Killed Me? Now I Have Your Power

Chapter 401: Chapter 401: Annoying interruption

Chapter 401 – Annoying interruption

"You talk as if you know the dungeon." Rea said, narrowing her ruby eyes in suspicion, "Do you?"

"And how could I know such a thing?" Kaden brushed off her concern with a lazy smile, "I am simply curious about the dungeon. Do you know the rank and type of it?"

"From what I have heard," Rea began, tucking a stray white hair behind her right ear, "it’s a dungeon at the Grandmaster level. As for the type, I have no idea."

Kaden suppressed a twitch of his lips. To think that, as only an Awakened being, the Will had sent him into a Grandmaster-rank dungeon.

No matter how many times he thought about it, Kaden couldn’t help but wonder just how terrible his luck had been back then.

’Or was that even luck?’ He wondered, then smacked his lips in soft frustration.

"How long will it take us to reach there?" he asked, leaning back into his chair more comfortably.

At his words, Rea hesitated for a moment, then took out something from one of the multiple rings adorning her fingers.

A parchment appeared, bright yellow in color.

Injecting a wisp of mana into it, the parchment unfolded like a carpet, then hovered in the air between the two youngsters.

Arching a curious eyebrow, Kaden pushed himself up and leaned his face over the parchment, which turned out to be a map.

"Oh?" he exclaimed in quiet wonder.

"This is a rough map of the North of Fokay." Rea said, standing across from him, on the other side of the map, her ruby eyes twinkling like jewels.

She raised a slender finger and pressed it against the parchment. "We are here." She said, her finger touching the side where TheCelestialEmpire was written in bold golden letters.

Around the Celestial Empire lay the Wolves Kingdom to the northeast, and just beside it, The Pagoda.

The Church of Sorrow, marked by a greyish light, spread beneath the Empire, occupying numerous villages, cities, and territories.

Only now did Kaden realize how vast the Church’s territory truly was. It seemed, to him, that Silver City was quite close to the City of Sorrow.

And deep into the North, at the very edge of the map, stood an entire domain shrouded in frosted light.

Prometheus recognized it at a glance.

The Frozen Landscape.

A territory he had come to know during his Mythic Quest, by the hand of a man under Lord Silver.

According to that tortured man, it was there that Lord Silver had taken the idea to create the Doundous.

Even now, it remained a matter whose full depth Kaden did not understand.

After watching the Frozen Landscape for a few more seconds, Kaden peeled his gaze away and let his perception roam across the rest of the map.

He observed countless forests and terrifying mountain ranges, even frozen lakes. Some he had heard about through whispers in the streets, others he was seeing for the first time.

He watched it all, stroking his chin pensively, clear excitement burning in his crimson star-lit eyes.

Eyes that made Rea stare a little too long, only to snap her head away at the jealous voice of Einar.

"From the information I gathered about the dungeon," Rea’s low, slightly shaky voice drew Kaden’s attention back, making him focus on the slow glide of her finger across the map.

"We will need to take the Frosted Bridge of the High North." Her finger brushed along a thin blue line marking a freezing bridge, "then continue onward until the Fallen Bird’s Nest, cross it — or rather go deep underneath it — and then normally reach our destination."

"Normally?" Kaden caught the word, giving Rea a sideways glance, "You’re not even sure of the path?"

"I am as sure as I can be." Rea answered, "and I have waited years. I cannot wait any longer."

Kaden fell silent, looking at her. Then he cocked his head slightly. "It’s quite a long way, Rea. We need to cross the Frosted Bridge, then go all the way to the Fallen Bird’s Nest."

"And it’s a path we can only walk through, without any means of transportation."

His brows drew down. "All of this for what?"

"I accepted you coming with me." Rea’s voice came out colder than she intended.

Instantly, regret followed, but it was too late.

She clenched her jaw and continued, "Don’t ask me questions about what I am doing there. Don’t ask anything."

"You said you would be like a shadow." She paused, exhaling before adding, "If you can’t do that, then at least don’t question my motives."

Kaden only stared at her.

