Chapter 97 Who Are You?
Valentina had a wary expression but still nodded seeing how they were talking to her nicely with a smile.
The two men smiled inwardly seeing that she nodded. However, they were trying their best to maintain their attention on her face due to how ghastly her face looked to them. They thought they had never seen such an ugly girl in their lives before.
"Do you have any family around?"
Valentina slowly opened her mouth and spoke, "I-I don't have family...I only have my Big Brother."
'Oh, so a vagabond's little sister it seems.' They thought.
The men looked at each other and nodded with an understanding.
"Why don't you follow us and we will give you some nice food to eat."
"I don't w-want food...I only want my Big Brother." Valentina said in a delicate voice.
Their expression didn't change and one of them said with a gentle smile, "Don't worry, we will help you find your Big Brother. What's his name?"
"D-Damien." Valentina started having some hope thinking that the two kind-looking uncles before her might know Damien.
"Oh, Damien! Yea, I know that guy. He's quite famous, haha. We are also good buddies. Didn't know his little sister was searching for him. How can he let his sweet little sister wander alone? Don't worry kid, we will take you right to him, follow us."
Valentina nodded as her face lit up thinking that they knew Damien. They led the way as she innocently followed them without suspecting anything. Despite Damien's warning to not trust anybody else, she was desperate to find Damien that her determination to find him overcame her fear.
All that mattered to her now was finding Damien.
——
"Ugh…"
The same day, it was already nightfall when a cloaked figure slowly opened his eyes.
A huge bird was covering the cloaked figure with its wings as if it was guarding it.
*squawk*
It let out a low cry seeing the cloaked figure making some movement. However, it's head was still low as if it was bowing to the figure in respect. One would wonder why such a huge ethereal beast was being so deferential to such a weak human being.
"Damn it...how long was I out…" Damien's consciousness slowly stirred up as he tried to move his exhausted body.
He still felt fatigued all over his body and his terrible injuries didn't fully even after taking some healing pills because of how serious his injuries were.
He still felt a faint stinging sensation in his soul but wasn't bothering him much.
"Luna...how long was I out?"
…
"Ah, is she still sleeping...damn I should first heal myself. Only if I could concoct a Star Soothing Pill." Damien inspected his injuries and saw that his skin and nerves weren't completely healed and the pain was only slightly less than before.
He guessed that he could probably concoct the Rank 5 Star Soothing Pill if he uses at least 95% of his soul energy. He wanted to buy those Rank 5 Star Soothing Pills but they were currently out of stock in the market.
Having no other choice, he thought of concocting one otherwise it might take him ages to heal. He found that he could barely walk with these bloody injuries all over his body and felt his senses were numb in some parts of his body.
He was feeling anemic as his blood had been drained too much by the Blight Flayers and still haven't replenished fully.
He then looked up at the night sky and saw how the stars have changed their position. His eyes widened when he realized that more than four days had passed!
All this while he didn't imagine that he was knocked out for days and only thought he slept for a day at most.
'I should go see Valentina first.' Damien guessed that Valentina must have been sitting up waiting for him all these days. He wanted to see her first and assure her that everything is all right.
He got on the back of the huge bird and decided to name it.
"Hmm…your name henceforth will be Misty." Damien knew that his huge undead roc was a fearsome ethereal beast that could cause havoc on its own especially when using its Wind elemental seed.
It could also blend well with the wind high above the air and no one would even notice it ever being there in the first place.
*Screee*
Misty made a low shriek of happiness having been bestowed by a name by its master. It instantly took off into the air and sped through the foggy air.
'Damn...she is really fast.' Damien was impressed witnessing the speed at which Misty was flying.
Within just a minute, he reached Valentina's turf!
However, no matter how much he spread out his spiritual perception or called out for her, he couldn't find her.
"Valentina!! Where are you? We can play games later...why don't you show yourself...cough...cough."
Damien shouted at the top of his voice but still, there was no sign of her. He immediately realized that something was off as Valentina would usually rush at him whenever she saw him.
"No...it cannot be…" Damien had a bad premonition thinking that Valentina probably went in search of him all alone. He knew she wouldn't leave the Dark Forest unless it was something important.
'Maybe she must be out hunting for some food.' Damien also thought of another possibility but didn't feel too confident about it.
'I have to find her...ugh….' Damien wanted to find Valentina as soon as possible but his injuries were acting up again and he knew he had to heal them first before he could do anything. Otherwise, he might just collapse again.
He had two out of three medical herbs required to concoct the Star Soothing Pill but he was missing the last one.
'Lily's courtyard!' However, his eyes suddenly lit up remembering how Lily's inner courtyard had the missing herb.
'I will just buy one for her later.' Damien thought of sneaking into her courtyard now and recompense her later.
He quickly got on top of Misty and commanded it to speed towards the Rong Imperial City. He also wondered if Lily also realized if he was missing since she might have checked up on him after three days.
Within a few minutes, Damien reached the city and Misty was back in his soul space. No one noticed anything since Misty knew how to blend well with the wind and unless a Heaven Ethereal Realm cultivator appeared, there wouldn't be any chance of someone spotting it. Even a Low Level Heaven Ethereal Realm cultivator would find it hard to spot it.
After all, it wasn't named the Phantom Mist Roc for nothing.
Damien had searched for Valentina on his way but didn't find her even in the city. He only got more anxious thinking about a little girl like her without much knowledge about the outside world, wandering alone.
But prayed inwardly that she was still in the forest and it was not as he imagined.
He carefully sneaked into the palace and got inside Lily's inner courtyard. He knew how to avoid any defense formations or alarms since Lily had explained to him about all the formations surrounding the courtyard.
'Found it!' Damien's eyes sparkled when he saw a shiny blue grass and slowly limped towards it. With only the moonlight entering the courtyard, Damien felt that it looked more beautiful than ever.
However, before he could react, he felt a cold blade pressing against his neck.
"Who are you?" A girl's cold voice sounded from behind.