Chapter 27: The Hooded Cat
No way.
Nuri was getting dragged away by that stupid, utterly useless creature, and she could do absolutely nothing to stop it!
No, no...
This wasn't the reason she had joined the Knight Order. She was supposed to protect everyone, not just stand by as a useless bystander! She couldn't lose her brother right now. Not now. Not ever.
She was going to protect her family!
"I call upon the God of Freedom!"
This was it. Maybe this was the exact push she needed.
Her magic shone brighter than it ever had before. She hadn't let it flow this freely in ages. Her ability was notoriously complicated to use; to wield it properly, she had to be completely free in both her mind and her spirit. Maybe that was the exact reason why she couldn't call upon it before.
But seeing her brother in such mortal danger ignited something deep inside her. She no longer hesitated. Letting go of every single burden weighing on her heart, she accepted everything wholeheartedly.
Finally, she created the perfect weapon.
A spear. A long and elegant spear. Soft yet incredibly sharp, mirroring its owner perfectly. The weapon looked absolutely beautiful. Unreadable, ancient words were deeply engraved on the hilt, glowing with a brilliant green light that illuminated everything around it.
Nuri and Elina looked at Alina in absolute shock. It was beautiful. They literally couldn't take their eyes off her. She looked exactly like a goddess who had descended upon the earth. Even the frantic GrossRose stopped moving entirely. Motionless. It was as if the beast, too, was staring at Alina in awe.
"Alina, finish it fast!" shouted Nuri, his voice cutting through the silence. "You can't hold that for long!"
The blessing she was using right now was of an exceptionally high rank. It wouldn't take long before the divine energy drained her completely.
Alina didn't waste a single second. As if she understood Nuri's intentions perfectly, she lowered the spear and pointed it directly toward the monstrous plant. Then, with a swift, powerful motion, she launched it.
The spear crashed straight into the rose. The immense amount of concentrated energy caused the creature to scream as though it already knew it was going to die. The scream was utterly desperate, a final, frantic attempt to distract them and make them lose their focus. But it didn't work.
Using her magic, Alina pushed the spear even deeper into the flesh. This was personal. After all, she had gone through so much agonizing pain because of this stupid rose.
"Haaaa!"
The monster resisted fiercely, its skin proving to be far tougher than it looked. But as the spear drove deeper and deeper into its body, its screams slowly began to fade, as though it had already accepted its defeat.
Finally, the spear pierced straight through it. Dark-colored liquid splattered everywhere.
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Alina immediately fell to her knees from pure exhaustion. The moment Nuri saw that the monster had died, he broke free from the loosening roots and rushed toward her.
"Are you okay?" Nuri and Elina asked at the exact same time as they hurried to support her.
Alina simply nodded. She was far too tired to speak, but she looked intensely relieved. "Did I do good?" she asked quietly. "Was I useful?"
The question completely stunned both of them. Then, their expressions softened, and a small laugh escaped them.
"Of course you did." Elina smiled warmly at her. "I finally understand why the captain recruited you both. You've been amazing these past few days." She pulled both siblings into a tight, sudden hug. Nuri and Alina exchanged slightly confused looks over her shoulder, but neither of them stopped her.
After taking a short, much-needed break, they approached the grim remains of the monster. It had been blown completely to pieces. What a horrendous sight. Alina had done an truly excellent job.
They searched all around the cave, but there was absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. Which raised a glaring question. How did it grow? There had to be something.
"I don't get it..." Nuri muttered as he sat down heavily on the ground. "How could it get so big?"
"And the amount of Soul Stones..." Elina added, looking around the walls. "It's way more than the number of people who lived in the village. There aren't even enough houses."
It truly was a massive mystery. And the thing that bothered them most of all was the painful realization that they hadn't been able to save anybody. After everything they had gone through... they were still going back entirely empty-handed.
What was the point of it all? All the pain Alina had suffered. All the effort. And yet, they still couldn't save a single person. What on earth were they going to say to Fil?
Alina quietly sat down beside Nuri. Their hands found each other in the dark. Neither said anything. Neither needed to. Both of them knew exactly what the other was thinking.
"Meow."
The sound echoed sharply through the quiet cave. All three of them immediately turned around.
There it was. The cat.
"What is it doing down here?" Elina frowned, her brow furrowing. "I'm sure we left it on the surface."
How could it have possibly followed them? It had been on the completely opposite side of the river. Cats hated water; the idea that it had swum across the freezing current seemed entirely impossible.
No. The cat itself had been incredibly strange from the very beginning.
"Guys, be careful!" Elina's voice instantly put the siblings on high guard. Although Alina was still incredibly weak, she didn't let it show for a second.
"This really is great!"
The cat spoke. In actual human words.
Seriously?!
At that exact moment, Nuri realized something. That voice... it belonged to the hooded man. He immediately whipped his head to look at Alina. Judging by her stunned expression, she had realized it a second before him.
"Elina, be careful. That's our target."
The moment she finished speaking, a sudden, blinding flash of light filled the cavern. All three of them instinctively shut their eyes tightly.
When they finally opened them again, a man stood exactly where the cat had been. But they couldn't move. It felt as though an immense, invisible force was pinning them directly down to the stone floor. The hooded man calmly walked right past them, completely ignoring their struggles, and approached the corpse of the GrossRose.
He shoved his hand deep into the monster's bloody remains and pulled something out. A crystal. It looked somewhat similar to the Soul Stones scattered around the cave, yet it was fundamentally different. Its light was significantly deeper, denser—almost as if a miniature tornado had been trapped inside the core.
"Thank you for killing it," the man said calmly, his tone conversational. "I was the one who raised it, but the situation got a little out of control."
The man turned to stare at the three restrained knights. Although they were completely shocked, their eyes revealed absolutely everything they were feeling.
"What happened to the actual cat...?" Nuri's voice trembled slightly. It was the one question he wanted answered more than anything. Simon had clearly owned that cat for a very long time. Which meant...
"What do you think?" the hooded man replied casually. "I killed it." His voice remained completely, terrifyingly indifferent. "It had a very convenient blessing." The man didn't say anything else. He simply looked down at the young knights standing frozen before him.
As for the children... they felt utterly devastated. How had they not noticed? How had they missed something so obvious? Without even realizing it, they had walked right into his hands and made the entire situation so much worse.