Chapter 89: Options and The Problems

"So, which option would you like to choose? The revolutionary or the slavery? I, myself, would prefer the former," Sera said.

I thought for a moment before nodding. "The problem is that he has two hundred men under him, and judging by Lee’s tone, their hearts are filled with fear of Culex. Which means that if we dare to fight that guy, we would have to fight two hundred men along with him."

I paused, glancing toward the distant mountain.

"Also, the problem is that the men are mostly innocents. Culex’s rank does not seem low. Otherwise, the people could have easily killed him."

Lee looked at me with his eyebrows raised. "You sure know your game."

I tried to suppress my smile.

Yes, I was kind of flattered.

"The people are afraid of him for two reasons. One, he is a Superior Awakened with an A-Rank Talent. Two, he has a Gift that is at a Sovereign Rank. He kills people and then pulls their souls inside it. I do not know what abilities it has, so yeah," Lee explained.

’Pfft, I have a Mythical Rank Gift, man. Given by none other than Master Ouroboros. Well, should I call him Master? Hmm. I did call myself his servant while praying to him. Angel Ouroboros? Mr. Ouroboros? Nah, he is a damned Supreme Angel, not a mister.’

I frowned.

’Wait, why did he not have wings like the religious texts say? Uhh, so he was not in his mythical creature form? Wait, does that mean he was a human at first?’

My thoughts began spiraling.

’And I guess I also need to learn about this whole Soul, Spirit, and Body thing.’

I turned my head toward Sera.

"I have a question."

She smiled and gestured for us to get out of the tent.

And, well, we all got out to have a lesson.

The wind immediately hit my face.

The sandy mud beneath our feet was still damp from the strange environment around us, and the crimson light from the moon made everything look even more unnatural.

Sera crouched down and drew two circles into the mud.

The left circle overlapped with the right one.

"Look at these two circles," she said. "The left one is the soul. The right one is the body. And the part that is in the middle of these two is the spirit."

We all looked down at the drawing.

Sera continued.

"In mysticism, the soul is like the sun, and your physical body is merely a single ray of light projected into the material world. Meanwhile, the spirit is the manifestation of both the soul and the body."

We nodded.

I stared at the diagram for a few seconds.

"So the spirit is basically the connection between the two?"

"Something like that."

"That actually makes sense."

I scratched my chin.

"Kind of."

Sera smiled faintly.

"That is also the reason the Soul World is called the Soul World. Because there are no bodies there, and hence no spirits."

I looked toward the dark sky.

’No bodies is equal to no spirits.’

That sounded simple enough.

But considering everything I had already seen in this world, I had a feeling that simple explanations would eventually become very complicated.

Mary turned her head toward Lee.

"What do you know about this Culex’s loyal men? What is his affinity?"

Lee sighed, "Culex is the Boss. Henry is his chief councilor. He has ten loyal captains under him. Each of them has five soldiers under them. Other than them, all one hundred and fifty people are basically his slaves."

Lee lowered his head.

"I do not know about his affinity, but he does have one weird habit, or order, or whatever you may call it. Every day, all people have to give some of little of their blood until all two hundred have given and a large bowl of it is filled with it. Then one of the captain take the bowl to Culex’s room at midnight."

My eyebrows rose.

’Blood.’

My mind immediately started working.

’Could be blood curses. Hmm. Blood magic? But why would he need it every day? Wouldn’t one time be enough?’

I glanced toward Lee.

’He also ran from there and he seems perfectly fine. So these possibilities can probably be ruled out.’

’Probably.’

I had learned that word was doing a lot of work in my life recently.

"What does he look like?" Arthur asked.

"He has pale skin. Extremely pale. His canines are a bit larger than an average guy. Also, his eyes are red."

’Wonderful. We are dealing with a pale, red-eyed man with enlarged canines who collects people’s blood every day.’

"Any abilities you may know of?" I asked.

’Pfft, Why does this guy not tell us everything at once?’

"Yeah. He is very strong in terms of physical strength and can regenerate quickly. Very quickly. He can also see clearly in the dark."

Lee paused.

"He also seems like he is teleporting through shadows. One second he is here, and the other second you see him coming out of another shadow."

"How many days were you there?" I asked.

"I slept in there fourteen times."

"You survived fourteen days alone?"

Lee nodded.

"So what is the plan?" Mary asked, looking at him.

"I do not know."

Lee looked toward the mountain.

"I had kind of lost all hope. So, my previous plan was that I just walk around and eat freely until I die."

There was a brief silence.

"...That was your plan?"

"Yes."

Arthur looked genuinely concerned.

"That is not really a plan."

"It had an ending... I mean," he laughed.

"The worst possible ending."

"I never said it was a good one. So yeah."

I rubbed my forehead.

’This place really does attract interesting people.’

Sera pointed toward the hill where Ouroboros had appeared.

"Have you ever tried going on that hill?"

Lee’s expression immediately changed. "No. Not really, I feel a strong sense of danger from there."

He shook his head. "Even Culex does not dare to go there."

My eyes narrowed.

’Master Ouroboros wanted me specifically to wake him up?’

I looked toward the distant hill.

’Damn. I guess I am the honored one.’

Sera and the others were not surprised by Lee’s answer because I had already told them all about the loop when we were close to reaching this area.

Mostly because I wanted them to understand the danger. Also because I really wanted them to stop asking me the forbidden question.

It had worked unsurprisingly not well.

"Well, I guess we can think of that tomorrow."

Sera yawned.

The exhaustion on everyone’s faces was becoming increasingly obvious.

"You got stuff where we can sleep?" I asked Lee.

"Only two people can sleep inside the tent."

Lee looked around at us. "We are six."

Sera raised her eyebrows before grabbing Mary’s shoulder. "Then Mary and I will sleep inside the tent. You people can think of yourselves."

Lee blinked. Theodore immediately started laughing.

"Well, my dear brother Lee, I guess you are going to suffer the same fate as us."

Lee looked at him.

I looked at the tent.

It was barely large enough for two people, so arguing about it would have been pointless anyway.

Besides, the Realm was not exactly known for its hospitality.

"You people sleep. Edmund and I will keep watch, and then you and Arthur will keep watch, I guess, when we sleep," Lee said.

I nodded. "Yeah, no problem."

Arthur smiled. "Sounds fair."