Chapter 670: A strange encounter (part 2)
After a second, the woman sealed into the lake, refuted her own theory.
"No, the scent is too concentrated for you to have an ancestor whose lineage was influenced by hers, but you can’t be from the Vallmery family either, not only you lack their characteristic dual blue colored hair but I feel a huge amount of vitality coming from you and those guys have the mage path as their base instead of the knight one", apparently this woman shared Ophelia’s "weakness", when she didn’t focus, she gave away information during a conversation.
And of course, Daimon had no intention to refuse any free information, so while he had some things he wished to ask, he remained silent at least until the next conclusion made by that woman, reached his ears.
"The only other option I can imagine is that you are... her lover, yeah that should be it, if the innate ability "Royal Consort" was used on you, it would leave a trace on a similar level as my "Royal Protector", you look a bit young but I guess Pheli must have felt too lonely or bored...", her previous fierceness had vanished into thin air, but still, before the woman could continue, Daimon directly interrupted her imaginary scenario.
Not because he didn’t want to listen where would this misunderstanding will lead to, but because the ring on his left hand has been shaking like crazy since earlier, Daimon could imagine Ophelia trying to shout as loud as possible in order to stop that woman from speaking.
On the other hand, that worked as a confirmation of that woman’s identity, since the ring didn’t show any hostility towards her, she must be an ally or at least she is not lying when it comes to having a positive relationship with Ophelia, so Daimon had the greenlight to explain.
"Ahem, I certainly was the target for one of Ophelia’s abilities, but it was "Royal Link" instead of the one you mentioned", he said, to which the woman sealed in the crater lake instantly retorted.
"No way, certainly Royal Link is an innate ability at the same level of both Royal Protector and Royal Consort, but Pheli is not a normal royal, hell, she isn’t even a candidate, but the confirmed future owner of the Azure Galaxy Whale Throne, which makes her a princess of the Northern Sea, for you to be lent one of her innate abilities which is the purpose of Royal Link you would have to be a confirmed future owner of a Throne yourself and there is no way...", since the aggressiveness was back, Daimon sighed, that woman was a bit too fierce, but in a different way than Ophelia.
"Dracolevia, I have obtained the Dracolevia lineage and thanks to that, I was able to help Ophelia escape from her imprisonment", said Daimon, putting an end to the woman’s rant.
"...", after a moment of silence, the amicable tone was back, that being said the woman seemed to still have her reserves, because she made one last question.
"What was the name of the ability you received from her, then?", she asked, to which Daimon casually answered.
"It was "Royal Grace", she helped me with an important matter, so I returned the favor in the best way I could at that moment".
A few seconds passed and then the surface of the lake trembled, as a sphere of corroded chains emerged from it.
"The people that know about Pheli’s maximum lifesaving method can be counted with the fingers of a hand, there are others who can use Royal Grace like myself for example, but only Pheli can transfer it to others to get a second try, even if her own use is on cooldown", she said in a much calmer voice.
Daimon recognized this feeling, though he had no access to his Dracolevia lineage, there was this sense of familiarity coming from within that sphere of corroded chains now, similar to what happened with Ophelia, it was a sign of mutual trust of some sort between two people whose lineages share a common origin, that being said it’s not something that any lineage could do, it’s probably a specific trait of the ones directly related to the Northern Sea.
With things going a bit more smoothly now, Daimon proceeded to ask his questions in order, starting with the identity of the woman sealed in this lake.
"Can you tell me who are you, or perhaps are you missing some key memories about yourself?", he asked to which the woman inside the corroded sphere of chains, answered.
"Ah right, sorry it’s been too long since I talked with someone I didn’t want to beat to a pulp, my name is Lyndis, because my parents are really old-fashioned, but you can call me Lyn, anyway before we continue, you said you could get rid of that piece of trash right...", only by the end of her sentence, Lyn realized she hadn’t returned the courtesy of asking the other party his name.
But contrary to what she expected, Daimon didn’t help her out this time by introducing himself, but directly answered.
"Yeah, but I need to clear a path all the way to where the seal is placed to immobilize the enemy first and then take it out from the bottom to the surface, alternatively I could just directly break the seal, but that would mean having to fight that guy and I don’t know in which state he would be if the seal is released".
