CHAPTER 884: AYRIAN RING

[Ayrian Ring]

Boosts Abyssal Magic.

Found in the ruins of Ayr, a long forgotten sanctuary that resided within the abyss. The sands of time have ground down the once magnificent spires and buried the history under layers of mystery.

"Where did you find that ring?" Alice asked as the cat pretended to ignore her once more.

But this time, she wasn’t in the mood to joke around or follow his antics.

Without warning, a tsunami of killing intent burst out as Alice slammed her palm against the desk.

"GWAH!!!" The cat jumped up in surprise as its fur stood on its ends.

Landing on all fours, he glared at Alice who glared back.

"Stop playing dumb and answer me. How the f*ck did you get this ring?"

"Ever heard of don’t f*ck with the vendor? What’s stopping me from not selling sh*t to you." The cat warned but Alice didn’t react.

She simply leaned in and stared at the cat without blinking.

"I will burn every part of this place to the f*cking ground. I will find your energy within the sea of threads, your soul amidst all those that were dragged into this nightmare.

"And once I find your soul, I will read your data. I will understand every part of you. Your desires, your love, your hate, your joys.

"I will find everything that gives you even an ounce of joy in this insignificant life of yours and I WILL erase everything. And when I do, when you are alone in this world with no joy left to be had, I will carve out the deepest parts of your essence and I will scatter it into the wind, never to be reborn henceforth.

"I. Will. Erase. You." Alice warned with an eerie calmness in her tone.

As if this wasn’t a huge effort for her. As if it was simply a task she can do whenever she wanted at any given moment.

The cat was silent.

Even though he was the vendor, even though she was the player, when submerged in such dense killing intent along with the warning, he couldn’t help but feel weak in the knees.

But with this weakness came a seething rage.

"You dare threaten me?! ME?!" The cat began to grow in size but Alice grabbed him by the throat.

"Yes. I dare, so what now? You can kill me how ever many times you want. But can you violate the rules set in this place? The camps that act as a safe sanctuary? When push comes to shove, no matter the barrier, even if you bar me from leaving this realm, there WILL be a method for me to get out.

"And once I do, everything you’d done to me in this realm will be paid back hundred fold. I will even make you immortal to ensure I inflict as much pain as I can you. You will become a pass time for my enjoyment.

"You can run, you can hide. You can do whatever you can to evade my gaze. But I will chase you to the ends of finality just so that I can exact my revenge. On this I vow upon my own soul. My vengeance will burn hotter than a thousand suns!" Alice lifted him up as the cat gritted his teeth.

Sweat dripped down his fur.

Every part of his soul was telling him that the girl in front of her was speaking the truth. Every work without an ounce of a lie.

If he were to incur her wrath, she WILL do everything she can to hunt him down.

"Bah! It’s just a f*cking trinket I found in some ruins. What’s got your panties in a twist." He tried to smack her hand away but Alice’s grip was firm.

"Everything in this world is woven from the collective dream. If you found this in some ruins, the likelihood of it happening before I arrived is high. Therefore, there is someone else here who knows of Ayr. So let me rephrase my question.

"Where is Nyer."

"Nyer? Never heard of him." The cat scratched his chin while Alice allowed him to sit down again.

"Then can you give me the coordinates to the Ayrian Ruins that you spoke about?" Alice folded her arms.

She’d rather not use such... violent methods when it comes to negotiation but matters related to Ayr was different.

With Ayr practically erased from history thanks to the three religions, anyone who knew about the place was either old monsters who had lived centuries or people who someone managed to come across the information through various means.

The former being far more likely.

And with the state of this nightmare realm, the chances of it being Nyer or someone close to him was very high.

"Give you the coordinates... are a bit..." The cat scratched his cheek.

Giving away coordinates to a player was a little beyond the scope of things he’s allowed to work with.

Crossing that line...

"Then what can you do? Surely you got a method to give me some hints every now and then.

"Monika did it, same with Karina." Alice furrowed her brows.

