Chapter 521: The Bloodstained Road
Adam stood beside Sera, watching as Azrynn used Bianca's magic to clean herself up a short distance away. The dark elf had blood splattered across her clothes earlier, but a gentle stream of magic was already washing away the stains.
Sera let out a quiet sigh as she surveyed the surrounding plains.
"I never expected we'd run into an ambush out here. I thought this area was supposed to be relatively safe."
"That's probably why they chose it," Adam replied casually. "If everyone thinks the plains are safe, people are less likely to stay on guard. Makes it easier for bandits to operate without attracting too much attention."
"That makes sense."
Adam then picked up the strange artifact the bandit leader had dropped. Holding it by its chain, he examined the woman's head from several angles. The blood still trickling from its eyes did little to improve its appearance.
"Looking at it up close, this thing is even more disturbing than I thought."
Sera glanced at the artifact, her expression tightening slightly.
"What are you going to do with it?"
"Probably keep it."
"Keep it?"
Adam gave the grotesque object another look before shrugging.
"If I leave it here, someone else might pick it up. And if I sell it, there's no guarantee it won't end up in the hands of another group like those bandits. I'd rather keep it somewhere safe."
A faint red glow appeared in front of him.
The space distorted as a crimson gate opened, its edges resembling the enormous jaws of some predatory creature. Adam activated **Avarice Maw**, and the gate widened like a hungry mouth waiting to swallow its prey.
He tossed the artifact inside.
The red jaws snapped shut, and the object vanished without a trace.
Sera watched the scene with a complicated expression before turning her gaze toward the corpses scattered across the grass.
"Judging from what they said, they must have been kidnapping elves for quite some time."
Her voice grew colder.
"Because of people like them, humans and elves have developed such a terrible view of each other. I doubt those bandits ever cared about the consequences. To them, elves were nothing more than merchandise."
Adam's expression remained calm, but his eyes briefly followed the direction in which Azrynn had gone.
"People like that don't care about the damage they cause as long as they can profit from it."
Sera lowered her gaze.
"I just hope Azrynn doesn't have to encounter too many people like them."
Adam chuckled softly.
"With the way things usually go when she's traveling with me, I wouldn't get my hopes up too much."
"With you around, those bandits would have been dead long before they ever got the chance to lay a finger on Azrynn," Sera remarked.
Adam shrugged. "People who treat other races as nothing more than slaves are just pests. It's better to get rid of them before they can cause more trouble."
"That's true," Sera admitted, glancing at him. "But couldn't you try to show a little more restraint? Although, I suppose that's probably impossible for someone like you."
"Hey, don't blame me for this one. Azrynn was the one who killed them."
Sera paused before breaking into a small smile.
"Well, I suppose I won't complain this time. Besides, even if we'd handed them over to the authorities, there's no guarantee they wouldn't eventually be released and return to their old habits."
She turned toward the carriage and began walking back.
"Come on. Let's keep moving. We've still got a long journey ahead of us."
Adam watched her for a moment before casually following her back to the carriage.
As Adam walked back toward the carriage, the shadow beneath his feet quietly spread across the ground. Dark tendrils emerged from it, reaching toward the scattered corpses before dragging them into the darkness one by one. Within moments, every body had been swallowed without leaving a single trace behind.
'Leaving them here would only attract monsters and potentially block the road,' Adam thought. 'Better to clean up before we continue.'
A notification appeared before his eyes.
**[+33 Souls Acquired]**
Adam glanced at it briefly before dismissing the notification and continuing toward the carriage.
When he arrived, he noticed Alice peeking through the open window, her expression sour as she looked at the spot where the bandits had been.
"Those stupid humans actually dared to interrupt my afternoon nap," she grumbled.
Adam chuckled and patted the side of the carriage.
"The problem's already taken care of, so go back to sleep."
"Hmph. You'd better make sure no one disturbs me again."
With that, Alice pulled her head back inside, apparently satisfied with his answer.
Adam climbed onto the driver's seat and settled himself comfortably before taking hold of the reins. Beside him, Azrynn was still wiping her damp hands with a piece of cloth after finishing cleaning herself.
