"Ngh!! Ah~~ Ah~ Ha~"
In the dead of night.
Talulah's expression was one of immense pain as she slept. A continuous murmur, like a whisper from hell, echoed in her ears. She trembled all over, her forehead already beaded with sweat. Waking with a start, she clutched her head with one hand while repeatedly patting the top of it with the other.
She clenched her jaw, uttering a soft curse from the depths of her throat.
"Go to hell! Koschei!!"
Although the ice fields were frigid at night, Talulah was already drenched. Her simple, thin undergarments clung tightly to her skin, soaked with sweat. The proud silhouette of her body was cast onto the adjacent wall by the candlelight on the table, creating an alluring outline.
For several years now.
Ever since Talulah killed her adoptive father, Duke Koschei of Ursus, and fled, this voice had been haunting her ears.
Constantly tempting, constantly seducing.
However.
Talulah had managed to endure it with her formidable mental strength, crushing the voice underfoot. As a result, it now only resurfaced when her mind relaxed slightly during her sleep at night.
Talulah thought about getting up for a glass of water.
Suddenly.
The voice that had been murmuring in her mind over and over again changed.
It became sharp, and even a little... panicked.
"No!! What in the world are you!!!"
And then.
The voice became incredibly weak, murmuring repeatedly before fading away.
"Lucas Reeve! I won't let you get away with this! I've remembered your name! Talulah's body is mine!!"
*Clink.*
The water cup fell to the floor with a crisp sound.
Talulah's eyes widened in disbelief.
She patted her head, listening intently, but she could no longer detect even a trace of Koschei's voice.
How could this be!
How is this possible!!
Surprise and disbelief flooded Talulah's mind.
This...
This voice that had accompanied her, tortured her for so many years, had actually...
Just vanished like that!
Talulah felt like a patient with severe tinnitus who had suddenly recovered. In an instant, it was as if the whole world had fallen silent, like being reborn.
However, what shocked Talulah the most was not Koschei's disappearance.
It was the name Koschei had mentioned just before he vanished.
Lucas Reeve?!
——————
Lucas Reeve felt no joy after successfully defeating the Black Serpent.
Because he knew.
This Black Serpent was just like him, merely one of an unknown number of soul fragments.
The harsh words that guy spat out before fleeing after having his plans ruined were definitely not just empty threats. To think he had already offended such a powerful soul so quickly, it was a bit of a headache. Fortunately, his main body was far away in Sargon, so he didn't have to worry about its safety.
There was no way that guy could rush all the way to Sargon, smash the statues imprisoning him around Lucas's main soul, and help him regain his freedom, right?
If that really happened.
Lucas would probably just have to say one thing.
Let me just say, thank you...
Just as Lucas was preparing to get some sleep, he heard faint footsteps and the sound of conversation coming from outside the wooden cabin.
That voice....
Talulah?
After exchanging a few simple words with Patriot, Talulah took a deep breath, slowly pushed open the door to Lucas's cabin, and walked in.
The moonlight streamed in.
It stretched Talulah's shadow long as she stood at the doorway.
Talulah slowly closed the door.
Before she could speak, Lucas had already floated out of the bracelet.
"I thought you wouldn't come until tomorrow. I didn't expect you to show up in the middle of the night."
Lucas smiled slightly and gestured for Talulah to sit. However, there was nowhere to sit in the cabin, so Talulah leaned awkwardly against the door.
"Did you kill Koschei?"
Talulah asked, getting straight to the point.
Her tone even carried a hint of excitement, as if she was waiting for Lucas to nod.
However.
Lucas shook his head.
"The Koschei you're talking about should be that old Black Serpent, right? I'm sorry, I didn't kill him. He dissipated on his own. Or rather, Talulah, the Koschei inside your body was likely just a small part of his true self. The concept of 'killing' him doesn't really apply. I just temporarily expelled him from your body."
Receiving Lucas's affirmative reply.
Talulah felt a surge of excitement in her heart.
She took several deep breaths, and finally, a thousand words coalesced into a single "thank you," which escaped her lips.
Although it was just a light word of thanks.
Lucas received a huge amount of Prayer Power from it.
Hiss...
Whoa...
This girl really says one thing and means another.
