Chapter 92: A Spark in Abyss’s Eyes
Leona’s first thought was: Abyss’s gift was gone!
Of course, she quickly realized it wasn’t just about the gift; they had lost a valuable clue. As a necromancer, Abyss possessed a deep understanding of anatomy and magic. If he had a corpse to study, he might have gleaned some useful information. But a puddle of foul-smelling black goo? What could he possibly learn from that?
Was he supposed to taste it? What if he got a stomach ache?
Leona grumbled to herself as she returned to the wagon where Givia was.
“What happened to the corpse?” Givia asked curiously.
“It’s gone. It turned into a puddle of black goo… And by the way, you can probably say goodbye to that wagon. The goo is like tar, it’s stuck to the floor,” Leona sighed. “We could have learned something from it, but now it’s useless.”
“So… That means the mage who attacked us wasn’t human?” Givia asked.
“Most likely not. I don’t know of any human race that can chant spells after losing their entire head, including their brain,” Leona said, shaking her head. “And it wasn’t undead either. Undead turn to ash or revert to their original corpses after being destroyed. I’ve never heard of an undead turning into black goo.”
“I have to stop Kevin,” Givia said, peering out of the wagon with a worried expression. “That mage who attacked us was probably his doing… He wanted to kill me, erase me from this world. If it weren’t for you, I might have been incinerated along with the wagon.”
“There’s something else…” Flora said, wanting to warn Givia.
“I know… There’s a traitor in our ranks, but I don’t have any evidence to identify them yet,” Givia said. “We Ossi people rarely study magic, and my guards are no exception. They don’t know much about it. I don’t know how the traitor is relaying information. Before we left, only Santos and I knew our destination, and Santos would never betray me. He lost his position and all his wealth in the capital to help me escape. Someone who sacrificed so much for me wouldn’t be a traitor…”
Leona and Flora exchanged glances. They were unparalleled geniuses, but their understanding of magic was limited. Leona’s knowledge was basic, and Flora only knew a bit more. If Abyss were awake, things might be easier, but he was still recovering his soul. They couldn’t wake him just to help a princess they had only known for a day find a traitor.
The caravan continued its journey towards the Eastern Empire without stopping. Givia gave Leona a potion bottle to collect a sample of the black goo, but she decided not to tell her guards about the traitor. It would not only alert the culprit but also damage the morale of the already shaken troops, who had lost comrades in the attack.
Even though they were brave Ossi warriors willing to die for her, the loss of their comrades had understandably dampened their spirits. She didn’t want to add to their burden.
Fortunately, they didn’t encounter any more attackers. Kevin seemed unaware that his mage had failed—after all, with the half-headed mage’s abilities and the strange smoke’s power, no one on the continent should have been able to defeat him.
Unfortunately for him, he hadn’t anticipated Leona. She had not only dominated the fight but also kicked the mage’s remaining half-head off.
Givia’s Fountain’s Draw was respectfully returned to her, and the soldier who had been fatally wounded was almost fully recovered thanks to the pendant and Flora’s Divine Arts. Givia claimed that with the pendant, she could now sleep peacefully for about an hour before the nightmares began.
After a full day of travel, night fell, and the caravan set up camp in a relatively safe location, their backs against a slope. After a simple meal of dry rations and boiled jerky, everyone prepared to rest. Only a few guards remained awake, taking turns to ensure the camp’s safety.
Givia, after tidying up, lay down to sleep. Even though she knew the nightmares would return in about an hour, she desperately needed rest. Even an hour of peaceful sleep was a luxury.
Leona and Flora shared a tent with Abyss. It belonged to one of the deceased guards. In the past, Leona would have considered sleeping in a dead man’s tent unlucky, but things were different now—she was dead herself. There was nothing wrong with a dead person sleeping in a dead person’s tent.
Flora and Leona, not needing sleep, didn’t bother with pointless pretense. They sat beside the snoring Abyss, chatting about girly things.
As Leona was describing her favorite type of handkerchief, a sudden flash of light caught her eye.
“Huh?” she said, blinking. “Flora, did you see Abyss’s eyes glowing?”
“Glowing?” Flora, who had her back to Abyss, hadn’t seen anything. She turned to look.
Abyss lay there, breathing steadily, seemingly normal.
“I saw it! There was a light beneath his eyelids. His eyes weren’t open, but his eyeballs were glowing!” Leona insisted.
Flora was surprised. Abyss’s eyes did glow sometimes, but that was usually the light of his soul flames when he used magic. Soul flames weren’t physical entities, but more like projections that emanated from his eye sockets.
She stared at Abyss’s face, but he remained asleep, showing no reaction.
However, after observing him for a while, Flora also noticed what Leona had described—
Two faint golden beams of light were emanating from beneath Abyss’s eyelids, clearly visible in the darkness!
“Isn’t that the light often seen when Divine Arts are being used?” Flora asked, bewildered. “What’s going on?”
Leave a Reply