Chapter 296: A Well

Crack!

The ice ball shattered in his mouth, sapped of all energy. The leader roared, then lunged at her. Even in such intense cold, he was still able to move.

After all, he wasn’t a peak Tier Two for nothing.

Selene erected an ice pillar right in front of him, and he casually smashed through it. However, before he could advance towards her, the shattered ice shards came back together and stuck to his body.

He stiffened, feeling the cold intensify.

"Alien...!" He growled. "I will... kuh..."

He had barely managed to force out those words when Selene suddenly attacked.

Her sword, coated in ice, slashed towards his neck. The man growled and raised his front legs to block it. Unfortunately, he couldn’t.

His blood had begun to freeze, and his muscles had stiffened. He could barely move.

Selene’s sword cut through his fur and flesh, easily reaching the bone.

Knowing he was doomed to die, the man turned with great difficulty to tell the others to run. They needed to inform the people in the Dome about this new race that had just appeared on their planet.

They needed to hunt them down before history repeated itself!

When he saw the frozen remains of everyone else in his group, his resolve shattered.

’I... am the last one alive...?’

Slice! Thud!

His head fell to the ground, still in his beastly form.

Taking a deep breath, Selene wiped her sword on his fur, then sheathed it. She bent down and picked up the glowing treasure cube beside his corpse without a change in her expression.

Glancing around, she counted and confirmed that they were all dead. Suddenly, she remembered the sight of Leon’s hands covered in blood, and she wondered again.

Was that a more satisfying way to express anger?

"You didn’t even leave any for me, sigh."

Hearing that voice, she blinked and turned around.

Leon sat on a nearby rock, resting his chin in a palm. He looked sleepy and bored, but the darkness in his eyes said otherwise.

"You were supposed to be sleeping. Why did you follow me?" She asked calmly.

Leon closed his eyes and exhaled. The cold was indeed annoying to deal with.

"Why wouldn’t I follow you? It was obvious something was wrong with you. I didn’t think you’d want to come take revenge, though."

Selene’s eyes narrowed. "In that case, our business here is done. Let’s go."

Leon nodded and stood up, rubbing his reddening nose.

"Really. This skill of yours has gotten better. How strong are you now?"

Selene kept walking behind him, and she answered, "I can handle that Tier Three Insect now. Though, I can’t confidently claim I could kill it."

Leon nodded slowly, then looked down. They had reached the edge of the mountain. "How did you even climb up? I’m not sure you have any ability that—huh?"

Suddenly feeling weightless, he realized what had happened. He had been pushed off the mountain.

He didn’t panic, though. Knowing Selene, this was probably a prank.

As expected, a hand grabbed his collar a moment later, and his feet finally touched the Ice Board.

"You didn’t panic," She said calmly as she directed the board towards their cave.

Leon shrugged and stepped off the board, walking into the cave. "That’s because I know you have no reason to kill or cripple me. Besides, I’d have been fine on my own."

He yawned again, then said to her. "I’m going to go get some real sleep this time. Goodnight."

Selene watched him disappear into the cave, then sat at the entrance again. She stared at the distorting reflection of the moon in the river, her thoughts unknown.

........

The next morning, Leon woke up and found Selene standing by the river, peering into the clear waters.

"Don’t tell me this is what you did all night. Not even a wink of sleep?"

She straightened and turned to him. "I did sleep. Why do you think I didn’t?"

Leon rolled his shoulders and said, "I don’t know. I just had a feeling you didn’t."

"Well, you’re wrong, mate." She rolled her eyes. "This river is a bit unique. There are no living creatures inside. Not even beasts."

Turning his gaze to it, Leon nodded. "No wonder I didn’t find anything while we were swimming."

Selene raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything. From his words and her wet clothes, she could deduce that they had fallen into the river.

’Cliche.’

Leon looked around and said. "We should probably cross the river and reach that yellow grassland."

Frowning, Selene looked at where he was describing. "What exactly is your evolution requirement that needs you to be in another world? It’s not asking you to destroy this world, right?"

Leon shook his head. "No, it’s not that. I simply need to obtain the world’s heart. That’s all."

"The world’s heart?" She turned to him, confused and curious. "What’s that?"

Shrugging, Leon closed his eyes. "I don’t know either. Maybe we’ll find it once we can ask a reasonable Vaelari."

’I’m not sure any one of them is reasonable,’ Selene thought. However, she didn’t say this yet. After all, her assumption about them could be wrong.

Leon glanced at her contemplative expression, then said, "Meet me on the other side."

He activated teleportation and flashed over the river, crossing it in an instant. Selene stared at him in the distance, then took a step forward.

She walked on the water like it was solid ground, using her Water Mage Class to her advantage. In less than a minute, she joined him at the other side.

Leon tested the yellow grasses and was relieved to discover that they were just normal grasses without some weird sharpness.

"I wonder if we’ll have to cross continents before we find the heart..." Leon muttered as they walked through the grassland.

Selene shot him a glare, but said nothing. She wanted to go back to Earth early, and would prefer if they could simply find the heart, pick it up, and leave.

Sadly, she didn’t think it would be easy. Besides, this world interested her a bit. Other than the hostile Vaelari and horrifying parasites, everything else was good.

After walking for hours without seeing anything but endless grass, they finally found a construction right before them.

It was a primitive well.