Unsealing Emptiness

No matter what they thought about her, she was still the companion of Ozul. Including Rufus, no one wanted to provoke his ire.

After the previous events, everyone who remained in the group had understood that Ozul was at least as strong as a Rank-8 Mage. So they limited themselves only to give her the stink eye.

As if completely oblivious to their contempt filled eyes, Raven remained completely unfazed by this situation.

Ozul had long before drilled it in her mind that she would be ostracized after choosing the Darkness Element. He worried that she might not be able to accept the rejections. However, he ignored one simple point; Raven had long ago stopped caring about other’s opinions.

Spending all her time with someone as insensitive as Ozul was bound to have some effect on her psyche.

Unlike her, Blaze was not so composed. If Raven had not stopped him, he would have even picked a fight with the Rank-7 subordinate under Rufus because he was pointing fingers at her!

.....

Only under the intense glare from Raven had he repressed his urge to kill that guy or die trying.

Anyways, Raven did not care about the hate as long as they did not cause any trouble for either her or Blaze. In the first place, she only chose to stick together with the group because Ozul had told them to do so before jumping off the cliff.

Even though Blaze was almost just as strong as her, Raven had undoubtedly become the leader in Ozul’s absence.

The next day, Rufus ordered everyone to hurry up as they were about to move to the next city.

——-

Around this time, Ozul jumped from tree to tree with Clara, Cyril, and Mark following right behind him. He ran with a decent pace that even Clara could easily follow him.

They were not just walking anymore since it would take them months to reach the Neutral Lands with that speed. Ozul had confirmed with Mark, who informed him that their current pace would take them exactly around one month.

Cyril let out some of his aura to spread around to avoid the nuisance of a Beast blocking their path. There were no Beasts so strong in this forest who would want to come near them even after sensing his aura as a Rank-8 Mage.

The group ran until the sun was about to set. Ozul wouldn’t have stopped just here if he had not spotted a lake in their path.

With Raven, he had gotten used to cleaning the dirt off of his body by her Spell. It was not only convenient but also saved him effort and time.

‘Maybe a little soak will be relaxing?’ Ozul thought while stopping a few meters before the lake.

Although he could use the Ball of Purity to clean himself as well, he would rather use the water.

As he stopped, the three behind him stopped as well. They did not question why they had stopped since Ozul wouldn’t answer them anyway.

As usual, Cyril and Mark took a look around the area to get rid of any nuisances. Ozul did not immediately go to the lake as he had noticed something around the lake.

The lake was about a hundred square meters. And there was Pyretic grass growing all around its edges!

Ozul recognized this grass at first glance. This grass grew only near a body of water. It was not anything rare, but a convenient plant that used the Mana in the air to heat the body of water near it.

However, the grass only did its thing at night time. So, Ozul waited for the grass to warm up the water first. In the meantime, he sat on a branch before taking out the strange book.

. . .

A few hours passed before it was completely dark in the surroundings. Ozul rubbed his eyes open as he got down the tree.

As usual, Cyril and Mark were near him with their backs resting against the tree trunk and cigarettes and wine in their hand.

They watched him lazily walk towards the lake before they returned to their conversation.

Ozul created a hand-like shape with Ball of Purity and helped himself take off the prosthetic arms. Although they did not bother him too much, it still felt off to keep on those chunks of metal. He did not mind taking them off once in a while.

The lake had steam fog all around it because of the water’s warm temperature. Because of the lake’s size, the Pyretic grass was not enough to make it burn, but the water had gotten warm enough to be comfortable.

After the prosthetic arms, he created another hand with the Ball of Purity to help himself take off the clothes. The steam fog covered his body, which would make just about anyone awestruck at its sight.

As Grandma Carol had taught him long ago, he neatly folded the shirt and the pants before placing them on the grass near his prosthetics.

After that, he entered the lake. After a few steps in, the water was deep enough to reach his neck if he sat down.

Ozul stopped at that point and sat down before closing his eyes. The warm water was comforting as there was no one to disturb him. However, he could not really say that nothing was annoying here since there were no trees to block the moonlight above him.

Though he did not complain and enjoyed the silence for as long as he could.

. . .

An hour or two passed before Clara opened her eyes. She had also noticed the lake before and was dying to soak in it, especially since the presence of Pyretic grass had almost made the lake like a hot spring.

However, she had to wait for the guys to do their own things before she was comfortable going there.

When she noticed that Cyril and Mark had been drinking for a while, Clara took this chance to tiptoe her way towards the lake.

She did not even glance in Ozul’s direction as she thought that he would be sleeping at this moment. He never seemed to show any interest in other things.

As Clara sneaked off towards the lake, Cyril nonchalantly glanced at Mark and asked, “Did you notice it?”

Mark did not need to think before he nodded his head. Clara forgot that both of them were Rank-8 Mages, so her movement could not escape their attention even while they had been drinking for a while. Not to mention, the alcohol was not strong enough to make Rank-8 Mages drunk.

“Meh, it’s not our business,” Cyril said as they got back to what they were doing before.

Although Clara was a stunning beauty that could topple down countries, the duo did not care. They were assassins experienced in all kinds of arts. Controlling their sexual urges was a piece of cake for them.

Any vulgar thoughts about Clara did not even cross their minds, but they did start to think up scenarios of what Ozul and Clara might do near the steamy lake.

Clara walked in the steam fog, unaware that Ozul was already in. The excitement to take a bath after so long and the fog prevented her from noticing the black cat sleeping near two prosthetic arms and a neatly folded shirt and pants.

She also took off her clothes as the fog covered her body before hurriedly walking in the water.

*Haaa~*

She let out a deep breath as she sat down, and the warm water covered her whole body till the neck.

Just as she had sat down, closing her eyes, she immediately opened them wide open before turning her head towards her right.

“Ahhhh!!!”

...

“Nothing less expected from a Rank-9 Mage,” Cyril commented as they heard the scream which resonated around the area.

“Hm... What if it is her first time?” Mark replied innocently.

“... That actually makes more sense,” Cyril said as the duo stood up from their place.

The scream had caused a stir around the area. They would again have to clean up some Beasts who would flock around here.

...

“Mhhmm!”

Clara’s muffled voice came out as she had a black thing strapped around her mouth.

Ozul had immediately wrapped the Ball of Purity around her mouth to stop her shouting.

“I won’t remove it unless you stop shouting,” Ozul said with his brows scrunched a little.

Clara had no choice but to nod her head immediately. His annoyed expression caused her to get nervous as she momentarily forgot about the situation she was in.

“If you want to scream, go somewhere else,” Ozul said before closing his eyes again.

His actions caused Clara to become speechless.

She wanted to shout at him and ask why he was here, but her words got stuck in her throat. She could not get herself to disturb him again. It was just too nerve-racking for her when he was annoyed.

Thinking about it for a while, Clara remembered that she had not checked if Ozul was at his place sleeping or not, which meant that Ozul was here even before her. And in the end, it was her own fault!

After realizing that Ozul was innocent in this, other thoughts occupied her mind.

They were both naked and so close to each other, but the other person did not even glance at her! She did not understand if she should be happy about this situation or depressed.