"Don’t loop me together with the Witch. She’s a unique case while Karina... I can’t say. Grrr tsk, hey, got anything to sell me?" The cat asked as he pointed at her pocket.

"Sell? Why would I want to sell anything?"

She had just bought the stuff she needed, selling it again would make her actions earlier useless.

"Just do it. Trust me." The cat sighed.

Tilting her head, Alice eventually decided to sell him the healing grass she got from her first kill in this zone.

Having received the grass, the cat tossed over a shimmering blue embryo.

It was different to the ones she usually had.

"Don’t use that one to raise your strength. It’ll let me find you whenever you’re near one of my shops. That way I can guarantee I’m the one you get when you find the store." The cat picked his teeth.

"I can’t tell you stuff directly but as you said, hints are possible depending on how far you get. The coordinates to the ruins that I found were... rather far. But I think you’ll be able to get there eventually." He shrugged.

Examining the Embryo, Alice nodded her head and stored it away in her upper pocket.

"And since you mentioned Monika, I assume she’s already marked you since you’re walking around without care. Be careful of that Witch." The cat narrowed his eyes.

"I’ve had the misfortune of meeting her once and that’s enough to make me not want to see her ever again." He sighed.

"Can’t say more?"

"Nope. I might be a magic talking cat, but nine lives aren’t enough to survive that b*tch if she ever turns her hat towards me." He grumbled.

Staying silent for a moment, Alice smiled and nodded.

"Thank you. And about what I said earlier... Sorry. I won’t say I was lying since it’s all truth. But I’d rather not go that far. You got your limitations so I won’t force you to tell me everything." Alice apologised as the cat clicked his tongue.

"Then give me back that crystal. Getting involved with people like you are the reason why cats need nine lives to begin with." He held out his paws.

"No way, you’ve already promised to help me!"

"Promised?! What part of that looked willing to you!" He raged.

And even though Alice felt bad, she couldn’t let him off the hook yet. It’s an unfortunate situation but his help and assistance was something she needed in this strange realm.

If everything goes well, she won’t do anything to him. Hell, she’ll even help him if the situation called for it.

"You can call me Agnelia. What’s your name?"

"Stop. Just call me whatever you want. But my name is something I can’t give easily." The cat showed a serious face as Alice raised an eyebrow.

"Hmm... Let me call you Rolo then." Alice smirked before walking away.

The cat raised an eyebrow.

"Rolo? Why Rolo?"

"Pft... because you look like you can roll over really well." Alice revealed a smug expression.

Rolo pulled a face of confusion before looking down at his belly.

With his roundness...

"You b*tch! You just called me fat!" He screamed but Alice was already running away with a laugh.

###

Cayla stood with her guard up.

She was progressing through the zone using some of the tips that Alice had told her. But she had chosen a pure caster class so she had to be careful with what she did.

Hunting beasts by groups rather than one by one in order to maximise the usage of her mana while looking for camps.

"I’m not here to kill you or take you away. So why the hostility?"

"Can you really blame me?" Cayla forced a smile.

She may be in a guarded stance but... What could she even do?

"Fair point. I... figured I may as well come say hi since we’re alone right now. No third party to listen in on our conversation." The figure before her shrugged.

"What is there even to speak of? Our history and connection has long since ended, don’t you agree? What is there left but to be enemies?" She narrowed her eyes.

Why did he appear before her? What did he want to talk about?

And...

"Am I here to take you away? Is that what you want to ask?"

"Wow~ would you look at that? Seems like you can read my mind." Cayla took a step back, but the figure took a step forward.

He kept their distance perfectly spaced out at 20 steps between them.

"I’m not reading your mind. Simply estimating what you want to say considering our meetings before. In a realm where you are victim to its laws, it’s only natural to wonder about your own safety." He shook his head.

"But don’t worry, I’m not here to take you away. There’s no use for it since you’ve already bound yourself to Alice.

"Instead, I’m here for another reason. So why don’t we speak casually?

"As the old retainers of the Queen." Nyer smiled, facing Cayla with his hands behind his back.