"I’m not insane." deia tapped her head with her index finger. "And my brain is perfectly fine. My personality changed because ... I’m not the sa deia they used to know."
Lucian tilted his head. "Different how?"
"I’m basically a completely different soul that possessed deia’s body," she said. "I’ll explain everything to you, all this crazy information, but first, I think we should leave this place imdiately."
Though faint, deia could sense nurous creatures watching them from a distance, as if studying their prey before launching an attack.
After he heard her words, Lucian imdiately got on alert. His body tense and he tried to observe the environnt around him. "Actually ... where are we?"
"Beneath the forest. You were unconscious when the ground suddenly collapsed," deia explained. "I don’t know exactly what happened, but I think there’s a monster that can manipulate the ground and is trying to devour you."
The creatures must have sensed his strong energy and thought that by consuming him, they could grow stronger.
"Help up," deia requested.
Lucian didn’t hesitate. He reached for her arms, gently lifting her as she tried to rise.
She let out a faint hiss as the pain in her back remained. She still had ti left to keep her demonic form, but because of those damn wings, her body wasn’t functioning properly.
She was certain that if those wings had appeared while she wasn’t in her demonic form, she would have passed out instantly.
Lucian glanced at her, his expression unreadable. "Did you fall with ? Or did you jump into the hole when I was falling?"
"The second one," deia answered without hesitation.
Before Lucian could say anything, she quickly added, "And don’t you dare tell I didn’t have to save you. You were unconscious, and I wasn’t about to let you suddenly wake up in heaven."
She crossed her arms. "Maybe you would’ve regained consciousness before hitting the ground, but I wasn’t going to take that chance. I needed to make sure you survived."
Lucian’s expression darkened slightly. "And what if we had both fallen?"
"Then we would’ve died together," deia said without missing a beat. "I’d rather die with you than live—"
"No! Don’t say things like that!" Lucian suddenly snapped, his voice filled with panic. His erald eyes flickered with unease, as if the thought alone terrified him. "Don’t say that," he repeated, softer this ti, trembling. "No matter what happens, you can’t throw your life away for ."
deia wanted to tell him that she was only joking, but the weight of the mont between them made her hold back. Instead, she simply said, "I understand."
Lucian looked at her face for a mont before exhaling in relief. "Good. Now, let’s get out of here."
"We can climb back up through the hole," deia said, lifting her head—only to frown in confusion. "Wait ... where’s the hole? It was right there just a mont ago!"
Lucian followed her gaze and found that the hole had completely vanished, replaced by a solid stone ceiling.
"I swear it was there!" deia exclaid. "You saw it too, right? We literally fell through it!"
"Maybe it’s one of the monster’s abilities to manipulate the ground." Lucian cald her down. "You don’t have to panic. I can get us out of here."
He lifted his hands, focusing his energy to shift the stone above them. But after several monts, nothing happened. The ground didn’t budge an inch.
"Lucian, can you hurry up?" deia gripped her sword tightly, her senses sharpening as the creatures lurking in the shadows drew closer. "I think they’re about to eat us now."
"I’m trying," he gritted his teeth, his tone filled with frustration. "But the ground won’t move. My ability ... I can’t use it!"
Now, he was the one panicking.
"You can," deia countered, pointing at the faintly trembling rocks. "But it’s not strong enough to break through."
Lucian’s jaw tightened. Not strong enough? That was absurd.
There wasn’t a single thing in the world he couldn’t move with his ability.
But as deia brought her face closer to him, she noticed sothing felt wrong.
His skin was unusually pale, his breathing slightly ragged, and his voice rougher than normal. "Are you sick?"
"I’m fine," he denied instantly.
deia didn’t believe that. Without warning, she pressed her palm against his forehead. His body was radiating an unusual warmth. "Lucian, you’re burning up."
"You’re as pale as a ghost," she added, her voice laced with concern. "Maybe being trapped in that hallucination drained too much of your energy. How the hell did you even get stuck in there for so long?"
