CHAPTER 222: [LILITH WANTS TO SLEEP] - SILVANUS’S PART (8)

"These sunflowers have no roots at all..." Alice murmured. Cocona, her eyes dark, flung the sunflower in her hand aside.

Drake also didn’t make any further moves. Continuing to destroy things wouldn’t change anything—the sunflower forest wouldn’t be so easily destroyed.

"Shall we try a bit of fire?" Silas spoke up, looking toward Drake.

Drake snorted coldly. "Don’t need your reminder!"

With that, he raised his blade. Large scales sprouted rapidly on his hand, piercing his skin and flesh, causing fresh blood to ooze. Immediately after, black flames engulfed his entire sword.

Gripping the blade with both hands, Drake took his stance and slashed forward. The black flames, blending almost seamlessly into the darkness, scorched more than five meters of flowers ahead of them, forming a clear semicircle.

The heat was scorching, as though it could burn all of them alive—even from this distance.

Everyone fell silent.

Drake swiftly retracted his sword, revealing a charred hand with scales jutting through torn flesh, still bleeding nonstop. Just looking at it was painful enough.

Alice quickly rushed forward to call for a healer. Drake’s gaze was cold. "Save your energy for when it matters. You’re calling healing for something this minor?"

Alice said softly, "It might help reduce the pain a little..."

"No need!"

Drake refused sharply, implying that if Alice took even one more step forward, he’d throw her ten meters away. Alice pressed her lips together and ultimately said nothing more, retreating quietly.

Everyone looked at the scorched, barren earth. Cocona blew a low whistle, and Alice said softly, "Like this, probably nothing could survive..."

But as she finished speaking, tiny green sprouts suddenly pushed up from the ground. Even the scorched and cracked earth couldn’t stifle their vitality.

"Hah." Drake let out a cold laugh. His eyes, fixed on the rapidly growing sprouts, seemed like they might spit fire at any moment.

"We can only end this once we find their roots," Silas said.

"Would be better if you just pointed out where the roots are," Drake replied without the slightest courtesy.

Silas went silent for a moment. A sound, like tadpoles stirring water, could be heard. The others instinctively averted their gazes except Silvanus, who kept staring straight at Silas.

A crack slowly opened on Silas’s forehead. From within it, a vertical eye began to emerge. The bright yellow eye flicked left and right, scanning the area—until its gaze fell on Silvanus, standing off to the side.

The eye froze for a moment, then widened. Its iris quivered nonstop, as if trying to jump free. The way it looked at Silvanus wasn’t much different from the way Lilith had earlier.

Silas’s eyes remained closed, but his brow furrowed slightly. He turned his head away and forcefully retracted the foolish eye.

Yes, to him at this point, the so-called Heavenly Eye was nothing but a foolish, useless thing.

[Silas must really like Silvanus, haha. I wouldn’t have noticed if that third eye didn’t react.]

[That third eye has nothing to do with Silas’s attitude.]

"I can’t find the roots of the sunflower forest," Silas stated plainly.

After a pause, he added, "I think we could try checking the clearing."

At night, everything felt gloomier, heavier. The faint light from their oil lamp wasn’t enough to illuminate the road ahead.

The tall, tightly packed sunflowers seemed like they wanted to crush the humans beneath them. The group kept pushing forward, parting the way repeatedly, unable to see the end—as if no matter how far they went, the exit would never come.

"Ah!"

Alice suddenly cried out in alarm. Everyone quickly turned to look. Her arm had been cut, her sleeve torn open, and blood was oozing from the wound. Upon closer inspection, the leaf beside her was stained with her blood.

Fortunately, Alice’s abilities kicked in, and the wound quickly began to heal.

Cocona directly plucked off the leaf that was still stained with blood. It felt limp, no different from an ordinary leaf at first glance. But clearly, no ordinary leaf could slice through human flesh like that.

"These leaves were soft and brushed past us gently this afternoon. Now they’ve finally revealed their true colors, huh?" Cocona scoffed, tossing the leaf aside. Only then did she notice her clothes had quite a few cuts, leaving faint marks on her skin—Drake wasn’t an exception either.

It was just that the cuts hadn’t pierced deeply enough for them to notice right away.

Looking again, Silvanus, Silas, and Leonard had no such injuries—only Cocona, Alice, and Drake had been affected.

"It makes sense for me and Drake—we just attacked a part of the sunflower forest. But why did it go after Alice?" Cocona couldn’t help but feel puzzled.

"Maybe it’s just trying to get attention. Who knows, we might all get attacked soon," Silas said.

