Chapter 375 - 373:Wanted!
"I don’t really care who you are, just stop fucking around," Leo growled.
"Sheesh. Is it everyone Dante knows that’s got some type of problem?"
"And what the fuck does that mean?"
"I mean, we’ve got the devoted psycho over there..." he pointed at the arriving figure of Shulvan, "...now we’ve got you, and you seem to have just as foul a mouth as Dante."
"Haa... I guess when they said birds of a feather flocked together, they meant it."
""Oi!!"" Both Leo and I voiced out in retort.
"Don’t lump me in with this chicken-cat!"
"Don’t lump me in with this bastard!"
We stopped, leveling a dead stare at each other...
""Motherfucker!!""
""Stop copying me!!""
""No! YOU! Stop copying me!!""
""BITCH!!!""
It was maddening.
How the fuck was this guy matching me word for word? He was doing it on purpose, I was sure...
"Haaa...." Letting out a long breath, I decided to mercifully be the bigger person. "Alright. Fine. Enough bickering, I’ll let it slide this time."
"Motherf..."
"Hey, Leo," I called out, interrupting his cursing.
"What is it?"
"Did you happen to come across Malachi?" I couldn’t help getting curious.
"No. Why? You worried?"
"Not really. It’s just, I was kinda curious what the monkey would be up to by now."
"Probably some monkey business. Heh!"
"That’s very racist of you, Leo. I expected better." I shook my head in disappointment.
"Motherfucker!! Who are you calling racist???" he roared, about to charge at me, but...
"Umm... Prince... I... I think we should focus on our task first," a voice interrupted him.
Salazar, Shulvan, Leo, and myself all turned toward the speaker.
It was the blindfold-wearing youth from earlier; he seemed to have finally regained himself somewhat, although he was still actively ducking my sight for reasons I didn’t understand.
"Hmm? Aegon. Yeah, I almost forgot. Damn, it’s all this bastard’s fault," Leo snapped.
"Sure. Blame me for your featherbrain." I shrugged before asking, "What task is he talking about?"
"Oh, that. The old dean asked him to retrieve something from the Devourer’s abode."
"The dean trusted someone enough to locate something that was supposed to be a wild goose chase?" I couldn’t help asking, intrigued.
"Well, if there was anyone capable of finding something that didn’t want to be found, there wouldn’t be many more capable than Aegon here," Leo replied.
"But this freak Salazar did, though?"
"Umm... can we not call me a freak to my face? I’m standing right here, you know?"
"So you’d rather I call you a freak behind your back?" I asked, glancing back.
"How about you not calling me a freak at all, hmm?"
"Yeah... how about, no?"
"Haa... just forget it."
Done with the interruption, I focused back on Leo. "So, what is it the dean wanted?"
At my question, Leo’s eyes fell upon the blindfolded youth in inquiry.
I turned, now fully invested in the answer.
"Umm... this..." The young man seemed to have some difficulty speaking with so many eyes on him.
"Yo. Don’t worry. We won’t bite, we’re just curious is all. Hell, I might even help you get it," I offered, trying to calm the nervous guy down.
And it seemed to have worked as his trembling eased, his face relaxing a little as he let out a long breath...
"Sorry about that. It’s just, the dean told me not to let anyone know what it was," he finally spoke up.
"Oh? Then now you have to tell me. Something the dean of the academy wouldn’t want us finding out about? I’m game." My anticipation peaked even more once I heard the dean was trying to keep it under wraps.
"This... I, I’m not sure I..."
"A soul fragment. The dean wants us to collect a soul fragment." A quiet voice sounded in my head.
My eyes fell upon the closed-mouth youth. The moment the voice landed, I already knew who it was.
"You... what did you just do?" My eyes turned cold.
The old man’s technique was active. My system was still up. So how the fuck was his voice in my head just now?
My eyes hardened even further, but then...
[Ding]
[Host need not worry. There was no ill intent behind the act. Thus, the system did not react.]
The system chimed in just in time to stop me.
"Then what about the old man’s technique?"
[The youth didn’t use any mind techniques. What was used was a sound-based ability that lets his voice reach whoever he desires.]
