Tessa was once again faced with three tentacles, but this time, she had a plan.

She leaped up and suddenly held the tentacle that was coming toward her from above.

"Let go!!" Edith screamed in anger as the tentacle began thrashing about in the air.

In an attempt to make Tessa fall off, Edith controlled the tentacle, swinging it up a little bit too much.

In that moment, Tessa instantly let go of it, and her body flew toward Edith with speed.

She spun mid-air and gripped her sword tightly as she zoomed toward Edith.

Her red eyes locked with Edith's eyes.

"Die..."

Now, Tessa was approaching Edith with her sword mid-air while Varyn was already swinging his claws toward Edith from the right.

Edith's eyes widened. "I'll die..."

Tessa was already directly above her with her sword poised to strike.

Just as Tessa's sword and Varyn's claws were about to hit Edith...

WHOOSH!

Her entire body suddenly turned into black smoke, making Tessa and Varyn's eyes widen.

The black smoke instantly zoomed away.

Tessa landed on the ground as she looked around hastily.

She could see the black smoke moving with great speed away from the forest.

Varyn looked at Tessa. "Should we go after her?"

Tessa remained silent as she looked at the smoke.

Tessa knew that she was fast and Varyn was also fast, and they would definitely be able to catch up to Edith, but she was considering two things.

Firstly, they didn't know where Edith was running to. It could be a trap, and if they decided to follow her, then they were just rushing into that trap.

Secondly, she was thinking about Arin. She could feel that he was still fighting someone.

Meeting him right now was more important than pursuing Edith.

Tessa looked at Varyn. "No, we won't pursue her."

"Follow me," she added.

"I understand," Varyn said.

She instantly began running toward the direction she could feel Arin was, with Varyn following her from behind.

As she was running, she couldn't help but think of the Blood Skills she used.

She used Blood Spike and also used Blood Energy to enhance her speed.

Varyn was the one who taught her all these.

In her room, she summoned Varyn, and he was able to teach her how to use these two basic Blood Skills.

Well, that aside, she had to get to Arin.

"Arin... I hope you're okay..."

***********

Arin bent down as he stared at his broken sword. He held the sword in his hands and looked at it sorrowfully as if a member of his family had just died.

"My points..." he muttered with a heavy heart.

To be honest, the death of this sword put a hole in his heart, but what could he do. He would have to let it go.

Arin stood up with a small smile. "I don't ever regret buying you... Those were some points well spent."

He kept the broken sword in his inventory and looked at Vake's body that was on the ground.

His entire upper body as far as to his face had already been affected by the corruption. The skin on his chest, arms, neck, and face had already peeled off and was oozing the black slimy liquid.

It still had that putrid odour, but it was already getting bearable.

Arin folded his arms. "From the look of things, if I didn't kill him, the corruption would have still killed him."

Though, he wouldn't depend on that because he knew that there were some enemies who would be able to use their Spells even though they were unable to walk because of the corruption.

So, it was easier to just kill the enemy with the sword.

Arin glanced at the rapier. He walked toward the rapier and picked it up.

He observed it for a few seconds. "Someone will definitely use this."

With that, he put it inside his inventory.

'As for the Chaotic Ember Spell,' Arin thought. 'I originally planned to experiment with it using this Vake guy, but I ended up not doing much.'

'I didn't think that the Corruption status ailment would deal this much damage.'

If he had used other status ailments before corruption, maybe he would have been able to experiment more with the Chaotic Ember Spell.

'Well, there'll always be other opportunities,' Arin thought.

He glanced at Vake's lower body that was still unaffected by the corruption.

"Hmm, should I check if there's anything valuable?" Arin murmured to himself.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Seraphine said. "That corruption stuff looks shady..."

"I know, right?" Arin said. "I really don't feel like getting close to his body right now."

He also saw a storage ring on the ground beside Vake's finger. Since his finger peeled and the corruption was already affecting it, the ring fell off, but it would definitely be locked with his Mana, so there was no need.