Lucian frowned, feeling confused. "Hallucination? What are you talking about? I don’t even know why I blacked out."
deia’s expression darkened. "What’s the last thing you rember?"
"I was checking sothing near the tent, and then ..." He hesitated, his brows furrowing in frustration. "I don’t know. One second I was there, and the next ... I was sowhere else."
"The panther pulled your consciousness into its hallucination," deia explained. "You seriously don’t rember anything? You looked completely wrecked when I found you."
Lucian’s breathing grew uneven. "I don’t rember." His eyes darted around as if trying to grasp onto sothing slipping from his mind. Then, panic flickered in his erald gaze. "Why can’t I rember? I know I was sowhere else. I t people ... I talked to them ... but it’s all gone. deia, I—"
"Hey, hey, look at ," deia cut him off, cupping his face with both hands. "If you can’t rember, then don’t force it. Whatever was in that hallucination probably wasn’t sothing you want to rember anyway."
Her voice was steady, but deep down, she couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling creeping up her spine.
deia found it odd that Lucian couldn’t rember what he saw in his hallucination.
His mana and abilities were far stronger than the panther’s, so technically, he should have been able to escape or recall everything perfectly.
Unless... the mories were so twisted, so agonizing, that his mind had instinctively locked them away to protect itself.
But was that even possible? And if it was, just what kind of nightmare had he experienced?
"What about you? What happened to you in the hallucination?" Lucian asked worriedly.
deia was about to answer when she suddenly heard the rapid sound of footsteps approaching.
Without hesitation, she drew her sword and stepped in front of Lucian. Because of how suddenly everything had happened, Lucian hadn’t brought his sword, leaving him with only his ability to fight—but even that wasn’t working.
"Do you have a gun in your pocket?" Lucian whispered.
"Do you really think a gun can kill a Grade-SSS mutant?" deia shot back. "Just stay behind ."
Lucian’s expression darkened with frustration, he clearly wanted to help. deia sighed. "Alright, here." She summoned the Fire Crossbow and handed it to him. "It’s way better than a gun, but be careful. It can explode and burn—"
deia hadn’t even finished speaking when Lucian fired an arrow.
The monster—a massive underground mole—burst into flas as the arrow embedded itself in its head. But one wasn’t enough. Lucian swiftly fired three more arrows, all aid at the sa spot.
Then, suddenly—boom! All three arrows exploded at once.
The flas grew larger, spreading rapidly across the mole’s entire body and even leaping onto the nearby mutants.
deia’s jaw dropped. "How did you do that? That crossbow is just a Grade-A item, and the mole..."
[Underground Mole (Grade-SS): Mutated Mole]
"Grade-S!"
Lucian smiled. "I might not be able to move the thick ground right now, but I can still make things explode."
He was showing off.
That man was clearly trying to prove that he didn’t need to be protected like so helpless damsel in distress.
But honestly, what was so bad about being a damsel in distress? If the damsel looked like Lucian, she’d gladly burn the whole world down to protect him.
"Alright, here’s the deal," deia said quickly. "Like I told you, the supernatural being helps grow stronger, but in exchange, I have to kill monsters and evil people to earn that power. So, my honey, will you let do the killing? Or at least, let take their final breath?"
Lucian blinked, suddenly recalling their agreent. He had promised to let deia finish off the stronger monsters. I’m sorry, I completely forgot and got carried away."
"Enough apologies for today." deia waved him off. "Just don’t push yourself too hard. I still have about ..."
[Countdown: 00:15:20]
"... Fifteen minutes before I lose my hot appearance."
Lucian’s gaze slowly swept over her from head to toe, his eyes lingering just a second too long. He didn’t say a word, but the way his lips pressed together and the slight nod of approval were more than enough to confirm, he wholeheartedly agreed with her statent.
On the other side, the monsters surround them, attacking from every direction. Their snarls and screeches echoing through the darkness.
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