Chapter 229: Ophelia’s Message
Helen appeared to remain completely lost within her own physical reactions following the intense collection from the system. Her sweat-slicked body trembled slightly over the cold, hard gray floor of the dungeon.
The inescapable punishment of the debt continued to impose itself upon her mind and body, completely clouding her judgment. And this happened even though she had clearly already reached her absolute physical limit.
Ryan made no movement whatsoever to comfort her.
He simply turned his face a bit and observed Ivis out of the corner of his eye, evaluating the sudden presence of the intruder in their private moment.
The imposing woman was standing just a few short meters away from them.
Ivis’s face did not express a single drop of surprise, discomfort, or embarrassment. Instead, she maintained a small and subtle smile drawn on her face.
It was an extremely faint smile, almost imperceptible to an ordinary observer, but Ryan could clearly tell that it was there.
"You should have waited for me with the rest of them in the village." Ryan stated with his deep voice, utterly devoid of emotion.
He spoke while staring fixedly at Ivis, without making a single attempt to move from his spot on the floor right next to the exhausted warrior.
Ivis did not feel intimidated by Ryan’s commanding tone.
She raised both of her arms with great slowness and elegance.
She brought her hands up toward her own face, utilizing the wide sleeves of her clothing to cover herself. The soft fabric hanging from her wrists completely hid her skin, from her nose all the way down to her chin.
"It smells much stronger than I imagined." Ivis said with a tone of absolute naturalness.
She continued observing them directly in front of her on the ground, completely ignoring the implicit warning in Ryan’s words.
At that precise moment, Helen’s breathing changed.
Helen finally opened her eyes, blinking heavily against the bright light of the immense room. Her gaze still looked somewhat unfocused, slowly processing her immediate surroundings.
She still kept Ryan’s fingers inside her mouth.
"Than you thought...?" Helen murmured, her voice sounding raspy and weak. "What did you expect to see here, lizard?" Helen asked with evident annoyance, forcing her bruised pride to take control.
She separated Ryan’s wet fingers from her mouth very slowly, almost with regret.
Helen kept her lips slightly parted.
She let out continuous and soft pants as she desperately tried to recover the oxygen in her lungs.
"It is nothing, my lady, nothing important." Ivis suddenly said out loud.
The woman’s tone was highly respectful and calm. But her words were not directed at Ryan, nor at Helen, nor at anyone else visible in that specific area.
’Is she talking to Ophelia right now?’ Ryan asked himself, furrowing his brow slightly.
He analyzed the strange situation immediately. Then, Ryan noticed a subtle change in the dragon woman’s posture. He watched as Ivis shifted her sharp gaze away from them.
Ivis’s eyes locked directly onto the structure of the magical portal behind them. And just a single second after her reaction, the portal resonated loudly.
The magical light vibrated and buzzed, bursting open to welcome a new visitor from the village.
Mirian entered almost in a leap, landing nimbly on the stone floor of the dungeon.
’She noticed it before I did?’ Ryan thought, focusing all his attention on Ivis’s mysterious perceptive abilities.
Even though the portal did not show any kind of visual or magical alteration whatsoever unless someone actively crossed through, she somehow knew.
In some manner completely unknown to him, Ivis was able to tell that Mirian was going to enter before the portal’s magic even fully activated.
Following that, the portal resonated once again. The light shone anew, and Irina also entered the room with much softer and more cautious steps.
"Are you two still not done with that?" Mirian asked immediately.
The slender archer furrowed her brow deeply.
She leaned her body forward with evident impatience, letting a clear annoyance and sharp jealousy tint her tone of voice.
Irina, for her part, stopped dead in her tracks the very moment her boots touched the one hundredth floor.
Upon seeing the proud Helen still lying submissively over Ryan, the elf princess immediately covered her eyes with both of her hands.
She turned her face to the other side with a quick movement, trying to give the couple some much-needed privacy.
Ryan decided that enough time had been wasted lying on the ground.
He grabbed Helen by the shoulders with a very firm grip, completely ignoring the girl’s slight tremors.
With a fluid, calculated, and careful movement, he moved her to the side.
Then, Ryan stood up without any rush. He lightly dusted off his dark clothing and straightened his posture to recover his usual imposing presence in front of his party.