Right?

Wrong!

"Seraphine, I think I should collect his storage ring," Arin said.

"Do as you wish," Seraphine said. "I won't discourage you."

Arin nodded.

He began walking toward Vake's body slowly.

He reached the body and frowned because the smell even became worse, but he quickly acted.

He endured the odour and stretched his hand toward Vake's finger. Quickly, he picked up the ring that had a bit of the black liquid on it.

Without wasting time, he moved backward, away from Vake's body.

"Tch..."

Before doing anything, he rubbed the ring on the ground to get rid of the black liquid.

"Ah, much better," Arin muttered as he stared at the silver-coloured ring.

"Now, what?" Seraphine asked. "Is it locked with his Mana?"

"Yes," Arin said.

He was trying to imbue his Mana into the ring, but it wasn't working.

"Since it's rejecting my Mana, that means it's locked with his Mana," Arin said.

Arin shook his head. "Shit... And there must be some pretty good things inside."

"For real," Seraphine said.

But before Arin could say anything else...

"Hmm, that was quite entertaining..."

Arin's eyes instantly widened as he quickly put the storage ring inside his inventory.

'That voice... I recognize that voice...'

Instantly, he turned back to look at the person who just arrived, and just like he thought...

"It's that dog!" Seraphine said.

Indeed, it was Kiara.

Her long purple hair fluttered. Her purple eyes were fixated on Arin with a fringe covering her right eye and held a certain kind of mischievousness.

With her arms folded, she rested her shoulder on a tree.

But she wasn't alone.

Instantly, a very handsome man walked forward. His long black hair swayed lightly.

As soon as he walked forward a bit, he instantly lowered his head.

"Greetings, my Prince."

'Huh?' Arin muttered in his mind, but his expression remained calm and composed.

Though, it was still obvious that he was cautious.

He wasn't about to let his guard down.

'Prince...?' Arin thought.

He looked at Draka whose head was still lowered.

'This guy... He looks ordinary,' Arin thought. 'But if he's with that dog girl, then he's certainly not normal.'

Arin looked at Kiara, his eyes sharp. "What is going on? Explain."

He didn't want any unnecessary drama, and he had already promised himself that if Kiara decided to play games again instead of answering his questions, then he would walk out on her.

Kiara smiled as she began walking forward slowly.

"I know you're cautious, but I mean no harm," she said.

Arin didn't say anything. He wanted her to answer his question.

Seeing that Arin was still quiet, she continued.

"First of all, I want to apologize. I'm sorry if I caused you any trouble back at the Academy. And I'm also sorry for not answering your questions back then... I... I just wanted to tease you a little bit... I didn't know I would eventually find out about your race and would have to meet mother immediately," Kiara said.

Her eyes were soft, no longer as sharp and mischievous as they formerly were.

Arin could see it. She really meant that apology.

But did he trust her now?

No!

Arin furrowed his brows.

'Mother... That word again... I still don't get it... Who the hell is this mother she's talking about?'

He looked at her. "You still haven't answered my question."

Kiara nodded. "I'm getting to it."

"This man here is Draka, the guard that has been assigned to you. He's a powerful Dragon Warrior."

Arin blinked. 'Dragon...?'

The word 'Dragon' wasn't new to him.

He had seen it in one of the system notifications about how the Chaos Element was the weakness of the Three Supreme Races, the Vampires, Phoenixes, and... the Dragons.

But still...

'Dragon...?'

'I always knew that this girl was not normal, but I never thought that she would be a Dragon.'

Now, looking at Draka well, he was unusually handsome.

"Dragon, huh?" Arin muttered.

"Yes," Kiara said.

Arin was already getting a little idea of what was going on, but he wanted to make sure he understood everything right here.

He stared at Kiara and asked:

"Now, why did he call me a Prince? And who is this 'mother' you are always talking about?"