Chapter Twenty-Four: Not from this World.
The soft breeze drifted through the surroundings, carrying with it the unnerving stench of blood that lingered in the air. Lillian's expression shifted rapidly as the realisation dawned on her.
Dusken's smile deepened as he silently observed the troubled Lillian, his gaze intense.
What he had said earlier had not been just mere words, as they might have seemed. Beneath his words lay a hidden threat, deep with meaning: the beastman's evil plan to kill him had backfired, resulting in its gruesome death.
Now, the same fate awaited Lillian if she turned on him during their temporary alliance to escape the forest.
'It seems she gets it, but we can't waste more time,' Dusken thought, his lips parting.
"Let's get going. The beastmen are chasing down everyone, and the sooner we leave, the better," he urged, his expression calm, as though he hadn't just issued a threat moments ago.
Lillian didn't seem surprised by the revelation of the chase; she simply shook her head slightly, as if to snap out of her thoughts.
"You're right," she said, letting out a deep sigh.
"I know the way out of the forest, and if we leave on time, the guards from the Starlian family can help us deal with the pursuing beastmen." She paused briefly, her voice carrying a hint of urgency.
"We both know they're a prominent family in society, and dealing with a bunch of beastmen would be easy for them. That's why we must hurry."
'Oh,' Dusken thought, his eyes flashing with a calculating light as he sank into deep contemplation.
This was a trial set up by Nothing - the god of darkness - for candidates aiming for his legacy.
The lifeforms inside the trial wouldn't know that some people were seekers after the god's legacy, which explained why Lillian had misunderstood.
As for these living entities in the trial, whether they were illusions or not… he didn't know. No one did, to be exact.
It was a question that had raged on in society, and there was only one agreed-upon answer: only the gods knew.
Dusken understood that his goal was to find the hidden tablet in the trial.
Acquainting himself with a high-standing family would be beneficial, especially since he wasn't the only one seeking the ancient tablet of Nothing.
Some time later, after taking the core shard of the beastman, he was ready to move.
Delaying any further would mean betting his life on luck. And so, he and Lillian set off to leave the forest.
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The walk was uneventful, though fortunately, no beastmen chased after them.
Dusken had released one of his claimed shadows and sent it ahead to scout.
He had also tried controlling and sensing the perceptions of two shadows, but it placed a heavy strain on his mind, making him cough up blood. Lillian gave him an odd look.
The reason for this was that his limit, at the moment, was sensing through two perspectives: his own and the shadow he sent forward.
If he wished, he could stop and control two shadows while perceiving what they sensed, but that would leave him rooted in one spot.
He also discovered something shocking: his shadow manipulation limit had decreased.
It was no longer fifty meters, it shrunk to about 48 or so. Which meant that the Abysmal points he had earned from slaying the two beastmen were the cause of this.
'This means that the stronger I become, the more distant the bond between me and the shadows grows. Though I feel like they aren't meant for me… darkness is,' Dusken thought.
Whenever he manipulated shadows, it felt foreign to him, something outside of himself.
But the sensation he had experienced when embraced by the darkness during his battle with Ashahell still lingered.
'Maybe shadows aren't what's meant for me. Let night descend, and then I'll be able to manipulate darkness,'
Dusken thought with a deep sigh, the power to control shadows wasn't for him, so he would just stick with the darkness then.
The sun was beginning to lose its radiance, but there was still considerable time before sunset.
With nothing else to do, he decided to strike up a conversation with Lillian to pull more information from her.
"Hey Lillian, about that Starlian family… how powerful are they?" he asked the question that had been troubling him.
While walking, Lillian suddenly stopped and stared at him, suspicion rippling in the depths of her dark brown eyes.
"Are you playing with me?" she asked coldly, a chilly light flashing through her pupils.
Dusken was utterly speechless at this sight. A weird premonition settled in him, like the air had become unnaturally stiff as soon as Lillian grew angry, making it harder to breathe.
'Could her side ability or talent ability have something to do with the air?' he wondered, inwardly noting this.
But outwardly, he displayed a perplexed expression.
"What do you mean? Why would I be messing around in this serious situation?" Dusken feigned ignorance.
Lillian's gaze scanned him with cold indifference and detachment, tinged with… curiosity.
"Have you been living under a rock? Or are you not from this world?" Her words were striking, with an edge of ridicule.
'What the…' Dusken thought, feeling rage simmering within him.
'Who does she think she is, acting all mighty?' His eyes became cold.
"So what? If that's what you want to know, then…" Before he could finish his sentence, Lillian waved her hands, cutting him off.
"Enough with your high sense of superiority, Dusk. In this alliance, we're both equals, so don't act like you're the boss of me.
"I am not obliged to answer any of your questions, especially when you're trying to mock me with them." Her words were uttered through gritted teeth, her eyes spewing rage like flames.
Dusken stared at her, slowly regaining his calm. He had acted too rashly.
As someone who had been reborn with over twenty years of experience from his past life, acting like a child was beneath him.
He decided to calm himself and began analysing the situation more perceptively.
'It seems she's angry because she thinks I'm lying, while I'm annoyed because she's being rude,' he thought, a sharp light flashing through his eyes as a plan solidified.
"You wanted to know the truth, right?" His next words landed like a hammer, stomping heavily on Lillian's heart. She staggered back, pointing at him in horror. "Well, here it is: I, Dusken, am not from this world."
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A/N: Another chapter updated once again. Remember to vote for the book. Thanks once more.