Under Wain's leadership, their group ventured deeper into the heart of the mountain range, where Wain decided to stop and build a settlement.
They were already deep within Barestone Mountain and Wain was convinced to be safe enough from any possible pursuit by Edwin Elton, so he chose an unoccupied location with enough trees to build the settlement.
This valley was not only spacious but also well-protected, surrounded by mountains on three sides, hidden far from the main road through the mountain. Wain was confident that this secluded spot would keep them out of unwanted attention.
With these thoughts, Wain declared, "We will settle here," and a collective sigh of relief swept through the group. They were walking for so long that they were already losing faith in ever reaching their destination, but now, they had finally arrived.
As the group began to unload their belongings, several tentacles suddenly emerged from the ground, spewing a bizarre, sticky substance.
"Is he still alive?" Wain mused as he cautiously approached Kadden, who was drenched in a mixture of liquids from Octader's insides. He had entirely forgotten about the human Octader had been carrying and it seemed his familiar refused to do the task any further.
"Is this a dream?" Kadden muttered as he slowly opened his eyes, looking around in disbelief. After enduring several days trapped within an octopus's stomach, he had nearly given up hope of ever seeing daylight again.
"Master?" He weakly uttered, unsure if it was truly Wain, or just an illusion.
Confirming Kadden was alive, Wain tossed him an apple. "You should eat something." He advised him. He had no idea how Kadden had managed to survive within Octader's stomach, but since he was still breathing, he should take care of him.
At first, Kadden refused to believe it was real, but after feeling the apple in his hand, his instincts kicked in and he hurriedly ate it. He wished to forget everything he ate in the past few days in order to survive.
Meanwhile, Rryk and Old Potato were surprised why Wain was talking to a slime, until they got closer and discovered it was actually a human. Though he didn't show too many signs of life.
As the group of monsters began their preparations to settle in the valley, Wain surveyed their new surroundings, searching for potential threats, when he suddenly froze in front of the entrance to a cave.
At that very moment, the atmosphere in the valley grew oppressively heavy, and even the mana itself seemed to turn hostile when Wain attempted to manipulate it.
"Leave!" an eerie whisper echoed through the valley, causing Rryk and Old Potato to shiver in fear. It was clear that whatever entity occupied this valley was fiercely hostile and had no intention of sharing the space with them.
The rest of the monsters also anxiously eyed Wain, awaiting his order to retreat, but compared to their expectations, Wain didn't turn back, approaching the cavern in the valley instead.
What is he doing?Rryk and Old Potato exchanged concerned glances but decided to follow behind Wain. Their leader was stronger than them after all, so they decided to trust him, since he could understand the situation better.
Kadden, too, refused to remain in the valley filled by monsters and followed the trio. However, while their leaders and Kadden decided to be brave, the rest of the monsters didn't dare to approach the cave's entrance, standing as far as they could.
Meanwhile, Wain entered the cave, where the pressure originated from. Although he was also overwhelmed by the pressure, with his superior senses, he could distinguish a lot more factors and he could tell it didn't have natural origins.
Whoever was generating the enormous pressure was likely attempting to intimidate them into leaving and Wain wanted to know why. Perhaps something good was waiting for him!
Wain continued down through the narrow cave's corridor, while the eerie voice echoed once more, resounding through the narrow corridor. "This is your last chance, turn around and leave!" The voice roared, causing Rryk, Old Potato, and Kadden to huddle closer to Wain.
The current pressure they were experiencing from the unseen entity was more powerful than anything they had ever encountered, and they began to regret their decision to enter the cave.
Despite the chilling warning, Wain pushed onward until he reached the end of the corridor, where an unexpected sight awaited him.
"A beauty!" Kadden couldn't help but exclaim out loud in surprise.
Before them stood a captivating girl with a face that could rival that of a fairy. Her long, midnight-black hair cascaded gently over her shoulders, and tattered black clothing clung to her perfect curves. The only distinguishing feature setting her apart from humans, aside from her otherworldly beauty, was a pair of pitch-black angelic wings that sprouted from her back.
She was unmistakably a fallen angel, and Kadden couldn't tear his gaze away from the ethereal being before him. He was rendered speechless and immobile, his mind racing with various thoughts.
He heard rumors of dark magicians having underground prisons, where they held beauties of all kinds as captives and an unsightly grin appeared on his face from the thought. Perhaps he found the right master!
Wain, on the other hand, had an entirely different focus. Unaffected by the girl's beauty, he quickly found out that the fallen angel was severely wounded, and her original level of power was exceptionally high!
