Mount Yuzhkia was a special place in Eria that was covered in fog throughout all four seasons.
The mountainous terrain was rough, the fog was thick, and there were few people living in such a place that was filled with brutal and dangerous monsters.
The mountains were full of not only Orcs but also top-rank monsters, such as Ogres or Minotaurs.
The hunting captain arrived at Mount Yuzhkia a week ago, following her father, Qian Zun’s instructions.
Although the fog was thick, and the terrain was unfavorable, to her elven lineage which could naturally communicate with spirits and nature, it was not too much of a problem to traverse.
The monsters in the mountains were not the hunting captain’s opponents, who reached the pinnacle of the Peak Realm on her own.
For a week, the hunting captain stayed underneath the mountains. Every night she left her residence and examined the numerous peaks wrapped in fog. It was to capture a visible line of sight and identify where the peak closest to the moon was.
‘Father…’
Qian Zun had said that on the night of a full moon, she must climb to the peak closest to the moon. And… tonight would be the night of the full moon.
The hunting captain climbed the mountain peak that she had identified, before the moon rose. The mountain was also a forest in itself, so she, an elf, climbed the highest peaks without getting tired under the protection and guidance of the forest.
The hunting captain climbed up the cliff of the peak and jumped over the valley.
The full moon rose at its highest point as she looked into the midnight sky. There was a big lake, seemingly naturally made from rainwater, at the top of the peak.
‘The Ghost Spear…’
The hunting captain recalled the spearmaster who killed her father. She still felt that her father… should not have died.
She was irritated at herself and her own weakness.
The failure to stop her father’s death in the end, became a strong and deep-rooted grudge of the hunting captain.
She wanted to run away with her father or die fighting against the man who came to kill her father.
But, her father told her. That she had to back off. If she tried to fight then and there, she would die in vain. If she wanted to get vengeance, she must get stronger, and she would have to be strong enough to realize that with her own hands so that no other elves would die if she failed.
Even if she ran away with her father……. He would have been chased by that man known as ‘Ghost Spear’ and eventually killed.
‘Father.’
The hunting captain looked at the full moon that was not far off in the distance.
She wanted to achieve vengeance with her own hands. She didn’t even get to see her own father’s death, but he left a message for her if she wanted revenge…… and so she followed her own will here. The hunting captain’s lips opened.
“……Levitan.”
It was her father’s name that the hunting captain called out. It was the name for the Elder of the Elven Village in their forest, and was Qian Zun’s true name before being named one of the six divinities.
“Ledias, the daughter of Levitan, has come here to avenge her father.”
Ledias’ voice shook with passion.
“Ledias, the daughter of Levitan, is here to avenge her father!”
Her trembling voice became a cry. Ledias shouted loudly at the full moon.
She would not stop shouting until her answer was called. Ledias looked at the moon for a long time and shouted.
The voice that she shouted with all her strength was hoarse and eventually becoming raspy, but nevertheless, she didn’t stop and shouted so hard that her throat tasted like blood. Ledias continued to shout her hardest and eventually something changed.
The full moon began to shake. Ledias’ body shook and trembled at the awe-inspiring actions unfolding in front of her.
But, she didn’t stop shouting. The shaking full moon, then, slowly began to crack.
A seemingly magical carriage, not being led by any kind of mount, slipped out of it.
The carriage slowly descended and landed on the surface of the lake. Even though there were no animals pulling the carriage forwards, the wheels rolled across the surface of the water magically and approached Ledias.
“Levitan.”
The carriage stopped in front of Ledias. Ledias looked at the carriage with a heavy breath, trying to recollect herself from her shouting. A calm voice came out of the carriage.
“It’s been a long time since I heard him go by that name. Levitan…… yes, Qian Zun. But, I also heard that Qian Zun is dead.”
The carriage door opened. No one was riding inside it.
“Ledias, daughter of Levitan. Did your father tell you about this place?”
“……yes.”
Ledias answered the invisible voice. The answer was reacted to, with a laugh from a feminine voice, seemingly owned by a woman.
“I can’t say no to you. If you were the daughter of Levitan, I should have refused. But how can I refuse her when she comes to avenge her father?”
“Who are you……?”
“I guess Levitan didn’t explain anything to you in detail.”
The mysteriously feminine voice was eerie and had told Ledias to get in the carriage. Ledias hesitated to get on.
