Chapter 75: Questions (2)

Chapter 72

"All right, Orion Stormblade. There is one final question I wanted to ask."

Orion’s ears perked up slightly.

One final question?

He glanced at her storage pouch, wondering whether he had missed something. Hadn’t she already put away her notebook? What else could she possibly want to ask him?

"This one is far more important."

Katherine’s words immediately caught his attention. Orion nodded, preparing himself to answer her last question so that he could finally return to figuring out everything he had missed while studying the changes brought about by his transformation.

However, he had no idea what she was about to ask.

Katherine looked directly into his eyes.

"Tell me, Orion Stormblade..."

She paused briefly before asking the question.

"Have you reawakened?"

Orion’s heart skipped a beat.

How does she know?!

For a split second, his mind went blank. He hadn’t expected that question at all, and he couldn’t understand how she had possibly figured it out.

Orion didn’t need to think for long before his mind began piecing the clues together.

Double-gate dungeons were special cases. They weren’t ordinary dungeons, and the existence of a second gate usually meant that something extraordinary awaited those who ventured beyond it. On the other side, one could encounter unparalleled opportunities, unimaginable dangers, or even both at the same time.

Based on Katherine’s questions, she must have believed that the Dungeon X raid team had stumbled into one of those scenarios, an environment that was extraordinarily dangerous yet filled with astonishing opportunities.

That would explain the deaths of the entire raid team. It would also explain why she suspected that Orion had undergone a Reawakening.

After all, if the others had perished while facing something beyond their capabilities, yet Orion had somehow emerged alive, there was a possibility that he had obtained an opportunity that fundamentally changed him.

A Reawakening.

It was a reasonable conclusion, perhaps even the most reasonable one she could have reached with the limited information available to her.

But that didn’t mean Orion was going to admit it.

Katherine’s green eyes remained locked on him as she patiently awaited his answer. Orion hesitated for only a few seconds before doing something he rarely did.

He lied.

"No, I didn’t reawaken."

The moment the words left his mouth, Katherine’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Orion’s heart raced. For an instant, he wondered whether she had seen through his lie, but he quickly forced himself to calm down.

Relax. Don’t give anything away.

He maintained a composed expression, doing his best to ensure that his face revealed nothing of the thoughts racing through his mind.

Katherine continued looking at him for several more seconds, allowing the silence to stretch between them. Orion couldn’t help feeling that her gaze had become more penetrating, as though she were waiting for him to make a mistake.

Finally, she nodded.

"Okay. I believe you."

Orion kept his expression calm, refusing to let his relief show or allow his thoughts to leak onto his face.

Still, one thing had been confirmed for him.

Sky Dancer really was a terrible questioner.

How can someone be this bad at questioning people?

He almost wanted to ask her whether she had ever successfully interrogated anyone before. Of course, he kept that thought to himself because there was no need to offend the woman who had apparently helped save him.

Katherine sighed and rose from her chair.

"Recover quickly, Warrior Orion. I’ll take my leave now."

Orion nodded with a smile.

"Thanks for the visit."

Katherine chuckled at his words and turned toward the door. However, just as she reached it, she paused, her hand stopping near the handle before she turned around to look at Orion once more.

The amusement had disappeared from her expression, replaced by a seriousness that immediately caught his attention.

"For now, though, stay grounded."

Orion raised an eyebrow slightly.

"The Scourge Guild will be coming after you."

His expression changed almost imperceptibly, a reaction Katherine noticed before continuing.

"I’ll help you hold them off with this."

As she spoke, she patted the storage pouch attached to her side, most likely referring to the notes she had taken during their conversation.

Orion wasn’t entirely certain what she meant by that, but he understood the general idea. She intended to use the information she had gathered to buy him some time.

However, Katherine’s next words made it clear that whatever protection she could offer wouldn’t last forever.

"But I can’t keep them away from you for long."

She looked at him steadily before offering her advice.

"So, here’s a piece of advice. You should either join a powerful guild that can protect you from the Scourge Guild..."

After a brief pause, she continued.

"...or relocate to an entirely new region."

Her gaze remained calm, but there was no mistaking the seriousness behind her words.

"The decision is yours."

Having said that, Katherine turned around, walked out of the room, and closed the door behind her. A soft click followed, and silence returned to the hospital room.

Orion remained seated for a moment, his brows slowly drawing together as he considered what she had told him.

The Scourge Guild is coming after me?

Now, that sounded rather troublesome.

He had already expected that being the sole survivor of the Dungeon X raid would attract unwanted attention, but he hadn’t fully considered just how serious the consequences might be.

After all, he wasn’t merely the only survivor of the most recent raid team. He was the sole survivor among all the warriors who had ever stepped into Dungeon X, every single person who had entered that dungeon before him having failed to return.

And now, somehow, he was the one who had come back.

Even worse, Dungeon X itself had disappeared.

How could anyone possibly ignore such an extraordinary occurrence?

The implications were enormous. The Scourge Guild would undoubtedly want answers. They would want to know what had happened inside the dungeon, what had caused its disappearance, and how Orion had managed to survive when everyone else had failed.

They might even suspect that he had obtained something valuable, something worth investigating.

Or worse...

Something worth taking.

Orion frowned as the possibilities continued piling up in his mind.

What a mess.

He had barely begun understanding his new circumstances, and trouble was already coming to find him. He didn’t even know the full extent of his own abilities yet, much less understand what had happened inside Dungeon X.

And now, he had to worry about a powerful guild coming after him.

Damn it...

Orion leaned back slightly, his thoughts settling on the unpleasant reality of his situation.

It seemed that his peaceful recovery was going to be much shorter than he had hoped. Trouble was already tailing him, and judging by the sound of it, this was only the beginning.

...

Meanwhile, Katherine had already stepped outside the hospital.

A faint, amused smile lingered on her face as she walked away from Orion’s room.

"So, he really did reawaken..."

She muttered the words calmly, almost as though she were commenting on something completely ordinary.

Orion might have had a misconception about her abilities, but when it came to detecting lies, Katherine seriously doubted there was anyone on Earth who could match her. Her ability in that regard was exceptional, and Orion’s answer had only confirmed her suspicions.

He had hesitated before answering, and his heartbeat had changed. Although he had managed to maintain a calm expression, there had been a subtle tension in his reaction that most people would never have noticed.

To an ordinary person, those details might have meant nothing. To Katherine, however, they were more than enough.

The boy had lied.

And the fact that he had chosen to deny his Reawakening so quickly only made the conclusion more convincing.

Katherine’s amused smile grew wider.

Interesting.

She hadn’t expected this visit to turn out to be so entertaining. Orion Stormblade was undoubtedly hiding something, and whatever had happened inside Dungeon X was far more complicated than the Scourge Guild probably realized.

There was clearly more to the boy than met the eye, and she intended to find out just how much more.

Katherine continued walking, her emerald eyes sparkling with amusement.

"This should certainly be fun."

She chuckled softly to herself.

"I guess I’ll hang around the Nurn Region a little longer, then..."