CHAPTER 71: A PROMISE KEPT

At last, the beautiful stranger had slain the Colossal Mound, though only after exhausting effort that left her close to breathless as her stamina dwindled further. Even with the nape exposed, free of the unbreakable carapace, it had taken her a considerable time to strike the mark. The beast’s constant sweeping arcs made every attempt uncertain, and a single reckless move could have ended her life.

She had been forced to ensure the blow was decisive, driving her blade deep into the nape to finish the Titan-type in one strike. When it finally collapsed, Na-Ri settled beside the massive corpse, the Essence core gleaming in her hand. She did not consume it, choosing instead to hold it in her palm as she rose slowly to her feet and surveyed the devastation the Titan had wrought upon the clearing.

The Titan’s rampage had flattened the trees and even fractured part of the prison wall, leaving the ground far more open than before.

From a distance she caught sight of Orven, the Pallid Caraphract carrying him back at a steady pace. As soon as they drew near, the madman launched himself off the beast before it had even halted, stumbling as he nearly lost his balance, then rushing towards her with a wild grin.

His eyes fixed on the Titan’s carcass, and his smile stretched still wider.

"I knew you could do it. Hahaha. You’re strong enough to survive the Trial Zone on your own... but never mind that. Now I just have to get to—"

Na-Ri’s sword cut the words short, raised clean to his throat. The smile faltered for the briefest moment before he forced it back, his gaze dropping to the blood-smeared blade resting against his skin.

Without her speaking, the message was clear.

He let out a breath and gave a small shake of his head.

"You’ve kept your part of the deal, and I will keep mine. In fact, I have an extra gift for you."

Na-Ri’s eyes shifted towards the prison cell.

"...A gift?"

Orven shook his head multiple times and looked down at the Essence core she held in her hand.

"Wait a bit, my lady!"

Quickly, he slipped from the blade and ran into the prison cell, leaping from time to time with unrestrained glee. The scant patches of cloth covering his buttocks almost came off at one point.

The beautiful stranger ignored the madman as he darted inside and dismissed her blade. She wondered where to store the Essence core so as not to lose it, given that her armour had no compartments.

The Pallid Caraphract stared at her with its usual stupidity while she searched the area for anything suitable to hold the Essence core.

Suddenly, an unfamiliar shadow appeared on the ground beside her and pointed towards a small pouch a few metres away. She instantly knew to whom the shadow belonged, and chose not to linger on it. Instead, she retrieved the old pouch, grey with dust.

When she picked it up, she noticed something within and emptied it onto the ground. What she found were multiple shards of glass-like amorphous solids. She bent down to examine them more closely but discerned nothing of importance or strangeness.

With that, the beautiful stranger turned her back on the shards, placed the Essence core inside the pouch, and strapped it tightly to the leg of her armour.

A minute or so later, Orven came running out of the prison cell in a frenzy of excitement, carrying two leather flasks along with smaller shards that looked uncannily similar to the ones she had discarded from the pouch.

Na-Ri frowned.

’Huh? Do not tell me those things are actually worth anything...’

Orven stopped directly before the beautiful stranger, both hands pressed together to keep the items from slipping.

"I will explain everything in my possession to you. We can head back now."

***

From the large hole at the top of the cave, Na-Ri and Orven descended by rope to the ground. Adela was the first to rush towards Na-Ri, a spark of happiness crossing her face. The beautiful stranger returned the smile and assured her she was fine.

After a short moment, she unfastened the pouch from her leg and handed it to the grey-haired beauty.

Adela held it in her hand for a while, then looked up to meet the eyes of the beautiful stranger, still smiling.

"I haven’t gotten you a present for your birthday... you know, winter came before the Trial Zone Breakout. So I got you a gift," Na-Ri explained.

At those words, the grey-haired beauty’s smile brightened. She suddenly embraced Na-Ri and thanked her quietly, overjoyed that Na-Ri had remembered her birth season fell in winter. She could almost burst into tears.

"Aww, sisterly affection. Come, hug me, brothers," Orven said to Kyle and Orion, who had remained silent after dropping the items from his hands and summoning the Pallid Caraphract back to his side.

Both of them flung their hands up at once in refusal, eyes widening as they stepped back quickly.

’Stay away, you caveman!’ Kyle screamed in his head, but the man had already seized them both in a tight embrace, and shockingly, they were unable to break free. His strength was simply too absurd.

Naturally, every cultivator with a beast affinity acquires certain traits of the beasts they tame, much like Kyle’s secondary Element. Thus, the strength Orven possessed now was likely a blend of his own raw power and that of the Pallid Caraphract.

Moments later, he released them and rushed back to his items. The two collapsed to the ground with pale faces, their arms sore to the point they were not entirely sure if they were still attached to their shoulders.

’Fuck... my arms.’

A while later, Orven began explaining that the shards were a rare material capable of forging shields as resilient as the carapace of a Titan-type beast. In this place, they were highly valuable, as every creature in the Trial Zone continually grew stronger with each passing day, either by consuming the Essence cores of their own kind or those of humans. The increase was ludicrous, beyond what they would have achieved in the outside world, as though the Zone itself magnified their gains.

By that same logic, the humans trapped here without such aids were forced to keep pace with the evolving threat.

From this, Kyle suddenly recalled the first dreadful Essence core he and Na-Ri had encountered — the one consumed by the Ignivore, a Stage Three beast that had devoured the Glacial Skyscander.

Perhaps more of such beings could exist, creatures burdened with regret even after death.

Honestly, how would one discern which carried that weight, or was it rather that the higher a beast evolved, the more exposed its consciousness became?

Kyle was not entirely sure what logic to apply. Before his thoughts could wander further, Orven handed the two leather flasks to Na-Ri with a grin.

"Those are the gifts I promised you. I hope they are to your liking. You could store water in them."

Na-Ri’s eyes held an indifferent look for a moment before she finally spoke.

"Thank you."

The madman’s smile widened further at her words of appreciation. He then gestured towards a particular section of the cave wall, crowded with his drawings.

"It is time to keep my other promise. I shall now tell you how to reach the Citadel. The journey from here is rather long, and perhaps you ought to expect turbulence."