“I’m an old acquaintance of Levitan. Our time together was not close enough to call it friendship, but I would never let the last will of Levitan be for naught.”
The woman murmured.
“We shall see what happens later.”
The carriage door closed.
* * *
Frescan was incredibly depressed.
He sighed deeply in his living quarters.
It had already been almost half a year since he was taken and pretty much abducted by Arbeth to join Predator.
Frescan, whose shell was smashed by Lee Sungmin in the City of Endless Night, opened his eyes and looked at the secret residence where he hid his Life Vessel.
Frescan did not know what the hell happened after he had his shell smashed inside the barrier, and nor did he want to know.
Upon returning here, Frescan regained his soul’s strength by purifying it in the dense energy around him until this moment. The mana he had once had in his previous shell, was completely gone and would never come back. He had to start anew.
Thanks to this, the current Frescan was very weak.
‘Was I abandoned?’
Predator’s call had not come to him. There was no contact from Arbeth. He must have been abandoned. Frescan felt depressed and droopy.
He failed to carry out Arbeth’s orders and lost his shell, his life’s work known as the black heart, and the chimera girl he considered his daughter. Arbeth must have achieved his purpose, he thought.
Of course Arbeth would not need him anymore. Originally, the only reason Arbeth had shown interest in him was because of Aine, the chimera and the black heart which was within her.
There was nothing left for him, as the imprint of obedience had been forcibly removed from Aine and had been imprinted by Arbeth.
“What a sad fate.”
Frescan muttered in a gloomy voice. Arbeth had taken all of his life’s work and only purpose.
One of the two black hearts he had created had been taken away by a bloody thief, and that very thief destroyed his shell humiliatingly.
What kind of crime did he commit in his past life, Frescan thought. What did he do to deserve such a fate worse than dog shit.
‘No, I shouldn’t give up.’Frescan jumped up. It worked rather well if Arbeth had not tried to find him.
His lost work could be achieved again. He had already done it once, so what could stop him from creating it a second time? And it was likely he could even improve it!
The fact was, it was almost a complete coincidence that Frescan was even able to somehow create a black heart, but Frescan was determined not to give up.
He could do it again… He was a lich anyway, so what problem was time? Frescan felt his confidence, albeit small, slowly building itself back up.
Raising himself, Frescan began to walk, dragging the robe that was covering his new shell. First of all, his goal was to create a new dungeon.
If he used this place as a dungeon and an intruder came in like last time, it would be an irreversible fate.
This was the place where Frescan hid his Life Vessel, so if he was attacked here, not only would his new shell disappear, but he would die completely this time.
“Huh?”
Frescan, who was resolving himself and moving out to work on making a dungeon, stopped walking. The complex detection magic and intruder interception magic were responding he had made with his past mana, had gone off and the alarms were blaring.
Frescan’s body shook.
‘God, what kind of dog shit fate did you want to give me?’
Frescan turned around his thoughts extremely quickly, sincerely blaming God for all the misfortune at this point.
He didn’t know who the hell came in, but he wasn’t confident in fighting any kind of intruder as he was weaker than a snail right now.
The reason was because of the speed at which his alarm and detection magic had been destroyed. It was too fast for Frescan to even think of fighting such a skilled opponent.
He decided to escape quickly, as Frescan held onto his Life Vessel for dear life and turned around panicked.
“Where are you going?”
‘Ah, I failed…’
Frescan stood completely still with his bony arms wrapped around his life vessel. There was a shabbily dressed child standing in front of Frescan.
She was looking at Frescan with a face full of exhaustion.
“Yes……how could you…get…here…?”
“My father told me.”
Frescan had only told Aine where it was located in the past, but not the exact location.
“Oh, no. I’m not asking that…… you’re…connected….with Arbeth”
“I don’t know.”
The child murmured.
“When I woke up, I was in the woods. There was nothing around me…… I don’t even know what happened to Arbeth.”
The children pressed down on her temples with a completely pained face at her searingly painful headache. There should have been no memory left of Frescan when her imprint of obedience was replaced with a new one from Arbeth, unless…
“I don’t know what happened, and I don’t have any kind of father around me that I can remember……so I came all the way here. I thought, What if I don’t have one? Who would I really be…I’m glad I found you.”
“Oh… oh…….”
Frescan was appalled and shocked as he fell to his knees. He did not know a thing about what happened in the City of Endless Night after he had his shell removed.
He didn’t even know what happened to Arbeth, who was frightening and ruthless.
