Chapter 94: Winter’s Dillema (5)
Terrence’s face painted with confusion looked at Winter’s ragged condition. This was a standard C-Rank dungeon rift, and it was located extremely far from the Hanging City.
What on earth was she even doing all the way out here?
Seeing no trace of her usual Vampire Butler, Terrence approached with caution. He began to doubt himself, thinking he might be wrong about this battered girl actually being Winter.
However, her distinct silver hair gave her a completely unique appearance. He knew he couldn’t be wrong.
"Uh, Terrence?" She called his name with an unsure, hesitant tone. She didn’t move an inch from her position, standing completely frozen as she stared at him with the stunned expression of someone who couldn’t believe what was happening.
With wide eyes and slow, hesitant steps, she attempted to walk forward toward Terrence.
Noticing her visibly weak, failing body, Terrence quickly approached her, dodging several pieces of jagged obstacle debris scattered between their paths.
Winter let out a defeated exhale as her knees finally gave out beneath her.
"What happened to you?" Terrence asked the moment he reached her side, his hands hesitating mid-air before gently steadying her as his head tilted in worry.
Winter didn’t answer right away, but her gaze grew deep and heavy. Terrence only just noticed it, but her eyes were already telling him a tragic story about what had likely transpired.
"I don’t know... But I finally found the ceremonial realm..." she whispered.
Terrence’s brows furrowed in confusion.
"What do you mean by that?" Terrence asked.
"The ceremonial realm... the place where I can retrieve the gem and officially transfer the guardian title. The one thing that will save my hometown."
Terrence’s face was painted with a mix of utter confusion and overwhelm. He didn’t know what to say or even what to ask next, realizing something truly disastrous was happening to Winter.
He set aside his endless list of questions for the time being and immediately offered her his help instead.
"How about you sit down first and explain everything to me properly?" Terrence suggested, his tone filled with obvious concern.
Winter shook her head weakly, desperately trying to fight back the overwhelming tide of her emotions. She wanted so badly to erase her anxiety, but nothing worked.
Her pale face was still painted with pure horror with every second that passed, forcing her to relive the terrifying sights of what had just happened.
"Just calm down, okay?" Terrence said gently.
...
Both Terrence and Winter left the C-Rank dungeon rift together and traveled straight back to the Looming Bridge. Inside the cozy inn room Terrence was currently staying in, he offered his soft bed for her to rest her exhausted body.
She was soon sleeping like a peaceful child on the mattress, resting flat on her back with her hands placed neatly by her sides. Despite everything she had been through, she was now sleeping without a single worry in the world.
Terrence couldn’t help but smile faintly as he quietly observed her sleeping face. He only just realized it now, but Winter possessed exceptionally long eyelashes. It perhaps explained why her gazes always seemed so deep and mesmerizing, like a pair of rare gems.
Without even realizing it himself, Terrence leaned back against his chair and also fell fast asleep—his body completely giving in to the heavy fatigue he had been ignoring since yesterday.
By the time he woke up, Winter was just waking up as well. Outside the window, the night had grown deep and dark.
"Are you feeling okay now?" Terrence asked softly.
Winter nodded slightly, rubbing her eyes. "Uhm. Thanks."
Terrence smiled and stood up from his seat at the side table. He walked over and sat down beside her on the edge of the bed, the soft mattress bouncing gently as his weight settled.
"So... do I have the privilege to ask what actually happened to you? No offense, but you really don’t look well or in a good physical condition right now."
Winter couldn’t bring herself to reply immediately. Her trembling hands reached up to press against her aching temples.
Where was she even supposed to start? She honestly didn’t know.
With everything that had transpired over the brief span of just a single week, crazy, unbelievable things she never thought possible had unfolded directly before her eyes.
She let out a long sigh as her face sank deeply into both of her open palms. Then, she let out another weary sigh.
"The Hanging City is in grave danger," she began, her voice muffled behind her hands. "The Nexus Network is rapidly growing, so I had to personally go down and check on our city’s guardian. Do you know about it?"
"I don’t," Terrence answered honestly, giving a simple shake of his head.
"The guardian is a high-tier beast holding an official title, responsible for absorbing the dangerous fluctuations of mana before they can reach the upper surface of the Hanging City. Since the deep subterranean crack below our city is completely infested with rifts, the guardian has been actively keeping them from materializing inside the civilian areas."
Winter paused for a moment, casting a quick side-glance at Terrence.
"But with rogue rifts starting to appear directly on the surface levels, I had to investigate what was happening to the guardian. And when I reached him, I discovered that he was slowly turning into a human."
"Huh?" Terrence’s face twisted in visible confusion. "How is that even possible? Does this beast just happen to possess a similar physical appearance to humans, making you claim it’s becoming human?"
"I can’t explain the full details well, but that’s the core reality of it. So, I had to find a way to retrieve a sacred gem located within a hidden rift tucked inside one of the many rifts in the Nexus—the ceremonial realm, where my ancestors and the first guardian originally forged their pact."
Terrence couldn’t fully follow the intricate lore of her story, but he was slowly piecing together a rough understanding.
Connecting the tiny puzzle pieces appearing in his mind with the sparse information he already knew about the Hanging City, he simply nodded along with every new piece of information Winter shared.
Then, his mind reached a sudden point of realization. He recalled the mysterious "guardian" that Klein had casually mentioned back in the Hanging City, along with that suspicious A-Rank rift that had abruptly materialized inside the safest district of the city.
He hadn’t thought much about those details back then, but everything was finally making complete sense now.
"So... did you actually manage to find that ceremonial realm in the end?"
Winter froze, suddenly pausing as she realized something she hadn’t explicitly stated aloud.
Yet, the relaxed way Terrence had just responded seemed completely normal to him—as if the concept she described was just common knowledge they both shared.
"Wait..."
Winter slowly turned her head toward Terrence, who was sitting there looking purely curious to hear the rest of her story. However, there was not a single trace of confusion on his face regarding the insane dimensional reality she had just dropped on him.
"You... you already know about a rift existing inside another rift?" Her eyes widened in sheer shock as she abruptly pushed herself away from the bed, backing up and leaving Terrence looking utterly bewildered by her sudden reaction.
"Ah... well, about that..."
Winter didn’t wait for his full reply. Taking an agitated, aggressive combat stance, she immediately summoned her Vampire Butler right beside her.
In an instant, the Vampire Butler raised its red hand, a sharp, crimson blade of materialized blood gleaming dangerously at the tips of its long fingers.
"Terrence... I really didn’t expect you to approach me like this and act like you just wanted to listen to my tragic story," Winter said, her voice dropping into a cold, lethal whisper as her eyes locked onto him. "You are actually one of them, aren’t you?"