"Mmm, okay, let’s go with the first option, I just kicked his ass so he can’t really move nor defend himself right now, I’ll tell you where the bone which is sealing him is placed, so that you can use that strange silver light to clear the path, that being said you won’t be able to break the seal with it, though it would definitely work on the one placed on me, it won’t do anything to the one on that guy", said Lyn.
’Despite her slightly odd personality, she’s got quite good analyzing abilities’, thought Daimon to then say.
"Don’t worry, I have the right person for the job", naturally he was referring to the black sea emblem, which was calmly resting inside his right pocket, but before we get to that, Daimon pointed his right hand at the lake, where the chain controlled by Lyn was signaling him to attack, as that was the area where the nethereal was sealed.
What happened next was Daimon continuously shooting streams of silver light at that spot, for the next minutes until he could see something, besides the black water of course.
It was a bone which protruded from one the sides of the crater which delimited the lake, and hanging from it was the sphere of chains where the nethereal was imprisoned, surprisingly that bone was not at the bottom of the lake, unlike what Daimon has seen previously, in both instances.
Though the bone and the one that was chained to it, was missing in the second instance, the empty space left in that pond was indeed at its bottom, but the mystery was solved the next second due to Lyn saying.
"That guy was sealed here with me, not the other way around, so I’m at the deepest part of the lake".
’I guess that explains why the energy I obtained from the first middle stage mutated red strand was smaller in comparison with the early stage one, the nether in the black water is weaker due to her influence in the pond and so is the mutated red strand resulted from drinking it’, thought Daimon to then return to the real world, because of another voice joining the conversation.
"Aghhh!", well it was a scream more than a sentence, and it came from the nethereal inside the sphere of chains, apparently that guy had lost consciousness due to the previous clash with Lyn and only now that the light from the red sun had started to reach his prison, thus harming him, did he wake up.
"Heh, look who is back, just in time to say goodbye", said Lyn, which made the nethereal focus for a second, just to see a type of animal which has appeared in his nightmares over the past thousands of years, a shark, coming towards him.
Of course, that was the rune shark which had surrounded Daimon’s black sea emblem, to then jump into the water and use the cleared path to go to where the nethereal was sealed, under Daimon’s instructions.
"Nonsense, even if you beat me to an inch of my life and further restrain me, let alone you, but even that shark bastard can’t kill meeee...", the last word of the nethereal’s sentence was extended as the rune shark chewed through the base of the area from which the chains sprouted, to then drag the sphere of chains outside of the water in a matter of seconds.
"Gah!", it was night as of current, so even when directly under the light of the red sun, without any interference, the nethereal could endure the pain, he even tried to attack Daimon, but the chains which he could control, were being restrained by Lyn’s ones.
And Daimon casually walked towards the sphere of chains to then gather the silver light around his right hand, using it to sever the corroded chains, putting an end to that guy’s resistance.
"The process will be faster this time, so you can open it up right away", said Daimon to the rune shark, whose eyes glowed as it munched on the chain sphere on the spot, revealing the nethereal sealed inside of it the next second.
"Judging by the sick pale skin tone and the unmistakable smell of death, you should be one of Aslan’s subordinates, we’ll make this short, tell me if you know anything of what happened at the final battle and I’ll give you a painless and quick end", said Daimon.
This nethereal was surprisingly in a more decent state than the other one, his clothes hadn’t completely turned into rags, he was skinny and had a pale sick skin tone, but those were characteristics of nethereals from the Death faction like Aslan, so it was normal.
That being said, he had some visible bruises here and there, which were probable caused by Lyn hitting the same spot through the years, that showed how fierce her attacks were, because the chains are supposed to cut off any external interference and yet, she has beat him up enough to cause a noticeable wound, it was amazing on its own.
"Wait, there is no reason for us to fight, that’s what I have been trying to tell to that crazy bitch, I just want to get out of this damn prison, I’ll cooperate with anyone that helps me with that!", he said with an exasperated voice.
That sounded like a decent proposal, and gaining more allies is not a bad thing, unfortunately, Daimon has seen first hand how an incompetent ally can ruin everything, not to mention that this nethereal is rather weak or more accurately it has become rather weaker than he should, due to all the beatings he has taken.