Her spoken thanks seemed so light and casual, but the amount of Prayer Power she gave him was so large, showing just how grateful she truly was in her heart.
Interesting...
"I have a question. What exactly is Koschei?"
Talulah sighed and said slowly, "He was once a Grand Duke of Ursus, and also my father. It's just that... I killed him a few years ago..."
"???"
Several question marks flashed through Lucas's mind.
What kind of grand filial piety was this.
"And then..."
"Koschei, or rather, he was no longer the original Koschei... He had become one of the Serpent's Scales of the deathless Black Serpent."
"The deathless Black Serpent?"
Lucas fell into thought. In the spiritual world, that soul had indeed resembled a giant, pitch-black serpent.
"As for the rest, I don't know much either. The deathless Black Serpent is a legendary evil god in Ursus."
Talulah shook her head.
Her knowledge about the deathless Black Serpent was also very limited. She only knew Koschei's identity; she was completely ignorant of anything more.
Tsk...
So I've provoked a real god?
This is giving me a headache...
"Then why did he choose you?"
"I don't know..."
This was all the information Talulah had.
After the two exchanged information, a mysterious and awkward silence fell. For a moment, Talulah didn't know what to say. She just stood there, wanting to leave but feeling it would be rude to depart so quickly. Lucas, on the other hand, was contemplating his next steps.
Since he had offended a god.
His subsequent retaliation was surely inevitable.
Sigh~
The night was utterly silent; the howling northern wind outside had stopped.
Suddenly.
Another set of light footsteps came from outside. Both of them froze. At first, they thought it was Patriot, but a man of his size couldn't possibly have such light footsteps.
Talulah didn't know who it was.
But Lucas had already guessed.
The closed cabin door opened.
A cute little deer poked her little head in.
"Mr. Reeve, good even—"
"Huh? Talu!!"
Alina's eyes widened, her gentle expression freezing for a moment.
"A... A... Alina!"
Talulah was momentarily flustered.
She looked outside the door.
Patriot was sitting leisurely on a stone block not far away, slowly sipping tea.
Alina never expected Talulah to be here. She became equally flustered for a moment, not knowing what to do with her hands and feet. Then, Alina was the first to react.
"Talu? What are you doing here?"
The cute little deer tilted her head, though in reality, her heart was in a complete panic.
Talulah quickly explained, "Mr. Reeve just did me a favor, so I came over specially to thank him."
"Oh?"
What a... flimsy excuse.
"Talu, you had all day to thank him. Why choose the middle of the night?"
Wait a minute.
Talulah finally realized something. *I'm actually here on legitimate business, why am I so flustered?* But for a moment, she didn't know how to explain.
Alina was just an ordinary person, after all. She didn't know that a voice had been constantly ringing in Talulah's mind all these years, and that Lucas had silenced that voice tonight.
"Um... that... that..."
However.
Talulah then changed the subject.
"Alina... why are you here in the middle of the night..."
"Uh..."
Alina was flustered for a moment, not knowing how to explain.
As for Lucas, he was just watching the drama unfold from the side. Alina had indeed been coming over to chat with him late at night occasionally these past few days, and Patriot seemed to have tacitly approved.
The two close friends couldn't give a clear reason, and they just stared at each other awkwardly. Then... after a while, both of them burst out laughing.
*Since Talu is seeking out Mr. Reeve privately, it must mean she's started to accept him in her heart,* Alina thought. *After all, it's been over ten days, and Mr. Reeve has really helped Reunion a lot during this time.*
Actually.
Alina had been a little worried these past few days. What if Talu and Mr. Patriot never came to trust Mr. Reeve? What if Mr. Reeve lost his patience over time?
However...
Her worries were unnecessary.
Over the past ten days.
Talu and Mr. Patriot seemed to have been quietly choosing to accept Mr. Reeve's existence, and Mr. Reeve hadn't shown any malice. Or rather, he had no malice to begin with.
The next day.
The sun had not yet risen from the horizon.
FrostNova, as usual, woke up early from her sleep. Her Oripathy had become very severe over the years, and her incredibly cold body temperature tortured her body constantly. Even getting a peaceful night's sleep was an extravagant luxury.
