Arion had never felt so devastated before. It was as if more than ten years of his determination and dreams were broken in that instant. Even if he had only come into this world only yesterday, the feelings deep inside his heart felt like his own.
It was as if all his hard work and efforts he had put in for almost a decade turned for naught. All his excitement and confidence, which received a significant boost yesterday, shattered.
Feeling Mei's hand on his wrist, with an empty stare, he turned to look at her. When he felt her comforting and gentle gaze, the more he felt ashamed and angry at himself that he let her down.
He didn't say anything and let Mei take him away since he felt as if he had no face to make her wait any longer.
He tried his utmost best, and he knew even if he tried using the Golden Monolith for the whole day, the results would be the same.
Mei also didn't say anything since she didn't want him to make him feel bad by trying to comfort him now. She decided to let him have some time to calm himself down.
However, she couldn't help but feel sad for him, seeing how happy he was before and how he was now.
She also couldn't believe what happened and when she touched his wrist to check on him, she was surprised to feel that this Pranic Heart was lying dormant as usual.
She wasn't able to make a connection with his heart, and any wisp of pranic energy that entered his body from hers would instantly disappear as if something was sucking away her energy.
This was why not only her but any other Healifer was not able to heal Arion. Because even if they tried their best, their healing pranic energy wasn't able to affect his body.
Arion could feel the mocking gazes of the people around him, but his surroundings seemed to fade since his mind was wallowing in self-pity.
The only reason his eyes became reddened was that he was holding back his emotions so much that he felt like there was a lump in his throat.
To others, Arion's expression seemed more downcast than usual and didn't find it surprising. But they had no idea how high his expectations were just a while ago because of what happened yesterday.
However, Mei noticed these scornful gazes from others towards Arion and glared at them. The ones who were under her gaze quickly looked down, and their heads looked as if they were using their hair as a shield to avoid her piercing glare.
Some didn't even look at Arion anymore since they noticed how protective Mei was about Arion. Since Mei and Arion never traveled out together, they didn't know such a fact.
This only made them feel more jealous of Arion more for getting such protective care from the Moon Saintess.
"Oh my god, look, that's Sentinel Senzo, the Thunder Fist!"
"It's really him! Look, he is carrying a dead Dreadling in his cart!"
"Shit, it looks so scary! What's with those huge scales and teeth? Its skin looks so slimy, ugh."
"That's the Grim Lump. It's not really a big Dreadling, but its five-inch sharp teeth can really shred our bodies. I heard one of them attacked the Luton Ward, and at least thirty died before some Rangers were able to kill them off. But still, so many died in the Luton Ward, and the way their corpses looked was horrible according to rumors."
"I heard it took ten Rangers to kill that Grim Lump which attacked the Luton Ward. But Sir Senzo killed it by himself!"
"Waah, he's so handsome and strong!"
"I want to be a Dreadslayer like him!"
Arion got irritated by these shouts and cheers and turned his gaze towards the front to see a suave man in his twenties, wearing dashing armor and dragging a large cart behind him effortlessly.
He recognized him as Senzo Lok, one of the famous twenty-five sentinels and only below the five Champions of Rimefall Village.
There were many ranks between Dreadslayers. Rangers were the ones with lesser experience and more like amateurs. They usually only kill the weakest Dreadlings or scout for information about stronger ones.
But even for a Defier to become a good Ranger, strenuous training was needed since even the weakest Dreadlings were not easy to deal with.
Sentinels were the ones stronger and more experienced than the Rangers. They usually wouldn't fool around before Dreadlings and were pros in what they do—killing Dreadlings.
Rank wise they were only under Champions who protected a village from Dreadlings that Sentinels might find hard to handle. They usually would only take action if the Sentinels found it hard to contain the threat by themselves.
That was why people were more familiar with the Sentinels and saw them as heroes who always protected them day and night.
In their eyes, the Champions were like aloof existences who rarely made an appearance unless necessary. Some even saw Champions as legendary figures and worshipped them.
As for those above the Champions, such supreme figures were just myths other than knowing they existed somewhere though these people in the Rimefall Village had never seen them.
Senzo had a cool smile on his face which made some young girls swoon when they met his gaze.
However, his eyes lit up when he caught sight of Mei's enchanting figure. No matter how many times he saw her, his eyes couldn't help but wander over her pleasing curves subtly.
But he was more interested in seeing her mystical face hidden behind her elegant veil. Just like many others, he had never seen her face before.
Arion felt irked by the foolish smile on Senzo's face, and he also didn't like the way he was looking at Mei. He had seen such eyes countless times in his previous life, and he could straight up see what kind of a person this Senzo was.
Senzo put down the rope that was tied to his cart and refinedly walked towards Mei with the best smile he could put on.