"That’s the problem, something tells me you will change sides at the slightest sign of trouble and more importantly... you don’t have new information for me", with a calm voice Daimon pointed his right hand at the nethereal, who immediately tried to stab Daimon’s foot with the sharpened end of a corroded chain.
"Clang!", imagine his expression when the sound of metals colliding was produced due to the clash between the chain and Daimon’s foot, before the sharpened end bent inwards.
"Yeah, that’s what I was talking about", with those words, Daimon shot the stream of silver light at the nethereal, which was consumed in it and died almost instantly.
"Good, those cowards from the Death faction like to "play dead" and they will stab you in the back as soon as a chance appears", said Lyn, to which Daimon asked.
"I thought you were going to tell me to not listen to him, his offer wasn’t that bad after all?".
"Well, you don’t seem to be the careless type, besides if you were stupid, Pheli wouldn’t have used Royal Link with you, Dracolevia Throne inheritor or not", she casually said, which made Daimon bitterly smile behind his mask.
The main reason as to why he didn’t take that nethereal into the group, is because there is no access to any energies, and that means not only Terror Contracts, but even regular contracts can’t be used here, also there was no need to take a risk for a nethereal who easily changed sides like that, had no important information and no strong battle abilities.
Especially if there was a way better option who basically fulfilled all the previous requirements, present in the same lake as him, in other words Lyn.
"Okay, with the nuisance gone, are you going to talk to me now?", said Lyn, obviously she referred to Daimon telling her, his name, she also seemed interested in the rune shark which by the way was munching on the chains left behind by that nethereal, as of current.
"Daimon, my name is Daimon, but don’t mention it lout loud in front of others, this mask is for a reason after all", he said, to which Lyn retorted.
"Hah, who could I tell it to, if I’m going to be here... wait a second, are planning to break my seal as well, as much as I would like to go with you to help, to be honest there have been chances through the years where I could have broken out of it by myself, but there is a reason as to why I stayed here to wait".
Daimon couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at what she said, he couldn’t think of a reason not to leave first, she could have gone to Neptune and prepare a counter-force against the nethereals, but chose not to do so.
"You mentioned something like that before, but you could have broken out of the seal and stay here to wait?", he asked.
"Nope, you see, I was... the only one among the seconds in command of the generals that survived, that’s why my seal was reinforced by the three Lords, and so, they will know if I break out of it, and that will for sure bring a lot of troubles at least during the first hours of it while I adjust myself to go out of their radar, that’s not the main reason though", she said to then add.
"I was the last one to lose consciousness back then that’s how I know I’m the only second in command who survived and I even got a glance of these chains descending from the sky to then start capturing everyone, before I blacked out, Pheli told me to quite literally not move from where I would be, until she came for me, so I will wait until that moment here".
That answered a few doubts Daimon had, but also opened a door to new questions to appear, like why did Ophelia tell her that and why didn’t she remember anything about it, but first things first.
"If that’s the case, I’ll take you out of the seal now, Ophelia is already here after all", said Daimon, casually dropping a bomb on Lyn.
"Hah, why didn’t you say so, damn, she is going to be pissed at me for mentioning all the lover thing!", she exclaimed to then say.
"Wait a second, if Pheli was here I should have sensed a strong signal of familiarity, but the strongest one I get is from you?".
"Well, that’s because she is here with me", said Daimon as he pointed at a ring which was now calmly resting on his left hand.
"...", after a moment of silence, in which the chains controlled by Lyn approached Daimon and touched the ring in which Ophelia has entered in order to recover, Lyn said.
"I have so many questions right now, but I guess this does count as she coming for me, so yeah, get me out please".
Daimon nodded at her, her seal is of a different nature when compared to the nethereal ones, so the process is also different, for this Daimon didn’t need the rune shark to do basically most of the job, because the chains at their origin are the corroded ones.
Lyn could bring her sphere of chains outside of the lake, and so Daimon directly pointed his right hand at it, gathering a large amount of silver light around it which was then shot in the form of a silver stream of light.
"Hssssssss!", a violent sizzling sound was produced due to the previous, accompanied by a few of the thicker and most corroded chains around the sphere, to loosen.
