Chapter 412 - 407 — Watchers

Chapter 412: Chapter 407 — Watchers

’Jackpot.’

The pouch looked incredibly small, but was surprisingly heavy. It was a telltale sign of a space-expansion item, meaning it had been customized with runes that allowed it to contain numerous items without increasing in size.

Zephyrion wasted no time emptying its contents.

There were quite a lot of items, enough to form a small pile on the ground. But after several seconds of rummaging through them, his brows gradually furrowed.

’You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.’

He had indeed found a Vessel-rank air scroll, but unfortunately, it wasn’t one that would be of any use to him.

Zephyrion grimly read the inscription on the scroll once more.

Vessel Rank. Mark 4–6.

It would have been fine if he could simply skip the first three marks and start directly at Mark Four. But that wasn’t possible.

Zephyrion cursed under his breath as he rose.

’Surely one of the others has something useful.’

He immediately moved to search the lackeys still writhing on the ground. The first didn’t have any scrolls at all. The next somehow had one, but it was even more useless than the one he’d found on Lasner.

Vessel Rank. Mark 7.

Zephyrion searched another and found nothing.

A moment later, he stood over the last one, silently praying to whatever god might be listening that his luck would finally turn around.

’Mark One. Just one bloody Mark One scroll. Is that too much to ask?’

He searched the lackey in a matter of seconds, but when he finished, a deep frown was all that remained on his face.

’Fuck. Fuck!’

What now?

After everything, he still couldn’t find what he was searching for. He’d really thought of everything. Even if he managed to avoid suspicion from the other strays, what about when they returned to the bastion? How was he supposed to go undetected in a place filled with masters if he couldn’t even generate a wisp of air?

’Should I just... turn back?’

Zephyrion turned towards the Ferran Empire, hesitation flickering across his face.

Abandoning the mission seemed like the best choice now.

’Perhaps it’s for the best, protégé...’ Demorian muttered.

Exhaling deeply, Zephyrion clenched his fists.

’Fuck this.’

After coming this far, was he really supposed to just turn back? Then what about Void? What about his investigation?

He felt utterly disgusted with himself. He’d always considered himself smarter than most people, yet here he was, unable to think of a way out of his current predicament.

In that case, how could he ever hope to defeat Frost?

’At this rate? I wouldn’t stand a chance.’

’Fuck!’

He took a step to leave, but just then, as his perspective shifted, a sliver of moonlight filtered through the leaves overhead, illuminating a small patch of ground.

Zephyrion immediately froze when he spotted a small pouch, similar to Lasner’s, lying among the shrubs.

It must have fallen off during the battle.

’Please. Just this once.’

Zephyrion hurried towards it and emptied its contents onto the ground, frantically rummaging through them.

Relics, elixirs, money.

’Come on. Where’s the damn scroll?’

He soon reached the bottom of the pile, where a single scroll lay among the remaining items.

Zephyrion slowly picked it up.

With a grim expression, he read the first line.

...

Several minutes after Zephyrion left the area, Lariat arrived in a gust of wind, her expression grim as she surveyed the surroundings.

Lasner and his lackeys were still writhing in agony on the ground. Before leaving, Zephyrion had made sure to leave them in an even worse state, breaking several more bones and essentially crippling them.

Even with the best possible elixirs, it would take months before they could fully recover.

And that was only physically.

In silence, Lariat crouched beside one of the fallen Aerelith and carefully examined his broken bones, attempting to reconstruct the events of the fight in her mind.

A moment later, she rose to her feet, but there was now a distinct coldness in her eyes.

’Just what the hell are you...?’

...

A short distance away from the scene, Zephyrion narrowed his eyes from atop a tree branch.

’So it was her after all.’

Of course it just had to be the worst possible person to witness the fight. He’d sensed her presence before the fight even began, but had no choice but to proceed.

’Why not simply get rid of her, protégé? One less headache to worry about,’ Demorian suggested, but Zephyrion shook his head.

’If only it were that simple. She’s not alone.’

Several Aerelith had spread out across the forest and were carefully surveying the surroundings. Though he’d managed to slip past their notice after leaving, taking on all of them without drawing attention would be next to impossible.

’One problem after another, protégé. At this point, even the universe seems to be begging you to turn back.’

Zephyrion ignored Demorian’s attempts to convince him to turn back.

’My resolve must be stronger than I am.’

It was a saying his mother had often repeated to him during his childhood. The secret to overcoming overwhelming odds was to believe that you could.

He’d almost forgotten those words earlier, but never again.

Now, he was in this until the very end, no matter what.

He had to find out about Void.

’She can suspect me all she wants. Suspicion alone won’t prove anything.’

He’d made sure not to use any visible metal powers during the battle. Still, Zephyrion recognized the need to learn more about the person he was dealing with, especially now that she had her suspicions.

So, he returned to camp and sought out the one person who could help.

"Brother! There you are! I’ve been looking all over for you! Where the hell did you disappear to?"

Nourald hurried towards him the moment he entered camp. However, his cheerful expression quickly turned serious when he noticed the blood splattered across Zephyrion’s white robe.

"Brother... what happened to you?"

The nearby Aerelith also began gathering around them, their curiosity piqued by the sight.