[Luarin Netley] (Fallen Angel, lower 4th-grade)
Level 206
Hp 12,647 / 160,348
Encountering a high-grade fallen angel would normally mean his doom. However, as he had suspected, the overwhelming pressure he had felt earlier was artificially made, and the caster was in a severely weakened state.
With level over two hundred, Wain couldn't even imagine the benefits he could receive if he slayed the fallen angel, however, was he capable of it?
Although the fallen angel was wounded, she still possessed over ten thousand Hp, which was a considerable amount for Wain and if, by a chance, the fallen angel still could use even a single 4th-grade or even a 3rd-grade spell, they would all be dead instead.
Meanwhile, Luarin regarded them coldly. Despite her efforts to ward off intruders, these four had ventured all the way to her, and found out about her weakened state.
"Have I grown so weak?" she questioned herself, wondering why these intruders had dared to approach her despite the pressure she had simulated. She nervously inspected the intruders, discovering that two of them were monsters only at 1st-grade, while the gross slime-like humanoid hadn't even formed a mana core yet. The only problem was the man clad in a black robe, whom she couldn't see through at all.
With her remaining strength, she knew she could unleash one last 3rd-grade spell before depleting her mana, but she preferred to avoid it if possible, since she would be completely defenseless afterwards.
"Damned Apostle of Light!" she groaned, cursing her unlucky encounter. If not for that, she would have never found herself in this dire situation.
At that moment, the man whom Luarin had feared suddenly moved, approaching her. Luarin secretly began casting her last spell, calculating how to eliminate all four intruders, when the man reached out to her.
However, to her surprise, he extended his hand not with a weapon, but with a neatly decorated crystal bottle containing red liquid.
"A potion?" Luarin was taken aback, her gaze locked on Wain with heightened interest. Her wounds were severe, to the point where a regular potion wouldn't suffice, but the one offered to her seemed to be of a high-grade! It could definitely significantly aid her recovery. But could she trust this man?
As she contemplated his motives, Wain spoke, revealing his identity. "I am Wain Sageroar, the Apostle of Chaos. How about we make a deal?" A sly smirk crept from beneath his hood.
"What kind of deal?" Luarin hissed, glaring at him, while contemplating his words.
Luarin hissed, her eyes fixed on him as she considered his proposal. The title "Apostle of Chaos" raised her suspicions. She knew of only one God of Chaos, and benevolence was not within his nature.
Furthemore, Ollios didn't have any apostles, he created only dragons and other terrifying monsters. So she thought that the man before her was probably an imposter or,though the chances were slim, a dragon in disguise.
"That's simple." Wain spoke again, taking his time to explain, "Take this potion and leave." He finished the sentence, surprising Luarin.
He wants me to leave? Luarin couldn't understand, the spell she channeled behind her back breaking due to the lack of focus. There were only two possibilities she could think of at the moment.
Either the man in front of her tried to fool her, or he was really powerful and toyed with her. However, whatever the case was, the deal was favorable for her, and she desperately needed the potion in his hand.
"Fine," Luarin replied, accepting the potion from Wain. Studying the liquid, she confirmed it wasn't poisoned, , and then gulped it down. Almost instantly, she began to feel better, her condition slowly improving. Though it would take a few days for her to return to her peak state, she was at least in a condition to defend herself now.
However, there was one lingering question that she couldn't understand. "Don't you want anything in return?" she asked, studying Wain's reaction.
Originally, she expected an unreasonable demand from Wain since she wasn't in a position to negotiate, however, Wain didn't ask her for anything, just telling her to leave.
The situation perplexed her, since she just received a high-grade potion for nothing at all.
"No, you are of no use to me," Wain replied, turning around to leave. He originally planned to use the fallen angel in some way, but he simply didn't have the strength to do so.
With his sensitivity to mana, he could easily sense the spell Luarin channeled and understood they would die if he made an unreasonable demand. Though she might agree if his request wasn't unreasonable, he didn't want to take the risk.
He wasn't worried that the fallen angel would attack him after treating her wound, since he knew about the concealment effect of his robe and doubted the fallen angel would risk attacking someone she didn't know anything about.
As Wain departed, Luarin slowly followed behind the group. She still wasn't sure whether Wain didn't have any ulterior motives. Moreover she couldn't simply ignore someone, who was capable of nonchalantly offering a high-grade potion. So she remained cautious about the man called Wain.