"Hoh, how interesting, that lineage power of yours, whatever it is, basically erased the reinforcement that one of those three bastards applied on my seal in a single go, two more of those and I’ll be able to break out of the weakened seal myself", she said.
Which was for the better, clearing the path to the area where the nethereal was sealed, actually consumed a decent amount of that silver energy, and that stream he just used had more than three times what he used in the lake as a whole, in a single go, four or five shots like that were Daimon’s limit.
It’s worth mentioning that Daimon had told the rune shark, not to finish eating the chains of the nethereal, until he was done here, because he could use the red strand to both advance and recover at the same time, and it turned out to be right play, since breaking the seal will alert the three Lords and staying out in the open before Lyn hid herself from their view, while at night after that, sounded like a bad idea.
"Okay", with a nod of confirmation, and two more streams of silver light, the sphere of chains now had many more loosened chains hanging around of it, and the rune shark was nearly drooling at them, it’s obvious it wanted to eat them.
"Crack!", as if a beast was released of its shackles, the sphere of chains violently shook from the inside, before cracks started appearing all over the chains that remained tightly wrapped around their prisoner, to then explode into countless smaller pieces of chains, which made the rune shark gaze at Daimon with expecting eyes.
"Fine, go eat them already", said Daimon, leaving aside the gluttonous rune shark, a figure nimbly flashed through the air, landing on the ground at the shore of the crater lake, it was a tall girl who appeared to be in her middle twenties, similar to Ophelia.
She had a strangely familiar sky-blue hair which was tied in a ponytail, a slim but well-proportioned figure a strangely innocent pretty face and dark blue eyes, as for her clothes, they weren’t rags, it was a slightly worn out white and blue combat uniform, with metal armor on the chest, forearms and skirt which was on top of pants, judging by her attire and the overall sensation she radiated, Daimon judged her to be a knight.
Anyway, now wasn’t the time to admire that pretty face which didn’t suit her fierce attitude of earlier, Daimon rushed to where Lyn had landed and directly grabbed the corroded chains which were still attached to her body, severing them from the connection with the bone that was trying to drag her into the lake again.
"That’s really convenient, I was going to rip them out with force, and that would have for sure bloodied my only set of clothes", said Lyn as she saw the chains melt into black strands, leaving behind only some small holes and wounds in her clothes and skin respectively, they weren’t even bleeding, but looked more like scratches that will disappear without leaving a trace after a night of rest and recovery.
"Hurry up, we have to leave!", shouted Daimon to the rune shark, which accelerated the pace, finally eating all the chains that were left, which lifted up the seal completely, but Daimon didn’t stay to watch how the black strands started to leave the lake.
The very moment the red strand resulting from killing the nethereal was absorbed into his body, he jumped onto the back of the rune shark with Lyn who couldn’t have moved too fast, since she had just broken out of the seal and the shark rushed back to the cave, where the little tiger girl who has seen everything unveil with curiosity in her eyes, had already unblocked the entrance.
After transporting both Daimon and Lyn into the cave, the rune shark used its tail to collapse the entrance once again, blocking it completely without leaving any empty spaces unlike before.
That being said, in order to not suffocate Daimon and the others, the run shark actually shrank in size and dug a small tunnel at the ground near the back of the cave, which ended on the surface at the other side, allowing air to enter from there, while not showing there was someone inside of it.
And in case you wonder why Daimon urged the shark earlier, that’s because he felt that warning of danger that came from his instincts, which he had noticed earlier and was finally able to realize what was the reason behind of it.
"That black spot on the sun which causes night, it’s the lineage of those three trying to break away from its seal, right?", said Daimon to which Lyn nodded.
"Yeah, they have been "farming" peak Arch rank corroded blood specters through countless years in order to form that, of course the Megalodon general has been fighting back, but it’s a 3v1 battle, it’s amazing that they still haven’t been able to break out even a bit, though their influence over the Blood Prison realm has been increasing lately, I saw them project some of their power in Neptune’s direction not too long ago, amusingly enough their attack seemed to have failed and they received backslash from it, I laughed for a whole day after that", she said.
’Yeah, that should have been when they tried to attack me in the dimensional tunnel that led to Neptune, but were countered by my black sea emblem’, thought Daimon.