Unsealing Emptiness

The Dark Druid took a few glances at Jinx and wasn’t sure if she should explain what she had just felt right now.

Only when she noticed that Jinx didn’t care about what they were talking did she gradually relax.

“I... didn’t you feel it?” the Dark Druid asked Ozul to confirm once again, however, the latter only shook his head.

“There... was a terrifying aura... from h-her...” the Dark Druid spoke shakingly.

But her answer only left Ozul more puzzled. What did she mean by a terrifying aura? If Jinx really did release some kind of threatening aura to scare the Druid off, why didn’t he feel it?

More importantly, was Jinx really so powerful to even scare off the Druid who was stronger than even that Rank-10 Beast, the Sovereign!

.....

He glanced down at Jinx since the Druid didn’t seem to be lying. He would have instantly known if she was lying since he could vividly catch her emotions as well. Only Jinx’s emotions were hidden from him even at his current power level.

‘Did you really do it?’ Ozul stared directly into Jinx’s eyes.

However, there was no response from the black cat as she continued to lick her paw in boredom. It was as if she was oblivious to his thoughts, but Ozul knew that was not the case.

Helpless, he could only get back to the Dark Druid for more answers, “Explain in detail. Do you feel any familiarity with her? ”

“I... am not s-sure,” the Dark Druid again replied with a stuttering voice. Because every time she thought about those eyes that had made her feel as if she would be tortured for eons for just taking a wrong step towards her, it made her whole body shiver in sheer fear of the images displayed in her mind.

“She... It felt as if an... ancient monster was staring at me...” the Dark Druid explained in pauses, “Now, I feel nothing from her... does she even exist?”

The reason Ozul wasted so much of his time looking for the Dark Druid was for him to test whether now he would be able to find any clues when he encountered her. However, not only did he not find anything, it turned out that Jinx had no direct relation to the Druid either.

‘Or maybe she does...?’ Ozul contemplated.

What if Jinx was also in some way connected to the Druid and that connection unfolded in the form of extreme fear towards her instead of that unusual feeling of familiarity?

In any way, he couldn’t be sure.

Just when he had given up and was thinking about returning, Ozul remembered that he had yet to test something.

He arrived in front of the Dark Druid who jolted back in response. It was evident that she was now on guard against Ozul and Jinx after what she had felt just a moment ago.

Though she didn’t dare to run away any longer when she noticed Jinx suddenly turning to stare at her retreat.

“W-what are you trying to do?” she asked, afraid that her question might not even be answered.

But contrary to her thoughts, Ozul calmly proceeded to reply, “I won’t harm you. Let me check something.” Following this, he took another step towards the Dark Druid, this time without the latter jolting back in fright.

Extending his hand to touch her, he expected that his hand might just pass through her body since it almost looked intangible. But it turned out that he was completely wrong. Not only was he able to touch her, but her body also felt as if he was just touching a human’s skin.

Putting this thought in the back of his mind, he closed his eyes and focused to probe her body.

The Dark Druid didn’t feel any malicious intent in his actions so she let him do whatever he was doing, Jinx’s continuous staring also helped as the motivation not to resist.

Meanwhile, Ozul was examining the Druid’s body in hopes to find any traces of his Scent. It was just a guess, but he had to check before leaving.

Even though he guessed that, he actually hoped not to find his Scent inside the Dark Druid’s body. Because the presence of his Scent could complicate a lot of matters instead of answering his previous questions.

Unfortunately for him, he seemed to have already jinxed himself.

‘Sigh...’

Not only did he immediately sense his Scent flowing through the Druid, but he was also surprised at the sheer amount of it!

‘This... shouldn’t be like this,’ Ozul shook his head, feeling another headache coming his way.

Unlike with others, his Scent didn’t just revolve around the Druid’s heart. It was instead circulating throughout her body as if it was the blood of her body!

What troubled Ozul the most was the reason behind this. He could understand if he found his Scent in the humans who stayed close to him or drank those healing potions, but why would the Dark Druid who he had only met once before had so much of it?

Several possibilities overlapped in his mind, but the conclusion at the end of all made him cringe in helplessness.

‘Sigh...’

