Northern folded his arms, his eyes locked on Ellis’s faltering gaze.
“Wh-what do you mean? What do you mean why? It’s injustice! If you can help, shouldn’t you?”
Northern remained silent for a few tense minutes, his expression unreadable as Ellis frowned slightly.
When he finally spoke, his hoarse voice came out first.
“You’re stupid if you think that way. Injustice? It’s a way of life. The strong eat the weak. Do you call it injustice when you kill monsters and eat their meat without worry? No, it’s normal. You have to survive one way or the other.”
He stared intently at Ellis’s face.
“Look, that is exactly what’s happening to you right now. Those guys have to get by in life one way or another, whether it’s preying on you or others. But that’s injustice to you…”
Northern scoffed, his eyes hardening.
“I’m irritated.”
He cast one last disgusted look over Ellis’s form and turned to walk out.
Before he could make it through the door, a heavy thud reached his ears, as if something fell.
Northern turned around to see poor Ellis on his knees, biting his lips, tears streaming down his face.
“Please. I beg you. Have mercy. I’ll do a-nything,” he sobbed, his tone quaking.
Northern’s heart wavered a bit, but he was more logical than emotional.
Even as the guy broke down begging, he focused more on the ‘I’ll do anything’ part than having mercy.
‘I thought I was compassionate. What’s happening to me?’
For a moment, Northern was afraid of what he was becoming.
This emptiness he sometimes felt was becoming concerning.
First, it happened with Mr. Fluffy; if he didn’t deliberately caution himself, he wouldn’t have minded killing the beast.
And now, he didn’t mind leaving this guy to his troubles.
He had a fundamental belief that Ellis would live through it eventually. It was his own story.
After all, no one came to his own aid either.
Northern sighed, then his voice came, “Since you say you’ll do anything, it’s fine. I’ll help you.”
He turned away and turned the doorknob, opening it.
“But you’re going away?” Ellis’s voice quickly followed, causing Northern to look back at him.
“Well, yes… I am. What? Do you want me to babysit you? Or do you want to live with me?”
Ellis lingered for a second, then responded, his tone utterly tamed, “I… I don’t mind.”
Northern let out a big laugh immediately, then shook his head at Ellis.
“Trust me… you do mind. You’ll prefer your life here. Don’t worry, I’ll be around. Should anything happen, just scream Dark Terror regardless of where you are.”
He waved and went off, slamming the door behind him.
Ellis collapsed into a sitting position and stared blankly for a few seconds.
Then he bowed his head into his hands, as if to scream, but didn’t.
Instead, he slammed his fist hard on the ground, instantly regretting it as his knuckles protested in cruel pain.
—
Northern found his way back to the main hall and walked outside himself.
Immediately the door opened, Mr. Fluffy’s ears flew up, causing the white wolf to spring to its feet.
Its eyes glistened as Northern descended the stairs, and the moment his feet touched the last step, the beast dashed at him, dancing around excitedly.
Northern patted the wolf with a soft chuckle.
“Seriously, what am I going to do with you?”
“It’s a nice wolf, isn’t it?”
Immediately Northern heard the voice, a sharp pressure pierce through the air, causing Northern to scowl and turn swiftly, materializing a dagger that stopped at the person’s neck.
Lines formed beneath his scowl before his eyes widened in recognition.
Raven looked into his face and curved up a corner of her lips.
But Northern was still frowning, albeit slightly.
‘What’s funny? Is she toying with me? Was the bloodlust or spiritual release?’
Just now, he was not mistaken – he had felt an overwhelming amount of killing intent sharp as the edge of a sword and directed at him.
One that resolved him to want to slit the person’s throat in one go.
And he had only stopped because the moment his dagger fully materialized as his hand lashed forward, the killing intent completely disappeared.
‘That’s one hell of control.’
It was incredibly dangerous, but he had to admit it. ‘I can’t tell if it’s bloodlust or spiritual release… sure I could have done something like that but only with bloodlust.’
Northern had experienced bloodlust many times… eventually he’d been able to use it too.
It worked like spiritual release but could not cause physical harm, while it was very possible for spiritual release to cause physical harm.
The point of spiritual release is that essences are augmented enough to tear through air. They become very dense and able to materialize while maintaining an invisible nature.
Bloodlust was an actualization of one’s thirst for blood. It’s possible to hate a being and desire to kill that being and the being wouldn’t even notice at all – it had happened before.
But when one has slain and slain, and slain, the scent of blood begins to linger around them, it gets thicker and stronger with each blood they take and eventually, it gets to a level where it can materialize and be felt even by mundane beings.
That feeling when one can tell that death is lingering behind them even without having to look.
Northern doubted if Raven was a master… if so, that would mean that what he experience just now was her bloodlust.
‘But this much? Just how many monsters has she killed? And controlling it to this level?’
Northern felt like he had just crossed path with another monster…another Night Terror for some reason.
He didn’t even know bloodlust was something that could be controlled!
‘Naa… let’s not give her so much credit. Night Terror is on another level.’
“The smile on your lips is irritating. I’ll have you get rid of it…”
Even with his words, Raven was still smiling, looking at him with sparkling red eyes that hid some level of coldness.
Her intensive look made creeps crawl on Northern’s skin.
He withdrew his hand and hid it behind his back, then brought it out with no dagger.
For a split second, Raven’s eyes followed that movement, then she brought her gaze back to his face and finally erased her smile.
“Sage Gilbert asked me to provide you with whatever information you’ll be needing.”
Northern patted Mr. Fluffy’s smooth, flat head as he responded, “Oh, okay…”
‘I thought he’d send Instructor Annette since that’ll be easier for me. Maybe something is going on between them as I guessed… and maybe it’s deeper.’
“You sound dissatisfied.”
“I’m not exactly satisfied…” Northern allowed a little creepy grin.
Admittedly, his smiles had improved after getting out of the rift, but this one suddenly felt off. Maybe he was trying too hard.
Raven ignored his look and said, “If you need knowledge on everything there is about a drifter and talents, there’s no one else that can best me. I guarantee you that.”
“That’s rather arrogant of you…”
“There’s nothing arrogant about me. It’s just plain truth.” She cocked her head to the side, causing her black hair to tilt. “Shall we move? Or do you want to have your lecture here?”
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[A/N]
Hey guys, since we reached 500k views, I was feeling excited and decided to release two more chapters.
Thanks guys for the support, really, the golden tickets and power stones. I’m really happy, ha ha. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
Who knows, I could increase daily update to three if powerstones start hitting around 500, for now we are around 300, I guess. 😉