Chapter 35 Home Free?

The two of them silently trudged through the tunnel, paying careful attention to their surroundings.

Arvell having lost both of his stink bombs had no other way to escape from the rank four beast.

If they got anywhere near it, they would be considered dead in every sense of the word.

Zen followed Arvell's lead, making sure to not stray too far.

He was as blind as bat, his eyes may as well be decorations in this dark tunnel.

Lighting a torch would just expose their location, so they had to result to just relying on Arvell's night vision once more.

Arvell had spent a significant amount of his Nether reserves to re-summon Nord to act as bait, so he was a little exhausted as well.

Even so, they needed to keep their pace.

It was foolish to not use this golden opportunity to escape.

They didn't have any other chances left to escape.

If they got caught here, it would spell their end.

As they travelled towards the exit, they noticed the glow of a torch.

Slowly sticking to the walls, they surveyed their surroundings.

It appeared that they were back to the place where the captured women where being held.

The two noticed that the few remaining slave traders seemed to be waiting impatiently.

"It seems the beast still hasn't come here yet" Zen whispered.

There were only two men left standing guard, as most of them went after Zen.

The potbellied man was too angry that he brought a significant portion of his people with him.

They didn't need too many people to watch over a group this small.

They had already put mana-suppressing cuffs on all of their victims, so they didn't need to deal with any magic-related attacks from them.

Two second circle mages was more than enough to deal with a group of normal people.

Arvell sighed.

'As much as I want to save them, we simply don't have the capacity to take down their guards. If I was making use of my full strength, I could use the element of surprise to possibly take one of them down. But two of them? No way. Without the element of surprise I would be helplessly slaughtered by even one of them.'

Lykos nodded at Arvell's reasonable judgment.

They had to play this safe.

He couldn't just throw away his life haphazardly after all he did to simply live.

Arvell sighed and tried to use one of the nearby paths to travel around the group.

Zen also understood this and followed Arvell silently.

He threw one last cursory glance at the pitiful girls and offered them a prayer.

After travelling for a while longer, Arvell felt a gust of cold air.

'A Draft! We must be nearby.'

Feeling it as well, Zen's gloomy expression changed into one of hope.

Renewed with hope the two sprinted forwards to be greeted with a magnificent view of the mountain range.

Never had the two of them been happier to see snow and ice.

Zen felt a strong and compelling urge to even kiss it.

Arvell being more level-headed bursted Zen's bubble.

"We aren't out of the clear yet. We need to still get through this mountain pass before we are officially back 'home'."

Zen nodded, but the glint in his eyes had not diminished.

Even though they still had a ways to go, majority of the distance had already been travelled!

They were basically home free!

He took a deep breath of air in, not paying heed to his freezing lungs.

'Mother, Father, big sis Angela… I'll see you soon!'

Arvell smiled solumnly to himself when he saw Zen's expression.

'It must be nice to have a home to return to.'

Lykos put his ethereal hand on Arvell's shoulder in support.

'Don't worry. If you don't have a home to return to, just make one! Remember while polygamy is frowned upon normally, I don't mind! You can have as many girls as you want! But don't blame me if they attack you out of jealousy.'

Arvell's smile twitched, as bulges formed on his forehead.

'What crap are you spewing now? I don't plan on having a family at the age of 13 for crying out loud! Also what do you mean polygamy! It never works out in real life! Just look at the vispian king's castle! The Elantryan king taking only one wife was the smarter move by far. At least the two are happy together.'

Lykos nodded his head.

The necklace he was bound to previously belonged to the queen of Elantrya, so he knew first hand how 'passionate' their relationship was.

Arvell suddenly remembered something.

'You didn't peep on them when they were doing it right?'

Lykos scoffed.

'Do you honestly think that someone as handsome as I would do something as lowly as peeping? Their noise was far more than enough for me to bear.'

'So you listened in on them when they did the deed.'

Sweat began forming on Lykos's ethereal forehead.

He couldn't simply cut the audio.

It was like turning off your ears.

You simply can't do that.

He didn't even use his ears, sound came to him straight from the amulet itself

As Lykos has no way of actually interacting with the amulet's functions, he couldn't simply turn it's sound functions off and on.

Thus he was forced to listen to their passionate love-making.

Even if he detested it with every fibre of his being.

What self-respecting narcissist wanted to hear another man moan as he screwed his wife?

It was a stain on Lykos's life that he wanted to forget about.

It wasn't his fault, and he didn't even want it in the first place.

However, what could he tell Arvell?

He was forced to listen to them? Or that he didn't have an off function for the amulet?

Nothing changed the fact that he did in fact eavesdrop on their lovemaking sessions.

Seeing Lykos's panicked face Arvell began to understand the joy of riling people up with teases and insults.

'This is really fun~,' He thought to himself.

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Unfortunately Lykos could hear this as well, bringing his fun to an end.

