Endless Journey: Infinite Realms

Chapter 63 An exposed wound will always hurt, no matter wha

Alex had already detected Teresa's presence earlier as he talked with the giant boar.

He was able to do it as his FED Manipulation allows him to detect emotions of sentient beings nearby.

But he did not call her out at that time, as he was busy talking with the giant boar.

It was only after he killed the giant boar that he decided to confront Teresa.

He caught Teresa's left ankle deftly with one of his tentacles, hoisting her upside-down in the air so that he can see her face.

"...…"

Irritation. That was the first thing that Alex felt when he saw Teresa's actual appearance.

"The heck, she's also blonde like that dumb fairy…"

Teresa's beautiful face, perfect body, and her golden blonde hair managed to remind Alex about that irritating Guide of his.

"Tsk, I just feel pissed when I looked at this woman. She just reminds me of a large version of Asteria…" Alex thought to himself as he tried to erase Asteria's smug laughter out of his mind.

"Tsk." With this newfound irritation forming inside him, Alex decided to scare Teresa a little, just to reduce some of his frustrations.

"You think you can hide from me?" Alex tried to make his voice as creepy as possible, making sure that he sounded very scary. "You are practically oozing with fear… there is no way that I cannot sense that."

Alex then used his FED Manipulation to blast the poor woman with a large dose of fear.

"No!!!" Alex however, did not expect that the woman would actually piss herself as she dangled upside-down.

"Alina, I think I made this girl piss herself." Alex said to Alina as he watched Teresa lose her consciousness.

"Why did you even have to scare her that much?" Alina sighed as she gave Teresa a wary look.

"Well, seeing her face reminds me of Asteria's irritating laughter." Alex replied as he continued on dangling the unconscious Teresa with his tentacles.

"You and your antics…" Alina only shook her head in exasperation as she glanced once more at Teresa. "Well, since she was here already, then we better bring her along with us."

"That's what I am thinking too." Alex replied as he continued on walking. "Maybe we can ask this woman about some important information about the Human Faction…"

"Just make sure that she won't faint later." Alina teasingly said as she kept up with Alex.

"…"

"Big Sis, who is Asteria?" No. 4, who was still hugging Alina, tilted her head as she heard what Alex and Alina were talking about. "Is also a pretty Big Sis like you?"

"Well, she is pretty, but she is usually unreliable and always likes to benefit out of the miseries of other people." It was Alex who replied back, much to Alina's amusement and irritation. "So, don't make that Asteria your Big Sis."

"Ok…" No. 4 lost the cheerfulness in her voice as she averted her gaze away from Alex. Clearly, she was still scared of him.

"Well, you just made a woman piss herself. The kids will naturally get scared of you more." Alina said as she saw the forlorn look on Alex's face. "That's what you get for being naughty!"

*************

"Hurry, where is my honey!" Of course, the first thing that Asteria will ask for is the jars of honey that she is craving to eat already.

She did not ask for Alex's and Alina's safety first.

She did not even comment on the appearance of the little monsters, or Teresa who was still dangling upside down.

No, Asteria just went straight to ask for her food.

"You did not even say a thank you." Alex snarled as she deposited 20+ jars of honey in front of Asteria. "There, have your fill, freeloader."

"Yum yum!" Asteria seems to be unperturbed with what Alex said she went straight on gorging on her honey.

Alina, who saw what Asteria was doing, could not help but smile as she imagined how Alex was pissed off right now.

But if Alina was happy and Alex was pissed, the little monsters with them were slightly panicking.

"Sis, why can't we enter the clearing?" No. 1 asked as he and the other little monsters found themselves unable to enter the clearing with Alex and Alina.

More specifically, they could not get past the statues surrounding the clearing.

Upon seeing what was happening, Alina gave the little monsters an apologetic smile as she said,

"Well you see, these statues around us prevents weak monsters from entering. Only strong monsters like us or humans can enter."

"Is that so…" The little monsters all looked down, as they all looked like they have been kicked away.

Alina started to panic as she realized what the little monsters were thinking about.

