Thrix 2’s purring. “So he sent me here to check on you.”
Oh. Right. Forgot that Dad might get worried about me if I stayed in this forest for a week.
“Nice work with the angel by the way,” he says, confusing me into frowning for a moment. But he just continues without mentioning anything else about that as he says, “Were you here trying to advance your Wrath Transformation? In a particularly reckless way, I might add.”
That has me awkwardly looking away.
Okay, so it’s reckless. At least it’s working. Very well.
I’ve already increased it by… about a tenth or so of a percentage? I realized that it varies depending on the transformation I end up accidentally attempting to transform into.
“What works, works,” I tell him with a shrug. Then I ask, “How did the negotiations turn out?”
He leans forwards from his place seated on a log as he answers, “We’ve begun working with the Liathtrian Kingdom against the New Earth Alliance, and have offered more than a little information on them for your father to peruse and spread out. But the Protector of Earth started sending more angels. Especially after the angel he sent after you was killed.”
I blink at that before tilting my head and asking, “Wait, an angel was sent after me?”
He stars at me in confusion, “Yeah… you killed it, remember?”
I stare back and shake my head, “Not that I remember.”
We stare at each other for several seconds before he gets up from the branch and moves over to right in front of a random bush in my Wrath infused clearing. A clearing that I’m only now noticing isn’t attacking him. Then he starts to dig through the dirt until he reveals an angelic wing.
“Are you telling me you didn’t kill this thing?” he asks while pointing at the angelic wing buried in the ground.
I just shake my head without taking my gaze away from the thing.
Did… an angel really attack while I was unconscious? But then what happened? Why is it dead? Why am I still alive?
Was the thing killed by my Wrath infused forest? I doubt it. I highly doubt it.
And there’s no way Thrix 2 killed it.
Also, how’d it end up buried underground?
So… what happened?
I glance at Leo and ask, “So, you sure you didn’t kill it yourself?”
He nods his head and says, “I did not kill it. When I arrived, you were unconscious on the ground next to the dead angel.”
“Was there anyone nearby?” I ask while finally getting up and walking over to kneel down next to the dead corpse.
“No,” he answers rather quickly while looking down at it next to me.
Just… how did this thing end up dead?
I feels more than a little uncomfortable at the thought of something else being nearby. Something strong enough to deal with a Guardian without anyone spotting it.
“How many people in Midgard are strong enough to kill a Guardian, even if it’s restricted in level?” he asks, finally making me turn away from the corpse to look at him. But he’s still staring at the angel corpse.
I turn back to the corpse myself again as I answer, “Not many. At most I can think of one being that I’ve met other than the Guardians and Protector of Midgard who could do it.”
My thoughts return to the lich I remember meeting back in Aulta. A lich who I haven’t seen again since.
The creature was absolutely terrifying in its power. Even beyond just its level, the miasma the creature was letting off… I’d never sensed something like it before.
Even the Protector of Midgard wasn’t so intimidating, despite the fact that he’s far more powerful.
Which… was weird. But not as weird as how I’d never so much as heard of that lich existing before seeing it there. Not one mention of it from anyone.
And I understand that no one generally goes into the glaciers of Aulta, but someone should’ve at least seen him or sensed the miasma at some point in time.
Yet no one did. Even after I left to go to the Conjunction, after a scouting party went out there to check it out. They still didn’t find him.
As if he disappeared.
Is it possible… could he…
“Cassandra? Are you okay?” Leo asks, snapping me out of my train of thought.
I nod my head, “Yeah, sorry about that. Got lost in thought.”
It’s not possible. A being that powerful wouldn’t likely go around following someone like me.
Despite knowing that, I also know that if they’re eccentric, they may very well be interested in the Seven Deadly Sins. And from what I’ve heard, all liches are eccentric.
Although, if it was him, then wouldn’t that mean he’s protecting me? Most likely.
That wouldn’t be too bad, but I still don’t like the unknown.
I continue looking at the angel for several more seconds before sighing and burying it the rest of the way again. Then I stand up straight and walk over towards the red barrier to reenter my cavern, feeling slightly awkward about the fact that I was unconscious outside of the cavern barrier.
Even if none of the nearby monsters would ever get close to the Wrath infused stuff.
I pass through my barrier before taking a seat on a rock in the cavern.
Then I focus on Leo after he walks through the opening I made and ask, “So why aren’t the Wrath induced things nearby attacking you?”