"What was Ophelia’s message?" Ryan asked directly.
He looked right at Ivis, demanding the information for which she had interrupted him in the first place.
"Yes, I will tell you right away." Ivis said, slowly lowering the wide sleeves that covered her face.
The imposing woman began to advance with calm, measured steps toward Ryan’s position.
"This will be a bit uncomfortable, so try not to move." Ivis added with total seriousness in her gaze.
Ryan did not respond to the strange warning right away.
He simply waited standing in his spot, maintaining complete silence. The girls around him did not say a single word either. Mirian and Irina simply observed them, full of deep curiosity and tension, entirely not understanding what was about to happen.
Helen finally managed to sit up on her own on the cold floor. But her breathing still remained quite heavy.
Then, Ivis closed the final distance and positioned herself right behind Ryan.
She pressed herself against his body from behind in a surprisingly intimate manner.
Ivis completely exceeded all normal boundaries of personal distance in order to deliver the message. She pressed her breasts directly against Ryan’s firm back.
Then, she tilted her head forward and let her forehead rest right behind the nape of Ryan’s neck.
"Stop playing games, Ivis." Ryan said with absolute seriousness.
His tone was completely cold, warning of the consequences of any unnecessary provocation at that given moment.
"Damn lizard..." Helen grumbled from the floor, grinding her teeth in pure fury.
"Get away from him right now." The black-haired warrior demanded, displaying a pure and instinctive territorial hostility upon seeing another woman touching him in that manner.
"Hey, you are crossing the line..." Mirian said, taking a quick step forward.
The slender archer clenched her fists at her sides, ready to physically intervene and separate Ivis by force if it was necessary.
Irina watched the tense scene with a great deal of nervousness.
Upon seeing the immense murderous energy emitting from Helen and Mirian at the same time, the peaceful elf did not want to intervene.
Irina simply took a couple of steps back, distancing herself a bit from the potential physical conflict.
"Stop talking." Ivis said out loud, without bothering to open her eyes or separate herself from Ryan.
"My lady Ophelia wishes to speak with Ryan." Ivis explained in a direct manner.
Ivis’s tone was absolute and completely self-assured, effectively silencing the girls’ furious complaints for a brief and confusing instant.
And following those words, Ryan experienced a completely new magical phenomenon.
He could clearly hear a direct voice resonating.
But the actual sound did not enter through his ears.
The voice resonated directly inside his own head, entirely bypassing his physical senses.
"Ryan... are you there?"
The distinct voice that resonated in his mind was exactly Ophelia’s voice.
It was an incredibly crisp, precise voice, entirely devoid of any sort of ambient distortion.
Helen, upon seeing that Ryan was not saying a word and remained as still as a statue, got up from the floor with great effort.
She attempted to stumble forward in order to interrupt the strange contact by sheer force.
Mirian also tried to approach quickly from the other side, fully willing to push Ivis away.
But Ryan managed to react in time.
He immediately raised a hand in the air, making a firm and indisputable signal for both of them to stop. Upon seeing their leader’s gesture of absolute authority, the two warriors reluctantly halted their steps, swallowing their immense anger.
"I am listening to you, Ophelia." Ryan said out loud, addressing the empty air.
He closed his eyes for a moment, concentrating completely on keeping the mysterious mental connection perfectly stable.
"What is going on?" Ryan asked with his usual calm and highly tactical tone.
’Is this truly telepathy?’ Ryan thought internally, carefully analyzing every single detail of the experience.
Even though he had already successfully verified the functioning of the new long-distance communication relics just a few short hours ago, this was different.
This strange sensation was completely different from using an intermediary magical object. Ophelia’s voice was remarkably clear, projected directly and entirely without filters into his brain. It was not a distant, cold voice, nor was it distorted by magical static.
It was absolutely nothing like what he heard transmitted through the small silver earring when he spoke with Beatrice thousands of kilometers away.
This felt significantly deeper, exactly as if Ophelia shared his very own mental space.
Immediately, Ophelia’s distinct voice answered his question.
"In four days..." Ophelia said directly inside Ryan’s mind, setting a strange time limit.
"In exactly four days, we will attack Demon King Rigal."
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