Chapter 92: Winter’s Dillema (3)
"You... a descendant of the Lin Clan..." the Guardian said in a hoarse, raspy voice.
Its strikingly similar appearance to a normal human was completely undeniable, filling Winter with a wave of deep confusion as she silently questioned if this creature was truly the legendary guardian of her city.
However, noticing the distinct birthmark etched onto its neck—the exact same symbol her noble family had used for generations, depicting the sharp head of a serpent dragon—Winter didn’t hesitate or doubt its identity any longer.
The guardian’s adult male body was currently stuck fast against the sticky red spider net. Its back was pressed firmly toward the exit of the gloomy cavern, with its hands spread wide apart as it desperately resisted the unrelenting hold of the blood web.
A fine young man’s face greeted Winter as she stepped closer to observe the trapped guardian in detail. He possessed pale skin accompanied by the smooth, charismatic appearance of a refined noble youth.
Its dark brown hair had grown out to a length that lightly touched its lips, covering almost half of the guardian’s face in shadow. He violently swung his head to the side, clearing the stray strands away to recover his full, unobstructed vision of Winter.
Winter clicked her tongue sharply, her cold, indifferent eyes thoroughly inspecting every inch of the guardian’s body. Her dark pupils darted up and down, convincing herself beyond a shadow of a doubt that she wasn’t making a mistake in her initial assessment.
"What on earth is happening here? Care to explain yourself? Why are you reduced to a pathetic state like this?" Winter asked, her tone dripping with a cold, unforgiving seriousness.
The guardian didn’t reply to her demand immediately. Instead, its trembling eyes dropped down toward the dry, grey stone ground of the cavern floor. The intricate details of the rock’s deep creases and rough textures became acutely perceptible to him as he stared downward in shame.
He simply didn’t know how to answer her.
"I can still protect your city... Just bear with me a little longer," he choked out softly.
"I don’t want that useless answer! Explain to me right now why you look like this! You don’t look like a beast at all!" She gritted her teeth in sheer frustration, the crushing weight of reality settling heavily onto her shoulders.
The 23rd Guardian had possessed the exact physical appearance of a human ever since its birth. Because it was still fundamentally classified as a beast, it possessed the unique innate ability to absorb massive amounts of volatile mana from around the Nexus system, significantly lessening the chance of a rogue dungeon rift forming across the city stretches above.
However, for some unknown, terrifying reason, more and more unmonitored rifts had started to form throughout the Hanging City recently.
This was a catastrophic problem for everyone.
The Vampire Butler standing beside her completely lost its remaining patience, instinctively sensing that the fellow beast pinned before them was merely wasting its master’s precious time.
As if directly reflecting Winter’s innermost dark thoughts and rising anger, the vampire vanished in a red flash and instantly reappeared directly before the Human Beast, extending its pale hand and ruthlessly gripping the guardian’s neck.
Completely choked, the Human Beast gasped violently for air, but the tight constraint on his airway made it almost impossible for him to pull oxygen into his lungs.
His wide, terrified eyes silently begged for mercy, as if maintaining his pride as a high-tier beast was a luxury he could no longer afford in this desperate situation.
"My master... is speaking to you..." The Vampire Butler spoke in an awkward, rasping, heavily forced vocalization, sounding as if this were its very first time attempting to utter human words after a very long time.
Winter’s eyes widened in sheer shock and confusion. She had no idea her contracted vampire beast was even capable of speaking human language.
’Terrence actually sold a beast like this to me? A beast with the innate ability to fluently speak human language?’ Her hands clenched tightly into trembling fists at her sides. ’If he was willing to just casually sell a high-intelligence creature like this to me, I can only imagine the sheer number of terrifying beasts he commands back at his store that possess the exact same level of intellect!’
Winter’s heavy breathing became carefully calculated as her mind raced. ’If Terrence truly commands this kind of absurd power behind the scenes... he will undoubtedly become an overwhelming threat to any faction in existence! With beasts like this under his control, completely erasing the powerful Lee Family wouldn’t even be impossible for him—he could probably do it with just a simple snap of his fingers!’
Shaking her head, despite still being utterly stunned by the realization, she forced her mind back to the immediate reality before her. There was nothing productive she could gain right now by obsessively wondering about Terrence’s true, hidden depth of power.
If he chose to hide his real capabilities from the world, then there had to be a valid, strategic reason for him doing so.
Standing there in the dim green light of the cavern, she didn’t even notice that her internal approval and respect toward Terrence was growing significantly stronger with every passing second.
"Easy there! Please...! Let go of me! Just let me live! I still genuinely want to do my job!" the guardian pleaded desperately toward Winter, his frantic cries snapping her completely back to the reality at hand.
Winter cast a firm look at her vampire beast, signaling for it to ease the crushing tension between its sharp fingers. Slowly, the choking grip loosened, and breathing became vastly easier for the terrified Human Beast.
"If you truly want to live, then start explaining everything to me clearly. Your ancient bloodline is cursed so damn heavily that it should be completely impossible for you to escape your predetermined fate. But with everything that’s currently happening to the city, should we assume that you’ve somehow discovered a secret formula to escape that fate?" Winter pressed harder, her cold gaze making the Human Beast shiver uncontrollably with raw fear.
"Please forgive me! I swear I don’t know the answer!" the guardian wailed out in terror. "I just want to keep fulfilling my duties, but with each passing day, I notice that I am getting weaker and weaker! I simply can’t absorb the surrounding mana like I used to before!"
"And why is that happening to you? What specific physical changes have you noticed occurring within your own body?" Winter demanded.
"..."
"If I tell you the truth... you won’t even believe me," the Human Beast whispered, breaking direct eye contact with Winter once again as his gaze darted toward the dark stone wall.
The Vampire Butler’s grip on his neck tightened significantly for this evasive behavior, making the guardian groan and gasp frantically for air all over again.
"If you dare refuse to answer my master, expect your neck to snap in the next second," the Vampire Butler threatened coldly, its red eyes glowing with lethal intent.
"Don’t kill him yet," Winter ordered calmly, catching a brief flicker of subtle worry painted across the vampire’s stoic face.
"I apologize, Master..." the Vampire Butler muttered, slightly relaxing its lethal hold once more.
The Human Beast finally gathered the courage to speak the truth. Even faced with a terrifying reality that he desperately wanted to deny to himself—a reality that had prevented him from ever admitting it out loud—he realized he had no other choice left but to lay it completely bare.
Winter’s eyes widened in utter disbelief as a sentence containing something thought to be completely impossible in the history of tamers echoed through the quiet cavern:
"I am... slowly becoming a human."