The system’s explanation made me do a once-over on the young man.
"A sound-based ability?" Now that was interesting.
"Dante. Stop scaring them. Baron doesn’t talk normally, so he uses frequencies to communicate. You need not worry about any mind control attacks," Leo added from the side.
I remained silent for a few more moments, going over everything with my system, until finally...
"Fine. Now tell me, whose soul fragment is the dean after?" I asked.
"Isn’t it obvious? Where are we?"
I looked around, the answer finally hitting me.
"He wants Dracul’s soul fragment. But didn’t they say he killed Dracul himself? Then how is a soul fragment here?" I asked, confused, what I was told and what I was hearing now being two different things.
"Well... the dean did kill the old Devourer, but he suspected that Dracul must have had a contingency. After all, figures like those never die completely. So when the news of the secret realm appearing was brought back by Lords Tian and Dakota, he was assured."
"Okay. Let’s say all you’ve told me isn’t bullshit and plot. Even if the so-called Devourer had left a soul fragment here, why would the dean send some weak-ass fucks like you two to get something that important, instead of coming here himself?"
I wasn’t being mean. They were truly too weak in my opinion for such a move.
We were supposed to be on the outer fringes of the Abyss, but I’d already encountered something that would mop the floors with these two had they dared cross it, so I wasn’t convinced.
"I can understand your skepticism, Dante... can I call you Dante?" Aegon asked. Seems the guy was still a bit shaken.
"Feel free. Don’t mind me earlier, I get a bit jumpy." I waved off his concerns.
"Alright. Like I said, I understand your skepticism. But, for reasons better left unsaid, the dean can’t enter the Abyss by himself. That being said, it would only be a problem for us if we were here to fight, which we’re not. We’re merely here on a retrieval mission."
"And I thought you would be smart since you looked like a nerd. Only here to retrieve something? And what would you do when that thing you’re retrieving interests someone exponentially more powerful than you?" I sneered.
"Well...."
"You’ll die. That’s what."
"But the Prince is here. He’s meant to be the brute." He pointed at Leo’s diminutive figure on my head.
"This fucker? Now I’m sure you’ll die."
"Oi! What’s that supposed to mean?"
"I don’t get it. Even if he couldn’t come by himself, why not just have the old man come get it? I’m sure it’d be a lot faster than you bozos," I asked.
"Well, Father has a somewhat bad reputation in the Abyss," Leo grunted.
"The Abyss spans our whole universe, apparently. What kind of reputation would he have to keep him out?"
Leo didn’t answer. He merely turned toward Salazar.
"Hey, you freak."
"Can we stop calling me a freak?"
"No. Now tell me, have you heard of the name War?"
"Which war? You wouldn’t be talking about that wanted outsider, would you?"
"Wanted?" I asked.
"Yes. A long time ago, two men invaded the Abyss. And unlike the lauded Twin Calamities of later years, these men were different."
"Different how?"
"Different in the sense that all they did was fight. Fight. And fight some more."
"They didn’t bother with the natives. They just battled each other, from region to region, razing countless abyssal cities in their wake."
"A bounty was put up for their heads, but even then, all that remained was bloodshed."
"Their battles eventually led them into the inner reaches of the Abyss, where we lost all news of them. But according to what Grandfather had once told me, their battles remained a legendary spectacle even there."
"War and Vanquish."
"Those were their names."
"You wouldn’t be talking about that particular War, right?"
Leo didn’t answer. He simply crouched back down with a lazy...
"Yes. That’s why Father can’t come. He’s more likely to start a war with the Abyss before seeking out anything."
I went quiet.
"Heh! Even here. Old man, even here you refuse to stay quiet." A quiet satisfaction settled in my chest as I heard those names.
I had no doubt who those two were.
And so,
"Alright then. I’ll help you bums." I decided to help out.
Not for any other reason but to get this done and go spread my own name of terror.
"Hehehehe..." I laughed.
"Come, let’s go see what this Devourer fellow has in store for us."
And so, we finally made our way toward the eerie black castle, ready to complete this secret realm.
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A/N: Anyone else not surprised to find regulus and valen’s footprints in the abyss too? Lol.. anyway...
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Thanks for reading...