"Hey, don't cry everyone, ok?" Alina said as she started to soothe the teary-eyed little monsters. "We just want to test that power of the statues. Now that we have tested it, it will be our time to leave this place and find a new dwelling."

"Really Sis? You will not leave us?" Even if some of the little monsters had no eyes at all, it was quite obvious that they were giving pleading looks at Alina.

"I promise. I will always bring you all along with me." Alina declared as she glanced at Alex, who was still busy glaring at the feasting Asteria. "You promise that too, right Alex?"

"Yes, I promise too." Alex replied truthfully, as he really had the plans to already leave their starting point.

"Well, before we leave, I think we should cook some good dishes first." Alex declared as he lowered the food luggage that he was carrying earlier.

"With all this food with us, we can have a feast before we leave!" Alex said with a glint in his eyes as he unceremoniously dumped Teresa on a nearby tree. "Now everyone, watch my cooking prowess!"

*********************

"Nom nom nom." The most prominent sound was the sound of Alina chomping on her food at blazing speeds.

It was hard to believe that someone as slim as her was able to eat this much food in just a short amount of time. Truly a miracle.

"Yummy!" The little monsters shouted in glee as they also ravenously consumed the banquet in front of them.

It's quite obvious on their body language that they enjoyed Alex's cooking.

"I could not believe that my cooking skills actually improved after I gained tentacles…" This is the thought that was inside Alex's head as he watched his companions enjoy his creations. "What a way to start this mission…"

Even Asteria, who usually enjoyed honey, could not help but drool as she inhaled the enticing scent of Alex' s dishes.

"Wuwuwu, if I am not only on an all-honey die right now, then I would have already eaten them all!" Asteria complained as she gave Alex a blaming look. "It's all your fault!"

"Sigh…" At this point, Alex just ignored Asteria again.

His focus was more concentrated on Teresa, who was still out cold, even after Alex's cooking period.

Alex continued staring at Teresa for a second before his gaze went towards No. 1, who was busy separating the naughty No.3 and No. 5

Alex knew that No. 1 was the defacto leader of the little monsters before their meeting.

As such, Alex knew that No. 1 already had advanced knowledge about the important things.

After all, it was usually knowledge that grants a person the confidence to lead.

Alex took advantage of this knowledge as he started to ask No. 1,

"Yo, No. 1, do you know what kind of person this woman was?" Alex said as he prodded Teresa's limp body. "I can feel a certain type of power welling inside her, although I still could not understand it that well."

"Oh." Even if No.1 was also scared of Alex, he was somewhat brave enough to reply to him.

"If you observe the woman's dress…" No. 1 slowly said, as if he was trying to emphasize these words. "You can see that there is a symbol on her dress that looks like an Emblem of the Golden Knight Academy, which means that she is a student there."

"Golden Knight Academy huh." Alex muttered as these words rolled off his mouth quite well. "Care to explain what is that place?"

"Alex, why don't you just KINDLY ask that question to your captive later when she wakes up?" Alina forcefully said before No. 1 could give his answer. "Can't you see that these kids are so tired and hungry? Look! They all look like they need rest! So, please do not bother these kids for now…"

"Yeah, don't bother me too, since I am also tired!" Asteria cheekily said as she plopped on top of Alina's head. "Really Alex, when can you learn to be sensitive?"

"This little…" Alex suppressed the urge to smack Asteria's smug face away as he and his tentacles slowly relaxed themselves.

"This is going to be a long day…" Alex thought to himself as he started to cook the other dishes.

"Wait, why am I the one who volunteered to cook all these dishes?"

The only reply that Alex got were the satisfied sighs of his companions.

***************

"Ungh..." Teresa let out a light groan as she opened her eyes slowly.

Her memory was slightly foggy, which is normal to anyone who just woke up.

She blinked her bleary eyes as her mind began to work properly again.

It took Teresa 5 seconds to recall everything that happened to her before she lost her consciousness.

"!!!!" Teresa tried to jump up, as she began to remember the crippling fear that she felt earlier.

But she was unable to jump, as she found herself bound tightly to a tree.

More specifically, Teresa found herself tied to a tree with a bunch of ropes.

"!!!" Teresa, who started to panic as she saw her current state, decided to cut the ropes to free herself.