While Lykos was a little irked by Arvell's teasing, he still looked at it in a positive light.

'Just how far can he go if I teach him? Should I pass on my legendary technique as well? It has been far too long since this divine technique graced the world with its sheer might!'

As Lykos was having dangerous thoughts, Arvell and Zen began their journey onwards.

*ROAR*

At least they planned to, however they heard a familiar roar echo behind them.

Arvell's face morphed into a face of unbridled rage, while Zen looked like he lost his soul.

'This bastard really came all the way to eat us? Just find something better to do with your life!'

Lykos sighed.

'We just can't catch a break.'

The two took off at their top speed, running as fast as they could.

[Temporal Manipulation]

Arvell even used temporal manipulation to boost their speed by another level.

The two zoomed through the mountain range, not even bothering to hide themselves.

While they attracted nearby beasts, the beasts all felt a superior presence chasing them, so they backed off immediately.

That was a rank four beast!

Something that none of them wanted to fight to consume two small humans.

While they were interested in devouring the two, they had to find food elsewhere.

Zen making the mistake of looking behind again, saw a large bright yellow blob barreling towards them, kicking up a large cloud of snow and ice.

Almost cursing himself for not having another pair of legs, Zen ran with renewed vigour.

Staring death in the face lets people do wonderous things out of an instinct for self-preservation.

Seeing Zen panic, Arvell decided to use his backup plan.

Arvell shifted his backpack and put it in front of his chest, freeing up his back.

"Zen get on my back and cast wind magic to speed us up."

Zen looked at him with a confused expression.

"Won't it be harder to carry me and run?"

Arvell didn't have time to explain.

"I need you trust me. Just do it!"

Zen paused for a moment before nodding.

Arvell wasn't the type to do stupid things that had no real value.

Especially when his life was at stake.

Without losing too much momentum, Zen jumped onto Arvell's back as if he was getting a piggy-back ride, and casted wind magic.

Arvell also used the fastest level of temporal manipulation he could use for an extended amount of time.

When he was with Zen, he had to slow himself to patch his pace. Whether it be by lowering the speed increase of temporal manipulation, or upright suppressing his innate speed from his Nether body.

He didn't just want to leave Zen behind if he didn't need to.

However, he decided that if they were ever in a dire situation, he would resort to using his enhanced strength to carry Zen, and use his enhanced speed to help them run much faster than normal.

However, even with this they weren't able to outspeed a rank four beast.

It technically was three ranks above them.

As the beast slowly gained on them, Arvell started lamenting his luck.

Even more than before.

It seemed that there was nothing they could do.

Their only future was to be eaten by this beast.

No more getting stronger.

No more getting revenge.

No more getting to see their loved ones.

It was the end.

The end to their stories.

As Arvell was running, he slid on a piece of ice that was hidden underneath the snow, and with his current speed, he lost his footing and went tumbling.

Both he and Zen bounced on the ground a couple of times before falling with their back towards a nearby tree.

Tasting the familiar metallic taste in his mouth, Arvell spat out a mouthful of blood, dying the virgin snow deep crimson.

Zen was covered in snow and appeared to be out cold after the sudden collision.

He saw the bright yellow beast approach them with a toothy grin with blood red teeth.

'The blood looks a little dry… I guess those girls didn't get eaten after all. This bastard really just came to kill us instead.'

Arvell gave himself a self deprecating smile.

'Welp. If I'm going to die. I'd rather go out fighting!'

He slowly stood up and unsheathed the hasty iron sword.

His companion for the last 5 months of hell.

"Well partner? How about the two of us go for one last fight?"

'Lykos thanks for everything. Sorry I couldn't ever repay you for your actions. I hope the next person who finds you can become better than me.'

Lykos watched Arvell with a deeply pained expression.

Having been with Arvell since he was 5 years old, it pained him to see Arvell die in such a manner.

He was supposed to be destined for great things.

However this beast had other plans.

'If only I had my full power I could have killed this worm with a thought!' Lykos lamented.

However the fact still stood that he was completely useless here.

As the beast approached Arvell, It lunged at a speed that was imperceptible to Arvell's eye, but before it could reach him, something completely shocking happened.

*TWANG*

*WOOSH*

The sound of a bow's string being released along with the woosh of a speeding arrow rang out.

The arrow went deep into the Lion's eye forcing it back, and causing it to convulse with pain.

Blood gushed out of the beast's wound splattering the pure white snow with crimson splotches.

Arvell was stunned by this sight, and looked behind him.

A group of men and women clad in knight armour were visible carrying an insignia on a flag.

The insignia portrayed a Silver Griffin holding a shield.

Lykos, equally shocked at this scene quickly recognized the flag's symbol.

How could he forget? They were one of the most influential groups in all of Elantrya.

The Silvercolt Duchy!

***

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