But look… the child… no, his daughter came back on her own free will! There was no imprint of obedience to be seen!
“……Father.”
Aine opened her mouth looking at Frescan.
“I, it’s still weird. That day, from the day, I opened my eyes in the woods…… I’ve been constantly hungry. I don’t ever get satiated even when I eat.”
Aine muttered and put her hand on her stomach.
“I ate so many things on my way here. I ate people, monsters, animals, bugs…I ate over and over and over again. But I’m still hungry. I’m a little less hungry right now than normal, but I keep getting hungry.”
“Yes……yes.”
Frescan nodded his head as if he was possessed.
“Then let’s go eat. Yes, there are plenty of things you can eat.”
Frescan jumped up.
“Come on, let’s go, my daughter. Let’s go out to eat with each other! It’s been such a long time after all!”
Frescan shouted in a pleasant voice. Even if he said so, it was impossible for Frescan as a Lich to eat food. Aine smirked at Frescan’s silly gesture.
“Yes, Father.”
She had thought several times about not following her instincts to come here while she traveled because she felt frightened and was in shock. However, when Aine came, those thoughts and fright completely disappeared.
It was a good thing that she had come.
Aine walked with Frescan, holding his hand thinking so.(T/N : This is so bloody cute and happy to see! #ultimatewaifuAine)
* * *
After raiding and destroying the main branch of the Namgung Family in Belador, Lee Sungmin headed straight for the Forest of Fairies.
Rumors spread all throughout Eria, that the Main Branch of the Namgung Family was attacked and destroyed in Belador by an unknown master. The Elders and Patriarch were injured but there were no lasting injuries.
Rumors were bound to be distorted from the truth as they spread, but The Namgung Family’s crushing defeat had become a great issue in itself.
Who was the master named Jeong Hyun-soo who attacked the Namgung Family? Was it because Jeong Hyun-Soo was some kind of guardian who felt disgraced by the Namgung Family? Was it out of spite? What kind of relationship did the Namgung Family have with the master Jeong Hyun-Soo?
All kinds of gossip passed around the continent, but Lee Sungmin ignored it completely. In any case, there was no need to use the name “Jeong Hyun-soo” anymore.
In front of the Forest of Fairies. Lee Sungmin took off his mask.
He took off his skin mask he had purchased from Erebrisa at the beginning of his trip and touched his real face. Feeling awkward, Lee Sungmin smirked.
The forest of fairies itself was not that big. It looked like a completely common forest that could be found anywhere within Eria
Who would ever think that Sima Ryunju, one of the few people in the entire world who had reached into the realms of mystical beings, would be here in this forest? Lee Sungmin thought so, while looking at the forest. It was unknown to him where Sima Ryunju might be residing in the forest, and he didn’t really want to trouble himself with searching, but that wasn’t much of a difficult problem to fix.
If it was a forest of the size in front of him, it would take at least half a day to search throughout the entire place.
‘I might as well see what pops out haha.’
Lee Sungmin entered the forest with such expectations. Lee Sungmin then released his aura of dominance and internal energy in waves without hiding any of it.
The forest began to tremble and shake violently. He hoped Sima Ryunju and Wijihoyeon would quickly come over here to the source of the disturbance, so he could see them sooner.
“Ugh…that’s loud.”
It was as Lee Sungmin thought. Before long, he heard a grumbling voice.
Fwish-
A black and dark circular hole, seemingly made out of a shadow, popped up out of thin air next to Lee Sungmin. When Lee Sungmin looked at the hole, Sime Ryunju’s body was raising itself out of it.
“Do you not realize this is a place I like to hide in? Why are you advertising to the entire world that I’m here?”
Sima Ryunju shot at Lee Sungmin. He was wearing a playful lion mask this time, with its mane fluttering in the breeze.
“People say a weak dog barks loudly. That’s exactly what you look like to me right now.”
Sima Ryunjiu grumbled and came toward Lee Sungmin. Despite Lee Sungmin’s fierce aura and waves of internal energy, Sima Ryunju did even flinch at it, but rather looked annoyed at it, as if it were some kind of bug.
“The Minor Heavenly Demon… Bah, you’re just like that girl.”
Lee Sungmin’s eyebrows twitched at the words.
“……….what?”
“You’re both weak dogs that like to bark loudly as if you can really do something with your weak power.”
Sima Ryunju replied, in a blunt and annoyed voice.