But to her chagrin, any attacks used with her Golden Essence were unable to affect the ropes.

"Noo…." Before Teresa could panic more, she suddenly heard a set of footsteps slowly approaching her.

Teresa looked at the source of the sound, and there she saw the Vampire Woman from earlier.

Even if Teresa was a woman, she found herself slightly dazed from the appearance of the Vampire Woman.

The Vampire Woman just smiled as she noticed Teresa's look, as if she was already used to this kind of reaction.

"So, how do you feel?" The Vampire Woman sweetly said, making Teresa feel extremely comfortable.

"Um, I feel scared." Teresa was not sure why, but she found the presence of the Vampire Woman soothing, even though it was quite obvious that this woman was allies with the Tentacled Monster. "Your companion really scared me a lot earlier."

"Well, do forgive Alex for what he did." The Vampire Woman replied as she gave Teresa another dazzling smile. "He just thought that you were a hostile one."

"Well I-" Before Teresa could give her answer, her eyes suddenly widened as she felt that something was wrong.

There is no way that Teresa will just talk casually with a Monster, since they were all enemies.

For Teresa to talk to one right now just meant that something is wrong.

"Kghk!" Teresa decisively bit her lips, until blood started to flow from it.

The pain of this bite managed to remove Teresa out of whatever state she was in earlier.

"You, what did you do to me?" Teresa snarled angrily at the Vampire Woman, as she realized that the Vampire Woman did something to her.

"Ara ara, you snapped out of it rather quickly." The Vampire Woman said, although she did not look disappointed at all. "I just used a little bit of Dark Magic on you. You know, a little sprinkle of Dark Energy."

"….." Teresa tried to not panic as she started to circulate her Golden Essence around her body.

According to what Teresa knew, if the Human Faction relies on Essence to bolster their power, the Monster Faction relies on Energy that comes from other Dimensions.

In the Vampire Woman's case, she channels the Dark Energy which comes from the Dark Dimension.

This Dark Energy in turn allows the Vampire Woman to use Dark Magic, which she just used on Teresa earlier.

"I will never befriend monsters like you!" Teresa spat out as she glared at the Vampire Woman with hate. "Monsters like you should not be allowed to live!"

"Can you say the same thing to the Humans that are forced to turn into Monsters?" The Vampire Woman said, before Teresa could say more. "Will you also kill them, even if they were former Humans?"

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Teresa was extremely confused after hearing what the Vampire Woman just said.

"Humans turning into Monsters? That is the most ridiculous thing that I have ever heard!" Teresa snarled as she tried to kick the Vampire Woman. Of course this attempted failed too.

"Don't tell me… that you do not know?" The Vampire Woman gave Teresa one incredulous look, before she began to giggle. "Hehehe, so this horrific thing is actually a secret even amongst the Humans huh."

"What the hell are you talking about?" At this point, Teresa started to feel that something was wrong again.

But this time, this feeling was not related to any kind of magic used on her.

It was more related to the foreboding feeling inside her, as if it was warning her that she was about to see something that will change her view of life.

"I think it is better for you to see it by yourself." The Vampire Woman said as she clicked her fingers. "Kids, come on in."

"…." Teresa heard more footsteps, but this time, there were more than a pair of them.

Teresa tried to not look at the source of the sound, but then she found the Vampire Woman looking at her intently as she said,

"Why are you so scared to look at them? Are perhaps feeling that you must not look?"

"I will not fall for your Illusions again, woman!" Teresa shouted as she desperately hid the panicked feeling inside her. "There is no way that what you said was the truth! It is impossible for a Human to become a Monster!"

"Oh, if that was the case, then its fine if you looked at the kids that I called, right?" The Vampire Woman said as she used her steel-like grip to forcefully turn Teresa's head. "Come on, just a little look…"

"Ugh…" Teresa was unable to fight back as she was forced to look at the newcomers.

"See, isn't that just easy?" The Vampire Woman said as she watched Teresa's varying reactions upon seeing the little monsters. "Now, why don't we start talking to them? I am sure that you will understand their situation more once they open up to you."

"!!!"