Chapter 30: Silver flames

Rion’s eyes snapped open as he heard Dora’s voice."N-no..." He shouted, but all that came out was a mere mumble...

He looked at the dreadful spider that had pierced his sides with its blade-like limbs and tried to push it away.

The spider sensed the change in him and bit down on his right shoulder.

Sklrtch!

"Ugh!" He let out a stifled groan and gritted his teeth. He used the pain to wake himself up from the dizziness spreading across him due to the purple miasma.

Hsshh!

More miasma seeped into him via the shoulder, but Rion didn’t care; instead, he gripped his dagger with both of his hands and pulled it back before digging it back into the spider’s chest.

Tnnng!

The dagger struck the glassy red orb but did nothing — not even a scratch. Yet, he refused to give up.

He pulled the dagger back and struck once again.

Tnnng!

Again.

Tnnng!

Again.

Tnnng!

Again.

Tnnng!

Again.

Tnnng!

After failing so many times, he felt as if he was standing on a bridge choked from all paths and despair began to cloud his mind, but the familiar voice reached him once again.

"Rion! Let’s go together!"

He bit his lower lip and pulled himself out of the despair.

The scalding pain from the miasma had already dwindled to nearly nothing because of the immortal body. He no longer felt it as annoying as before, so from this moment, it was just a minor inconvenience.

’She is still far from here...’ he concluded and snarled in a voice laced with pure hate, "I won’t allow vermin like you near her."

The spider let go of his shoulder and began to dig the tips of its other limbs into his sides. He didn’t stop it; instead, he let all his thoughts go, except for one.

’I have to kill it before she reaches here,’ he recited in his head and closed his eyes.

Everything vanished into the darkness. The only things that remained were Rion, his dagger and the glassy red orb.

Desperate to kill the abhorrent creature before him, he pushed all of his mind, will and soul into his next strike.

Unknown to him, the mark of folded wings on his back unfurled slightly and began to emit a soft yet radiant golden glow.

Crrrsh!

He felt something change within him... as if shackles of some sort were removed not from his body but from his very being. However, he didn’t let himself sink into that feeling; instead, he pushed his dagger forward.

Vooosh!

Silver flames emerged around his dagger and struck the glassy red orb, and unlike before, a dissimilar sound reached him...

Crack!

As soon as Rion’s aura-infused dagger struck the glassy red orb, it cracked like glass struck by a hammer.

Tsshhh!

The spider trembled violently before it burst apart into dark dust that flew away with the next gust of the wind.

He fell onto his knees, opened his eyes in ragged breaths to stare at himself in the blood that had pooled beneath him. He mumbled while his wounds healed themselves, "I-I did it..."

A smile appeared on his face — a wide, cheery and bloodied smile.

At the same time, a voice much clearer than before reached his ears, "Rion! Where are you?"

His smile widened, and his lips parted to answer, but he stopped after reevaluating his current condition.

Even so, he didn’t want her to get hurt while looking for him, so he replied loudly, "Dora! Don’t come here!"

Dora, who was looking around for him, turned towards him and asked in a worried tone, "Why? Are you in trouble?"

He thought of an answer, and a few moments later, a lightbulb brightened beside his head.

’I am a genius...’ he thought, and answered in a flustered tone, "I-I ripped my clothes..."

She sighed and spoke, "I knew it..."

He frowned, feeling a bad premonition.

She took off the leather bag that was hanging on her back and muttered, "I also rip mine while searching for the herbs, that’s why I keep extra."

"I-Is that so?" he answered with a crumbling smile.

"Yeah, take this!" she said before she threw the bag toward him.

Thud!

The bag fell a few steps away from him, and he stared at it as if he were looking at some monster.

"Hah..." he sighed.

At the end, all he could do was continue with his lies.

A few minutes later, both of them walked back to the Den.

Dora had her mouth covered with her hands as she stopped her bubbling laughter to reach Rion.

Rion, who was dressed in a slate red tunic and skirt, couldn’t say anything and just began to sprint with a reddened face.

She called out, "Rion haha!" But the laughter escaped her before the words did.

She took a deep breath and began to sprint after him.

"Wait, Dummy!"

***

Haden stood face to face with Varok and asked, "What were you trying to do?"

Varok stared into his eyes for a moment before looking away and answering in a gleeful tone, "I just wanted to see what kind of man he is... but even I hadn’t expected him to be such a mad one."

His gaze shifted towards Rion, who was sneaking around the den so others couldn’t see his colourful appearance, and said, "Now, that I know what kind of man he is... I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for us."

"He could’ve died," Haden shot back, but his expression was the same as before — calm without end.

"HAHA!" Varok laughed in amusement and turned towards him. He pointed his finger at him and asked, "Then Dragonslayer... why didn’t you go to help him?"

Haden didn’t reply and just continued to stare at him.

A wickedly amused grin split Varok as he snarled in delight, "You also want to see him grow... not because he is your son. But because when you look at him you see Him."

Haden’s expression hardened, his eyes turned cold as he ordered in a chilling tone, "Leave, Beast."

A shiver ran down Varok’s spine. He mumbled and left, "The dark king may return."

Haden stared at his spot for a moment before turning around with a chilling whisper, "Then he will die the same."