She went to the side of the settlement and, as was her habit, bid her father good morning.
"Hmm? Alina, Talulah?"
Behind Patriot.
Alina and Talulah were sitting on the doorframe of the wooden cabin behind him, chatting idly. It seemed they had been talking all night.
"Father, they?"
FrostNova asked Patriot quietly, a little confused.
But Patriot had no intention of explaining. "Morning, my daughter~"
FrostNova: "???"
The Black Serpent's revenge did not come immediately.
Lucas was happy to have the peace and quiet. He basically spent his days catalyzing food, and occasionally dealing with an Oripathy outbreak, earning a wave of Prayer Power each time. As expected, relying on the Prayer Power of a single person was far from enough.
And during this time.
A rumor began to spread among the Infected in the village.
It was said that in the small wooden cabin at the northernmost edge of the village lived a person with special abilities. He could grow vegetables and crops in this frozen wasteland, and could even alleviate the deadly Oripathy. The wishes of the Infected were simple.
Just being able to eat was the greatest luxury.
And the person who provided them with a continuous supply of food naturally became the object of their heartfelt gratitude. Although the amount of food wasn't large—Lucas's power alone was limited, and he couldn't possibly satisfy the food needs of everyone in the village—it greatly eased the pressure on their food supply, and he could occasionally provide fresh vegetables to give the Infected some nutrition.
In this period, the entire Reunion Movement had provided Lucas with over five thousand Prayer Power points. And as the number of Reunion members gradually increased, this number continued to rise. Lucas's current Prayer Power reserve, including the one thousand he had left from before, was now nearly seven thousand. Although it was still a long way from over a million, it was a good start.
The number of people in the Reunion Movement was still a bit small.
What if he had the population of an entire mobile city?
This was the path Lucas had planned for himself at this stage.
—————
Columbia
Last night, Jessica didn't sleep at all. It wasn't that she didn't want to, but that she simply couldn't.
Today marked exactly one month.
According to the agreement she had with Lucas, he would return in a month.
Anticipation, nervousness, uncertainty...
These complex emotions filled Jessica's mind.
She was afraid that Lucas had only said one month to comfort her, afraid that he would never come back.
Even Ceobe had cast aside her usual carefree and thoughtless demeanor today. She ate significantly less, cutting down from her usual fifteen bowls to ten. Last night, she had uncharacteristically suffered from insomnia, taking a full ten minutes to fall asleep after lying down. For Ceobe, who usually fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow, ten minutes was no different from insomnia.
Franka and Liskarm, and even Magallan, clocked out from their respective companies early and gathered at Jessica's house. Since the Bolívar incident, Magallan's relationship with the other three had improved considerably. Perhaps this was the camaraderie forged through shared hardship.
Of course.
The most important thing.
After returning to Columbia, Jessica had really gifted her a custom-made, super-expensive transport vehicle and two state-of-the-art, custom-made private drones.
What a rich girl...
The price of these two items was ridiculously high.
Magallan had calculated it.
She couldn't afford them even if she sold herself.
Especially that transport vehicle. It was countless times more advanced than the one she used to drive. The one she had before could at best be called a flagship model, sold to ordinary people. But the one Jessica gave her was a custom-tailored model, something only the top tycoons would be eligible for.
"Miss Madonna! Stop munching! Why isn't Lucas out yet!!"
At noon.
The group was gathered in Jessica's dining room.
Only Magallan and Ceobe were eating nonstop, while the other three stared silently at the necklace in the center of the table, longing for it to glow again. Hearing Magallan eating beside her, Franka was clearly getting agitated.
"What are you all so anxious about? Since Mr. Reeve said one month, it will definitely be one month. If he really wanted to just comfort you, why would he say one month? He could have just said ten or twenty years. Saying one month proves that Mr. Reeve is confident and knows that he'll be fine."
"But... I also believe in Mr. Reeve. He promised he would come home with me..."
Jessica was extremely nervous.
Suddenly~
A faint light emanated from the gem in the center of the necklace.
Franka and Jessica's hearts skipped a beat, and their faces lit up with joy.
The next second.
A figure they had been dreaming of for a whole month emerged from the necklace.
"Good afternoon, ladies~"