With another sigh, he retracted his hand and wordlessly turned around, and began to walk away from the Druid.

“W-what...?” the Dark Druid could only stare at the departing figure of Ozul and Jinx in confusion.

But besides the confusion, she was also relieved that she didn’t die today. The day when she had first met the dark-haired boy, she didn’t think that he would grow up to become so powerful in such a short amount of time. Just being in his presence was gradually suffocating her.

“Just... who are you...?”

The Dark Druid muttered to herself before she also turned around and disappeared in the depths of the gorge, hidden from the light of the world.

——–

He would constantly seek out answers for his questions, but each new door led him to a dead end.

He even had to think about Jinx and find ways to test the limit of her strength. Because no matter how unusual she behaved before, scaring an existence not any weaker than Rank-10 Beast with just a glance was not something he could ignore so easily.

A normal person in his shoes would have already given up many times over after the number of times he has failed to find any clues to his being. Even though he wasn’t even close to giving up, he did feel that he shouldn’t jump at every possibility of finding the truth.

“I should take it easy...and sleep,” he muttered as he passed through the forest, not even realizing that for some strange reason, no Beast dared to come in his way.

He was too lost in thoughts to notice the slight twinkle in Jinx’s eyes as well.

While following Jinx to get to the Dark Druid, he had lost his sense of direction long ago. He didn’t know which part of the continent he was in right now. First of all, he had to find a settlement to understand his own location before he could get back to the Neutral Lands.

After clearing his head, he flew above the forest and then sped towards a random direction hoping to find a village at the very least. With his sensing range expanded to the maximum, he was quickly able to sense humans in the vicinity.

Luckily, it was a city and not some remote village. It would have been quite a struggle to get his location from the villagers who are always wary of the outsiders.

As he entered the city, he couldn’t help but notice the exuberant atmosphere. From just a single look, the city did not seem to lose to the capital cities of small kingdoms.

‘Let’s see... where is the inn... I need to sleep.’

——-

More than 6 months had passed while Ozul was searching all over the continent in search of the Dark Druid.

And although this trip did not end up exactly as he wanted, he was still able to get used to his improved senses after all this time.

In the meantime, things drastically changed on the continent.

All of the stronger factions in the Neutral Lands had already migrated and this shift in the location of their headquarters had a huge impact on their surroundings. Though the branches in the opposing factions’ areas were more vulnerable now, everyone held themselves back in order to avoid any major conflict before the tournament started.

What surprised many was the sudden downfall of the Church of Light which many still expected to stop the moment their ancestor decided to step in, unaware that the said ancestor had already left the world.

On the mainland when even the Leonhard Dynasty kept themselves modest, the Ashin family began to continuously harass the Church of Light in broad daylight!

The actions of the Ashin family puzzled many but they didn’t think much of it.

It was only the Mercenary Guild and the Leonhard Dynasty who noticed that something was wrong. They kept close eyes on all the properties and resources of the Church and the Ashin family suddenly starting to overtake them was suspicious.

It further confirmed their suspicion when the Church didn’t fight back at all. And even if it did, it looked more like a cornered Beast growling to scare off its predator than anything!

Even when some of the other organizations started feeling odd about this situation, they didn’t make any major moves.

Though everyone kept their eyes on the Church. After all, if something really unfortunate had happened, they wouldn’t miss the chance to get their hands on the production of their healing medicine.

Everyone coveted the healing potions of the Church of Light since it was so useful and even the strongest of factions would buy them.

Anything that happened with one of the strongest factions on the continent overshadowed all the other events, one of which included the sudden misfortunes of many low-level organizations.

Under Blaze and Raven’s supervision, the members of Three-Eyed Raven had infiltrated most if not all the low-level organizations already.

What made their task easier was that Ozul hadn’t demanded any immediate information for the members to do any activities that would have brought any suspicion to them.

Only the factions which were led by Mages above Rank-8 gave the duo some trouble. Whenever they operated in an area governed by a Rank-9 Mage, they would do it together.

Alone, they could never think to go against someone that powerful. However, their combined might could surprise even the Rank-9 Mages!

For that reason, the two had recently met in a city ruled under an ally faction of the Leonhard Dynasty...