Chapter 325

Vorbuk sat down in the center of the iron barred cage. Concentrating with his eyes closed he tried to feel the flow of his mana. It was very feint but the mana was still there and he would do his best to use it. In fact nobody could completely remove mana from a living thing. Everything was born with mana.

If ones mana was completely removed... It meant death.

Knowing that fact, after months of studying this world, he fought against the magic seals to attempt at using his mana. The harder he tried to use his mana the more he realized how difficult it truly was. Unable to make use of his own mana.

[ WARNING! ]

[ What you are attempting to do could be dangerous. ]

"I do not care." Vorbuk muttered in reply to the god's voice.

The others will come for me but I can not sit here and do absolutely nothing. The wolf thought to himself as he began to feel more desperate. It had been a long time since he felt so helpless in a situation. Things had fallen out of his control.

Vorbuk growled and tried harder to use his mana. No amount of concentration was allowing him to break through the seals. He could faintly feel his connection to Ashley through their bond. It would take a while for the others to locate him. Time was something not on his side to wait for help.

Ssskkk!

It felt like something was cracking inside of Vorbuk. It was a strange and cold feeling. He could feel his mana moving just slightly. The more he pushed himself the colder he felt. Soon that very feeling began to cause him pain. His entire body felt like it was on a bed of needles.

His eyes shot open on reflex breaking his concentration. The wolf felt like his body was being constricted by a cactus.

What is this feeling-?! Vorbuk began to panic in the back of his mind. The wolf began to cough roughly as a small puddle of blood splattered across the cage floor.

[ WARNING! ] [ WARNING! ] [ WARNING! ]

[ Suggest ceasing further action. You are putting your soul at risk of being damaged! ]

God's voice sounded panicked as Vorbuk listened to those words.

"If you want to be useful then give me a method out of this damned cage," Vorbuk argued with the system in his head, "No? I did not think so."

[ Invalid. ]

Vorbuk sighed deeply as he tried to calm down. The voice was starting to irk him in this situation. It was pointless to argue with the voice in his head. In fact it would only make him feel more crazy. He felt lucky no one else was around to see him arguing with the voice in which only he could hear.

"You can not even correct me. I must be right in assuming there is nothing you can do to help me." Vorbuk felt like he was antagonizing the god.

[ ... ]

"As I thought." Vorbuk said when he noticed the voice going quiet at his words. The system did not know how to respond to his words. Perhaps it had to take time to consider and think over the things he'd said to it.

"Tch.." The wolf gritted his teeth in sudden pain. He could feel something going on with his body. A small red light emitted from the guardian's jewel on his head. The smaller jewel under both of his eyes began to do the same in unison.

The wolf muttered between grit teeth, "What's going on?"

[ Attempting to strengthen bond between master-servant contract. Pain may occur. Please endure. ]

Vorbuk growled deeply in both pain and anger at the voice, "Warn me next time before doing something like that so suddenly!"

[ Invalid. You asked for help. ]

Vorbuk's mind went blank as he tried to think of a way to refute the system's remark. It felt like he was arguing with a stubborn old man. Did he hurt the god's feelings? That thought was only brief because it felt ridiculous to consider.

A strange feeling began to come over Vorbuk. It felt like he could sense his connection to Ashley and Aoki more strongly. It was a small change at first. Almost impossible to notice it but that feeling began to deepen. The pain he felt was beginning to subside along with the change to his senses.

That was when he began to notice something else. He could feel a sliver of their emotions when he focused on one of them individually. It was like looking deep into their inner selves.

What was wrong with Aoki's emotions? Vorbuk wondered when he felt them wash over him. It was like he was terribly broken. Aoki's heart seemed almost empty and cold. Though he could feel something else. A small spark of life was buried deep.

When he changed to focus on Ashley he got a wave of different emotions. They felt terrified, warm, yet somehow underneath all of that they felt hostile. Ashley felt a sense of deep hostility towards someone. Was it someone he knew?

"What did you do..?" Vorbuk struggled to understand the change to himself.

[ The Guardian's Mark and Spiritual Marks have been activated in unison. Merging together in order to strengthen them. Opening a stronger link between the guardian's servants to the host. ]

"Meaning..?" Vorbuk blanked out at the explanation.

[ Sigh. ]

Did the god just sigh at him? The wolf growled at the system.

[ The contracts between Servant and Master are bound through souls. With the two marks merging to function together, the spiritual stones are able to boost the hosts connection between your souls. ]

[ Focus on one carefully and they should be able to sense your location much more easily. The longer this is done... It may end up exhausting you over time so be careful. ]

He felt like a light bulb went off when he heard that explanation. It was an ability that sounded useful, "Thank you for the hard work."

The voice seemed to go silent after those words of thanks. Did the god feel embarrassed by what he'd said? It had only given him a minor bit of help.

In fact the god was trying to keep him from doing something more reckless on his own.

Vorbuk did not know how badly forcing his mana to break the seals could damage his soul. In fact this was not the first time he had lost control of himself and done something dangerous to his soul. The more damage his soul took over time meant his life was more at risk. The soul would become at risk of being destroyed or corrupted.

Closing his eyes he thought deeply about Ashley. Feeling the bond between them strengthen. He could feel how distant they were from each other. It would be difficult for them to find him quickly. Even if they found him they would need to be careful. The others could not barge in recklessly to save him.

Bam!

The wolf jumped as he was startled out of what he was doing. Turning to look at where the sound came from he saw a book had fallen to the floor. It had been dropped by a young child.

Where did this child come from? Vorbuk thought to himself as he observed the kid. She looks younger then Prince Chase.