Chapter 724: Question Marks
Sylas' eyes narrowed, not quite understanding what he was seeing.
Professor Fembroise had an aura that didn't make any sense. It even felt like her level of threat was beyond the Dogons. But that couldn't possibly be the case.
'Wait, was it really her?'
Sylas had dismissed the thought earlier because it didn't make any sense at all. If he thought about how much strength it would take to send so much lava flying, almost crack his armor, and even send him so high into the skies from a single push... well, he could only say that someone with that sort of strength should be able to kill him with a single blow.
There shouldn't be anyone on Earth right now capable of outputting that level of power. What was even odder was the fact that if that amount of power really came out from within the Basilisk King's mouth, then his contract should also be dead.
2999 Constitution or not, there was no way it could survive that kind of blow. But... he was certain that the Basilisk King was alive, and not even very injured at that. In fact, the Basilisk King was still in a peaceful sleep.
No matter how he thought about it, it just didn't make any sense.
The shriek echoed out, and in an odd twist, it seemed to shake a moment of clarity out from Professor Fembroise. A hint of conscious intelligence came back to her, and then she was hit with a wave of fear.
She realized that Sylas was above her head and immediately turned to run. But seemingly not understanding how she was standing in the air, she tried to move her feet, only to swipe out at nothing.
Stumbling oddly, she lost her balance and then plummeted back down toward the lava below.
Sylas' frown deepened. He would have almost preferred it if Vesta had attacked. But now things were even more confusing to him.
Maybe this was good news. At first he was wondering how to deal with Vesta while he was still on the hook. It had to be remembered that for the next several weeks, he wouldn't be allowed to kill her.
Professor Fembroise shrieked again as she plummeted toward the lava, thinking that her life was flashing before her eyes. This time however, rather than the call of a banshee, it sounded a lot more like a woman filled with more fear than she knew how to express.
'Not good...' Sylas realized the problem immediately, but he was too far away to change anything.
She fell into the lava, but the surface tension kept her upright. However...
Nothing happened.
Vesta's eyes were shut tight, however the horrible pain she was expecting didn't appear. Slowly opening her eyes, she was shocked to realize that no one had saved her, nor had she been teleported again, but...
The lava couldn't harm her?
'She's realized it now.'
What Sylas hadn't feared was Vesta's death, it was her realizing that she was far stronger than she had been before.
He could practically see the change in her eyes change as the confusion vanished and the realization dawned on her.
Waves of fatigue washed over Sylas and he was forced to dismiss his Beast Totem. Without it, the pressure on his mind lessened considerably and his Hibernation Halo began to work in conjunction with to replenish his Wisdom.
Vesta picked herself up from the lava, still somewhat unstable. But by the time she had stood to her feet, her body seemed to work properly again. In fact, she seemed even more confident now than before.
Thoughts and realizations accumulated in her mind until she firmly met Sylas' gaze once again.
In those moments in the Basilisk King's mouth, especially when its blood began to boil and she experienced heat even greater than what was found in the lava, she had truly thought that she was about to die until there was an unexpected change.
"I don't know what changes you've experienced, but I would advise you think twice before you do what you're thinking."
Sylas' words suddenly shattered Vesta's building confidence.
"You might think you have strength now, but can you fight?"
It was a simple question that shook her deeply, but only for a moment.
Soon afterward, her gaze became sharp again.
A dark aura began to take shape around her. Black scales cupped her breasts and nether regions, covering her decency as a black tail extended from her back.
Her eyes became golden slits and a crown of golden bone poked out from her hair as it lengthened. After a moment, her hair, too, became a stream of gold, making it difficult to tell where the crown ended and where her hair began.
Claws grew from her nails, glistening with the sharpness of swords as canines extended from her teeth.
In fact, even the faint wrinkles of her middle-ages began to fade, revealing the soft and supple skin she had once had in her twenties.
But none of this was what made Sylas truly narrow his eyes. This wasn't enough to shock him as he had already guessed that whatever changes had occurred in Vesta were most likely related to the Basilisk King's evolution.
The real reason his pupils couldn't help but constrict was another matter entirely.
Demonic Aether.
Why was there Demonic Aether?
BANG!
Vesta moved so fast that Sylas' eyes almost lost track of her. In a blink, her arm was piercing toward him, her newly formed claws pulsing with Demonic Aether as though a spear slicing through the wind.
[Vesta Fembroise (???)]
[Level: ???]
'Question marks?'
There was no other way to describe this. It was ridiculous.
The last time he had seen question marks from a scouting attempt was a City Lord. Just what
had she experienced to trigger this?!
At the last moment, Sylas suddenly side-stepped, unleashing a swift short kick at Vesta's ankle as he put the Dragon Bone Spear away.
Vesta toppled over, losing balance in the air once more as Sylas drove an elbow right into her
back.