Since the beginning of their conversation, neither of them had spoken about the relationship tying them together — the fact that they were fiancés.

It was as if they had reached a tacit agreement not to bring it up. Kaden didn’t mind. Talking about it meant addressing Meris... Vaela... and even Inara.

No matter how much he wanted to believe everything would be fine, he dreaded Rea’s answer.

Already, she was distant toward him. Not cold in the usual sense, but within her, Kaden could feel a struggle, a hesitation pulled between two things.

A dilemma.

One he knew nothing about.

Still, Prometheus understood that Rea had agreed to his presence not because of what he truly was to her — but because of what he was supposed to mean.

And that begged the question...

What did Kaden truly mean to Rea?

He had no answer. And Rea didn’t either.

Both of them were lost inside a relationship they had never been prepared to face.

So,

’Hm, a line between us. Fine then.’ Kaden closed his eyes, then opened them a second later, parting his lips,

"I am—!"

BOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!

The right side of the room they were standing in exploded into a rain of stones and dust in one frightening instant.

The ground quivered, churning as if something was moving beneath it, yet both Rea and Kaden remained steadfast. Like unmoving pillars.

They both turned their heads toward the destroyed side of the room, feeling something flash past them.

With one casual glance from Kaden, everything burned into grey powder, whipped away by the violent gush of air that slammed into the chamber.

Rea had already pulled the map back into her space ring, her face set in a deep frown as she stared with Kaden at the wide, gaping hole torn through their room.

Yet suddenly, both of them felt a sharp sense of unrest, snapping their heads behind them in perfect synchrony.

There, the duo saw the body of a human, half of it obliterated into a mess of shattered bones and blood.

"Oh, I am sorry for disturbing you." A voice echoed, dragging their attention back to the hole.

Kaden and Rea looked at the man with wolfish features, seated atop a growling red-furred wolf, scars crossing its eyes, foaming saliva dripping from its outstretched jaws.

The man’s eyes were slitted red, his black hair and tail flicking lazily behind him.

He watched them with sharp teeth bared openly, giving far more attention to Rea than to Kaden, or even to the corpse behind them.

"Did I interrupt something?" he said, staring at Rea, his voice like the growl of a ferocious beast. "I am sorry. That human was quite slippery. I needed to kill so many beings just to catch him."

Rea’s face went hollow at once.

It had been a long time since someone had dared to look at her the way that wolfkin was doing now.

Einar began to stir, but Rea silenced her without a word.

"And why were you hunting him?" Kaden asked, gesturing toward the mangled corpse behind them.

"Stay silent, stinky male human." The wolfkin spat scornfully at Kaden without even sparing him a glance. "I am talking to the beautiful human here."

He continued smoothly,

"I hate humans, beautiful woman." He grinned. "And I hunt them every time I have the opportunity. But I always have a soft spot for the beautiful ones. Their tender flesh, the way they claw even better than wolves when I sink inside....Ahhh!!!"

His voice was disgusting to hear.

Rea smiled emptily. "What does that mean?"

"It means I am giving you the opportunity to stand by my side." He answered. "We allow you humans to wander inside this city, but under our rule. Under our law. And the first law here is that wolves can kill without repercussions. So, what is your decision?"

From the very beginning, the wolfkin had spared Kaden only a single glance. And it was the very beginning.

Kaden observed the scene with calm eyes.

At that instant, information about the place they were in — sent by Blanche who was tasked a mission — poured into his mind.

The timing was perfect. He digested it in a heartbeat.

He suppressed a grin, briefly wondering how loudly the Asterion were cursing behind his back.

"Before we go," Kaden said, turning to Rea with a small smile, "how about we do something together? Something to celebrate our meeting."

Rea tilted her head. "Do what?"

He turned back to the wolfkin and saw him already seething with anger at the interruption, wrath erupting from both him and his mount.

Kaden grinned.

Reditha appeared in his right hand, shrieking with euphoria as lines of sword intent spiderwebbed across the room.

"Clean away some stinky wolves."

Rea smiled.

"Sounds like an activity I will enjoy."

—End of Chapter 401—