He glanced at her hands, then at her face.
"All cleaned up?"
Azrynn nodded, continuing to dry her fingers. "Yes. Thank you for waiting."
The carriage resumed its journey across the plains, the wheels rolling steadily along the road as the scenery passed by.
Inside, Alice glanced at Ignis, who had fallen asleep with her head resting against the window. The young dragon seemed to be sleeping quite peacefully, with a thin trail of drool slowly trickling from the corner of her mouth.
Alice stared at her for a moment before letting out an incredulous sigh.
"Honestly, she was the one who offered to let me use her lap as a pillow, yet now she's the one sleeping."
Isolde, who was casually gazing out the window, barely reacted.
"Just leave her alone. It's not like she'd wake up even if you tried."
Alice turned toward her. "Are you saying I should just let her get away with this?"
"That's exactly what I'm saying."
Meanwhile, Lilith continued reading the book in her hands, not even bothering to look up.
"Alice wouldn't be so cruel as to disturb someone else's sleep, would she?"
Alice's expression immediately soured.
"Of course not! Who do you think I am?!"
Lilith simply ignored Alice's complaints and returned her attention to the book in her hands, leaving Alice with no choice but to sit there in silence, visibly irritated.
After a while, Isolde seemed to remember something. She turned toward Lilith, who was still reading peacefully.
"By the way, about Celine. She suddenly became so obedient. What exactly did you do to her?"
Lilith turned a page before answering casually.
"Oh, I just tinkered with her a little. Nothing unusual."
Isolde stared at her for a moment.
"Hmm..."
She didn't seem particularly convinced, but she eventually turned back toward the window.
"Well, I don't really care as long as she follows orders and can fight. Having a swordsman around should give me more freedom to focus on attacking from behind."
"How practical of you," Lilith remarked without looking up from her book.
"There's no point making things more complicated than they need to be."
"Are vampires really that weak when it comes to fighting head-on?" Lilith asked, finally glancing up from her book. "You have that crown of yours, don't you? The one that can turn into a sword."
Isolde shook her head slightly.
"That's just something I created for dealing with certain opponents. I can transform my crown into various things, not just a sword. Black Rose, for example, was one of those forms I used yesterday."
"Oh? So you can change it into different weapons?"
"Not just weapons." Isolde leaned back in her seat. "But I prefer fighting from the rear. It gives me a better view of the battlefield and makes it easier to control the flow of combat. I can support my allies, interfere with the enemy's movements, and strike whenever an opening appears."
Lilith hummed thoughtfully before returning her attention to her book.
"So you simply prefer to manipulate the battlefield rather than confront your enemies directly."
"That's one way to put it."
Isolde turned back toward the window, watching the passing scenery with her usual calm expression.
"Besides, there's no reason to fight fair when you can win more easily by fighting smart."
Lilith closed her book, using one finger to mark the page before setting it aside.
"That sounds familiar. When we fought Deiora, we relied more on strategy than brute force, and it worked, even if we couldn't kill him."
"Deiora is an exception," Isolde replied. "His body is exceptionally difficult to destroy, so most of our attacks wouldn't have been effective against him. It's different from Adam, who can rely on his physical strength to overwhelm his opponents."
Lilith nodded, resting her right hand against her chin as she considered Isolde's explanation.
"By the way, did you have any familiars before Celine?"
Isolde hesitated slightly at the question. For a moment, her gaze lingered on the passing scenery outside the window before she finally answered.
"Yes. I had five familiars in the past, but I eventually decided to release them because my views had changed."
Lilith raised an eyebrow. "And they simply accepted their freedom?"
"That's the strange part. They didn't want to leave. They insisted on staying with me, even after I told them they were free to go." Isolde paused, a faintly troubled expression crossing her face. "I didn't really know how to deal with that. My emotions were rather unstable back then, so I ended up beating them instead."
Lilith blinked before giving her a peculiar look.
"Well, that's certainly an unexpected turn of events."
"Yes, it was."
Isolde sighed softly and leaned back against her seat.
"But that's all in the past now, so there's no point dwelling on it."