Chapter 35: What the Princesses Found (Review Bonus)

Chapter 35. What the Princesses Found (Review Bonus)

"GRAAAAAAAHH!"

The scream tore through the temple.

It ripped through ancient corridors, bounced from cracked pillars, and rolled into the restoration chamber hard enough to disturb the shimmering surface of the pool.

Ariel froze.

The relaxed expression she’d finally managed to wear vanished instantly.

Her tail stopped beneath the water.

Lily’s head snapped toward the entrance.

Seris was already staring at it.

For several seconds, none of them moved.

Then another scream came.

Human.

Definitely human.

And absolutely horrible.

Ariel’s face went pale. "I think we need to check on him."

Seris narrowed her eyes.

Ariel was already moving toward the edge. "I’m afraid his curse reacted again."

That was enough.

Lily immediately followed. "I agree."

Whatever relaxation they’d been enjoying disappeared.

Ariel pulled herself from the water first. The moment her tail cleared the pool, mana shimmered across the scales. The long aquatic limb separated, reshaping into two slender human legs that touched the ancient stone.

She nearly slipped.

Didn’t care.

Her hair was dripping. Water streamed from her shoulders and ran down her arms. She grabbed her shoes, shoved them onto wet feet, and reached for whatever clothes she’d discarded before entering.

Lily wasn’t doing much better.

Neither was Seris.

There was no time to dry themselves properly.

Not when Rey had walked alone into an ancient monster-infested temple after nearly collapsing from his curse.

Or at least, that was what they assumed.

They hurried through the doorway.

Another howl echoed.

Closer now.

Then...

Silence.

That was worse.

The three women moved faster.

Seris led.

Ariel stayed beside her while Lily followed only half a step behind. Wet footprints marked the stone behind them as they passed broken statues and shattered columns.

Then they smelled it.

Blood.

Seris slowed first.

Her phoenix senses were sharper.

Her eyes narrowed. "Wait."

Ariel stopped.

The metallic scent grew stronger.

Fresh.

Heavy.

Far too much.

Lily swallowed.

Then something cracked somewhere ahead.

Not stone.

Something softer.

Something wet.

The three exchanged glances.

They rounded the corner.

And stopped.

Completely.

For several seconds, Ariel’s mind simply refused to understand what she was seeing.

The corridor looked like a slaughterhouse.

Blood coated the walls.

Dark streaks ran between the stones beneath their feet. Broken weapons lay scattered across the corridor, some still carrying fragments of black cloth. Abyssal chains were slowly dissolving into smoky darkness.

Bodies...

No.

What remained of them.

Five assassins.

The masks made that much obvious.

Or rather, pieces of five assassins.

One lay twisted near the wall where something had dragged him. Another’s broken weapon remained several feet away from what was left of its owner. Black assassin uniforms were shredded and soaked crimson.

And crouching among them...

Something was eating.

Ariel’s lips parted.

Lily’s eyes widened.

Seris went completely still.

It looked vaguely human.

That was perhaps the most disturbing part.

Human enough that the mind instinctively tried to recognize it.

Monster enough that the attempt immediately failed.

Nearly three meters tall.

Massive shoulders.

Dark gray armored hide spread irregularly across its body, mixing with patches of human skin. Its limbs were wrong, too large, too dense, built with the brutal proportions of something designed to charge through stone rather than walk through a doorway.

One leg looked almost entirely monstrous.

Clawed.

Armored.

Heavy enough to crack the floor beneath it.

Its arms were similarly distorted, thick muscle covered beneath natural plates resembling the hide of an Ironback Behemoth.

But its face... Lily felt cold.

There was still a human face underneath all that.

Distorted.

Expanded.

Changed.

Yet unmistakably human.

Or it had been.

The creature lowered its head again.

A sickening crunch echoed through the corridor.

Ariel flinched. "What..." Her voice barely came out. "What is that?"

"I don’t know," Lily whispered.

For once, there wasn’t even a hint of mischief in her voice.

Seris stared harder.

She could feel its mana.

And that made even less sense.

"Monster," she murmured.

A pause.

"No. Not completely."

Her brows pulled together.

"Its mana is chaotic. There are two structures overlapping each other."

Human.

Monster.

Merged.

Forced together.

Then Ariel noticed something else.

Someone was standing behind it.

Rey.

He wasn’t fighting or injured.

He was simply...

Watching.

Coldly.

His clothes were stained with blood. Tiny crimson droplets dotted his chest and abdomen, probably from standing too close to whatever nightmare had unfolded here. His black cloak still hung from his shoulders. His dark hair had fallen messily across his forehead.

And his expression...

Calm.

Far too calm.

Those cold eyes followed the creature’s movements with unsettling concentration.

Not horror or disgust.

Observation.

Like he was studying it.

Ariel’s heart thumped.

So...

The scream hadn’t belonged to Rey.

The creature suddenly stopped chewing.

Its head lifted.

Seris immediately stiffened.

Its nostrils flared.

Once.

Twice.