The sunflower forest was beginning to come alive, and they were standing in its heart—yet these people spoke so lightly of it.

But this situation was certainly not that simple.

Silvanus glanced briefly at the comments, then kept walking forward.

Seeing this, the others quickly followed.

"Hey, don’t you know how to say a word? You think people will just keep following you forever?" Drake snapped, irritated by Silvanus’s calm, backyard-strolling demeanor. Silvanus clearly needed protection, yet he didn’t seem to realize it at all—it was seriously annoying.

[Poor Drake. What exactly makes him think Silvanus is weak?]

[Then again, what makes everyone else think he’s strong?]

[Come to think of it, he hasn’t done anything that impressive yet—just gives off a terrifying vibe. Yeah, a vibe.]

[This fandom is getting less and less human.]

[Were we ever human? Haha.]

The group soon arrived at a clearing in the center of the sunflower forest.

There, a cat and a rabbit were curled up together asleep. Both were fluffy, and at first glance, they looked incredibly warm and cozy.

Suddenly, the cat’s ears twitched slightly, and at the same moment, the rabbit also perked up its ears. They’d heard the approaching footsteps.

They opened their eyes simultaneously, still wearing expressions of sadness, with twin tears running down their faces.

Upon seeing Silvanus’s group, the cat instantly jumped and snapped angrily, "Why are you here, mew?! A bunch of mean humans, mew!"

"Boo hoo hoo, I’m so sleepy... boo hoo..." The rabbit rubbed its eyes with both paws, crying even more pitifully.

Everyone: "..."

Drake wasn’t one of the ones left speechless. He walked straight up, grabbed the cat by the scruff, and lifted it. His eyes glowed red in the darkness. "Where are the sunflower roots? Speak!"

With that, he brought out his blade and held it to the cat’s throat.

The cat’s eyes widened, nearly forgetting to cry. Its fur puffed out, making it look a whole size bigger.

It flailed its tiny arms in the air, claws glinting coldly in the night—but it was far too small compared to Drake and couldn’t do anything to him.

Drake’s blade inched closer and closer to the cat’s neck. Meanwhile, the rabbit on the side kept hopping around, crying, "Boo hoo hoo stop it, don’t kill the kitty, boo hoo hoo, you’re all so mean, boo hoo hoo!"

"Run, Bunny, mew! A gentleman’s revenge can wait ten years! Remember to slice up these people and visit my grave, mew!!!"

"Sounds scary. Might as well kill both and get it over with," Cocona said nonchalantly. Then she walked over, effortlessly grabbed the rabbit by its ears, and lifted it into the air.

The rabbit: "!!!"

"Boo hoo hoo, I don’t want to die! Please spare me! Only meow meow cursed at you, not me! Boo hoo hoo! Meow meow’s meat is tastier than mine, boo hoo hoo!" The rabbit thrashed about, hind legs kicking repeatedly as it sobbed.

The cat: "..."

[Haha, is this okay? If it were an average person or just a mid-tier esper, they probably wouldn’t have been able to capture them so easily.]

[Right? These two are surprisingly strong, but unfortunately, they’re up against Drake and Cocona.]

[Lilith only invited powerful people here. She has no good intentions, haha.]

"I’ll ask again—where are the sunflower roots?!" Drake roared.

"Mewwww!"

The cat trembled and quickly screamed, "I don’t know, mew! Ask the sunflowers, mew! You meanies, mew!"

"Boo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo..."

"Let them go."

Just then, Silvanus suddenly spoke, making Drake glance back in disbelief, wondering if he’d misheard.

Silvanus paid no mind to his look. He simply stepped forward and took the cat from Drake’s hands. "You’re being rude."

Drake opened his mouth, eyes slightly widened. Silvanus gave his hand a light tap, and instinctively, Drake let go. Just like that, the big cat ended up in Silvanus’s arms.

Following the cat’s weight, Silvanus sat down on the ground. The cat sprawled across his legs like a giant rug, its four limbs stretched straight out, tears silently streaming down its face and soaking into the dirt.

Silvanus’s fingers twitched slightly before he finally lifted a hand and gently touched the cat’s fur.

He looked up toward Cocona. Cocona pressed her lips together, then finally released the rabbit. As if granted a royal pardon, the rabbit immediately ran over to the cat and buried its face against its hind leg, sobbing miserably.

But then, the cat’s tail suddenly twitched and lashed out hard, slapping the rabbit with such force that a loud thwack echoed through the air.

The rabbit flinched violently from the pain and then sat silently to the side, pink eyes staring at the cat and Silvanus as tears flowed like broken pearls, endlessly falling.

Silvanus: "..."