The Villain's Story

Chapter 841: The knowledge within the Darkness.

When Alan had returned to the mansion, he was surprised to see it empty. Everyone besides Emma and Maxwell was missing. Maxwell, sitting in the main lounge cutting an apple, informed him.

"They were all taking turns to get used to the effects of this world; it had been a while, and they got used to it. So they started exploring like you did."

Perplexed, Alan turned to Maxwell.

"What do you mean by ’a while’?"

Chuckling, Maxwell explained.

"Your note was vague, you know? We thought you’d take a couple of hours or a day at most. Turns out you were gone for an entire week."

"...!"

A look of alarm appeared on Alan’s face as he questioned himself.

’It took that long?’

At most, it shouldn’t have taken him a couple of hours! He should know; he was the one going church to church to look for messages. It didn’t take that long in his mind...

"Aghh..."

Alan sighed, realizing that the events that had transpired in the central church of Blinding Darkness had taken far longer than he had realized; the phenomena he survived there had him out for an entire week. He caused a lot of delay.

He sat down beside Maxwell with a grimace on his face as he thought about what to do. Not only that, but he hoped everyone else didn’t mind the large delay. The worries were so apparent on his face that Maxwell noticed and shook his head.

"Don’t worry about it. A messenger came and told us that a ’vessel’ to traverse the Black Sea is being prepared, and it should take a week and a half, so it really isn’t anything. We would have had to wait anyway. About three more days, and then we can begin. Oh, and when we’re back on Earth, I’m taking a month long vacation."

Alan heaved a sigh of relief and joked.

"Where would you even go? Last I checked, all the major tourist spots are now monster heavens."

Maxwell corrected.

"Correct, but you’d be surprised by how many still exist. Rich folks spent quite a lot to make sure some still exist. For example, Hawaii is half a fortress, and the other half is just heavenly!"

"Really?"

"Yeah, and I’ll be gone for a month. I’ve dealt with far too much shit already. The cold, the damn shadow world, and even this place where I can’t hear shit. Too much for me, too much."

He heaved a sigh, putting a slice of apple in his mouth as he relished its taste. Alan turned to the fire and wondered.

’Was it really that much?’

He knew they were probably getting tired, but he hadn’t realized the trials had taken this much of a toll on them. Although, he did understand now that he thought about it

Disregarding the events of the Realm of Shadows, Lanekia itself should have taken a heavy toll on his party. The planet, even when the weather was being controlled, still possessed a bone-chilling cold. Furthermore, Alan was the only one that thrived in that environment.

The cold was a blessing to him, but to any other human, it was disastrous, even if they were equipped head to toe in cold-resistance artifacts. Lanekia still took its toll.

Likewise, they hadn’t just spent a month or two there like he had; their training had taken place inside a special spell where time was slowed down. They had spent a year dealing with the cold and training to surpass their limits.

Unlike Alan, who was practically in heaven, they were in a cold hell where they trained as much as they could.

And as soon as they were finished... all their efforts seemed to be for nothing in front of the titanic monstrosity that was the shard of Kizmal. They had experienced ’death’ a lot as well.

It wasn’t really true death, but it was still a harrowing experience. After all, the pain was still there. Everyone had been broken down physically, mentally, and spiritually.

They were probably in the worst of states right now, and only now did Alan truly realize it. And when he did, he felt bad.

They had come here for him, after all, and he wouldn’t have gotten as far without them as well.

He wasn’t beating Kizmal alone, no matter what. Just like Shi Lam had stated, the differences in beings began to be drastically different once they were near the transcendent stages of Epic and above.

The Shard of Kizmal was only one door through to the epic realm, and even then, Alan was only surviving against it due to his regeneration and gifts as a dragon. These did not make him capable of winning.

And even though now he too was SSS-rank, the rank of Epic was still far, very far. Hopefully, he would have glimpsed at it before the trial of darkness ended and just have to wait for his body to mature fully to become an epic being.

Being a dragon had its advantages, one of which was that he would have automatically become an epic being once he matured... the disadvantage being that it was going to take a lot of time.

Well, hopefully he would pull through sooner rather than later.

"Any idea where everyone is?"

He asked Maxwell, who answered.

"Alexander and his pet dog go to the docks regularly; Edward goes with Alice and Olivia as their mule to carry Alchemy ingredients and whatever Olivia wants to buy. Sabrina usually stays holed up in the library of the central church."

Suddenly, he raised his head as if he was just reminded of something.

"Ah, that reminds me. She came a few hours ago to borrow your identification medallion. She said she needed it to gain access to one of the restricted zones."

For a moment, Alan looked puzzled.

"My what?"

He didn’t have the slightest clue as to what identification medallion Maxwell was talking about, and when the other realized, he closed his eyes and sighed.

"... I didn’t tell you?"

"No?"

"... I’m pretty sure I did; either you didn’t listen or you forgot."

Alan remained silent for a while; it could honestly be both.

"Just repeat it..."