Chapter 399: Rage
Meanwhile...
——
Soon, night fell upon the ancient ruins of the floating island. The pale moon above shone brightly in the clear sky, and somehow, the transparent dome which enclosed the island caused the light of the moon to be even brighter, making it so that visibility remained remarkably clear.
However, despite the quiet serenity one would expect from the night, the sounds of magical explosions, ruins falling, and the screech of monsters could be heard everywhere.
It was obvious that the cadets had long since began engaging in combat with each other over possession of the relics. The execution mission which had been given to a few cadets of the different bastions had also probably began.
As for what Cedric was doing at the moment? Well, the young man was chilling idly inside the nave of what seemed to be a ruined cathedral. He was holding a piece of nougat over a small campfire and had a heavy blanket wrapped tightly around him, while rambling about something completely random to his raven, Arlo.
"You know, I was thinking," he mused. "If I ever find myself in a situation where I completely run out of food, I could just roast one of you ravens over a fire and call it a day."
The raven blinked, staring at him in disbelief before blurting in offense, "Do you think we taste like chicken?"
"You don’t?" Cedric arched a brow.
"Of course not!" Arlo barely resisted the urge to bite off his ear. "We taste like rot and shit, so perish that thought! Perish it!"
Cedric chuckled as he raised the nougat which was now perfectly toasted and bubbling with caramelized honey. Then he took a bite of it while turning his attention in front of him.
Athena was also nearby, resting quietly against a broken stone pillar, but he wasn’t looking at her, but rather, he was looking at his profile instead.
~~~~~~~~ Character Profile ~~~~~~~~
Character Name: [Cedric Mortimer]
Age: [18]
Level: [24]
Grade: [3]
Element: [Darkness]
Exclusive Class: [Gamer]
Exclusive Class Attributes: [Gamer Privileges]
Bond Name: [Aika Soryu]
Bonded Ability: [Chrysalis]
Exclusive Skill: [Flames of decay - Lv10], [One with the Ravens - Lv10], [Ten Kleshas and Kushalas of Karma - Lv2]
EXP: [3,650 / 10,000]
Karma points: [N5000 / P650]
~~~~~~ ============== ~~~~~~
’Today has been productive,’ Cedric mused as he studied the profile. ’While I killed around nineteen creatures, Aika killed seventeen. All together, we accumulated 17,960 exp and we’ve been able to move up two levels.’
Cedric smiled a bit at the digital display.
Moving up two levels in a day was a really impressive feat. In fact, most people spent years to achieve this.
And he had done it killing creatures like the Lemures. These were a nest of beings that even people of his grade would not take on unless they were in a party or unless they had really strong noble powers and summons.
’I feel stronger. At this rate, I can feel Grade Four just around the corner. When I evolve, I will be strong enough to not have almost all my bones broken just because a stone archway collapsed on top of me.’
He drew a deep breath and exhaled, then decided to quickly finish eating so that he could begin drawing in mana.
However, after only a few seconds, his heart began to thump faster on its own, causing him to pause.
But it was not thumping because Cedric was afraid or anxious. No. In fact, this sudden wave of emotion was not coming from him at all.
You see, after Cedric had gained the Beautiful Heart, how he perceived things had changed and improved. For instance, if he was in front of someone riddled with evil thoughts and the desire to do harm, he would be able to sense that. This sense of his would increase drastically if the emotions and thoughts were directed specifically at him.
He could also feel the karmic emotions of people better, and understand the emotions of his subjects of influence better when he received their karma essence.
However, although it worked effortlessly on beings near him, to sense emotions from far away, the beings either needed to be connected to him in some way, like his subjects of influence or his Bond.
’This hatred and desire to kill...’ Cedric frowned. ’It’s strong. Really strong.’
He could feel the desire growing from just anger and hatred to something twisted.
’Who is...’ he began to wonder who this karmic emotions belonged to, but halfway through the thought, it hit him. ’...Aika?’
His brows creased into a deep frown.
’Is something wrong?’
Suddenly, he began to feel anxious, and he remembered the bad premonition he had been having even before stepping foot on this island.
He immediately raised his head and tapped into the ravens who were with Aika, specifically Little Ced. He had not been sharing perceptions with ravens too far away because he was giving his mind some time to relax.
But once his vision synchronized with the bird, and he saw the scene unfolding before Aika, Cedric’s eyes widened.
***
Some minutes earlier...
——
’God, I’m so sleepy...’
Aika stretched, causing her loose kimono to hug her curves. Then she brought down her hand and began to rub her aching neck.
’Should I have Cedric massage me when we get back?’
From that thought, other stray fantasies began to drift into her mind, painting vivid pictures of his hands on her body. This caused her to smile and blush without even knowing it.
But when she suddenly remembered that she was walking beside Redd, she panicked in embarrassment and even began to sweat. She quickly cleared her throat and shook her head, forcing her expression to become stoic again, as if nothing at all was going on in that head of hers.
"We are almost there, my lady," Redd said in a hoarse voice, turning his head slightly toward his Lady walking behind him.
Aika only gave a cold nod in response.
Currently, they were heading toward the crumbling remains of estate where they could rest. However, her map was showing her two red dots in the vicinity.
She could have avoided the area and gone somewhere without any creatures, but two more creatures meant more exp, so she thought, why not? Redd could handle one while she handled the other. If she could handle both, even better!
In her right hand, she held a long black smoke-pipe, and her loose kimono, which trailed down to her ankles, kept swaying lightly at the hem with every step. After taking her last drag, she put the pipe into her inventory, then reached a hand out to the side.
A raven that had been flying nearby suddenly descended. It held Aika’s katana in its claws, which it dropped neatly into her open palm.
At the same time, a different raven had already gone ahead of them to serve as her eyes, so that she could see just what she was going to deal with.
The bird flew all the way to the back, then it landed on the fractured stone balustrade overseeing the sunken courtyard where the monsters stood.
The moment it laid eyes on the two creatures, Aika froze.
Slowly, her eyes began to widen and her body began to tremble. Her grip on her katana tightened until her knuckles turned white, and her breathing began to turn shallow and ragged.
"Is everything okay?" Redd, who had halted and turned fully to Aika, asked without a hint of concern in his voice.
But Aika didn’t reply, and for a moment, she was actually hyperventilating.
In the next few seconds that followed, Redd even had to take a step back because the raw rage radiating from her was enough to fill him with dread.
Then, all of a sudden, she gritted her teeth and vanished in a flurry of dark feathers, reappearing on the high stone balustrade in the place of the raven.
"You!" she yelled as she unsheathed her katana, then she descended like a falling star, plunging straight down toward the creatures below.