Chapter 214: The Price of Failure
A tall man with a ssy mop of dark hair walked down a hallway with a beautiful but expressionless woman by his side. This man was dressed in black, lazy silk robes that revealed his bare chest and trailed on the ground.
He had one hand in the pocket of his loose trousers, and in the other, he held a cigarette which he kept bringing to his lips with practiced indifference. To be honest, he looked like soone who had just rolled out of bed and was entirely unbothered by the world around him.
The woman walking beside him looked a bit more high-strung, or perhaps just naturally alert. She was dressed in a red qipao with high slits, and despite the fact that it was not really bright in this hallway, she had a pair of black sunglasses perched firmly on the bridge of her nose.
Together, Lee Lim and Eun-Ji walked gracefully down the long hallway of the hollow ones and their footsteps echoed off the walls.
There were a few hollow ones who were walking along the sides of the hallways. However, when they saw the pair approaching, they just stood perfectly still, and none of them dared even to raise their eyes, let alone block the path of the man in the trailing black robes.
Up ahead, a large door etched with silver filigree lood at the end of the passage, and when the duo approached it, the door creaked open with a slow, heavy groan, revealing a large throne room. Deep within the chamber, Argentos sat on an obsidian throne, resting his arms on the armrests. When he saw Lee Lim and Eun-Ji, he stood up with a stiff, forced elegance that betrayed his inner tension. To his right, Marcella was standing with a large wooden box in her hand and unlike her father who showed no outward sign of weakness, she was shivering in fear as she watched the pair approach.
Both humans walked forward, finally stopping only a few ters away from the two hollow ones. Then, a thin, knowing smile ford on Lee Lim’s lips as he waited for them to speak first.
It was at that mont that Argentos turned to Marcella, then gave a small nod.
She glanced nervously at her father before steadying her trembling hands, then she walked closer to Lee Lim and opened the box, revealing Cedric’s arm.
"Th... this is the arm of the being with the decay, my lord." Marcella stamred as she kept her gaze fixed on the floor.
Lee Lim stared at the hand for a few seconds. Then leaving the cigarette in his mouth, he reached into the box and picked it up.
As he studied it, he activated his unique skill: Eyes of the Observer, which allowed him to view the information of the owner of the severed limb.
———— ========== ————
Na: [Cedric Martini]
Age: [18]
Level: [20 —> 9]
Grade: [2 —> 1]
Bond: [Error —> Deceased]
———— ========== ————
’Cedric Martini? That’s his na?’ Lee Lim arched a brow in thought. ’And what’s with the error?’
He looked lost in thought for a mont.
Well, since he could at least see the information, it ant that the power that had been protecting Cedric was gone, and that Cedric was indeed, really dead.
This made the corners of his lips curl up.
Eventually, he put the limb back into the box. Then he looked up at Argentos and his smile widened.
"Well done, Argentos." Lee Lim sounded genuinely impressed that he even clapped his hands once. "To be honest, I had so doubt about your ability to complete this task. Looks like I underestimated you."
He took out his cigarette from his mouth, exhaled a plu of light smoke, then tapped the ash from it onto the pristine floor. "As a reward, I won’t bother you or your people any longer."
Argentos didn’t say anything, but Marcella heaved a sigh of relief.
But Lee Lim was not done speaking. "However, you still failed to protect the red bridge. And for that, I must punish you."
A blue portal appeared at Eun-ji’s side, after which she pulled out a pistol, and in the sa fluid motion, she aid and fired straight into Marcella’s heart.
"No!" Argentos yelled. He tried to move, but then Lee Lim’s dark pupils shone golden, and a splitting agony suddenly ca over him, causing him to drop to his knees.
He clutched at his head and could do nothing as Marcella let go of the box and collapsed to her knees.
"F...father..." she called weakly, before slumping forward and hitting the ground dead.
Argentos yelled in rage, agony, and grief.
And while he did, Lee Lim threw the stump of his cigarette onto Marcella’s corpse, then let out a bored, dismissive sigh.
He then turned and began slowly walking away in the sa leisurely manner, and as he did, Eun-ji cast one last look at Argentos, who was kneeling and staring at the lifeless body of his daughter.
Without saying anything, she too turned and followed Lee Lim out of the throne room and into the darkness of the hallway. Shortly after, a portal opened and both figures stepped through it, after which it vanished along with them.
***
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One day later...
——
Back in the barren plains where the cadets camped, news had already spread that sothing terrible had happened to Cedric, which was the reason for the sudden lack of food.
Without Cedric to rely on, the rest of the cadets now had no choice but to begin planning for their own survival.
They needed to figure out which territory would be the safest and plan how they would actually conduct a successful hunt. Unfortunately, many people were still recovering, and so the number of cadets who could actually contribute to the efforts was less than half the total number of cadets present.
Because of this, the cadets needed to cooperate with one another if they wanted to avoid starving. Rather than hunt as parties, they decided to work as a single unit under the leadership of Princess Aurora.
Tonight, the different leaders and a few able-bodied mbers of the various parties ca together around Aurora to finalize their plan of action which they intended to carry out tomorrow.
anwhile, while the others were preoccupied with their preparations, Leon finally returned from his inner sanctuary.
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