22 Chapter 21

With dinner over. All of us decided to hit the sack to get a good night's sleep. Though when Cassie came near me and snuggled up to my chest with a happy smile, Sunny and Nephis gave me weird eyes.

I smiled wryly to their reaction before wrapping my arms around Cassie's body. Gently rubbing her back as her breathing slowed down bit by bit.

Sunny and Nephis prior to this got their own dose of rest. That's why they were standing guard while also conversing in hushed tones.

Although I do not need sleep. It was a given that I slept like a baby when a body as soft as Cassie's hugged me tightly.

But I preferred her when she was naked.

Of course it was for her good. As when we were naked we could feel each other's souls.

And I'm not saying this because I want to see Cassie naked again. Believe me, I want to feel that connection again. Thats all.

Eventually I fell asleep feeling the comfortable, warm body of Cassie pushing up against me. I get the impression that she's doing this on purpose, knowing I like this. And honestly….

I'm not complaining at all, please be more bolder Cassie.

............…..

Our time of departure finally came in the form of a ball of pale white sunlight shining the entrance of the homey trench.

I woke up with full clarity burning in my eyes. Not the ragged look people have when they wake up. But one full of energy and expectation.

I swayed Cassie a little to wake her up from her deep slumber. This time it was surprisingly effective, as Cassie blinked her eyes open in a single second before looking straight into my eyes. With her dull, blank blue pupils expanding slightly. As if she could see me.

"Good morning sleepyhead, have you had enough sleep for a rough, tiring journey or not?"

Hearing my voice that had an underlying softness, Cassie buried her head into my chest before muttering out in an embarrassed tone "Can you not tease me? I haven't had such good sleep in a while. Even in the academy I couldn't sleep that well because of the stress."

I couldn't help but let out a hum of amusement as I inquired "So that means you didn't have any satisfying rest till you were sleeping with me. That's what I'm hearing right?"

Cassie took a deep breath to hopefully stop the blush from spreading to all of her face. Which only served as a clear answer for my question.

And my god did I love that expression.

Maybe I'm a bit of a sadist by nature. Not the kind that gets off by hurting people. No, the kind that likes to emotionally torture his targets.

Yep, I'm sure something is wrong with me.

After that enlightening monologue. The other two woke up from their sleep, and again. I got some strange glances from both of them which I didn't pay any heed to.

We then packed some bags full of dried crab meat that was ready for grilling. And with that, we left the temporary but warm home that was beginning to grow on me. Our direction was obviously west.

After a few hours of walking through the eerie, bloody, ancient forest, as well as the rough, uneven terrain that made it much harder than we anticipated. We finally reached the mysterious labyrinth devouring a part of the crimson forest. And a second later I sensed a few scavengers, no actually there was a dozen or so of them. Huddling together as if they were in a party.

"Stop! Enemies."

Sunny said with a forceful hush as his face went pale due to seeing the number of enemies waiting for us.

Oh right, Sunny was given the role of a scout during our conversation we had about our uses and aspects. He got that role because of his shadow that can move through the shadows at his command, he basically became our eyes and ears.

Though Sunny's ability is very, very useful in such a situation. My senses are way more developed than what a playful shadow is capable of.

And throughout our tiring walk. I only needed one hour to get familiar with the shadow's presence, I was already close to fully sensing it but it drove the nail in the coffin when it went into my own shadow. Which made me feel like someone was watching my back with mischievous eyes. As a moment later the shadow flew out of mine with a strange, horrified face. It immediately clung onto Sunny's leg while also looking at me with fear in its body language.

At that time I narrowed my eyes as a single thought entered my mind 'What did it see? I mean it's traveling in the shadow realm. So it must have seen something to react this way. Maybe a person's shadow is the true reflection of a person's desire or destiny, or could it be that the shadow felt something in me that it shouldn't have felt?'

Coming back into the present, I shook my head of these thoughts and looked towards Nephis. She was frozen in place with a calculating light in her eyes, indicating that she was thinking about what will be the best action for us to take.

I walked ahead with a smile on my face as I brought Nephis out of her frozen state by saying "I will take care of them. Just protect Cassie and yourselves."

Sunny was about to protest before he was silenced by Nephis's quiet grey eyes, his eyes narrowed in challenge. And while the two were having a staring contest, Cassie was standing in place. A worried expression plastered on her face when she heard Ariel's footsteps getting lower and lower.

However our menace of a man was already running like a beast towards the group of enemies. Cracking and bulldozing through the ground while the air whistled by in his ears due to how fast he was.

When he reached upon the dozens of awakened nightmare creatures, Ariel kneeled onto the ground before jumping into the air with a shockwave, leaving in his trail a pulverized, ashen crater.

While he was in the air, Ariel summoned his sword with a wide smile on his lips as he shot down onto the group from above like a giant ball of strength, immediately slicing one enemy into half from head to toe. While the others got stunned by the rumble beneath them when he landed.

Not wasting his chance, Ariel blurred from his place like a slippery shadow, slicing into a number of enemies. Which gave them various injuries to slow them down.

And then the massacre began with Ariel severing both of the arms of a very pitiful creature before it could even react. And then he sliced its head off with a perfect horizontal slash.

After that, all one could see in the battle was a white trail of sharp light passing through the midst of of the dozen nightmare creatures like a snake, Cutting them in half or chopping their limbs off. Or directly killing them.

[You have slain an awakened beast!]

[You have slain an awakened beast!]

[You have slainan awakened beast!]

[You have slain an-

[You have-

[You-

.........

"Hah…. Hah." I panted roughly, while also feeling the sticky bluish-black blood on my face. Submerging all of it before looking around at the dead bodies of my victims.

And then my aspect kicked in. Making it seem like I hadn't battled a dozen nightmare creatures one rank above me.

But when did ranks hold me back?

Since never if I remember. That's also the boon of being OP.

The sound of walking brought my attention back to the current circumstances as three figures walked into the new graveyard I just built.

Nephis and Sunny looked around in genuine shock while Cassie still had a worried look on her face that eased when she heard my voice…..

"Told you this would be easy, didn't I?"

My smirk was ignored by the flat faced girl in front of me, as she wondered in a strange tone "I wonder how a monster like you was pushed away to the side? I knew you were strong but to this extent. Even newly awakened legacies can't handle this number of enemies. So answer me, how can a monster like you go unnoticed?"

I shrugged lazily "Don't know. Don't care to be honest."

I then looked straight into her eyes and said "Now get your ass over here and start collecting the soul shards. I have a hunch that we might need it when we reach the city, so we'll save some on the way."

Nephis continued staring for a few seconds before starting to carve out the soul shards silently. With Sunny mirroring her actions. His eyes still wide open in shock.

Cassie literally ran to me by following my voice. She then began to frantically touch my face and my body, trying to find any injuries.

While she was checking my body, her hand purposefully lingering a bit longer in certain spots. She asked out with a curious tone "How do you know that we might need these soul shards? I can see that all of us don't need these right now."

a small smile crept up my face in response to her question...

"Like I said Cassie. Just a hunch.

A/N: thank you for the support guys, also send power stones. I hope you enjoy the ch. also tell me of the fight scene was good or not. I appreciate any advice.