Then its head turned.

Toward them.

Three pairs of eyes widened.

The creature rose.

Slowly.

Blood dripped from its claws.

Its mouth opened.

A low growl rolled from somewhere inside its enormous chest.

Lily’s fingers twitched.

Nature mana gathered instinctively around her.

Fire flickered across Seris’s fingertips.

Ariel pulled moisture from the air.

The creature shifted its weight. Then Rey spoke. "No."

One word.

Quiet.

The monster froze.

Rey’s gaze barely moved. "That’s not your food."

Silence.

The creature looked back at him.

Then, impossibly... It lowered its head.

Obedient.

The three women stared.

Rey casually stepped around the blood pooling near his boots. "Now go."

The creature straightened.

"Go back to where you came from."

Its breathing became heavier.

Rey’s eyes sharpened. "And kill the one who wants me dead."

The creature nodded.

Then it moved.

Fast.

Far too fast for something that large.

It bounded down the corridor, claws cracking stone beneath its feet, before disappearing through the ruined temple.

Silence returned.

Rey watched the empty corridor for another moment. Then huffed.

"Well." He glanced at the blood. "That should deliver the message."

Behind him, three princesses stared.

Ariel didn’t know what she was supposed to feel.

Fear seemed reasonable.

Very reasonable.

Possibly the most reasonable emotion available.

That had been horrifying.

Blood.

Bodies.

A monster obeying his commands.

A cold expression that suggested he’d been watching something terrible without blinking.

And yet...

Her heart wouldn’t behave.

-Thump!

Ariel swallowed.

Why did he look...

-Thump!

Why did he look so damn cool?

Lily apparently suffered from the same disease because she was staring too.

Seris was doing a considerably better job hiding it.

Considerably.

Not perfectly.

There was something different about Rey lately.

They’d always known he was powerful.

Always known he was dangerous.

That had never been new.

But before, his danger had felt unstable.

Painful.

Like standing beside a beautiful blade that might suddenly crack and cut everything nearby, including itself.

Now?

Controlled.

That was somehow worse.

And somehow...

More attractive.

The same darkness was there.

The same terrifying intelligence.

The same overwhelming magical presence.

Except now there was intention behind it.

Control.

Confidence.

The madness no longer seemed to control him.

He seemed to control the madness.

And apparently three princesses had terrible taste in men.

Rey’s head turned. His eyes settled directly on the corner where they stood. "I know you’re there."

Silence.

Lily slowly leaned toward Ariel. "He knew."

Seris gave her a flat look. "Obviously."

They stepped out.

Rey’s terrifying expression disappeared almost instantly.

His brows rose.

Then his eyes moved over them.

Wet hair.

Wet clothes.

Barely dressed for wandering through monster ruins.

Water still dripping onto the stone.

His expression flattened."Finished your bath?"

Ariel nodded. "Yes."

Seris crossed her arms. "Were those assassins?"

Rey paused.

"To kill you?" she added.

"Apparently."

Ariel’s face tightened immediately.

Rey sighed. "Raven Dusk sent them."

All three froze.

One of the Five Heroes.

Rey continued before they could start worrying. "But I already handled them." His tone was almost offensively casual considering the corridor behind him. "Don’t worry."

Then his attention returned to Ariel. She was wet. Clothes clung to her body too well.

His hand disappeared into empty space.

The dimensional ring shimmered.

A robe appeared.

Ariel blinked.

Rey unfolded it and stepped toward her.

He simply wrapped the robe around her wet shoulders.

Warm fabric covered her.

Ariel looked down.

Then up at him.

Rey had already turned toward the others.

Seris was wet too.

Lily too.

"I only brought one," he muttered.

Rey sighed. Then unclasped his cloak.

He walked to Seris and draped it around her shoulders.

Seris blinked.

Before she could say anything, he was already removing his jacket.

Lily’s eyes widened.

The jacket landed around her shoulders next.

Warm.

Heavy.

Still carrying his scent.

Lily immediately pulled it closer.

Then the three women realized what he’d done.

Rey stood before them wearing only his blood-soaked trousers.

His upper body was bare.

Lean muscle shifted beneath pale skin as he rolled one shoulder. Blood streaked one side of his waist. Another crimson line crossed his abdomen.

Ariel stared.

Lily stared.

Seris...

Did not stare.

She merely observed.

For tactical purposes.

Obviously.

Rey looked exactly like the Mad Magus from the people’s stories.

Blood-covered.

Half-dressed.

Standing in the aftermath of a massacre with absolutely no concern for the bodies behind him.

Yet when he looked at them...

He smiled.

Warm.

Soft.

Almost ridiculous compared to the nightmare surrounding him.

"Let’s go home."

Ariel’s heart skipped.

Lily smiled despite herself.

Seris pulled his cloak tighter around her shoulders.

And somehow, walking behind the blood-covered madman who had just sent a human-monster hybrid hunting one of the Five Heroes...

None of them felt unsafe.

Quite the opposite.

Maybe that was the truly frightening part.